THE DECEMBRISTS ON THE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT AND THE CONCEPT OF “INDISPENSABLE LAWS” (BASED ON THE WRITINGS OF N. I. KUTUZOV AND A. V. SEMENOV, MEMBERS OF THE UNION OF WELFARE)

Annotation

The article examines the views of little- known and, at the same time, typical participants of the Decembrist movement on various forms of government and ways and means of limiting monarchical power. The focus is on an article by N. I. Kutuzov, a member of the Union of Welfare, who analyzed various types of government in the context of historical and contemporary political events, as well as the notes of another member of the Decembrist society, A. V. Semenov (later a senator and researcher of the history of trade and industry), who discussed the desirable ways to limit autocratic power. An analysis of the writings of little- known “ordinary” figures of the Decembrist movement, who are usually on the fringes of research attention, leads to the conclusion that the progressive- minded circles of the nobility, which formed the basis of the Decembrist movement, had a system of ideas that included a rejection of unlimited monarchy, class privileges, demands for unchangeable legislation and restrictions of “sole” power by representative authorities. The studied notes reveal the fundamental influence on the thinkers of the Decembrist generation of the ideas of J. L. Montesquieu, who developed the gradation of forms of government (including monarchical ones), as well as the legacy of A.L.K. Destutt de Tracy, who advanced immutable laws and a representative system as guarantees against the evolution of any form of monarchy towards despotic rule.

Keywords

Decembrists, liberalism, forms of government, monarchy, autocracy, constitutionalism, representative system, solid legislation.

Literature

1. Volk, S. S. Istoricheskie vzgliady dekabristov [Historical views of the Decembrists].
Moscow, Leningrad, AN SSSR Publ., 1958. 451 p. (in Russian).
2. Volk, S. S. Otchizny vernye syny [Faithful sons of the Fatherland]. In: “Ikh vechen s
vol’nost’iu soiuz”. Literaturnaia kritika i publitsistika dekabristov. Moskow, Sovremennik Publ.,
1983, pр. 5–31 (in Russian).
3. Il’in, P. V. Novoe o dekabristakh. Proshchennye, opravdannye i neobnaruzhennye
sledstviem uchastniki tainykh obshchestv i voennykh vystuplenii 1825–1826 gg. [New information
about the Decembrists. Members of secret societies and military actions of 1825–1826 who
were pardoned, acquitted and undetected by the investigation]. Saint Petersburg, Nestor- Istoriia
Publ., 2004. 664 p. (in Russian).
4. Il’in, P. V. Novyi istochnik dlia izucheniia “dekabristskogo liberalizma”: zapisi
A. V. Semenova v zapisnoi knizhke, prinadlezhashchei semeistvu F. P. L’vova (1821 g.) [A new source for the study of “Decembrist liberalism”: A. V. Semenov’s notes in a notebook belonging
to the family of F. P. Lvov]. In: Vspomogatel’nye istoricheskie distsipliny, vol. 29. Saint Petersburg,
D. Bulanin Publ., 2005, pр. 445–462 (in Russian).
5. Kovalenskaia, N. N. Khudozhnik- dekabrist F. P. Tolstoi [The Decembrist painter
F. P. Tolstoy]. In: Ocherki iz istorii dvizheniia dekabristov. Moskow, Gospolitizdat Publ., 1954,
pр. 533–543 (in Russian).
6. Kutuzov, N. I. O prichinakh blagodenstviia i velichiia narodov [On the causes of
prosperity and greatness of nations]. In: “Ikh vechen s vol’nost’iu soiuz”: Literaturnaia kritika
i publitsistika dekabristov. Moskow, Sovremennik Publ., 1983, pр. 244–260 (in Russian).
7. Kiukhel’beker, V. K. Puteshestvie, dnevnik, stat’i [Travel, diary, articles]. Leningrad,
Nauka Publ., 1979. 790 p. (in Russian).
8. Nechkina, M. V. Sviashchennaia artel’ [Sacred Artel]. In: Dekabristy i ikh vremia.
Materialy i soobshcheniia. Moscow, Leningrad, AN SSSR Publ., 1951, pр. 157–158 (in Russian).
9. Orlov, M. F. Rech’, proiznesennaia v torzhestvennom sobranii Kievskogo otdeleniia
Bibleiskogo obshchestva 11 avgusta 1819 g. [A speech delivered at the ceremonial meeting of
the Kyiv branch of the Bible Society on August 11, 1819] In: “Ikh vechen s vol’nost’iu soiuz”:
Literaturnaia kritika i publitsistika dekabristov / pod red. S. S. Volka. Moskow, Sovremennik
Publ., 1983, pр. 293–299 (in Russian).
10. Parsamov, V. S. Dekabristy i frantsuzskii liberalism [Decembrists and French
Liberalism]. Moskow, Polimed Publ., 2001. 238 p. (in Russian).
11. Pushchin, I. I. Sochineniia i pis’ma [Works and letters], vol. 1. Moskow, Nauka Publ.,
1999. 552 p. (in Russian).
12. Semenova, A. V. K istorii «Soiuza blagodenstviia» (po neopublikovannym sledstvennym
delam dekabristov) [On the history of the “Union of Welfare” (based on the unpublished
investigative files of the Decembrists)]. In: Sovetskie arkhivy. 1985, no. 6., pр. 27–33 (in Russian).
13. Sheshunova, S. V. Kutuzov Nikolai Ivanovich. In: Russkie pisateli. 1800–1917.
Biograficheskii slovar’, vol. 3. K–M. Moskow, Bol. Rossiiskaia entsiklopediia, 1994, pр. 249–250
(in Russian).