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N. A. Miliutin and the St. Petersburg Municipal Act of 1846: A Study in Reform Under Nicholas I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

W. Bruce Lincoln
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Beginning with Catherine II's Municipal Charter of April 21, 1785, Russia's statesmen made repeated efforts to improve the ineffective and antiquated manner in which urban affairs were administered in the Russian Empire. By the beginning of the 1840s, however, the problem of modernizing the administration of Russia's cities was no nearer to a practical solution than it had been a half-century earlier. The growing number of administrative duties which fell upon the shoulders of city authorities sometimes made urban officeholding nearly a full-time responsibility, and Russia's urban classes were understandably reluctant to serve in elective offices which took so much time away from their personal business affairs and offered so little prospect of reward.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 1974 , pp. 55 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1974

References

The author is indebted to the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Fulbright- Hays Faculty Research Program, and the American Philosophical Society for the support which made possible the research for this article.

1. Polnoe sobranie sakonov Rossiiskoi imperii, 1st ser. (St. Petersburg, 1830), vol. 22, p. 358, no. 16, 188 (hereafter cited as PSZ). Catherine's charter marked a significant effort to organize city administration along more efficient social and economic lines and to incorporate the new social groups (particularly the gentry), which had emerged in Russia during the eighteenth century, into the structure of city government. The empress proposed to create an all-class municipal governing body with some limited rights of self-government. But the all-class principle which she incorporated into her charter existed only in the imperial statute books; elective city offices in the empire continued to be controlled (though often not filled) by powerful merchants who used them primarily to advance their private economic interests.

2. N. A. Miliutin, “O preobrazovanii gorodovago obshchestvennago ustroistva, “ Apr. 7, 1844, TsGIAL, fond 1287, opis1 37, delo no. 738/10.

3. “Vsepoddanneishii raport Kazanskago Voennago Gubernatora o sdelannom im obozrenii werennoi upravleniiu ego Gubernii,” TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 120/1-2.

4. “Vsepoddanneishie raporty Saratovskago, Tul'skago, i Poltavskago Gubernatorov o sdelannom imi obozrenii werennoi upravleniiu ikh Guberniiakh,” TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 120/6-9.

5. I. S. Aksakov to N. A. Miliutin, May 31, 1850, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 818/10.

6. “O preobrazovanii prav gorodskago sostoianiia i dokazatel'stvakh onago,” Svod sakonov Rossiiskoi imperii (St. Petersburg, 1842), vol. 9, nos. 458-60, 513, 516.

7. “Sostoianie obshchestvennago upravleniia stolichnago goroda S.-Peterburga (iz revizii, proizvedennoi v 1843 godu Sanktpeterburgskim Grazhdanskim Gubernatorom), “ TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/196-98.

8. In 1843 Miliutin forced through the first reassessment of real estate in St. Petersburg since 1821. In the process, he uncovered a multitude of abuses, dishonest schemes, and outright tax evasion, with the result that the new assessment of real estate exceeded the figure the St. Petersburg authorities had themselves proposed in late 1842 by more than 61 percent. “Vedomost’ o deistviiakh otsenochnykh kommissiiakh uchrezhdennykh v Sanktpeterburge,” 1843, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 343/34-36.

9. “O merakh k ustroistvu gorodskago khoziaistva v S.-Peterburge,” 1853, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 340/95; Ditiatin, I. I., Stoletie S.-Peterburgskago gorodskago obshchestva (St. Petersburg, 1885), pp. 110–11Google Scholar.

10. PSZ (2nd ser.), vol. 17, no. 15, 432.

11. At the time of his appointment as director of the Provisional Section, Miliutin was not yet twenty-four years old. “Delo o sluzhbe N. A. Miliutina,” TsGIAL, fond 1162, op. 6, d. 335/49.

12. In addition to his work in the Economic Department, Miliutin had also been a contributor to the Zhurnai Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del, had served as its deputy editor, and, beginning in early 1837, had worked with several other officials and statisticians on Biblioteka kommercheskikh snanii, where his efforts had been concentrated on questions of urban trade and economy.

13. For a number of examples of difficulties in provincial bureaucratic offices see Hans-Joachim Torke, “Das russische Beamtentum in der ersten Halfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, ,” Forschungen sur osteuropaischen Geschichte, 13 (1967) : 214–15Google Scholar; I., Blinov, Gubernatory : Istoriko-iuridicheskii ocherk (St. Petersburg, 1905), pp. 161— 63Google Scholar; Starr, S. Frederick, Decentralisation and Self-Government in Russia, 1830-1870 (Princeton, 1972), pp. 44–50 Google Scholar.

14. In the winter and early spring of 1841, Miliutin had investigated the effectiveness of state relief measures in the famine-stricken areas between St Petersburg and Moscow, and his report had made a highly favorable impression on Minister of the Interior Count A. G. Stroganov. For a copy of this report see N. A. Miliutin, “Donesenie Gospodinu Upravliaiushchemu Ministerstvom Vnutrennikh Del ot sluzhashchago v Khoziaistvennom Departamente Tituliarnago Sovetnika Miliutina,” April 1841, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 725/88.

15. Miliutin, “O preobrazovanii,” d. 738/3.

16. For a revealing commentary on local municipal conditions see especially the following letters : A. K. Giers to N. A. Miliutin, 1842-54, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 880; I. S. Aksakov to N. A. Miliutin, 1849-50, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 818; P. G. Redkin to N. A. Miliutin, 1851-52, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 1044.

17. For some examples of this sort of bureaucratic pedantry that Miliutin confronted in this task see especially TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 39, d. 20-45.

18. Between April 1837 and May 1838, Miliutin and the academician and statistician P. I. Keppen surveyed conditions in foreign settlements and state domains properties in Taurida Province. “Delo o sluzhbe N. A. Miliutina,” d. 335/47. 19. N. A. Miliutin, “Ob ustroistve gorodskikh obshchestv v Rossii,” 1842-46, TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 258/81.

20. Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del, Departament Khoziaistvennyi, Vremennoa Otdelenie, stol 1, Oct. 14, 1843, no. 466, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 737/283.

21. “Sostoianie obshchestvennago upravleniia stolichnago goroda S.-Peterburga, “ d. 738a/211-16.

22. Miliutin, “O preobrazovanii,” d. 738/5. For a discussion of the more important of these earlier proposals see my article, “The Russian State and Its Cities : A Search for Effective Municipal Government, 1786-1842,” Jahrbiicher filr Geschichte Osteuropas, 17, no. 4 (December 1969) : 531-41.

23. Miliutin, “Ob ustroistve gorodskikh obshchestv,” d. 258/77-78. For a brief discussion of the impact of KiseleVs and Perovsky's reform views on Miliutin and some other “enlightened” bureaucrats see my article, “Russia's ‘Enlightened’ Bureaucrats and the Problem of State Reform, 1848-1856,” Cahiers du monde russe et sovietique, 12, no. 4 (October-December 1971) : 413-14.

24. Miliutin, “O preobrazovanii,” d. 738/22-25. The state had been moving toward giving the gentry a decisive voice in St. Petersburg city affairs since 1828, and in 1837 a Ministry of the Interior committee had proposed that the gentry be given a dominant position in the city's Assembly of Deputies.

25. Ibid., d. 738/26; N. A. Miliutin, “Glavnye osnovaniia dlia nachertaniia proekta ob obshchestvennom ustroistve stolichnago goroda Sanktpeterburga,” Apr. 7, 1844, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 1, d. 738/54.

26. Miliutin, “Glavnye osnovaniia,” d. 738/54.

27. Miliutin, “O preobrazovanii,” d. 738/28.

28. A striking example of useless reports was the City Council's insistence that reports on prices of all articles for sale in St. Petersburg be submitted each week by some forty-eight different officials. “Sostoianie obshchestvennago upravleniia stolichnago goroda S.-Peterburga,” d. 738a/196-201.

29. Miliutin, “O preobrazovanii,” d. 738/10.

30. Ibid., d. 738/29-30.

31. Miliutin, “Glavnye osnovaniia,” d. 738/42-43.

32. Ibid., d. 738/39-40. To be eligible to sit on the General City Council a resident would need to have had a taxable capital (or real estate) of an assessed value of 600 rubles for at least three years.

33. Ibid., d. 738/40-41. So that the duties of the General City Council would interfere as little as possible with the private business affairs of its members, up to one-third of its membership was to be permitted to leave the city at any one time, since the Council would not be in continuous session.

34. Ibid., d. 738/44-46.

35. Ibid., d. 738/34-35, 37-47, 50-51.

36. According to an investigation carried out at the suggestion of Count BenkendorS of the Third Section in 1840, the common laborers lived under almost intolerable conditions. An extreme (though not isolated) example of crowded housing for these people was an instance in which the investigators found more than fifty transient laborers living in a room that was approximately 6.5 meters square. “Ob ustroistve byta chernorabochikh v S.-Peterburge,” TsGIAL, fond 869, op. 1, d. 350/15-17. For a recent and very useful study of the workers in St Petersburg see Zelnik, Reginald E., Labor and Society in Tsarist Russia : The Factory Workers of St. Petersburg, 1855-1870 (Stanford, 1971 Google Scholar

37. “Zamechanie Sanktpeterburgskago gorodskago golovy i pervostateinykh kuptsov na proekt komiteta ob obshchestvennom ustroistve stolitsy,” TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738/118-22.

38. For a concise and excellent discussion of the attitudes of lesser state bureaucrats toward change see Marc Raeff, “The Russian Autocracy and Its Officials,” in Russian Thought and Politics (Cambridge, Mass., 1957), pp. 77-91. The most comprehensive treatment of bureaucratic attitudes during this period is Torke's work, “Das russische Beamtentum.” A great deal of useful material on the provincial bureaucracy is to be found in Starr's Decentralization and Selj-Government in Russia.

39. For Miliutin's attitudes toward the gentry in the months before the Editing Commissions began to meet see N. A. Miliutin to P. D. Kiselev, Mar. 4, 1858, ORGBL, fond 129, karton 17, papka 55, and N. A. Miliutin to D. A. Miliutin, Apr. 19, 1858, ORGBL, fond 169, k. 69, p. 10.

40. Miliutin would again have to face the merchants’ wrath in 1846 when they petitioned against the reform act, though once again he was able, for the most part, to ignore their complaints. “Zapiska o pravakh i ob“iazannostiakh obshchestv : kuptsov, meshchan, i remeslennikov v S.-Peterburge,” Apr. 25, 1846, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 739/25-35.

41. Ofitsial'noe pis'mo Gospodinu chinovniku osobykh poruchenii Nadvornomu Sovetniku Girsu, MVD-DKh-VO, stol 1, Apr. 8, 1844, no. 116, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738/53.

42. Ofitsial'noe pis'mo Gospodinu S.-Peterburgskomu Grazhdanskomu Gubernatoru, MVD-DKh-VO, stol 1, Apr. 8, 1844, no. 115, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738/151.

43. “Polozhenie ob obshchestvennom ustroistve stolichnago goroda Sanktpeterburga, “ First draft, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/22-130.

44. Ofitsial'noe pis'mo Gospodinu Gosudarstvennomu Sekretariu, MVD-DKh-VO, stol 1, June 7, 1844, no. 28, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/l.

45. N. A. Miliutin, “S predstavleniem proekta ob obshchestvennom ustroistve stolichnago goroda Sanktpeterburga,” MVD-DKh-VO, stol 1, June 7, 1844, no. 27, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/13-21.

46. “Po proektu ob ustroistve S.-Peterburgskoi stolitsy,” Gosudarstvennyi Sovet, v Soedinennykh Departamentakh Zakonov i Ekonomii, po Otdeleniiu Zakonov, Oct. 4 and 25, Nov. 21, and Dec. 1, 1844, no. 101. A copy of this report can be found in TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/277-86.

47. “Ob“iasnenie k zamechaniiam pred“iavlennym v Obshchem Sobranii Gosudarstvennago Soveta,” Apr. 1, 1845, TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/288-89.

48. “Vypiska iz Zhurnala Soedinennykh Departamentov Zakonov i Ekonomii 5-go maia 1845-go goda,” TsGIAL, fond 1287, op. 37, d. 738a/372-78.

49. Ibid., d. 738a/377-78. Because Miliutin had forced a reassessment of real estate in St. Petersburg in 1843, which had vastly increased the property tax that the gentry were obliged to pay, they were now particularly anxious to control property assessments in the capital.

50. N. A. Miliutin to P. I. Keppen, June 14, 1846, Arkhiv Akademii nauk SSSR, fond 30, op. 3, d. 178/4-5.

51. On the negative side one must remember that Miliutin's encounter with opposition groups led him to develop a very narrow view of the role which those who had a material stake in the established order should play in reform work. Accordingly, when the Editing Commissions were drafting an emancipation law (1859-60) Miliutin would always view the liberal gentry opposition in the worst possible light and would seek to limit their participation in the reform work to providing needed information about local conditions. The impact of this policy on the views which the liberal gentry held about the state would have far-reaching consequences for gentry-state relations during the rest of the nineteenth century. For a discussion of gentry attitudes on this matter see Terence, Emmons, The Russian Landed Gentry and the Peasant Emancipation of 1861 (Cambridge, 1968)Google Scholar, particularly chap. 9.

52. K. D. Kavelin to D. A. Miliutin, Jan. 15, 1882, quoted in “Iz pisem K. D. Kavelina k grafu Miliutinu, D. A., 1882-1884 gg., Vestnik Evropy, 255 (1909) : 11–12Google Scholar.

53. Evidence of this can be found by examining the membership of the Provisional Section during the 1840s. Both I. S. Aksakov and Iu. F. Samarin were among its investigators of provincial urban conditions, while among those who served with the Provisional Section in St. Petersburg one finds K. K. Grot, A. K. Giers, K. D. Ravelin, D. P. Khrushchov, and A. D. Schumacher, all of whom were prominent in the emancipation work in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

54. For a discussion of the way in which the numbers of “enlightened” bureaucrats grew and the importance of the circle in question see the author's articles “The Circle of Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna, 1847-1861,” Slavonic and East European Review, 48, no. 112 (July 1970) : 373-87, and “The Genesis of an ‘Enlightened’ Bureaucracy in Russia, 1825-1856,” Jahrbiicher fur Geschichte Osteuropas, 20, no. 3 (September 1972) : 321-30.