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Tsarist autocracy

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Tsarist autocracy (Russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. tsarskoye samoderzhaviye, transl. carskoe samoderžavie), also known as tsarist absolutism, Russian absolutism, Russian autocracy or Russian despotism refers to a form of absolute monarchy specific to Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire.

Features

The center of the tsarist autocracy was the person of the tsar himself, a sovereign with absolute powers.[1] The rights of state power in their entire extent belonged to the tsar. However, tsar did not directly exercise all of his rights. Power was entrusted by him to persons and institutions, acting in his name, by his orders, and within the limits, laid down for them by law. The purpose of the system was to benefit the entire country of Russia.[1] A metaphor existed likening tsar to the father, and all of the subjects of the Empire, to his children; it was even used in Orthodox primers.[2]. This metaphor is present in the common Russian expression "царь-батюшка", literally "tsar-dear father".

The tsarist autocracy had many supporters within Russia. Major Russian advocates and theorists of autocracy included the world famous writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky,[3][4], Mikhail N. Katkov,[5] Konstantin S. Aksakov,[6] Nikolay Karamzin,[3] Konstantin Pobedonostsev[1][4] and Pyotr Semyonov. They all argued that strong and prosperous Russia needs a strong tsar, and philosophies of republicanism and liberal democracy are not fit for Russia.[4] For common people, the tsar was responsible for all good in their lives, while all the disasters came from meddling bureaucracy, nobles, and such.

In Poland, tsarist autocracy has been analyzed more critically by Stanisław Mackiewicz.

History

Ivan III built upon Byzantine traditions and laid foundations for the tsarist autocracy, a system that with some variations would govern Russia for centuries.[7][4] Additional influences include the Tatar Yoke and the Mongol ideas and administrative system.[8][4]

Peter the Great reduced the power of the nobility and strengthened the central power of the tsar, establishing a bureaucratic civil service based on the Table of Ranks but open to all classes of the society, in place of the nobility-only mestnichestvo which Feodor III had abolished in 1682.[9][10][11] Peter I also strengthened the state's control over the church (the Orthodox Church).[9] Peter's reform caused a series of palace coups seeking to restore the power of the nobility.[12] To end them, Catherine the Great, whose reign is often regarded as the high point of absolutism in Russia, in 1785 issued charter to the nobility and gentry, legally affirming civil rights they had acquired in preceding years, and charter of the Cities, establishing municipal self-government. This placated the gentry, however in fact the real power rested with the state's bureaucracy.[12] This was built on by later Tsars. Alexander I established State council as advisory legislative body. Although Alexander II established system of elected local self-government (Zemstvo) and an independent judicial system, Russia did not have a national-level representative assembly (Duma) or a constitution until the 1905 Revolution.[13] The system was abolished after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Influences

Some historians see the traditions of Tsarist autocracy as partially responsible for laying groundworks for the totalitarianism in the Soviet Union.[14][4] [15][7] They see the traditions of autocracy and patrimonialism as dominating Russia's political culture for centuries; for example, Stephen White wrote that Russian political culture is "rooted in the historical experience of centuries of absolutism."[16] All of those views had been challenged by other historians (for example, Nicolai N. Petro and Martin Malia (as cited by Hoffmann)).[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Stephen J. Lee Russia and the USSR, 1855-1991: Autocracy and Dictatorship, Routledge, 2006 ISBN 0415335779, Google Print, p.1-3
  2. ^ Robert D. Crews, For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia, Harvard University Press, 2006, ISBN 0674021649, Google Print, p.77
  3. ^ a b James Patrick Scanlan, Dostoevsky the Thinker: A Philosophical Study, Cornell University Press, 2002, ISBN 0801439949, Google Print, p.171-172
  4. ^ a b c d e f Peter Viereck, Conservative Thinkers: From John Adams to Winston Churchill, Transaction Publishers, 2005 ISBN 1412805260, Google Print, pp. 84-86
  5. ^ Richard Pipes, Russian Conservatism and Its Critics: A Study in Political Culture, Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN 0300122691, Google Print, p.124
  6. ^ Nicolai N. Petro, The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Harvard University Press, 1995, ISBN 0674750012, Google Print, p.90
  7. ^ a b Peter Truscott, Russia First: Breaking with the West, I.B.Tauris, 1997 ISBN 186064199, Google Print, p.17
  8. ^ Tartar Yoke Professor Gerhard Rempel, Western New England College
  9. ^ a b Nicolai N. Petro, The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Harvard University Press, 1995, ISBN 0674750012, Google Print, p.34-36
  10. ^ David R. Stone, A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 0275985024, Google Print, p.59
  11. ^ Paul Bushkovitch, Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671-1725, Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 0521805856, Google Print, p.118
  12. ^ a b Nicolai N. Petro, The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Harvard University Press, 1995, ISBN 0674750012, http://books.google.com/books?id=5XGXwAzRav4C&pg=PA36&vq=catherine&dq=%22tsarist+absolutism%22&as_brr=3&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0 Google Print, p.36-39]
  13. ^ Nicolai N. Petro, The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Harvard University Press, 1995, ISBN 0674750012, Google Print, p.48
  14. ^ a b David Lloyd Hoffmann, Stalinism: The Essential Readings, Blackwell Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0631228918, Google Print, p.67-68
  15. ^ Dennis J. Dunn, The Catholic Church and Russia: Popes, Patriarchs, Tsars, and Commissars, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004, ISBN 0754636100, Google Print, p.72
  16. ^ Nicolai N. Petro, The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Harvard University Press, 1995, ISBN 0674750012, Google Print, p.15

Further reading

  • Paul Dukes, The Making of Russian Absolutism, 1613-1801, Longman, 1986
  • Marshall Poe, "Russian despotism" : the origins and dissemination of an early modern commonplace. Thesis (Ph. D. in History). University of California, Berkeley, 1993.
  • Hugh Ragsdale, The Russian Tragedy: The Burden of History, M.E. Sharpe, 1996, ISBN 1563247550

Links

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