Characteristics and content of the Speransky reforms. The main provisions of the "Plan". Need help learning a topic

I decided with the help of a new round of reform activities. With the cooling of the tsar to the members of the Secret Committee, a need arose for new faces, who, however, had to continue the previous direction of reforms. The emperor quickly found a man who met these requirements. It was M.M.Speransky.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (1772-1839) came from the family of a poor rural priest. After graduating from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, he worked for some time as a teacher, and then as a secretary to Prince A.B. Kurakin, the favorite of Paul I. When the prince was appointed Prosecutor General of the Senate, Speransky began working as an official in the Senate under Kurakin. V short term he has established himself as a truly irreplaceable and very capable person. At the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, he was among the main actors government, although initially did not occupy major government posts.

The members of the Secret Committee involved Speransky in summarizing the materials of their discussions, and then began to entrust him with drafting projects on the topics set by them. In 1803-1807. Speransky already had the post of director of one of the departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was closest to V.P. Kochubei, the all-powerful Minister of Internal Affairs. During the minister's illness, Speransky was instructed to personally report to the emperor on the state of affairs in his place. These reports showed Alexander that Speransky is the person he needs. In addition, unlike the tsar's inner circle, Speransky did not oppose the Tilsit world, sympathizing in his soul with the laws established in France by Napoleon.

The ascent of Speransky to the heights of state power began. From 1807 he was the state secretary of the emperor, and from 1808 - the deputy minister of justice, who was also the prosecutor general of the Senate.

Political reform project: intentions and results.

Speransky proposed the first draft of political transformations to the tsar back in 1803 in his "Note on the Structure of Judicial and Government Institutions in Russia." He raised the question of the need to carefully introduce a constitutional monarchy in the country and thus prevent a "French revolutionary nightmare" for Russia. However, it was only after the Peace of Tilsit that the king instructed him to draft a comprehensive reform. government controlled... Such a project was ready by October 1809.

It was the "Introduction to the Code of State Laws", which contained the following provisions:

The government should be governed by the separation of powers: legislature belongs to a new elected institution;

The State Duma; executive power is exercised by ministries; the judiciary is vested in the Senate;

Another new body - the State Council - was supposed to become an advisory body under the emperor and consider all draft laws before they were submitted to the Duma;

- three main classes of Russian society were established:

1) nobility,

2) "average state" (merchants, burghers, state peasants),

3) "working people" (serfs, domestic servants, workers);

Political rights were to belong to the representatives of the "free" (first two) estates; however, the third estate received general civil rights (chief among them was the provision that "no one can be punished without a court sentence") and could, as property and capital accumulated, move to the second estate; the first estate also retained special rights (to buy estates with serfs, etc.);

Only persons who owned movable and immovable property (ie, representatives of the first two estates) received the right to vote;

Elections in The State Duma were supposed to be four-stage (first, elections to volost councils were held, then the deputies of these bodies elected members of district councils, those, in turn, - the deputies of the provincial councils. And only the provincial councils elected the deputies of the State Duma);

A chancellor appointed by the tsar was to lead the work of the Duma.

The implementation of Speransky's project was supposed to be important step on the path of reform. This plan would eventually develop in other transformations. The reformer saw the ultimate goal in limiting the autocratic power of the tsar and eliminating serfdom.

Alexander I generally approved Speransky's project. However, it had to be implemented gradually, without causing upheavals in society. With this in mind, the tsar decided first to set in motion the most "harmless" part of the reform.

On January 1, 1810, a manifesto was promulgated on the establishment of the Council of State. His main task was putting things in order in the preparation and adoption of laws. All their projects now had to be considered only through the Council of State. The council assessed not only the content of the laws, but also the very necessity of their adoption. Its tasks also included "clarification" of the meaning of laws, taking measures to enforce them. In addition, the members of the Council were to consider the reports of the ministries and make proposals on the distribution of state revenues and expenditures.

The Council of State was called upon to become not a legislative body, but a legislative body under the emperor, an instrument of his legislative power.

In 1811 Speransky prepared a draft of the Code of the Governing Senate, which was to become the next step on the path of political reform. Based on the idea of separation of powers, he proposed to divide the Senate into the Government (in charge of local government) and the Judicial (which is the highest court and controls all judicial institutions). This project, however, was never carried out.

Conducted in 1810 - 1811. transformations, as well as the desire to grant civil rights to serfs, caused such a storm of indignation among high officials and most of the nobles that Alexander was forced to stop implementing reforms: the fate of his father was too fresh in his memory.

Resignation of M. M. Speransky: causes and consequences.

Speransky, on behalf of the emperor, also developed projects economic reforms... They provided for the limitation of government spending and some tax increases that affected the nobility. Opposition to reforms in these conditions began to be open. Such authoritative people as, for example, N.M. Karamzin, one of the ideologists of conservatism, joined in the criticism of the government.

Alexander was well aware that Speransky's harsh criticism was essentially directed at his own address. Speransky was further accused of treason for his sympathy for the order in France, which he allegedly wanted to introduce in Russia to please Napoleon. The tsar could no longer restrain the wave of criticism and decided to resign Speransky. Not the least role here was played by the emperor's intention to unite society on the eve of the approaching war with Napoleon. In March 1812 Speransky was exiled to Nizhny Novgorod and then to Perm.

Despite the fact that Speransky's reforms did not touch the foundations of the feudal-autocratic system, they were almost never implemented. At the same time, Speransky's reformist searches formed the basis on which new projects of transformations were further developed.

Means of education: illustrations: portraits of Speransky, Alexander I, scheme “System of state authorities according to Speransky's project” (Appendix 1), scheme “System of central management Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century ”(Appendix 2).
Advance assignment: read the relevant material in the textbook and additional literature, prepare messages on the topic.
Lesson plan:

Repetition of the reform activities of Alexander I.
The main milestones in the biography of M.M. Speransky.
Political reform project: intentions and results.
Reasons for Speransky's resignation.
Summarizing

The purpose of the lesson: consider the prerequisites and content of Speransky's reform projects, analyze the reasons for their incomplete implementation. Determine the consequences of decisions made on his proposal. Describe Speransky not only as a statesman, but also as a person. Emphasize such traits as intelligence, hard work, desire to serve for the good of Russia. Based independent work with sources to develop the ability to state judgments about cause-and-effect relationships, search for the necessary information, explain what the motives, goals and results of people's activities in history consisted of. Explain the meaning, the meaning of historical concepts.

Basic concepts: reform, separation of powers, legislative branch, executive branch, judicial branch, civil rights, electoral rights.

Key dates: 1809 - "Introduction to the Code of State Laws".
1810 - Creation of the State Council.
1812 - Resignation of Speransky.

In his opening remarks the teacher emphasizes that in intelligence and talent, Speransky is undoubtedly the most remarkable of the statesmen working with Alexander I. Napoleon saw Speransky in Alexander's retinue in Erfurt. The French emperor quickly appreciated the modest secretary of state, who outwardly did not stand out in the Russian delegation. "Would you please, sir," he asked Alexander, "to exchange this man for some kingdom?" To update the knowledge of students at the beginning of the lesson, you can organize work on the questions:

Why did the first period of the reign of Alexander I go down in history under the name "the era of liberalism", while Pushkin described it as "a wonderful start to the days of the Alexandrovs?"
Why was the "Secret Committee" created? Why didn't it become an official body? Who was on this committee?
List the first decrees of Alexander I. Which of them do you consider to be the main ones?
List the measures that were taken by Alexander to mitigate serfdom. Were these measures effective?
Describe the system of central government of the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century.
Which of the bodies was created on the initiative of Speransky?

We turn to the reformatory activities of this person today in the lesson.
In the second step of the lesson students make short reports on the main stages of Speransky's activities, which were prepared at home (3-4 people). The class is tasked with writing down the main milestones in Speransky's life in a notebook, listing the personal qualities that helped him make a career.

Material for student messages.
MM. Speransky was born into the family of a priest in the village of Cherkutino, Vladimir province. From the age of seven he studied at the Vladimir Seminary, and from 1790 - at the main seminary at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. His extraordinary abilities pushed him from among the students, and at the end of the course he was left as a teacher of mathematics, physics, eloquence and philosophy. Speransky himself, without any patronage, managed not only to get out into the people, but also to get acquainted without outside help with the best political, economic and legal writings in French, which he mastered perfectly. For 4 years, from the house secretary of Prince Kurakin, he managed, solely by virtue of his talents, to be promoted to the state secretaries of the emperor (since 1807). And in 1803 he already became the director of a department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, taking this general post at the age of 31. However, Speransky did not like to brag. He was hardworking, modest, restrained and focused on one goal: the reorganization of the Fatherland in the interests of the Fatherland. In 1803 - 1807 Speransky drew up several projects of state reforms, and in 1809, on behalf of Alexander I, prepares a plan of state reforms - "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." But the reforms he had conceived were never implemented. In 1812 he was exiled to Nizhny Novgorod, and then to Perm. He returned to St. Petersburg only in 1822. In relation to him, Alexander I was cunning. With one hand he raised him up, gave awards (the title of count, the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky), with the other he accepted denunciations of Speransky, entrusted the Minister of Police with secret supervision of him and those close to him.

Speransky was familiar with many Decembrists and was very popular among them. The Decembrists proposed to include him in the interim government, acting before the elections to the new authorities. Although Speransky himself did not have the slightest idea about this. But now - a turn of history, and the reformer of the beginning of the century in 1825 judges the Decembrists, who went out on Senate Square because Speransky's reforms were not completed. He was a member of the Supreme Criminal Court over the Decembrists, was a member of a number of higher state committees in the 1920s and 1930s, and in 1833 completed the compilation of the 15 - volume Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. Having abandoned dreams of a constitution, Speransky now sought to restore order in government, without going beyond the autocratic system. Emperor Nicholas I was present at the approval of the Code of Laws by the State Council, removed the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and entrusted it to Speransky. And one more ironic grin of history: in 1835 - 1837. MM. Speransky taught legal sciences to the heir to the throne, the future emperor Alexander II, who abolished serfdom and even set out to sign the Constitution (which was prevented by the explosion of terrorists). Speransky's religious searches are interesting. He was from a real Russian priestly environment. At the age of four, he had already read The Apostle, studied with honors at the Vladimir Seminary. His wife, an Englishwoman, gave birth to his daughter and died. Left with the baby in his arms, Speransky again turned to religion for consolation - but not his own, the Orthodox, in which he was brought up, but rather to Protestantism. And it took gossip, accusations of espionage, exile to Novgorod and Perm, so that Speransky again turned to Orthodoxy.

At the 3rd and 4th stages of the lesson, laboratory-practical work is organized in a group form.
Assignment to groups: On the basis of the scheme “System of state authorities according to Speransky's project” and the texts of documents, describe the main directions of Speransky's political reform and its principles.
1 group.
“Speransky argued that in order to prevent revolution, it is necessary to give the country The Constitution, which, without affectingautocratic rule, would introduce elective legislativebodies and principles of separation of powers in the organization of state authorities. “Constitutions in almost all states were established in different times passages and for the most part amidst violent political transformations. The Russian Constitution will be lent by its being not to the inflammation of passions and extremes of circumstances, but to the beneficent inspiration of the supreme power, which, arranging the political state of its people, can and has all the ways to give it the most correct forms. " However, Speransky's plan did not provide for the introduction of a constitutional system in Russia similar to that of Western European countries, that is, limiting the power of the monarch by the Constitution. The goal of the project, as Speransky clearly defined it, was “to clothe autocratic rule with all external forms of law, leaving in essence the same force and the same space of autocracy”. The autocratic power of the emperor, acting within the framework of the law, was fully combined with the new political structure country. In Speransky's plan, the basis state structure the principle of separation of powers was laid - into legislative, executive and judicial (of course, under the supremacy of the power of the autocratic monarch. ”The emperor appoints ministers, members of the Senate and the Council of State.

Group 2.
“In every rural municipality center (village or small town) every three years from all the owners of real estate (regardless of their class affiliation) a meeting is made - the rural municipality council. The Volost Duma elects deputies to the District Duma. The district duma, in addition to the election of the chairman, his chief secretary, the district council and the district court, elects deputies to the provincial duma and considers issues of local needs within the boundaries of its body. Every three years, the provincial duma also meets from among the deputies from the district duma, electing the chairman, the secretary, the provincial court and deputies to the highest representative body of the country - the Statethought. The chairman (or “chancellor”) of the Duma was appointed by the “supreme power” (the emperor) from among the three candidates presented by the Duma. The Duma meets annually in September and sits for as long as the agenda requires. The emperor retains the right to interrupt the session of the Duma or dissolve it completely. The "proposal" for the consideration of the Duma of laws "belongs to one sovereign power." Thus, the State Duma, according to Speransky's project, did not have the right to initiate legislation. The Duma was limited in its control over the activities of the ministers. Thus, although the State Duma was called the Speransk "legislative institution," in essence, it was a consultative, advisory body. Even in this version, the Duma will not be created. "

Group 3.
“The principle of electivity was also used in the formation of the judiciary, but only in its three first instances: volost, district and provincial courts. The highest court ("the supreme court for the entire empire") was Judicial Senate (in difference from the ruling Senate). It consisted of four departments - two for civil and two for criminal cases, one each in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The reform of the Senate, proposed by Speransky, was not implemented.
The executive branch was formed according to the same principle as judges. Its three first instances (volost, district and provincial administrations) were elected at volost, district and provincial assemblies. "State administration" (ministries) as the highest authority was formed from the number of persons appointed by the emperor and responsible to him. In this part of the project, Speransky outlined the principles that were later embodied in the legislative acts of 1810 - 1811, which completed the ministerial reform. The responsibilities of ministers and the areas of activity of ministries were clearly defined.

4 group.
“According to Speransky's plan, the supreme body, which was called upon to unite the activities of the legislative, judicial and executive powers, should be State Council.“In the order of state institutions, the Council represents a body,” wrote Speransky, “in which all the actions of the legislative, judicial and executive parts in their main relations are united and through it they ascend to sovereign power and are poured out of it. Therefore, all laws, statutes and institutions in their first outline are proposed and considered in the Council of State and then, by the action of the sovereign power, they go to their intended fulfillment in the manner of legislative, judicial and executive ”.

The State Council was established on January 1, 1810. State Council:
a) assessed the content of laws and the very necessity
reforming;
b) explained the meaning of laws;
c) took measures to implement them.

5 group.
“In his project, Speransky proposes to grant civil rights to the entire population, albeit to an unequal extent:
"1. No one can be punished without trial.
2. No one is obliged to send personal service at the arbitrariness of another,
but according to the law that determines the kind of service by state.
3. Anyone can acquire movable property and
immovable and dispose of it by law.
4. No one is obliged to send public duties according to
the arbitrariness of another, but according to the law or voluntary conditions ”.

The nobles retained the right to own the serfs, although in principle Speransky was against serfdom and developed a project for its gradual elimination.
Voting rights should be presented to all who have property, that is, for the first two estates. Accordingly, he established a new class division:

nobility;
"Average state" (merchants, burghers, state
peasants);
"Working people" (landlord peasants, domestic servants, etc.)

The transition from a lower “state” to a higher one was allowed through the acquisition of immovable property.

Summing up the results of the group work on the third point of the lesson plan, the teacher, after the speeches of the students, draws conclusions. Students write in a notebook:

The main principles of Speransky's political reform project:

The head of the state is a monarch who has full power.
Objectively, the first step towards limiting autocratic power.
Implementation of the principle of separation of powers.
The three branches of government converge in the Council of State, an advisory body appointed by the emperor.
Executive power belongs to the ministries.
Legislative power belongs to representative assemblies at all levels.
Four-stage elections to the State Duma.
The State Duma was supposed to discuss the bills proposed to it from above, which are then submitted to the State Council and the emperor for approval.
A chancellor appointed by the tsar was to lead the work of the Duma.
Judicial functions belonged to the Senate, whose members were appointed by the emperor for life.
Only persons who possessed movable and immovable property could have the right to vote.

Assignment to groups on point 4 of the lesson plan: Based on the text of the documents, find out the reasons for the resignation of M.M. Speransky.

1 group.
“The mystery of his fall is not so mysterious. Alexander parted with Speransky on the merits. I was disappointed in his “plan for universal state education”, which did not solve the sought-after task of an agreement between the autocracy and the law-free institutions. Alexander was also disappointed in financial terms of Speransky. Speransky was also unhappy with Alexander for being “too weak to rule and too strong to be governed”.
“For one year, I was alternately a champion of Freemasonry, a defender of liberty, a persecutor of slavery ... A crowd of clerks persecuted me for the decree on August 6 with epigrams and cartoons; another similar crowd of nobles with all their retinue, wives and children persecute me, neither by my kind, nor by property that did not belong to their class ..., they tried to cover up their personal enmity in the name of state enmity ”.
“The difficulty of Speransky's position lay in his seminary origin. If he was the bastard son of some nobleman, all reforms would be easier for him. Popovich, the state secretary and confidant of the sovereign, was a thorn in the eye of everyone - none of the cleverest dignitaries of Rostopchin, or even Catherine's aces, could not digest him. "

Group 2.
Speransky is assessed by the hero of the novel G.P. Danilevsky “Burnt Moscow” Basil Perovsky: “We finally got to the point where they were removed from the throne and exiled as a criminal, as a traitor, the only statesman, Speransky, but for what? For his open preference for the lawyers of Yaroslav and Tsar Alexei, the ingenious code of the one who dispersed the bloody Convention and gave Europe true freedom and a wise new order. ”
“For failure to fulfill the financial plan of Speransky, who fell into the hands of the bad finance minister Guriev, Speransky himself was accused. Voices were heard that he had deliberately thought up his financial plan to irritate the opposition, that he was in criminal ties with Napoleon. And Alexander could not withstand the onslaught of Speransky's enemies. He considered it necessary then to strengthen the heightened patriotic mood, since he hoped to repel Napoleon only if the war had a popular character; he saw no opportunity to enter into an explanation and decided to sacrifice his best employee to the fury of the privileged crowd. All Speransky's fault actually consisted in the fact that through one official he received copies of all important secret papers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he could, of course, according to his position, have received, having asked for official permission. "

Group 3.
“Serious opposition arose to the reformist activity of Speransky. In St. Petersburg, these are the literary salons of Derzhavin, Shishkov. In Moscow - the salon of the sister of Alexander I - Ekaterina Pavlovna, where one of the ideologists of the conservative movement N.M. Karamzin and the Governor of Moscow Rostopchin. Society's hatred of Speransky found a vivid and strong expression in the famous note: “On Ancient and New Russia” by Karamzin. The essence of this note was to criticize Alexander's policies and to prove the need to preserve the autocracy in Russia for eternity. The main mistake of the legislators of Alexandrov's reign was, according to Karamzin, that instead of improving the institutions of Catherine, they undertook reforms. Karamzin spares neither the State Council nor the new institution of ministries. He argued that instead of all the reforms, it was enough to find 50 good governors and provide the country with good spiritual shepherds ”.
“The active opponents of Speransky were N.M. Karamzin and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna. In 1809, she married Prince George of Oldenburg and lived with him in Tver. Here a circle of conservative tendencies has formed around her. The Grand Duchess considered the constitution "complete nonsense, and autocracy useful not only to Russia, but also to Western European states." In her eyes, Speransky was a "criminal" who possessed the will of a weak-willed monarch. The enmity of the princess was explained and personal reasons... The "malicious priest" had the courage to oppose Karamzin's candidacy for the post of Minister of Public Education, nominated by Ekaterina Pavlovna. In addition, he refused to support the Swedish political party, which predicted the husband of the Grand Duchess for the Swedish throne ”.

4 group.
“A hostile attitude was formed against Speransky not only in courtiers, but also in bureaucratic circles. It was especially aggravated by two decrees on April 3 and August 6, 1809, which were attributed to the direct influence of Speransky. The first decree prescribed that all persons holding court ranks should choose some kind of service for themselves. After this law, all court ranks, which until then were considered positions, became only honorary distinctions. The second decree demanded that the ranks of collegiate assessor (VIII grade) and state councilor (V grade) were given only after passing an exam for the rank or upon presentation of a university diploma. ” Not only middle-level officials themselves, but also influential dignitaries were dissatisfied with the decree on August 6. After all, they were losing well-trained executive subordinates. “The vice-governor is obliged to know the figure of Pythagorov, and the warden in the insane asylum is under Roman law,” N.M. Karamzin in “A note on ancient and new Russia”.

5 group.
“Russia's accession to the continental blockade led to disastrous consequences for its economy. Treasury revenues in 1808 amounted to 111 million rubles, and expenses - 248 million rubles. Under such conditions, Speransky received the order of the sovereign to develop a project to improve the economy. Such a plan was prepared by Speransky by January 1, 1810:

cessation of issue of banknotes not secured with values;
sharp cuts in government spending;
the introduction of a new special tax on landlords and specific estates, which is then used to pay off the state debt;
the introduction of an extraordinary additional tax for 1 year, which was paid by serfs and amounted to 50 kopecks per capita;
the introduction of a new customs tariff that imposed huge duties on the import of imported goods into Russia

“As for the public, she drew very disappointing conclusions for herself from Speransky's financial plans:

that the country's finances are in bad shape;
that the treasury is involved in significant internal debt;
that there are not enough ordinary funds to cover expenses,
therefore new taxes are coming;

Summing up the new results of the group work on the fourth point of the plan lesson, the teacher after the speeches of the students draws conclusions. Students write in a notebook:

The main reasons for the resignation of M.M. Speransky:

Conservatives headed by N.M. Karamzin and the grand duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna.
The extreme discontent of the aristocracy caused Speransky's intention to abolish the assignment of ranks to persons holding court ranks.
Officials were outraged by the introduction of the exam for the rank.
The imperial entourage contemptuously treated the upstart, the son of a priest.
The nobles opposed financial reform and the granting of civil rights to serfs.
Speransky's accusations of espionage and secret connections with France and Napoleon.
Mutual disappointment between Alexander I and Speransky. “He does everything in half” (Speransky about Alexander!).

At the end of the lesson, the teacher emphasizes that Speransky was ahead of his time, many of the reformer's ideas were realized only at the beginning of the 20th century. As homework you can invite students to write down in a notebook their reasoning on the topic: “Could early XIX century the plans of M.M. Speransky? "

Of the entire project of a broad state reform of Speransky, only the most insignificant part of it came into effect (January 1, 1810) - the establishment of the State Council. On May 1, 1810, it was supposed to schedule elections of deputies to the State Duma, and on September 1, to open it. But these parts of Speransky's reform were delayed, and then canceled. The reason was the stubborn opposition of conservative dignitaries. They pointed to the numerous partial shortcomings of Speransky's reform project and to the inadmissibility of such a broad and rapid state transformation in the face of the already brewing struggle with Europe, united by Napoleon. The largest Russian writer Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin criticized Speransky's reform in a special note "On Ancient and New Russia", proving the need to preserve a lasting autocracy.

Opposition to Speransky at the top and widespread dissatisfaction with a number of his measures in the population forced Alexander I in March 1812 to dismiss the reformer from all posts and exile him to Nizhny Novgorod, and then to Perm. However, in 1819 Speransky again received a high position (governor-general of Siberia). In 1821 he was returned to St. Petersburg and made a member of the State Council established by his own project. During the years of exile, Speransky revised many of his previous views and now often expressed completely opposite opinions..

At the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I, an experienced lawyer Speransky was entrusted with essential work to streamline (without changes) the existing state legislation. Such an ordering has not been carried out since the publication of the Cathedral Code of 1649. Speransky's work resulted in the publication of the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire and the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire (1833).

Public administration reforms

In 1802 Alexander I undertook a partial reorganization of the management system. Ministries were created instead of collegia. The Committee of Ministers was formed. There were eight ministries: military, naval, foreign affairs, internal affairs, commerce, finance, public education and justice. The Ministry of Internal Affairs acquired especially broad powers - from collecting taxes to recruiting - in the new management structure.

A new stage in the preparation of transformations began in 1809, when M.M. Speransky. It was unusual figure in the highest echelons of Russian power. The son of a village priest, who graduated from theological seminary, he made a quick career thanks to the colossal personal abilities and patronage of Novosiltsev, for whom he served first as a home teacher and then as a personal secretary. In 1810 Alexander made him the Secretary of State of Russia.

Speransky was a supporter of constitutional monarchy and separation of powers. He developed the "Introduction to the Code of State Laws", in which he proposed to create an elected supreme legislative body - the State Duma. Laws could not be passed without the consent of the Duma. The Senate remained the highest judicial body. The State Council appointed by the emperor was created, which approved the laws adopted by the State Duma.

The entire population of Russia was supposed to be divided into three classes: the nobility, the middle class (merchants, burghers, state peasants) and the working people (serfs and persons working for hire: workers, servants, etc.). Only the first two estates were to receive voting rights, and on the basis of a property qualification. However, civil rights were granted to all subjects of the empire, including serfs.

In an effort to weaken the discontent of the nobility, Speransky did not include in the draft the demands for the emancipation of the peasants, but the very nature of the proposed changes made the abolition of serfdom inevitable. Speransky said: "Serfdom contradicts common sense to such an extent that one can look at it only as a temporary evil that must inevitably have its end."

The reorganization of the public administration system was supposed to begin in 1810. On January 1, 1810, the State Council was created. In the summer of the same year, a partial reorganization of the ministries took place: the ministries of police and communications were created, the ministry of commerce was liquidated. However, the plan for the reorganization of the Senate proposed by Speransky was rejected by the State Council in 1811. The creation of a key link in the reforms - the State Duma - was not even discussed. The reason for this was the clearly defined opposition of the nobility.

The extreme discontent of the aristocracy caused Speransky's intention to abolish the assignment of ranks to persons holding court ranks. All who were formally at the court, but did not serve, had to choose service for themselves or lose their ranks. The high position at the court no longer allowed holding important government positions.

The officials were even more outraged by Speransky's intention to introduce educational qualifications in the civil service. All officials of the VIII rank and above were required to pass exams or submit a certificate of completion of the university course.

In addition, in the aristocratic environment, Speransky was considered an outsider, an upstart. His projects seemed dangerous, too radical, they were seen as a threat to the abolition of serfdom. Speransky was accused of revolutionary designs and espionage. Under the threat of a noble revolt, Alexander I sacrificed Speransky. In March 1812 Speransky was dismissed and exiled to Nizhny Novgorod. The most significant attempt in Russian history to transition from autocracy to constitutional monarchy failed.

What you should pay attention to when answering:

Speaking about the reign of Paul I, one should not reduce everything to the tyranny of the emperor, but show that he pursued a policy fundamentally different from the enlightened absolutism of Catherine, believing that Russia needs an iron order, and liberalism only leads to troubles and turmoil.

Characterizing domestic policy Alexander I, it should be emphasized that the transformative plans of the emperor ran into decisive opposition from the right, before which the king retreated, fearing a palace coup. It can also be noted that the mood of Alexander himself was twofold: liberal views intertwined with vanity and awakened lust for power.

1 Paul accused his mother of killing his father Peter III and usurpation of the throne. Catherine did not allow her son to participate in governing the country, seeing in him a contender for her power.

2 During the 4 years of Paul's reign, almost as many peasants were distributed to private hands as during the entire 34-year reign of Catherine.

3 It is no accident that a typical anecdote arose: as if at the inspection Pavel, dissatisfied with the passage of one of the regiments, commanded: "Regiment! Around, to Siberia, march at a step!" And the regiment went to Siberia. Only a few hours later, the king changed his anger to mercy, and the regiment was returned.

4 The former tutor of Alexander I, after his accession to the throne, came to Russia.

5 In fact, already Paul I, restoring the collegia, established in them instead of collegiality the principle of one-man management, i.e. in practice turned them into ministries.

Brief biography of M.M.Speransky

Mikhailo Mikhailovich Speransky was born on January 1, 1772 in the village of Cherkutino, 40 kilometers from Vladimir, and was the son of a village priest. He received his initial education at the Suzdal Theological Seminary and completed his education at the St. Petersburg Main Seminary, which, under Paul I, was transformed into the Theological Academy. After completing the course perfectly, he remained a teacher at the academy; taught mathematics, then eloquence, philosophy, French etc. He taught all these diverse subjects with great success. Recommended as a home secretary to Prince Kurakin, Speransky, under his patronage, entered the office of the Prosecutor General, who then became this nobleman. So in 1797. The 25-year-old Master of Theology was transformed into a titular counselor. Speransky brought into the untidy Russian office of the 18th century an unusually straightened mind, the ability to work endlessly, an excellent ability to speak and write. This prepared his unusually fast career.

Upon the accession of Alexander, he was transferred to the newly formed Indispensable Council, where he was entrusted with managing an expedition of civil and spiritual affairs. Speransky was appointed to the post of Secretary of State under the Secretary of State Troshchinsky, and in July of the same year he received the rank of actual state councilor, which gave the right to hereditary nobility. In 1802 he was transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and appointed director of the second department of the ministry, which was in charge of "the police and the welfare of the empire." All the most important draft laws issued since 1802 were edited by Speransky as the head of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1803, on behalf of the emperor, Speransky compiled a "Note on the Structure of Judicial and Government Institutions in Russia", in which he showed himself as a supporter of the gradual transformation of the autocracy into constitutional monarchy based on a thoughtful plan. In 1806, when the first employees of the emperor were removed from the emperor one by one, the Minister of Internal Affairs Kochubei, during his illness, sent Speransky in his place with a report to Alexander. The meeting with him made a great impression on Alexander. The emperor, who already knew the clever and agile Secretary of State, was amazed at the art with which the report was drawn up and read. First, he brought Speransky closer to him as a "business secretary", and then as his closest assistant: he began to give him personal assignments and take him with him on private trips.

In addition to the military and diplomatic spheres, all sides of the politics and administration of Russia crossed over to Speransky's field of vision, and at the end of 1808 Alexander instructed Speransky to draw up a Plan for the state transformation of Russia. Then he was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice.

The plan of transformations of M. M. Speransky

"Introduction to the Code of State Laws"

The years 1807-1812, constituting the second period of the reign of Emperor Alexander, are characterized within the state by the influence of Speransky, and outside - by an alliance with Napoleon.

The foreign policy situation forced the emperor to distract himself from the transformative work of the ruinous wars of 1805-1807. undermined the prestige of Alexander 1, and the humiliating and unprofitable for Russia Tilsit peace treaty with France (1807) caused extreme discontent not only from noble opposition, but also from merchants. By 1809, dissatisfaction with the government acquired such a scale that Alexander 1 found it necessary to slightly adjust his political course and begin a new stage of reforms.

By the end of 1809, Speransky, on behalf of the emperor, prepared a plan for state reforms. To work on the project, Alexander I handed over to Speransky all the materials of the Secret Committee (1801-1803), projects and notes received by the Commission for drawing up state laws. The reform plan was presented in the form of a large document called "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." The project was ready and presented to Alexander I in October 1809. The Emperor recognized it as "satisfactory and useful." Speransky even drew up a calendar plan for implementing it (during 1810-1811)

Speransky justified the need for transformations by the need to resolve the contradictions between the level of social and economic development of Russia and the outdated autocratic form of government. It is necessary to clothe the autocracy with a constitution, to implement the principle of the separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial, and to begin a phased abolition of serfdom. Based on the fact that Russia is following the same path as Western Europe Speransky actually proposed reforming Russian statehood on a European basis.

Estates according to the plan of M. M. Speransky

Speransky dismembered society on the basis of differences in rights. Speransky assigns to the nobility all categories of rights, and political rights "only on the basis of property." People of the middle state (merchants, bourgeois, state peasants) have general civil rights, but they do not have special rights, and political ones have "according to their property." The working people (serfs, artisans, servants) have general civil rights, but have no political rights. If we recall that Speransky meant civil liberty of the individual under general civil rights, and participation in state administration under political rights, then we can understand that Speransky's project met Alexander's most liberal aspirations: he denied serfdom and went to representation. But at the same time, drawing two "systems" of fundamental laws, Speransky portrayed one of them as destroying autocratic power in its essence, and the other - as vesting autocratic power with external forms of law while preserving its essence and strength. On the other hand, in the sphere of "special" civil rights belonging to one nobility, Speransky retained "the right to acquire inhabited real estate, but to manage it only according to the law." These clauses imparted flexibility and uncertainty to the future order, which could be used in any direction. Establishing "civil freedom" for the landowners' peasants, Speransky continues to call them "serfs" at the same time. Speaking about the "popular idea", Speransky and under him is ready to define the essence of the supreme power as true autocracy. Obviously, Speransky's project, which was very liberal in principle, could be very moderate and careful in its execution.

State structure according to the plan of M.M.Speransky

According to Speransky's project, the principle of separation of powers was to become the basis of the state structure of Russia. In this case, all powers would be united in the hands of the emperor. It was supposed to create the State Duma as a legislative body. The executive power should be concentrated in the ministries, and the Senate should be made the highest body of judicial power. From Speransky's plan, those parts of it were implemented that related to the introduction of the State Council and the completion of the ministerial reform.

The forms of government were presented to Speransky as follows: Russia is divided into provinces (and regions on the outskirts), provinces - into districts, and districts - into volosts. By way of legislation, a volost duma is made up of all landowners in the volost, which elects members of the local administration and deputies to the district duma; in the district, the same role belongs to the district duma, which consists of deputies of district duma, and in the province - to the provincial duma, which consists of deputies of district duma. Provincial Dumas send their deputies to the State Duma, which is the legislative estate of empires. Volost, district and provincial courts operate in the order of the ship under the supremacy of the Senate, which "is the supreme court for the entire empire." In the order of the executive, volost, district and provincial administrations operate under the leadership of ministries. All branches of government are connected by the State Council, which serves as an intermediary link between the sovereign power and the governing bodies and is made up of persons appointed by the sovereign.

The State Duma limited the autocratic power, since no law could be issued without its approval. She completely controlled the activities of the ministers, could make representations to the supreme power about violations of basic laws. The emperor had the right to dissolve the Duma and call new elections. Provincial Dumas elected the highest court - the Senate. It was assumed that the Duma would give opinions on the bills submitted for its consideration, and hear the reports of the ministers.

Speransky emphasized that the Duma's judgments must be free, they must express "the opinion of the people." All citizens of Russia who owned land and capital, including state peasants, enjoyed the right to vote. Artisans, domestic servants and serfs did not participate in the elections. This was Speransky's fundamentally new approach: he wanted to put the actions of the authorities in the center and in the localities under the control of public opinion. The reformer proposed to carry out the reform in several stages, without immediately announcing the ultimate goals of the reforms, and to complete it by 1811. The implementation of Speransky's project was supposed to begin in 1810.

Transformation of the central administration according to the plan of M. M. Speransky

The implemented parts of Speransky's transformative plan are all related to the central administration, and their implementation gave the latter a slender appearance. This was the second, more decisive approach to the organization of the new state order.

On April 3, 1809, a decree on court ranks was issued. The titles of chamberlain and chamber junker were not combined with definite and permanent job responsibilities, however, provided important advantages. By decree, it was presented to everyone who bore this title, but who was not in any service, military or civilian, to enter such service within two months, declaring which department they wanted to serve. Four months later, with the final distribution of chamberlains and chamber-junkers in different departments and positions, it was confirmed: all others who did not express a desire to enter the service should be considered retired. The title itself was henceforth referred to as a simple distinction, not connected with any official rights.

A decree on August 6 of the same year established the procedure for the production of a collegiate assessor (8th grade) and state councilor (5th grade) for civilian ranks. These ranks, which largely determined the appointment to positions, were acquired not only by merit, but also by simple length of service, that is, by the established period of service. The new decree banned the promotion to these ranks of employees who did not have a certificate of completion of the course in one of the Russian universities or did not pass the university exam in installed program, which was attached to the decree. Under this program, those wishing to receive the rank of collegiate assessor or state councilor were required to know the Russian language and one of the foreign languages, knowledge of the rights of natural, Roman and civil, state economy and criminal laws, a thorough acquaintance with domestic history and elementary information in the history of general, in the statistics of the Russian state, in geography, even in mathematics and physics.

Both decrees caused the greater commotion in the court society and the bureaucratic environment that they were issued quite unexpectedly. They were worked out and compiled by Speransky secretly from the highest government spheres. The decrees clearly and firmly expressed the requirements that employees in government agencies must satisfy. The law required performers "by experience and gradual passage of service, prepared, not entertained by momentary motives," according to the decree of April 3, "well-versed performers, possessing a solid and domestic education," that is, brought up in the national spirit, rising without seniority, but "real merit and excellent knowledge," says the decree of August 6. Indeed, new people were required to act in the spirit of the principles that they tried to carry out in the government offices opened since 1810.

State Council

By a decree on January 1, 1810, a manifesto was promulgated on the abolition of the Indispensable Council and the creation of the State Council, and on the same day it was opened. The Council of State discusses all the details of the state structure, as far as they require new laws, and presents its considerations to the discretion of the supreme power. The Council of State is not a legislative power, but only its instrument, and, moreover, the only one that collects legislative issues in all parts of government, discusses them and submits its conclusions to the discretion of the supreme power. Thus, a firm legal order was established.

The Council is chaired by the sovereign himself, who also appoints the members of the Council, whose number was 35. The Council consisted of a general meeting and four departments - legislative, military affairs, civil and spiritual affairs and state economy. For the administration of the Council's office work, a State Chancellery was established under it with a special section for each department. The affairs of each separate department were reported by the state secretary in his department, and the secretary of state was in charge of the entire office, reporting matters to the general meeting and presenting the journal of the Council to the emperor. Speransky M.M., the main organizer of the institution, was appointed Secretary of State, which gave the right to lead the entire State Council.

This brainchild of M.M.Speransky existed until 1917. Initially called upon to consider and approve plans for further transformations, the State Council in fact itself became an opponent of the reforms, dragging out their discussion. He soon switched to dealing with numerous financial, judicial and administrative issues. The significance of the State Council was further reduced when in 1816 the right to report to the Emperor on Council affairs was transferred to A.A.Arakcheev.

Establishment of ministries

The ministries, into which the Peter's colleges were transformed by the September 1802 manifesto, worked very unproductively. Speransky prepared two important acts reforming their activities. In July 1810, the manifesto "On the division of state affairs into ministries" was promulgated. And on July 25, 1811, the "General Institution of Ministries" was published. Under the new procedure, one of the eight previous ministries, the Ministry of Commerce, was abolished. The affairs of this ministry were distributed between the ministries of finance and the interior. From the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, matters of internal security were transferred to a new ministry, the Ministry of Police. In addition, several special departments were established under the name of "main departments" with the meaning of individual ministries: "Main Directorate for Revision of State Accounts" (or state control), "Main Directorate of Spiritual Affairs of Foreign Confessions" and even earlier, in 1809, " Main Department of Railways ". Thus, eleven separate central departments, among which the cases were distributed in the executive order, i.e., administrative, appeared instead of the previous eight.

The ministers and their comrades (deputies) were at the head of the ministry, the directors of departments were subordinate to them, and those, in turn, were the heads of departments, and the heads of departments were clerks. Ministers were appointed by the emperor. The governors, also appointed by the emperor, became officials of the Ministry of the Interior. But during the transformation of the ministries, Speransky's proposals on the responsibility of the ministers were not implemented.

The order established by Speransky remained unchanged until 1917, and some of the ministries established in 1811 are still in operation.

Attempt to transform the Senate

The reform of the Senate was discussed for a long time in the State Council, but it was never implemented. The reform was based on the principle of separation of administrative and court cases, which were mixed in the previous structure of the Senate. According to this, the Senate was supposed to be transformed into two special institutions, of which one, called by the Senate governing and concentrating government affairs, was to consist of ministers with their comrades and chiefs of special (main) parts of administration, this is the former committee of ministers. Another, called the Judicial Senate, split into four local branches, which are located in the four main judicial districts of the empire: in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Kazan. The peculiarity of this judicial Senate was the duality of its composition: some of its members were appointed by the emperor, others were to be elected by the nobility. This project was strongly opposed in the State Council. Most of all they attacked the right of the nobility to choose members of the Senate, seeing in this a limitation of autocratic power. Despite the fact that during the casting of votes, most of the members of the Council supported the project, and the sovereign approved the opinion of the majority, the reform of the Senate was never carried out due to various obstacles, external and internal, and Speransky himself advised to postpone it.

Speransky's plans met with energetic opposition from many, and Karamzin was the spokesman for the opinions of his opponents: in his "Note on Ancient and New Russia", handed to the Tsar on March 18, 1811, he argued that the Tsar did not even have the right to limit his power, because that Russia gave his ancestor an indivisible autocracy. As a result, the Senate remained unchanged, introducing some disorder into the general warehouse of the central government.

It can be concluded that out of the three branches of top management - legislative, executive and judicial - only the first two have been transformed, the third has not been affected by the reform.

Reorganization of the financial policy of the state

In 1809, Speransky was entrusted with the rehabilitation of the financial system, which after the wars of 1805-1807. was in a state of profound disorder. Russia was on the brink of state bankruptcy. Preview financial situation in 1810, a deficit of 105 million rubles was opened, and Speransky was instructed to draw up a definitive and firm plan of finance. The prepared plan of finance was handed over by the sovereign to the chairman of the council of state on the very day of its opening, January 1, 1810. Here are its main provisions: "Expenditures must correspond to income. Therefore, no new expense can be assigned before a commensurate source of income is found. Expenditure should share:

1) by departments;

2) according to the degree of need for them - necessary, useful, redundant, unnecessary and useless, and the latter should not be allowed at all;

3) in terms of space - general state, provincial, district and volost. No collection should exist without the knowledge of the Government, because the Government should know everything that is collected from the people and turns into expenses;

4) by subject matter - ordinary and extraordinary expenses. For emergency expenditures, the stock should not be money, but the means of obtaining it;

5) according to the degree of constancy - stable and changing costs.

According to this plan, government spending was reduced by 20 million rubles, taxes and taxes were increased, all banknotes in circulation were recognized as a public debt, secured to all state property, and the new issue of banknotes was supposed to be stopped. The capital for the redemption of banknotes was supposed to be made through the sale of uninhabited state land and an internal loan. This financial plan was approved, and a commission for the repayment of public debts was formed.

By the laws of February 2, 1810 and February 11, 1812, all taxes were raised - some were doubled, others more than doubled. So, the price of a pound of salt was raised from 40 kopecks to the ruble; per capita serve from 1 rub. was raised to 3 rubles. It should be noted that this plan also included a new, previously unheard of tax - "progressive income". These taxes were levied on the income of landlords from their lands. The lowest tax was levied on 500 rubles of income and amounted to 1% of the latter, the highest tax fell on estates that gave more than 18 thousand rubles of income, and amounted to 10% of the latter. But the expenditures of 1810 significantly exceeded the assumption, and therefore the taxes established for only one year were turned into constant ones. The increase in taxes was the main reason popular murmur against Speransky, which his enemies from high society managed to take advantage of.

In 1812, a large deficit was again threatened. The Manifesto of February 11, 1812 established temporary increases in taxes and new duties. Public opinion made Speransky responsible for all these financial difficulties and tax increases caused by the difficult political circumstances of the time. The government could not keep its promises to stop issuing banknotes. The new tariff, 1810, in which Speransky participated, was met with sympathy in Russia, but angered Napoleon as a clear deviation from the continental system. Finnish affairs were also entrusted to Speransky, who only with his amazing hard work and talent could cope with all the duties assigned to him. Speransky reorganization financial policy

The year 1812 was fatal in the life of Speransky. The main weapons in the intrigue that killed Speransky were Baron Armfelt, who enjoyed the great favor of Emperor Alexander, and the Minister of Police Balashov. Armfelt was dissatisfied with Speransky's attitude towards Finland: according to him, he “sometimes wants to elevate us (the Finns), but in other cases, on the contrary, he wants to let us know about our dependence. On the other hand, he always looked at Finland’s affairs as small, secondary business. " Armfelt made an offer to Speransky, forming a triumvirate with Balashov, to seize the government of the state, and when Speransky refused and, out of disgust for denunciations, did not bring this proposal to the attention of the sovereign, he decided to destroy him. Obviously, Armfelt wanted, having removed Speransky, become the head of more than one Finnish affairs in Russia. Speransky sometimes, perhaps, was not sufficiently abstinent in his comments about the sovereign, but some of these responses in a private conversation, brought to the attention of the sovereign, were obviously the invention of slanderers and informers. In anonymous letters, Speransky was already accused of obvious treason, of dealing with Napoleon's agents, of selling state secrets.

The dubious and very sensitive to insults, the emperor at the beginning of 1812 noticeably lost interest in Speransky. Karamzin's note (1811) directed against liberal reforms and various whispers of Speransky's enemies made an impression on Alexander I. As he grew cooler with Speransky, the sovereign began to feel weary of his influence and began to avoid him. Starting to fight Napoleon, Alexander decided to part with him. Speransky was suddenly sent into exile.

Excommunication of M.M.Speransky from public affairs

On March 17, 1812, Alexander I dismissed numerous posts and exiled State Secretary M.M.Speransky. The closest employee and "right hand" of the emperor, for several years, in fact, the second person in the state, was sent with the police to Nizhny Novgorod that evening.

In a letter from there to the sovereign, he expressed his deep conviction that the plan of state reform he had drawn up was "the first and only source of everything that happened" to him, and at the same time expressed the hope that sooner or later the sovereign would return "to the same basic ideas." ...

In September of the same year, as a result of a denunciation that, in a conversation with the bishop, Speransky mentioned the mercy shown by Napoleon to the clergy in Germany, Speransky was sent to Perm, from where he wrote his famous letter of acquittal to the sovereign. In this letter, trying to justify himself, Speransky lists with maximum completeness all possible accusations - both those that he heard from the emperor and those that, he believed, could remain unspoken.

Restoration of Speransky to the service

By a decree on August 30, which stated that "after careful and strict consideration of the actions of" Speransky, the sovereign "had no convincing reasons for suspicion," Speransky was appointed to the post of the Penza civil governor, in order to give him a way to "purify himself to the fullest extent by diligent service. ".

In March 1819, Speransky was appointed governor-general of Siberia, and the sovereign wrote in his own handwritten letter that by this appointment he wanted to clearly prove how unfairly the enemies had slandered Speransky. Service in Siberia cooled Speransky's political dreams even more.

Siberian governors were famous for their cruelty and despotism. Knowing this, the emperor instructed Speransky to thoroughly investigate all the iniquities and endowed him with the broadest powers. The new governor-general had to simultaneously revise the region entrusted to him, manage it, and develop the foundations of primary reforms. He made a personal office for himself from people loyal to him. Then he began inspection trips - he traveled around the Irkutsk province, visited Yakutia and Transbaikalia.

He established the Main Department of Trade of Siberia, the Treasury Chamber to resolve land and financial issues, took a number of measures to encourage Agriculture, trade and industry of the region. A number of important legal acts were developed and adopted. The result of Speransky's activities as Siberian Governor-General, a new chapter in the history of Siberia, was the fundamental "Code for the management of Siberia", which examines in detail the structure, administration, legal proceedings and the economy of this part of the Russian Empire.

In March 1821 Alexander allowed Speransky to return to St. Petersburg. He returned a completely different person. He was not a defender of the complete transformation of the state system, aware of his strength and sharply expressing his opinions, he was an evasive dignitary who did not disdain flattering servility even before Arakcheev and did not retreat before the commendable printed word to military settlements (1825). After the projects of transformations in Siberia worked out by him or under his supervision received the force of law, Speransky had to see the sovereign less and less often, and his hopes for a return to its former importance did not come true, although in 1821 he was appointed a member of the state council.

The death of Alexander and the uprising of the Decembrists led to another change in the fate of Speransky. He was introduced to the composition of the Supreme Criminal Court, established over the Decembrists, and played an important role in this trial.

Another important matter - the compilation of the "Complete Collection" and "Code of Laws of the Russian Empire" - Speransky completed already in the reign of Nicholas I.