Leaders: Pestel, Yushnevsky, S. Muravyov-Apostol, P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Volkonsky.

Members of the Southern Society served in the troops serving in Ukraine. The city became the center of the Southern society Tulchin. dominated in southern society Pestel whose authority was unquestioned.

Pestel developed Russian Truth program.

4. Northern Society 1821 - 1825

Leaders: N. Muravyov, Trubetskoy, Pushchin(friend of Pushkin) , Ryleev(poet), Lunin, Obolensky.

N. Muravyov developed the project Constitution". It was not a Northern Society program. The draft "Constitution" was discussed by members of the society, Muravyov did not have time to complete work on the program of the organization.

Ideas of the Decembrists

Program provisions	northern society	Southern society
Form of government	A constitutional monarchy	Republic
	Separation of powers as a guarantee against the emergence of dictatorial power in the country	Separation of powers
Suffrage	Voters: age qualification (from 21 years old), gender (male), property (not less than 500 rubles a ser.), education. Deputies: persons with real estate worth 30 thousand rubles could be elected. or 60 thousand rubles. movable property. Representatives of the propertied strata of the population could enter the parliament. This made it possible to attract accomplished educated people to govern the country.	Qualification of sex and age
Legislature	People's Council: Bicameral Parliament	People's Council: unicameral parliament
executive branch	The head of the executive branch is the emperor	The government is formed by parliament
Estates	Canceled	Canceled The creation of a "civilian" class
Serfdom	canceled	canceled
Land issue	Allotment of land to peasants - 2 acres per yard.	Allotment of land to peasants - 12 des. Preservation of private property, including noble ownership of land.
State form. devices	Federation of 14 powers. Federalism is the counterweight to a strong central government. A federal structure will better ensure the preservation of the freedoms of citizens	unitary state
Citizens' rights	Democratic rights: freedom of speech, religion, inviolability of the person, assembly, equality of all citizens before the law. The right to create public organizations (Pestel did not have this provision)	Civil and political rights were given to men from the age of 20. Democratic rights: freedom of speech, assembly, movement, religion, inviolability of the person, equality of all citizens before the law, etc.
Judicial system	Creation of a new democratic court: equality of all citizens before the court, liquidation of class courts, publicity, openness of legal proceedings, competitiveness of the judicial process, i.e. participation of a prosecutor and a lawyer, jury trial	Creation of a new democratic court: equality of all citizens before the court, liquidation of class courts, publicity, openness of legal proceedings, competitiveness of the judicial process, i.e. participation of a prosecutor and a lawyer, jury trial
		Cancellation of recruitment and liquidation of military settlements The introduction of universal military service from the age of 15.

Project Muravyov was over moderate, it is more consistent with Russian reality. The consciousness of the Russian people was monarchical.

Project Pestel was radical.

The transformation programs were based on the ideas of the Enlightenment. The Decembrists tried adapt the ideas of the Enlightenment to Russian conditions.

They were similar in their understanding of the perniciousness of autocracy and serfdom for the further development of the country.
Among them, a system of views is being formed, the implementation of which should change the foundations of Russian life.
They were opposed to the autocratic regime and serfdom and their elimination. The only thing in common was to preserve the principle of landownership.
Difference: program documents and goals as such.
in details:
On the basis of the "Union of Welfare" in the spring of 1821, 2 large revolutionary organizations arose at once: the Southern Society in Kyiv and the Northern Society in St. Petersburg. The more revolutionary and resolute Southern society was headed by P. I. Pestel, the Northern, whose attitudes were considered more moderate, was headed by Nikita Muravyov.
Southern society recognized the army as the mainstay of the movement, considering it the decisive force in the revolutionary upheaval. The members of the society intended to take power in the capital, forcing the emperor to abdicate. The new tactics of the Society required organizational changes: only the military, connected mainly with the regular units of the army, were accepted into it; discipline within the Society became tougher; all members were required to submit unconditionally to the leading center - the Directory.
In 1825, the Society of United Slavs joined them. Among which there were many enterprising people and opponents of the rule of not rushing. Sergey Muravyov-Apostol called them "chain mad dogs". Negotiations were held with a representative of the Polish Patriotic Society, the purpose of the negotiations was to recognize the independence of Poland and transfer the provinces of Lithuania, Podolia and Volyn from Russia. as well as the accession to Poland of Little Russia.

The northern society was more moderate in its goals than the southern one, but the influential radical wing (K. F. Ryleev, A. A. Bestuzhev, E. P. Obolensky, I. I. Pushchin) shared the provisions of P. I. Pestel’s Russkaya Pravda. The program documents compiled by the Decembrists reveal deep ideological contradictions in their environment. The only thing in common was to preserve the principle of landownership. Thus, it is not very clear what kind of program would be implemented if the movement was successful. The program document of the "northerners" was the Constitution of N. M. Muravyov.
The draft constitution of the Northern Society provided for the formation of the Russian Federation as part of 15 "powers".
Another idea: the transformation of the country into a parliamentary monarchy, in which almost all appointments were subject to approval by the parliament.
It was also supposed to abolish serfdom on the terms of allocating land to the peasants at the rate of 2 acres per yard, that is, large landownership was fixed.

The document of P. I. Pestel differs in the most fundamental way from the program settings of the Northern Society.
First, Pestel saw Russia as one and indivisible with a strong centralized government.
Secondly, the country was supposed to become a republic, while the issue of succession of power was resolved quite ingeniously.
Thirdly, the colonel believed that the land intended for the peasants should not be divided into households, but should be left in communal ownership.

The main reason for the failure - were separated from the people

1. Russian reality with the lack of rights of the bulk of the population and the dominance of serfdom

2. patriotic upsurge and growth of national consciousness

3. influence of the humanistic ideas of the French Enlightenment

4. indecisiveness of Alexander 1 in carrying out reforms

Secret organizations of future Decembrists:

1. "Union of Salvation" 1816-1817, St. Petersburg

30 people A.N. Muravyov, N.M. Muravyov, S.I. Muraviev-Apostol, M.I. Muraviev-Apostol, S.P. Trubetskoy, I.D. Yakushin

program: the elimination of serfdom and autocracy, the introduction of a constitution and representative government

2. "Union of Welfare" 1818-1821 Moscow, Petersburg

200 people All members of the union of salvation

program: the elimination of serfdom and autocracy, the need to form public opinion, the creation of secret and legal organizations. disagreements over the future structure of Russia.

3. Southern Society 1821-1825 Tulchin, Ukraine

P.I. Pestel, A.P. Yushnevsky, I.G. Burtsov and others.

program: "Russian Truth" P.I. Pestel. establishment of a republic. the legislative branch is a unicameral parliament, the executive branch is a sovereign duma of 5 members elected for 5 years. complete abolition of serfdom. unlimited suffrage. equality of all citizens before the law. The land is divided into two parts - public and private. the peasants receive allotments from public land.

4. Northern society 1822-1825, St. Petersburg

N.M. Muravyov, S.P. Trubetskoy, N.I. Turgenev, E.P. Obolensky, M.S. Lunin, I.I. Pushchin, K.F. Ryleev and others.

program: "Constitution" N.M. Muraviev. Elimination of autocracy and estates, equality of citizens before the law, civil liberties. the abolition of serfdom. establishment of a constitutional monarchy. the legislative branch is a bicameral parliament, the executive branch is the emperor. suffrage is limited by property qualification. preservation of the landowner's ownership of the land.

5. Society of United Slavs 1823-1823, Novgorod-Volynsky in 1825 became part of the Southern Society

A. Borisov, P. Borisov, Yu. Lyublinsky, I Gorbachevsky and others.

program: the struggle against serfdom and despotism for the creation of a democratic federation of Slavic peoples. establishment of universal civil equality.

Reprisal against the Decembrists

1. 579 people involved in the investigation into the case of the Decembrists

2. 318 people arrested

3. 289 people found guilty

4. 121 people transferred to the Supreme Court.

5. 5 people were executed on July 13, 1826 (P.I. Pestel, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, K.F. Ryleev, P.G. Kakhovsky)

the rest were sentenced to hard labor and settlement in Siberia, and also sent to the Caucasian war

The historical significance of the Decembrist movement

1. The first open attempt by noble revolutionaries to change the system of government in Russia and abolish serfdom

2. The speech of the Decembrists showed society the presence of deep social contradictions and the need for reforms

3. The Decembrists showed an example of selfless service to the Fatherland and a willingness to endure hardships for the good of the country and its people

The thing is that historically the Decembrists in Russia were the first who dared to oppose the power of the tsar. It is interesting that the rebels themselves began to study this phenomenon, they analyzed the reasons for the uprising on Senate Square and its defeat. As a result of the execution of the Decembrists, Russian society lost the very color of enlightened youth, because they came from families of the nobility, glorious participants in the war of 1812.

Who are the Decembrists

Who are the Decembrists? Briefly, they can be characterized as follows: they are members of several political societies fighting for the abolition of serfdom and the change of state power. In December 1825, they organized an uprising, which was brutally suppressed. 5 people (leaders) were put to shameful execution for officers. Decembrists-participants were exiled to Siberia, some were shot in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Causes of the uprising

Why did the Decembrists revolt? There are several reasons for this. The main one, which they all, as one, reproduced during interrogations in the Peter and Paul Fortress - the spirit of free thinking, faith in the strength of the Russian people, tired of oppression - all this was born after the brilliant victory over Napoleon. It is no coincidence that 115 people from among the Decembrists were participants in the Patriotic War of 1812. After all, during military campaigns, liberating European countries, they never encountered the barbarity of serfdom. This forced them to reconsider the attitude of "slaves and masters" towards their country.

It was obvious that serfdom had become obsolete. Fighting side by side with the common people, communicating with them, the future Decembrists came to the conclusion that people deserve a better fate than a slave existence. The peasants also hoped that after the war their situation would change for the better, because they shed blood for the sake of their homeland. But, unfortunately, the emperor and most of the nobles firmly held on to the serfs. That is why from 1814 to 1820 more than two hundred peasant uprisings broke out in the country.

The apotheosis was the rebellion against Colonel Schwartz of the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment in 1820. His cruelty to ordinary soldiers crossed all boundaries. Activists of the Decembrist movement, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, witnessed these events, as they served in this regiment. It should also be noted that a certain spirit of freethinking was instilled in most of the participants by the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum: for example, I. Pushchin and V. Kuchelbeker were its graduates, and the freedom-loving poems of A. Pushkin were used as inspirational ideas.

Southern Society of Decembrists

It should be understood that the Decembrist movement did not arise out of nowhere: it grew out of world revolutionary ideas. Pavel Pestel wrote that such thoughts go “from one end of Europe to Russia”, even covering Turkey and England, which are opposite in mentality.

The ideas of Decembrism were realized through the work of secret societies. The first of them are the Union of Salvation (Petersburg, 1816) and the Union of Welfare (1818). The second arose on the basis of the first, was less conspiratorial and included a larger number of members. In 1820, it was also dissolved due to differences of opinion.

In 1821, a new organization appeared, consisting of two Societies: Northern (in St. Petersburg, headed by Nikita Muravyov) and Southern (in Kyiv, headed by Pavel Pestel). Southern society had more reactionary views: in order to establish a republic, they proposed to kill the king. The structure of the Southern Society consisted of three departments: the first, along with P. Pestel, was headed by A. Yushnevsky, the second - by S. Muravyov-Apostol, the third - by V. Davydov and S. Volkonsky.

Decembrist leaders: 1.Pavel Ivanovich Pestel

The leader of the Southern Society, Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, was born in 1793 in Moscow. He receives an excellent education in Europe, and upon his return to Russia begins service in the Corps of Pages - especially privileged among the nobles. The pages are personally acquainted with all members of the imperial family. Here, for the first time, the freedom-loving views of the young Pestel are manifested. Having brilliantly graduated from the Corps, he continues to serve in the Lithuanian regiment with the rank of ensign of the Life Guards.

Pavel Pestel

During the war of 1812, Pestel was seriously wounded. Having recovered, he returns to the service, bravely fights. By the end of the war, Pestel had many high awards, including golden award weapons. After World War II, he was transferred to serve in the Cavalier Guard Regiment - at that time the most prestigious place of service.

While in St. Petersburg, Pestel learns about a certain secret society (the Union of Salvation) and soon joins it. Pavel's revolutionary life begins. In 1821, he headed the Southern Society - in this he was helped by magnificent eloquence, a wonderful mind and the gift of persuasion. Thanks to these qualities, in due time he achieves unity of views of the Southern and Northern societies.

Pestel's constitution

In 1823, the program of the Southern Society, drawn up by Pavel Pestel, was adopted. It was unanimously accepted by all members of the association - the future Decembrists. Briefly, it contained the following points:

• Russia should become a republic, united and indivisible, consisting of 10 districts. State administration will be carried out by the People's Council (legislative) and the State Duma (executive).
• In resolving the issue of serfdom, Pestel proposed to immediately abolish it, dividing the land into two parts: for the peasants and for the landowners. It was assumed that the latter would rent it out for farming. Researchers believe that if the reform of 1861 to abolish serfdom went according to Pestel's plan, then the country would very soon embark on a bourgeois, economically progressive path of development.
• The abolition of the institution of estates. All the people of the country are called citizens, they are equally equal before the law. Personal freedoms and inviolability of the person and home were declared.
• Tsarism was categorically not accepted by Pestel, so he demanded the physical destruction of the entire royal family.

Russkaya Pravda was supposed to come into force as soon as the uprising was over. It will be the basic law of the land.

Northern Society of Decembrists

The northern society begins to exist in 1821, in the spring. Initially, it consisted of two groups, which later united. It should be noted that the first group was more radical, its members shared the views of Pestel and fully accepted his "Russian Truth".

The activists of the Northern Society were Nikita Muravyov (leader), Kondraty Ryleyev (deputy), princes Obolensky and Trubetskoy. Ivan Pushchin played an important role in the Society.

The Northern Society operated mainly in St. Petersburg, but it also had a branch in Moscow.

The path of unification of the Northern and Southern societies was long and very painful. They had cardinal differences on some issues. However, at the convention in 1824, it was decided to begin the process of unification in 1826. The uprising in December 1825 destroyed these plans.

2. Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov

Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov comes from a noble family. Born in 1795 in St. Petersburg. He received an excellent education in Moscow. The war of 1812 found him in the rank of collegiate registrar at the Ministry of Justice. He runs away from home for the war, making a brilliant career during the battles.

Nikita Muraviev

After World War II, he began to work as part of secret societies: the Union of Salvation and the Union of Welfare. In addition, writes the charter for the latter. He believes that a republican form of government should be established in the country, only a military coup can help this. During a trip to the south, he meets P. Pestel. Nevertheless, it organizes its own structure - the Northern Society, but does not break ties with a like-minded person, but, on the contrary, actively cooperates.

He writes the first version of his version of the Constitution in 1821, but it did not find a response from other members of the Societies. A little later, he will reconsider his views and release a new program offered by the Northern Society.

Muraviev's constitution

The constitution of N. Muravyov included the following positions:

• Russia should become a constitutional monarchy: the legislative power is the Supreme Duma, consisting of two chambers; executive - the emperor (concurrently - the supreme commander). Separately, it was stipulated that he did not have the right to start and end the war on his own. After a maximum of three readings, the emperor had to sign the law. He had no right to impose a veto, he could only delay the signing in time.
• With the abolition of serfdom, the lands of the landowners should be left to the owners, and to the peasants - their plots, plus 2 acres to each house.
• The right to vote is limited to landowners. Women, nomads and non-owners were kept away from him.
• Abolish the institution of estates, equalize everyone with one name: citizen. The judicial system is the same for everyone. Muraviev was aware that his version of the constitution would meet fierce resistance, so he provided for its introduction with the use of weapons.

Preparations for the uprising

The secret societies described above lasted 10 years, after which the uprising began. It should be said that the decision to revolt arose quite spontaneously.

While in Taganrog, Alexander I dies. Due to the lack of heirs, the next emperor was to be Constantine, Alexander's brother. The problem was that he secretly abdicated at one time. Accordingly, the board passed to the youngest brother, Nikolai. The people were in confusion, not knowing about the renunciation. However, Nicholas decides to take the oath on December 14, 1825.

Nicholas I

The death of Alexander became the starting point for the rebels. They understand that it is time to act, despite the fundamental differences between the Southern and Northern societies. They were well aware that they had catastrophically little time to prepare well for the uprising, but they believed that it was criminal to miss such a moment. This is exactly what Ivan Pushchin wrote to his lyceum friend Alexander Pushkin.

Gathered on the night before December 14, the rebels prepare a plan of action. It boiled down to the following points:

• Appoint Prince Trubetskoy as commander.
• Occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress. A. Yakubovich and A. Bulatov were appointed responsible for this.
• Lieutenant P. Kakhovsky was supposed to kill Nikolai. This action was supposed to be a signal to action for the rebels.
• Carry out propaganda work among the soldiers and win them over to the side of the rebels.
• To convince the Senate to swear allegiance to the emperor was assigned to Kondraty Ryleev and Ivan Pushchin.

Unfortunately, not everything was thought out by the future Decembrists. History says that traitors from among them made a denunciation of the impending rebellion to Nicholas, which finally convinced him to appoint an oath to the Senate in the early morning of December 14th.

The uprising: how did it go

The uprising did not go according to the scenario that the rebels had planned. The Senate manages to swear allegiance to the emperor even before the campaign.

However, regiments of soldiers are lined up in battle formation on Senate Square, everyone is waiting for decisive action from the leadership. Ivan Pushchin and Kondraty Ryleev arrive there and assure them of the imminent arrival of the command, Prince Trubetskoy. The latter, having betrayed the rebels, sat out in the tsarist General Staff. He failed to take the decisive action that was required of him. As a result, the uprising was crushed.

Arrests and trial

In St. Petersburg, the first arrests and executions of the Decembrists began to take place. An interesting fact is that it was not the Senate, as it was supposed to, but the Supreme Court specially organized by Nicholas I for this case, who did not deal with the trial of the arrested. The very first, even before the uprising, on December 13, Pavel Pestel was arrested.

The fact is that shortly before the uprising, he accepted A. Mayboroda as a member of the Southern Society, who turned out to be a traitor. Pestel is arrested in Tulchin and taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Mayboroda also wrote a denunciation of N. Muravyov, who was arrested in his own estate.

579 people were under investigation. 120 of them were exiled to hard labor in Siberia (among them, Nikita Muravyov), all were shamefully demoted to military ranks. Five rebels were sentenced to death.

execution

Addressing the court about a possible way to execute the Decembrists, Nikolai notes that blood should not be shed. Thus, they, the heroes of the Patriotic War, are sentenced to the shameful gallows ...

Who were the executed Decembrists? Their surnames are as follows: Pavel Pestel, Pyotr Kakhovsky, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin. The verdict was read out on July 12, and they were hanged on July 25, 1826. The place of execution of the Decembrists was equipped for a long time: a gallows with a special mechanism was built. However, it was not without overlays: three convicts fell off their hinges, they had to be hung again.

In the place in the Peter and Paul Fortress where the Decembrists were executed, there is now a monument, which is an obelisk and a granite composition. It symbolizes the courage with which the executed Decembrists fought for their ideals.

Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg

Found an error? Select it and left click Ctrl+Enter.

In February 1821, in the south of Russia, the secret organization was revived again. From the revolutionary-minded members of the Tulchinskaya council of the Union of Welfare, a secret Southern Society of Decembrists is created. It included three departments. Tulchinskaya was the central government. The headquarters of the 2nd Army stationed in Ukraine was located in Tulchin. P.I. was at the head of this council. Pestel is the favorite adjutant of the commander-in-chief of the army, Field Marshal P.Kh. Wittgenstein. Vasilkovskaya council was headed by Colonel S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, and Kaminskaya - General Prince S.G. Volkonsky. A little later, a Directory of three persons was elected: P.I. Pestel (colonel, commander of the Vyatka infantry regiment), elected chairman of the society, quartermaster general of the 2nd army A.P. Yushnevsky and Petersburger Nikita Muravyov - to communicate with the Northern society. The directory supervised all departments

Every year, in January, starting from 1822, congresses of the Southern Society met in Kyiv to discuss organizational, tactical and program issues.

Work on his constitutional draft P.I. Pestel began in 1819-1820. in the midst of the activity of the Welfare Union. But the name Russkaya Pravda, which is associated with the most ancient monuments of Russian legislation of the time of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise, was given only in 1824. The full name of this document: both for the people and for the Provisional Sovereignty.” The last words indicate the direct purpose of the document: it is, first of all, an order to the interim government, which will be created as a result of the coup, the program of its activities. At the same time, this is a project for the future state structure of Russia, i.e. draft constitution. We come across significant sections of the text in Russkaya Pravda, representing a concentrated socio-economic analysis of the state of affairs in Russia.

In 1824-1825. Pestel continued to work on the text of Russkaya Pravda.

Russkaya Pravda posed two central questions: the overthrow of the autocracy and the establishment of a republic; the abolition of serfdom.

In order to prevent the restoration of the old regime after the revolution, P. Pestel suggested for a while, until the new order was strengthened, to hand over full power to the Provisional Government with dictatorial powers, and then the Provisional Government was to transfer full power to elected bodies.

Administrative division. Russia was divided into 10 regions and 3 appanages. Destinies: Capital (Nizhny Novgorod or Moscow), Donskoy and Kirghiz. Each region consisted of 5 provinces or districts, the provinces were divided into counties, and the counties into volosts. In each volost, 1000 male inhabitants lived.

The entire Russian people is one estate - civil. All Russians are painted according to volosts. Every Russian citizen is a member of some volost. The volost has two lists for its members: Civil and Scarb. Citizens who have some kind of property in the volost are included in the Treasury List. The tax is taken from the property, so the same person could be recorded in the Treasury lists of many volosts, but in the Civil list each citizen could be recorded only in one volost, because this list meant a political state.

The highest authorities. The supreme legislative power was transferred to the People's Veche - a unicameral parliament. It consisted of people's representatives elected for 5 years. Every year the fifth part was updated. The chairman was elected annually from among the members who sat in the last year. The People's Veche discussed and adopted laws, declared war and made peace.

Supreme - executive power belonged to the Sovereign Duma. It consisted of 5 members, elected for 5 years. Every day one of the Duma left and was replaced by another. The Chairman has been in session for the last fifth year.

The Sovereign Duma declared wars and negotiated. All ministries worked according to the orders of the Sovereign Duma. She had her own office.

In addition to these bodies, a supervisory authority was provided so that the two powers (legislative and executive) would not get out of control.

The vigilant power was entrusted to the Supreme Council, which consisted of 120 members, called boyars. Boyars were appointed for life. The provinces elected candidates to the Supreme Council, and the People's Veche of them appointed members to the Supreme Council. The chairman was elected for a year by the Council itself.

The People's Veche sent the laws adopted by it for approval to the Supreme Council, only after that the law received force.

The Council appointed from among its members one general-m | "0curator in each region (custodian) and in each ministry. The Supreme Council could bring an official to trial. The one who was prosecuted was tried in the usual judicial order. The governors-general also had duties in relation to regional The conclusion follows from this: the Council kept within the bounds of legality the People's Veche and the Sovereign Duma.

The Supreme Council appointed the commander-in-chief of the acting army.

Social program P.I. Pestel was of a radical nature. He demanded the abolition of serfdom and the gratuitous allocation of land to all peasants. P.I. Pestel counted 25

that the land, by natural right, is the property of all people, and, therefore, each person must have his share in it, the so-called. the earth is the main source of "sustenance of mankind". But according to modern laws, private property is established, and the right to property is so deeply rooted in the minds of people that it is impossible to completely break it. However, it is necessary to find ways to combine these two trends and resolve the contradiction between them. Plan P.I. Pestel was not in the elimination of land ownership, but in the transformation of all Russians into owners.

Russkaya Pravda lists three main principles that should guide the solution of the land issue:

“1 The liberation of the peasants from slavery should not deprive the nobles of the income they receive from their estates.

2. This liberation should not produce unrest and unrest in the state, for which the supreme government is obliged to use merciless severity against any violators of public peace.

3. This liberation should bring the peasants a better position against the present, and not give them an imaginary freedom!

As you can see, the author wants both the wolves to be fed and the sheep to be safe. On the one hand, the principle was proclaimed: the peasants must receive real freedom, i.e. opportunity to work on their land. On the other hand, the nobles must keep their income.

Pestel sought to reconcile these two mutually exclusive principles by dividing the entire land fund of the country into two parts: public land and private land. Public land was transferred to the disposal (but not ownership) of the volost society - the primary administrative and economic unit of the country, therefore it was called "volost", and every citizen of the country had to be "assigned" to one or another volost. Public land could not be sold or mortgaged, but was provided for the free use of a citizen if he wanted to engage in agriculture. The public land was intended for the production of a "necessary product".

By providing a guaranteed minimum of land to all those in need, Pestel hoped to put up an insurmountable barrier to the dispossession of land and pauperization (impoverishment) of the peasant.

The public fund was supposed to include state and monastic lands, and partial confiscation of landowners' lands was also envisaged.

"Division of lands"1

10000-	5000-	5000-
9000 -	4500-	4500-	500-	5000-
8000-	4000-	4000-	1000-	5000-
7000-	3500 -	3500-	1500-	5000-
6000-	3000-	3000-	2000-	5000-
5000-	2500-	2500-	2500-	5000-
4000-	2000-	2000-	2000-	4000-
3000-	1500-	1500-	1500-	3000-
2000-	1000-	1000-	1000-	2000-
1000-	500-	500-	500-	1000-

From this table follows:

1. If a landowner has 10,000 acres of land, then half was taken away from him free of charge.

2. If the landlord had less than 10,000 acres of land, then half was taken away in favor of the volost, and in the other volost, land was added up to 5,000 acres.

3. If the landowner had less than 5000 acres of land, then he was given for the selected half of the land for the volost exactly the same amount of acres of land in the other volost.

1 "The division of land" - a fragment from the "Russian Truth", contains a digital layout-\u003e at the mystical alienation of landlords' land in favor of the volost.

Consequently, Pestel's project did not completely destroy landownership, although it dealt a serious blow to large landowners.

In each volost, a volost bank was created, from which every citizen of the volost could take a loan to set up his own economy.

The source of the "surplus" is the second half of the land, which is privately owned. Private owners are landowners. Everyone can buy land. It was assumed that large-scale private landownership would be encouraged, since it would be a source of accumulation of capital directed to the "arrangement of manufactories, factories, plants ...".

Pestel understood the freedom of industry as the freedom of economic activity. The hired worker will have real freedom: to be hired in the city or to go to the countryside, having received the plot due to him and a loan from the bank.

Pestel's agrarian project was directed not only against feudalism, but also against certain evils of capitalism. He hoped that in the new society it would be possible to use the resources for the growth of productive forces opened up by capitalism, and at the same time to limit the possibilities of exploiting the working people, to prevent their transformation into poor proletarians.

The coexistence of two "worlds", which Pestel planned, seems utopian. Private landed property, designed to create surplus and abundance, would inevitably undermine public agriculture. This would be facilitated both by the preservation of large landlord property and by the dominance of the private capitalist element in industry and trade.

And "at the same time, it is necessary to emphasize the agrarian project of P. Pestel was more radical than the reform of 1861, carried out almost half a century later at a higher level of economic and political development of Russia, in a revolutionary situation. By 1861, the peasants owned 1/3 of all cultivated land, as a result of the reform, 1/5 of the peasant allotments were cut off by the landlords. P.I. Pestel intended to give the peasants 1/2 of the land suitable for cultivation.

Political rights. According to Russkaya Pravda, all males who have reached the age of 12 would have the right to vote.

P. Pestel paid great attention to the need to introduce general democratic rights and freedoms: the inviolability of the individual, the equality of all before the law, freedom of speech, conscience and assembly, freedom of trade. However, he also allowed the restriction of these rights: the Christian religion was provided with state support, and the creation of political parties is generally prohibited. Pestel motivated the latter by fears of the destruction of the unity of the people and the new social order.

P. Pestel considered a military revolutionary coup with the immediate liquidation of the monarchy and the destruction (physical) of members of the royal family in order to eliminate the possibility of restoring this form of government as a means of achieving the proposed socio-political transformations. The transformation was entrusted to the Provisional Supreme Board, which was established for 10-15 years, consisted of 5 directors headed by the Dictator.

Pestel presented a project for a republic, but made its implementation dependent on a revolutionary dictatorship introduced for a considerable period, which in itself could be fraught with grave consequences. Standing up for strict and independent legality, the Decembrist considered it possible to establish a revolutionary dictatorship, practically not bound by law in its actions. In general, Pestel's Russkaya Pravda opened up much wider opportunities for Russia than in the projects of M. M. Speransky for the transition to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. But, even if it remained unrealized, it retained its historical significance as the first project of a republican constitution in Russia.

Having accepted "Russian Truth" as a program, the southern society began to develop tactical plans and, first of all, to coordinate the actions of the Southern and Northern societies by the chain of their unification. During 1823, the southerners sent their representatives, but did not achieve success. In March 1824, P.I. himself went to St. Petersburg. Pestel.