Scheme of state administration under Catherine 2. Catherine's "mandate" and the activities of the Legislative Commission

Measures were taken to strengthen the nobility in the center and locally. For the first time, a document appeared in Russian legislation that determined the activities of local government bodies and the court. This system of local organs lasted until the Great Reforms of the 1960s. The administrative division of the country introduced by Catherine II was preserved until 1917.

On November 7, 1775, the “Institution for the Administration of the Provinces of the All-Russian Empire” was adopted. The country was divided into provinces, in each of which 300-400 thousand male souls were supposed to live. By the end of Catherine's reign in Russia, there were 50 provinces. The governors were at the head of the provinces, reporting directly to the empress, and their power was significantly expanded. The capitals and several other provinces were subordinate to governors-general.

Under the governor, a provincial government was created, the provincial prosecutor was subordinate to him. Finance in the province was handled by the Treasury, headed by the vice-governor. The provincial land surveyor was engaged in land management. Schools, hospitals, almshouses were in charge of the Order of public charity (to look after - to look after, patronize, take care of); For the first time, state institutions with social functions were created.

The provinces were divided into counties with 20-30 thousand male souls in each. Since there were clearly not enough cities - centers of counties, Catherine II renamed many large rural settlements into cities, making them administrative centers. The main authority of the county was the Nizhny Zemstvo Court, headed by a police captain, elected by the local nobility. A county treasurer and a county surveyor were appointed to the counties, following the model of the provinces.

Using the theory of separation of powers and improving the management system, Catherine II separated the judiciary from the executive. All estates, except for the serfs (for them, the landowner was the owner and judge), had to take part in local government. Each estate received its own court. The landowner was judged by the Upper Zemstvo Court in the provinces and the district court in the counties. State peasants were judged by the Upper massacre in the province and the Lower massacre in the district, the townspeople - by the city magistrate in the district and the provincial magistrate in the province. All of these courts were elected, with the exception of the lower courts, which were appointed by the governor. The Senate became the highest judicial body in the country, and in the provinces - the chambers of the criminal and civil courts, whose members were appointed by the state. New for Russia was the Constituent Court, designed to stop strife and reconcile those who quarrel. He was unassailable. The separation of powers was not complete, since the governor could interfere in the affairs of the court.

The city was singled out as a separate administrative unit. It was headed by the mayor, endowed with all rights and powers. Strict police control was introduced in the cities. The city was divided into parts (districts), which were under the supervision of a private bailiff, and the parts, in turn, were divided into quarters that were controlled by a quarterly warden.

After the provincial reform, all collegiums ceased to function, with the exception of the Foreign Collegium, the Military Collegium and the Admiralty Collegium. The functions of the collegiums were transferred to the provincial bodies. In 1775, the Zaporozhian Sich was liquidated, and most of the Cossacks were resettled in the Kuban.

The existing system of administration of the country's territory in the new conditions solved the problem of strengthening the power of the nobility in the field, its goal was to prevent new popular uprisings. The fear of the rebels was so great that Catherine II ordered to rename the Yaik River into the Urals, and the Yaik Cossacks into the Urals. More than doubled the number of local officials.

Letters granted to the nobility and cities

April 21, 1785, on the birthday of Catherine II, at the same time, letters of commendation were issued to the nobility and cities. It is known that Catherine II also prepared a draft letter of grant to the state (state) peasants, but it was not published due to fears of noble discontent.

By issuing two charters, Catherine II regulated the legislation on the rights and obligations of the estates. In accordance with the "Diploma on the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble Russian nobility", it was exempted from compulsory service, personal taxes, and corporal punishment. The estates were declared the full property of the landowners, who, in addition, had the right to start their own factories and plants. The nobles could only sue their peers and without a noble court could not be deprived of noble honor, life and estate. The nobles of the province and county constituted the provincial and county corporations of the nobility, respectively, and elected their leaders, as well as officials of local government. Provincial and district noble assemblies had the right to make representations to the government about their needs. The charter granted to the nobility consolidated and legally formalized the power of the nobility in Russia. The dominant class was given the name "noble". "The letter of rights and benefits to the cities of the Russian Empire" defined the rights and obligations of the urban population, the system of governance in cities. All townspeople were recorded in the City Philistine Book and constituted a "city society". It was declared that "philistines or real city dwellers are those who have a house or other structure, or a place, or land in that city." The urban population was divided into six categories. The first of these included the nobles and clergy who lived in the city; the second included merchants, divided into three guilds; in the third - guild artisans; the fourth category consisted of foreigners permanently living in the city; the fifth - eminent citizens, who included persons with higher education and capitalists. The sixth - the townspeople, who lived by crafts or work. Residents of the city every three years elected a self-government body - the General City Duma, the mayor and judges. The General City Duma elected an executive body - a six-member Duma, which included one representative from each category of the urban population. The city duma decided matters on improvement, public education, compliance with the rules of trade, etc. only with the knowledge of the mayor appointed by the government.

The letter of grant placed all six categories of the urban population under the control of the state. The real power in the city was in the hands of the mayor, the council of the deanery and the governor.

Education reform

Catherine II attached great importance to education in the life of the country. In the 60-70s of the XVIII century. she, together with the president of the Academy of Arts and the director of the land gentry corps, I. I. Betsky, made an attempt to create a system of closed class educational institutions. Their structure was based on the idea of the priority of upbringing over education. Considering that “education is the root of all evil and good,” Catherine II and I. I. Betskoy decided to create a “new breed of people.” According to the plan of I. I. Betsky, Orphanages were opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens with a department for bourgeois girls in St. Petersburg, the Commercial School in Moscow, and the Cadet Corps were transformed.

The views of I. I. Betsky were progressive for their time, providing for the humane upbringing of children, the development of natural talents in them, the prohibition of corporal punishment, and the organization of women's education. However, "hothouse" conditions, isolation from real life, from the influence of the family and society, of course, made I. I. Betsky's attempts to form a "new man" utopian.

The general line of development of Russian education did not go through the utopian undertakings of I. and Betsky, but along the path of creating a system of a comprehensive school. It was initiated by the school reform of 1782-1786. The Serbian educator F. I. Janković de Mirievo played an important role in carrying out this reform. Two-year small public schools were established in county towns, and four-year main public schools were established in provincial towns. In the newly created schools, unified dates for the beginning and end of classes were introduced, a classroom lesson system, methods of teaching disciplines and educational literature, and unified curricula were developed.

New schools, together with closed gentry buildings, noble boarding schools and gymnasiums at Moscow University, formed the structure of secondary education in Russia. According to experts, by the end of the century there were 550 educational institutions in Russia with a total number of 60-70 thousand students, not counting home education. Education, like all other spheres of the country's life, basically had a class character.

A. N. Radishchev

The Peasant War, the ideas of Russian and French enlighteners, the Great French Revolution and the War of Independence in North America (1775-1783), which led to the formation of the United States, the emergence of Russian anti-serfdom thought in the person of N. I. Novikov, advanced deputies of the Legislative Commission influenced the formation views of Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev (1749-1802). In "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", in the ode "Liberty", in "Conversation about what is the son of the Fatherland" A. N. Radishchev called for the "complete destruction of slavery" and the transfer of land to the peasants. He believed that "autocracy is the most repugnant state of human nature" and insisted on its revolutionary overthrow. A. N. Radishchev called a true patriot, a true son of the Fatherland, the one who fights for the interests of the people, “for freedom - a priceless gift, the source of all great deeds.” For the first time in Russia, a call was made for the revolutionary overthrow of the autocracy and serfdom.

“A rebel is worse than Pugachev,” Catherine II assessed the first Russian revolutionary. By her order, the circulation of the book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" was confiscated, and its author was arrested and sentenced to death, replaced by a ten-year exile in the Ilim prison in Siberia.

Pavel I

Some historians call the reign of Paul I (1796-1801) "unenlightened absolutism", others - "military-police dictatorship", others consider Paul "Russian Hamlet", others - "romantic emperor". However, even those historians who find positive traits in Paul's reign admit that he equated autocracy with personal despotism.

Paul I came to the throne after the death of his mother at the age of 42, already a mature, mature person. Catherine II, having given her son Gatchina near St. Petersburg, removed him from the court. In Gatchina, Pavel introduced strict rules based on iron discipline and asceticism, opposing them to the luxury and wealth of the St. Petersburg court. Having become emperor, he tried to strengthen the regime by strengthening discipline and power in order to exclude all manifestations of liberalism and freethinking in Russia. Characteristic features of Paul were harshness, imbalance and irascibility. He believed that everything in the country should be subject to the orders established by the tsar, he put diligence and accuracy in the first place, did not tolerate objections, sometimes reaching tyranny.

In 1797, Paul issued the "Institution on the Imperial Family", which canceled Peter's decree on succession to the throne. From now on, the throne was supposed to pass strictly along the male line from father to son, and in the absence of sons, to the eldest of the brothers. For the maintenance of the imperial house, an department of “destinies” was formed, which managed the lands that belonged to the imperial family and the peasants who lived on them. The order of service of the nobles was tightened, the effect of the Charter to the nobility was limited. Prussian orders were planted in the army.

In 1797, the Manifesto on the three-day corvee was published. He forbade landlords to use peasants for field work on Sundays, recommending that corvée be limited to three days a week.

Paul I took the Order of Malta under his protection, and when Napoleon captured Malta in 1798, he declared war on France in alliance with England and Austria. When England occupied Malta, having won it from the French, a break in relations with England and an alliance with France followed. By agreement with Napoleon, Paul sent 40 regiments of Don Cossacks to conquer India in order to annoy the British.

Paul's further stay in power was fraught with a loss of political stability for the country. The foreign policy of the emperor did not meet the interests of Russia either. On March 12, 1801, with the participation of the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Alexander I, the last palace coup in the history of Russia was carried out. Paul I was assassinated in the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg.

The term "enlightened absolutism" is often used to characterize the domestic policy of Catherine's time. Under Catherine, the autocracy was strengthened, the bureaucracy was strengthened, the country was centralized and the system of government was unified. The main idea was to criticize the outgoing feudal society.

Imperial council and Xie's transformation nata. On December 15, 1763, according to Panin's project, the Senate was reorganized. It was divided into 6 departments, headed by chief prosecutors, headed by the prosecutor general. Each department had certain powers. The general powers of the Senate were reduced, in particular, it lost the legislative initiative and became the body of control over the activities of the state apparatus and the highest judicial authority. The center of legislative activity moved directly to Catherine and her office with secretaries of state.

Fixed commission. An attempt was made to convene the Legislative Commission, which would systematize the laws. The main goal is to clarify the people's needs for comprehensive reforms. On December 14, 1766, Catherine II published a manifesto on the convening of a commission and decrees on the procedure for electing deputies. More than 600 deputies took part in the commission, 33% of them were elected from the nobility, 36% - from the townspeople, which also included the nobles, 20% - from the rural population (state peasants). The interests of the Orthodox clergy were represented by a deputy from the Synod. As the guiding document of the Commission of 1767, the Empress prepared the "Order" - a theoretical justification for enlightened absolutism. The first meeting was held in the Faceted Chamber in Moscow. Due to the conservatism of the deputies, the Commission had to be dissolved.

Provincial reform. On November 7, 1775, the “Institution for the Administration of the Provinces of the All-Russian Empire” was adopted - a reform of the administrative-territorial division of the Russian Empire. The country was divided into 50 provinces, each of which consisted of 10-12 counties. A uniform provincial government system was established: a governor appointed by the emperor, provincial government exercising executive power, the Treasury (tax collection, spending), the Order of Public Charity (schools, hospitals, shelters, etc.). Courts were created, built according to a strictly estate principle - for nobles, townspeople, state peasants. The provincial division introduced by Catherine II was preserved until 1917;

Legislation on estates. On April 21, 1785, two charters were issued: "Charter to the nobility" (secured all the class rights and privileges of the nobles) and "Charter to the cities" (formalized the rights and privileges of the "third estate" - the townspeople). The urban estate was divided into six categories, received limited self-government rights, elected the mayor and members of the city Duma. The clergy lost their autonomous existence due to the secularization of church lands (1764), which made it possible to exist without the help of the state and independently of it. After the reform, the clergy became dependent on the state that financed it.

It was the innumerable abuses of the administration and the widespread discontent of the population that forced Catherine II to pay attention to this side of Russian public life. In 1766, Catherine issued a manifesto on the election of deputies from all localities and positions to the commission to discuss local needs. The nobles expelled a deputy from each county; city inhabitants, one from the city; other estates and ranks one by one from their province.

The election of deputies and the presentation of orders to them took place under the leadership of an elected leader for noble societies and an elected head for urban ones. In all orders, a very definite idea was expressed about the need to form local self-government with the participation of public forces and about limiting the broad powers of crown officials. The result of such a social order was the emergence of the most significant legislative acts until the second half of the 19th century, defining and enshrining certain principles of local self-government on the territory of the Russian Empire: the Establishment on Provinces (1775-1780) and the Letter of Complaint for the rights and benefits of the cities of the Russian Empire (Gorodovoe Position) (1785).

Under Catherine II, the development of state administration and local self-government continued. In November 1775, the "Institution for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire" was published. In the introductory part of this document, it was noted that the need for a new reform is due to the fact that the existing provinces are very large in size, and the structure of provincial government is imperfect. Under Catherine II, the number of provinces was increased to 51. The capital provinces and large regions (they included two provinces each) were now headed by major dignitaries and governors responsible to the queen. They were endowed, as a rule, with emergency powers. The provinces were governed by governors appointed by the Senate and provincial boards (the latter, like landrats, were actually subordinate to the governors).

Dividing the empire into provinces and districts, placing governors at the head of the provinces and creating local governments, where local elected people sat along with indigenous officials, Catherine sought to implement the principle of decentralization of power and create separate self-governing units on the ground.

All officials and institutions of the regions (provinces) were divided into three groups: 1. The first - administrative and police - included the governor, the provincial government and the Order of public charity (this body consisted of assessors from provincial class courts and managed schools, medical and charitable institutions, "working" and "straight" houses). 2. The second group of provincial institutions were financial and economic. The main one was the Treasury, whose functions included tax affairs, financial control, management of state property, contracts, supervision of private trade and industry, conducting accounting and statistical work on audits - population censuses. As a rule, the vice-governor headed the treasury chamber. 3. The third group of provincial institutions included the judiciary - the chambers of the criminal and the chamber of the civil court. In the provinces of that time, the upper zemstvo court functioned for the nobles, the provincial magistrate - for the townspeople, the upper reprisal - for state, palace peasants, coachmen. In the provinces there also existed a prosecutorial service headed by the provincial prosecutor. Of particular interest is another document - "Charter on the rights and benefits of the cities of the Russian Empire", adopted by Catherine II in 1785. "Charter on the rights and benefits of the cities of the Russian Empire" in 1785 established the rights and privileges of cities. It secured the city’s ownership of “lands, gardens, fields, pastures, meadows, rivers, fishing, forests, groves, bushes, empty places, water or windmills that belonged to it ...”. Cities got the opportunity to have schools, mills, taverns, taverns, gerbergs, taverns, organize fairs, set places and times for trade. The townspeople were obliged to bear the established "burdens", i.e. duties and fees, which local authorities could not increase without the permission of the government. Nobles, military and civil officials were completely exempted from taxes and services. Each city had to have its own coat of arms. The rights of the population were protected by the city magistrate, who ensured that it was not subject to new duties and fees without approval. The magistrate interceded about the needs of the city before higher institutions. The urban population was divided into 6 categories or electoral curia, entered in the city philistine book: 1. The category of "real city dwellers" included persons who owned real estate within the city. 2. Owners of capital of a certain amount belonged to the category of guild merchants. 3. Belonging to the category of guild artisans was determined by the record in any guild. 4. The definition for the category of out-of-town and foreign guests followed from its very name. 5. The grounds for belonging to one of the 7 divisions of the category of "eminent citizens" were: two-time appointment of an elected position in the city, a university or academic diploma for the title of a scientist or artist issued by Russian main schools (not foreign ones), capital of a certain amount, employment in a wholesale ( not shop) trade, the possession of sea ships. 6. To the 6th category "townspeople" belonged to persons engaged in any kind of fishing.

Elections to the General City Duma were held once every three years. The mayor presided over the General City Duma. When voting, vowels from each category had only one vote, so it did not matter that the number of vowels from different categories was different. The General Duma elected from among its members the Six-voice Duma, which fell to the lot of the most intensive activity in managing the current city affairs. The composition of this institution included the mayor and six vowels - one from each category of the "city society", which was supposed to include the entire population of the city's permanent population, and belonging to which was determined not by estate status, but by a certain property qualification. The six-member Duma was not only the executive body of the General Duma. It was subject to the same range of issues as for the General Duma. The only difference was that the latter met to consider more complex issues, and the former - for the daily conduct of current affairs. The competence of the six-voice Duma included the following areas of life of the "city society": -providing the urban population with food; -prevention of quarrels and lawsuits between the city and neighboring cities and villages; - protection of order; -providing the city with the necessary supplies; - protection of city buildings, construction of squares necessary for the city, marinas, barns, shops; -increase in city revenues; resolution of controversial issues that arose in the workshops and guilds. In addition to the General and Six-voice Dumas, the Regulations of 1785 also established a third body - the meeting of the “city society”. At the beginning of 1786, new institutions were introduced in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and then in other cities of the Empire. However, in most county towns, simplified self-government was soon introduced: a direct meeting of all members of the city society and with it a small elected council of representatives of different groups of the urban population to manage current affairs. In small urban settlements, the collegiate principle was completely destroyed, and all self-government was represented by the so-called "city elders".

At the first acquaintance with the Letter of Complaint to the cities, it gives the impression of a broadly conceived reform, but in reality its results, like the reform laid down in the Institution of the Provinces, turned out to be rather miserable. The local self-government of the time of Catherine suffered the same fate as the Petrine landrats and zemstvo commissars. Instead of subordinating the administration to the control of local elected bodies, the Institution of Governorates, on the contrary, gives the bureaucracy, accustomed to power and arbitrariness, the right to control and lead young, newly created institutions, in connection with which the role of new self-government bodies remained extremely insignificant until the reform of 1864. the year when zemstvo and new city institutions were introduced.

But, despite this, the significance of Catherine's reforms can hardly be overestimated: if Peter's reforms, with individual attempts to call society to the manifestation of amateur activity, generally boiled down to centralization and the imposition of bureaucracy, then Catherine's legislative acts were aimed at decentralizing power and creating local public administration, with who had to share their power with crown officials: "The institution of the provinces of Catherine II cannot but be called the main legislation for our local government," noted A.D. Gradovsky.

It is the legislation of Catherine II that can be considered the first attempt to form Russian municipal law.

All members of the “city society” could participate in it, but only those who had reached the age of 25 and had capital, the interest on which brought income of at least 50 rubles, had the right to vote and passive suffrage. The competence of this assembly included: - elections of the mayor, burgomasters and ratmans, assessors of the provincial magistrate and the conscientious court, elders and deputies to compile the city philistine book; -presentation to the governor of their views on the needs of the city; - issuance of resolutions; - preparation of responses to the proposals of the governor; -exclusion from the "city society" of citizens defamed by the court. The meeting of the "city society" could only meet with the permission of the governor-general or the governor once every three years in the winter. However, in the provinces, the implementation of the City Regulations faced many difficulties, and simplified self-government had to be introduced. Instead of three bodies - meetings of the "city society", general and six-voice thoughts - only two turned out: a direct meeting of all citizens and a small elected council of representatives of different groups of the urban population to carry out common affairs. The most significant reform reforms were carried out in the early 60s of the 19th century, when, shortly after the abolition of serfdom, Alexander II signed a decree to the ruling Senate on the introduction of the Regulations on Zemstvo institutions from January 1, 1864. The main factor that contributed to the birth of the Zemstvo was the decree of February 19, 1861, according to which more than 20 million serfs received "freedom". Immediately after the abolition of serfdom, the peasant social structure in the countryside (according to the Regulations of 1861) consisted of estate volosts. The volost administration consisted of the volost gathering, the volost foreman with the volost board and the volost peasant court. The positions of the peasant public administration were filled by choice for three years. The village assembly and the village headman constituted the rural public administration. The gathering elected rural officials, resolved cases on the use of communal land, issues of public needs, improvement, charity, literacy training for members of rural society, carried out the layout of state taxes, zemstvo and secular money collections, etc. The village headman was endowed with extensive powers both in public affairs, within the competence of the rural public administration, and administrative and police (protection of public order, security of persons and property, passport control). In the absence of the village headman, the decisions of the village meeting were considered illegal.

Zemskaya (1864) and city (1870) reforms pursued the goal of decentralizing management and developing the beginnings of local self-government in Russia. The reforms were based on two ideas. The first is the electivity of power: all local self-government bodies were elected and controlled by voters. In addition, these bodies were under the control of representative power, and both branches of power were controlled by the Law. Zemstvos were supporters of state power, supported the rule of law and stability in society. The second idea: local self-government had a real financial basis for its activities. In the 19th century up to 60% of all payments collected from the territories remained at the disposal of the zemstvo, i.e. cities and counties, 20% each went to the state treasury and the province. On January 1, 1864, the “Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions” were established. According to this "Regulation" zemstvos were all-estate bodies. Wishing to make the zemstvos more manageable, with the predominance of the influence of the ruling classes in them, the law provided, for example, for dividing the voters of the uyezds into three curias to elect the uyezd zemstvo assembly. "Regulations on provincial and county institutions for peasant affairs" to control peasant administration and resolve possible misunderstandings between peasants and landlords established the positions of peace mediators, county world congresses and provincial presences for peasant affairs. Local hereditary noble landowners who met certain property conditions were elected to the position of mediators. Peace mediators later acquired considerable influence in zemstvo institutions. This was facilitated by the fact that they acted as zemstvo vowels and heads of peasant self-government, having the opportunity to put pressure on the election of vowels from the peasants.

Volost and rural self-government did not develop under such conditions. The main disadvantage of peasant self-government was the preservation of the class principle in its formation. The organs of peasant public administration were under dual control both from local institutions for peasant affairs, the main composition of which was formed from landlords, and from the judicial and administrative authorities, whose representatives simultaneously filled positions in peasant administration. The mass dissatisfaction of the peasants with their position, the awareness of the local nobility of the disastrous state of affairs in the provinces led to a surge in political and social activity, retaliatory repressions of the administrative apparatus, an open struggle against opposition at all levels of government, including the government and the imperial court. The result was the approval by Alexander II of the compromise Regulations on zemstvo institutions, which, after being published on January 1, 1864, was extended to thirty-four provinces of European Russia within a few years. The actual introduction of zemstvo institutions began in February 1865 and ended in most provinces by 1867.

The introduction of the Regulations on zemstvo institutions was entrusted to temporary county commissions, which consisted of the marshal of the nobility, the police officer, the mayor and officials from the chamber of state property and from the office of specific peasants. These commissions compiled electoral lists and presumably set the dates for convening electoral congresses. Both were finally approved by the provincial temporary commission, under the leadership of the governor. At the first zemstvo meeting, a council was elected, which was supposed to present its views on various aspects of the economy by the first regular meeting and take over the management of capital belonging to pre-reform institutions.

The regulation of 1864 divided the voters into 3 curias:

1. landowners of all classes,
2. citizens - owners of real estate in the city,
3. rural communities.

The first curia included landowners who had at least 200 acres of land or other real estate worth up to 15 thousand rubles; this also included residents who had an annual income of up to 6 thousand rubles. The second curia included mainly urban residents - homeowners, merchants, manufacturers. held their meetings without interconnection with the congresses of the first and third curiae. However, residents with an annual income of up to 6 thousand rubles could participate in the elections of "vowels". or owning real estate up to 4 thousand rubles (in small towns - up to 500 rubles). The third curia included peasants, unlike the first two curia, they were multi-stage. From the peasant curia to the zemstvo assembly, not only representatives of the clergy, philistines, but even landlords often fell into the vowels. Elections were held separately: from the first two curia were held at the congresses of their representatives. Large and medium-sized landowners could attend the congress of representatives of the first curia. The small landowners elected representatives from among themselves. The congress of representatives of the second curia was attended by homeowners, manufacturers, breeders, merchants and other wealthy citizens. The following persons could not take part in the elections: a) persons under 25 years of age; b) tried and not acquitted by the court; c) dismissed from office; d) those under trial and investigation; e) declared insolvent; f) excluded from the spiritual department.

The elections of vowels from the peasants were multi-stage: first, rural societies sent their representatives to the volost meeting, electors were elected at the volost meetings, and then a fixed number of vowels of the county zemstvo assembly was chosen from among them.

From the statistical tables given in the book by M.I. Sveshnikov "Fundamentals and limits of self-government", it is clear that the number of vowels in different counties was not the same. Even within the same province, the difference could be 4-5 times. So, in the Voronezh province, the zemstvo assembly of the Biryuchinsky district consisted of 61 vowels, and the Korotoyaksky district - of 12 vowels.

If at the congress the number of voters did not exceed the number of persons who had to be elected, then all those who came to the congress were recognized as vowels of the zemstvo assembly without holding elections. Vowels were elected for 3 years.

After the election of vowels, most often in the fall, county zemstvo assemblies gathered, which were usually chaired by county marshals of the nobility. At the first meeting, the county councilors elected provincial councilors from among themselves: from 6 counties - 1 provincial councilor. The provincial zemstvo assemblies included the leaders of the nobility, chairmen of the administrations of all districts, 2-3 officials from state and specific estates. Thus, a higher level of zemstvo self-government was formed on the basis of indirect elections and representation of officials.

Provincial assemblies were held once a year, but extraordinary assemblies could also be convened. The meetings were chaired by the marshal of the nobility. For current work, both county and provincial assemblies elected Councils consisting of 3 people: a chairman and two members (the number of members of Zemstvo councils could be increased to 4 in counties, up to 6-8 in provinces).

The principle of property qualification was put at the basis of the Regulations of 1864, and the interests of the noble landowners came to the fore, while the interests of industrialists and peasants were little considered. The predominant influence on local affairs was given to the nobility.

The participation of zemstvo institutions in public education, in the creation of conditions for public health was allowed only in economic terms, i.e. The zemstvo could allocate certain sums for public education and for the medical department, but it had no right to dispose of these sums. The economic affairs to which the competence of the zemstvos extended also included cases of mutual insurance and the development of trade and crafts.

But even within such narrow limits, the zemstvos did not enjoy freedom and independence: many resolutions of the zemstvos, the conclusion of loans, draft estimates required approval by the governor or the minister of internal affairs. Each ordinance could be challenged by the governor. Cases on such protests were decided in the last resort by the Senate. Finally, by leaving local police power in the hands of government agencies and thus depriving the Zemstvos of executive power, the law of 1864 further weakened them. There was only one way to recover the dues that belonged to the zemstvo - turning to the "assistance" of the local police, which did not always ensure the implementation of zemstvo orders.

Samara, Penza, Kostroma, Novgorod, Kherson, Pskov, Kursk, Yaroslavl, Poltava, Moscow, Kazan, St. Petersburg, Ryazan, Voronezh, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod and Tambov. The zemstvo institutions of the uyezd included the zemstvo assembly and the zemstvo council with the institutions attached to them. The zemstvo assembly consisted of: -zemstvo vowels; ex officio members (chairman of the state property department, deputy from the spiritual department, mayor of the county town, representatives of the county department). The Zemstvo Assembly met annually for one session, no later than October. The session lasted ten days. The governor could extend it. The district marshal of the nobility presided over the district zemstvo assembly. The duties of the zemstvo were divided into two groups - mandatory and optional: The mandatory functions included the maintenance of magistrates and judges, detention facilities and apartments for police officers, milestone duty, arrangement and repair of large roads, allocation of supplies for traveling policemen, gendarmes and other government officials . Optional functions were: insurance of agricultural buildings against fires, maintenance of city hospitals and almshouses, repair of roads and bridges, food aid to the population. On the eve of the February Revolution of 1917, zemstvos existed in 43 provinces of Russia with a total population of about 110 million inhabitants. The viability of the Zemstvo was ensured by its two main principles: self-government and self-financing. The self-government of zemstvos manifested itself in many aspects: in the election of governing bodies, in the formation of management structures, in determining the main directions of their activities, in the selection and training of specialists, in the formation and distribution of the local budget. After the October Revolution, the widespread liquidation of the zemstvos began (the Bolsheviks considered zemstvo self-government to be a legacy of the bourgeois system), which was completed by the summer of 1918. The liquidation of the zemstvos was a completely natural process, because. local self-government provides for the decentralization of power, economic, social, financial and, to a certain extent, political independence, independence, and the ideas of socialism were based on the state of the proletarian dictatorship, that is, the state is centralized by nature.

The Imperial Council, which consisted of 8 members in 1769. replaced by the Council at the highest court, which focused its activities on domestic policy and included all the heads of the central government.

The powers of the Senate under Catherine II: the department concentrated the executive functions, the judiciary. Since 1763 The Senate is the highest administrative and judicial institution, consists of 6 departments: 1st - state finance and secret office work, 2nd - court cases (supervision, generalization of practice, personnel selection, review of cases), 3rd provincial affairs ( administration, finance), 4th - military affairs, 5th - local administration, 6th - local courts. In the 70s and 80s of the 18th century. most of the colleges are liquidated or transformed, but in 1796. they again. The centralization and bureaucratization of the state apparatus reaches the limit, it is a closed and self-sufficient system. Under Catherine II, state secretaries appeared directly under the emperor (1763). In 1762 The Office of Secret Investigative Affairs is abolished (its activities caused active dissatisfaction on the part of the nobility) and instead the Secret Expedition of the Senate (which indicated the renewed political activity of the Senate). The secret expedition was subordinate to the governor-general and was under the control of the empress (Catherine II). The secret expedition created special secret investigative commissions to investigate specific cases. These bodies were of an emergency nature and were formed in accordance with the political situation.

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Economic reforms

Monetary reform

The signing of the manifesto "on the establishment of Moscow and St. Petersburg banks" created a precedent for the use of paper banknotes in the territory of the Russian Empire.

Reasons and goals:

The inconvenience of transporting large amounts of copper money within the country
The need to stimulate the economy
Striving to meet Western standards

Banknote example

Banks established in Moscow and St. Petersburg received 500 thousand rubles of capital each and were obliged to issue to the bearer of banknotes the corresponding amount in copper equivalent.

In 1786, these banks were merged into a single structure - the State Assignment Bank, with the definition of its additional functions:

Export of copper from the Russian Empire
Import of gold and silver bars and coins.
Creation of a mint in St. Petersburg and organization of minting coins.
Accounting for promissory notes (receipts on the obligation to pay a certain amount)

50 rubles 1785

Enterprise Freedom Manifesto

Under the “manifesto on freedom of enterprise”, it is customary to understand the publication of a document allowing the opening of any small handicraft production to all citizens of the Russian Empire - “Manifesto on the highest favors bestowed on various estates on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with the Ottoman Port”. The Peasant War of 1773-1775, which frightened all the nobles, made it clear that without any concessions to the most numerous class, new unrest is quite possible.

The reasons:

The need to stimulate the economy and develop small businesses
Peasant dissatisfaction with exploitative policies

Key points of the document:

More than 30 different fees for crafts (fur extraction, poultry, fish) and processing industries (oil mills, fat mills, etc.) have been cancelled.
It is allowed for any citizen to open "all sorts of camps and needlework" without any additional permits.
Exemption from the poll tax for merchants with a capital of more than 500 rubles. Instead, an annual fee of 1% from capital was introduced.

Customs reforms

Adjustment of customs tariffs was carried out frequently - in 1766, 1767, 1776, 1782, 1786 and 1796. customs duties were changed, providing revenues to the treasury from the importation of foreign goods, prohibiting the transportation of certain types of raw materials or easing the tax burden for certain categories of products. The foreign economy was actively developing, the volume of previously undelivered industrial and production products imported into the Russian Empire was growing.

Import of goods

The key element of the customs policy was the signing on September 27, 1782 of the document "On the Establishment of a Special Customs Border Chain and Guards to Avert the Secret Transportation of Goods"

According to the innovations:

Positions were introduced border guards and customs officers, for each of the border western provinces - they were listed in the service of the Treasury. According to the instructions, they were ordered to stay in places “convenient for the importation of goods” and prevent smuggling. If it was impossible to stop the smugglers on their own, the border guards had to immediately arrive at the nearest settlement to receive help.

Social reforms

Estate reforms

The date: 1785

The reasons:

The Empress relied on the nobles and wished to increase their loyalty.
Strengthening the vertical of power
It was necessary to determine the rights of two classes that are gaining in numbers due to the development of the economy and cities, merchants and philistines (townspeople)

Noble ball

The main documents regulating the legal status of the estates were the "charter to the nobles" and "charter to the cities." Having previously been exclusively pro-noble in nature, the estate policy of Catherine II finally secured the “elitist” status for the noble class.

Key points:

Nobles were exempted from paying taxes and public service
The noble class received an inalienable right to own serfs, property, land and its subsoil
Noble assemblies and family books were established to confirm the origin
Merchants received access to administrative positions (general city and six-member duma) and were exempted from the poll tax.
Merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds were exempted from corporal punishment.
A new estate stood out and received the rights - the townspeople
Serfs finally turned into slaves

Educational (school) reform

It is impossible to single out a specific document or date, which is key in the policy of enlightened absolutism of Catherine II. She consistently issued decrees and opened institutions aimed at increasing the level of knowledge and the accessibility of obtaining it. Mainly, educational services were provided to the nobility and townspeople, but homeless children and orphans also did not go unnoticed.

The main figures were I. I. Betskoy and F. I. Yankovich.

In Moscow and St. Petersburg, "educational homes" were opened - it was necessary to solve the problem of homeless and abandoned children.

Institute of Noble Maidens

In 1764, the Institute for Noble Maidens was opened, the first women's educational institution.

In 1764 a school for young men was founded at the Academy of Arts, and in 1765 a similar school was founded at the Academy of Sciences.

The Commercial School, opened in 1779, was called upon to train qualified personnel in the field of trade.

Formed in 1782, the “Commission for the Establishment of Public Schools” by 1786 developed a “charter for the public schools of the Russian Empire”. This document approved the class-lesson teaching system and provided for the opening of two types of general educational institutions in the cities: small public schools and main public schools.

Small schools prepared applicants for two years - basic reading, writing, rules of conduct and related knowledge.

The main schools provided broader subject training - for five years, in addition to basic skills, languages, history, exact and natural sciences, and architecture were taught here. Over time, it was from the main school that the teacher's seminary separated - a center for the training of future teachers.

The training was based on a benevolent attitude towards students, physical punishment was strictly prohibited.

The peasantry remained outside the educational reform - the project of rural schools and compulsory primary education, regardless of gender and class, was proposed by Catherine II, but was never implemented.

Secularization of the Church

The reign of Catherine II for the Orthodox Church was not the best period. However, all conditions were made for other confessions. The Empress believed that all religious movements that did not oppose her power had the right to exist.

The reasons:

Excessive autonomy of the church
The need to increase tax revenues and land use efficiency

Churchmen

As a result of the signing of the decree to the Senate on the division of spiritual estates, all lands belonging to the clergy and peasants came under the control of the state. A special body, the Collegium of Economy, began to collect a poll tax from the peasants and transfer part of the amount received to the maintenance of monasteries. The so-called "states" of monasteries were established, the number of which was limited. Most of the monasteries were abolished, their inhabitants were distributed among the remaining churches and parishes. The era of "church feudalism" ended

As a result:

The clergy lost about 2 million monastic peasants
Most of the land (about 9 million hectares) of monasteries and churches was transferred to the state
567 out of 954 monasteries are closed.
Eliminated the autonomy of the clergy

Outcomes, Significance and Results of Domestic Reforms
Catherine 2 the Great

The reforms of Catherine II were aimed at creating a state of the European type, i.e. to the logical conclusion of Peter's reforms, which was carried out by the methods of enlightened absolutism based on the ideas of the humanization of justice. Under Catherine II, the legal registration of the class structure of society was completed; an attempt was made to involve the public in the reforms and transfer some of the managerial functions “to the localities”.

The policy towards the serfs was somewhat contradictory, because, on the one hand, there was an increase in the power of the landowners, and on the other, measures were taken that somewhat limited the oppression of serfs. In the economic sphere, state monopolies were liquidated, freedom of trade and industrial activity was proclaimed, secularization of church lands was carried out, paper money was put into circulation, the State Assignment Bank was established, and measures were taken to introduce state control over expenditures.

At the same time, it is worth considering the negative results - the flourishing of favoritism and bribery, the increased debt, the depreciation of the currency and the dominance of foreigners in the scientific and cultural spheres.

Portal for the student. Self-training

Scheme of state administration under Catherine 2. Catherine's "mandate" and the activities of the Legislative Commission

Letters granted to the nobility and cities

Education reform

A. N. Radishchev

Pavel I

More on the topic 49. THE HIGHEST AUTHORITIES UNDER CATHERINE II

Senate reform

Provincial reform

Administrative part

Judicial part

Judicial reform

Police reform

urban reform