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N. I. Pirogov and the Reform of University Government, 1856-1866

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

William L. Mathes
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The opinions of Nikolai Ivanovich PirOgov (1810–81) provided the basis for much of the widespread debate on the “university problem” which preceded the adoption in 1863 of the General Statute of Russian Universities. Though Pirogov's equally important views on primary and secondary education and his general pedagogical philosophy have been examined in some detail, there is no systematic treatment of his views on university reform. The purpose of this article is to help elucidate those views, to demonstrate the relationship of Pirogov's ideas on university government to his activities as curator of the Odessa and Kiev school districts, to define the limits within which Pirogov's ideas were acceptable to the government of Alexander II and to a majority of the professorial community, and to compare his recommendations for reform with the statute of 1863 and with events which immediately followed its implementation.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 1972 , pp. 29 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1972

References

1. The most important are Afonsky, A. P., N. I. Pirogov, ego zhizn' i pedagogicheskaia propoved‧ (Moscow, 1911)Google Scholar; Krasnovsky, A. A., Pedagogicheskie idei N. I. Pirogova (Moscow, 1949)Google Scholar; Rozhdestvin, A. S., N. I. Pirogov kak pedagog (Kazan, 1902)Google Scholar; Sakulin, P. N., N. I. Pirogov kak pedagog (Moscow, 1907)Google Scholar; and Shtraikh, S. Ia., N. I. Pirogov (Berlin, 1923)Google Scholar. The best bibliography on Pirogov’s work is Geselevich, A. M., Nauchnoe, literaturnoe i epistoliarnoe nasledie N. I. Pirogova (Moscow, 1956)Google Scholar.

2. For what is generally known regarding those views see Alston, P. A., Education and the State in T sarist Russia (Stanford, 1969), pp. 46-48, 53-55Google Scholar; Hans, Nicholas, The Russian Tradition in Education (London, 1963), pp. 58-61;Google Scholar and Johnson, William H. E., Russia’s Educational Heritage (Pittsburgh, 1950; reprint, New York, 1969), pp. 233-34.Google Scholar

3. Sevastopol'skie pis'ma N. I. Pirogova, 1854-1855 gg. (St. Petersburg, 1907), pp. 58-59, 130-34; Sochineniia N. I. Pirogova (Kiev, 1910), 1: 7-8, 722-23, 727-30; V. Volkovich, “Narodnoe obrazovanie: Drug chelovechestva—N. I. Pirogov,” Zhurnal Ministerstva narodnago prosveshcheniia (hereafter ZhMNP), vol. 21, n.s. (June 1909), sec. 3, pp. 115-18; G. M. Gertsenshtein, “N. I. Pirogov,” Entsiklopedicheskii slovar' (St. Petersburg, 1898), 23: 651-52.

4. “Voprosy zhizni,” Morskoi sbornik, vol. 23 (July 1856), sec. 3, pp. 559-97.

5. Ibid., pp. 564-65, 580 (quotation).

6. Nicholas Hans suggests that the ideal was perhaps better expressed by Belinsky (Russian Tradition in Education, p. 52).

7. See [Chernyshevsky, N. I.], “Zametki o zhurnalakh,” Sovremennik, 58 (July 1856): 215-22Google Scholar; Dobroliubov, N. A., “Neskol'ko slov o vospitanii,” Sovremennik, 63 (May 1857): 43–64 Google Scholar; Ushinsky, K. D., “Pedagogicheskie sochineniia N. I. Pirogova,” ZhMNP, vol. 113 (March 1862), sec. 3, pp. 179-80.Google Scholar

8. “Avtobiografiia Pirogova: Pis'ma k I. V. Betensonu,” in Sochineniia, 1: 10.

9. Pirogov, “O preobrazovanii odesskago litseia v universitet,” in Sochineniia, 1: 651-55; A. V. Markevich, “Dvadtsatipiatiletia Imperatorskago novorossiiskago universiteta, “ Zapiski Imperatorskago novorossiiskago universiteta, 53 (1890): 14-50; S. la. Shtraikh, “Materialy k biografii N. I. Pirogova,” Russkaia shkola, 1910, no. 7-8, pp. 61-68.

10. Tsentral'nyi gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv Leningrada (TsGIAL), fond 733, opis’ 78, delo 817, Pirogov, “O deistviiakh popechitelia po odesskomu uchebnomu okrugu s 24 oktiabria 1856 po 1 ianvaria 1858 goda,” pp. 2, 3a-19 (a lower-case a is used to indicate the reverse side of folio leaves); “Tsirkuliary po odesskomu okrugu,” in Sochineniia, 1: 291-306.

11. Pirogov, “Pis'ma o pechati i tsenzure,” in Sochineniia, 1: 797-810; S. la. Shtraikh, “N. I. Pirogov kak sozdatel’ nezavisimoi pressy v Odesse,” Odesskiia novosti, no. 7088 (Nov. 23, 1906), pp. 2-3.

12. A. V. Romanovich-Slavatinsky, “Moia zhizn’ i akademicheskaia deiatel'nost'.(1832-1884),” Vestnik Evropy, March 1903, p. 186.

13. Murzakevich to Pogodin, in Barsukov, N. P., Zhizn' i trudy M. P. Pogodina (St. Petersburg, 1888-1910), 18: 227.Google Scholar

14. N. N., “Popechitel'stvo Pirogova,” Severnaia pchela, no. 134 (May 23, 1863), p. 536.

15. Romanovich-Slavatinsky, “Moia zhizn',” p. 191.

16. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 213 (g. 1859), “O priniatii mer k otvrashcheniiu bezporiadkov mezhdu studentami universitetov,” pp. 35-36.

17. Quoted in Krasnovsky, Pedagogicheskie idei Pirogova, p. 85.

18. A. Z. Baraboy, “O prichinakh uvol'neniia Pirogova s posta popechitelia kievskogo uchebnogo okruga,” Istoriia SSSR, September-October 1959, pp. 108-13.

19. Ibid., p. 110.

20. Ibid., p. 112.

21. “Pis'ma A. V. Golovnina k kniaziu A. I. Bariatinskomu,” Russkii arkhiv, June 1889, p. 267; Nikitenko, A. V., Dnevnik (Leningrad, 1955), 2: 169.Google Scholar

22. Pirogov, “Po povodu zaniatii russkikh uchenykh za granitseiu …,” ZhMNP, vol. 120 (October-December 1863), sec. 3, pp. 109-28; “Kandidaty v zvanie professorov, “ Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, no. 64 (Mar. 23, 1862), pp. 283-84; Nashe vremia, no. 68 (Mar. 28, 1862), p. 268.

23. The von Bradke draft, the Voronov version, and the final statute used in this paper are given, respectively, in Zamechaniia na proekt obshchago ustava imperatorskikh rossiiskikh universitetov (St. Petersburg, 1862), 1: 1-50; Zhurnaly zasedanii uchenago komiteta glavnago pravleniia uchilishch po proektu obshchago ustava imperatorskikh rossiiskikh universitetov (St. Petersburg, 1862), pp. 3, 4, and passim (hereafter ZhZUK); and Universitetskii ustav (St. Petersburg, 1863), pp. 1-55 (hereafter Ustav 1863). The statute applied to the Universities of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Kharkov, and Kiev, but not to the Universities of Helsingförs and Dorpat, which operated under separate charters.

24. “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav nashikh universitetov,” T sirkuliar po upravleniiu kievskim uchebnym okrugom, March 1861, pp. 40-50.

25. “Zamechaniia N. I. Pirogova na proekt obshchago ustava imperatorskikh rossiiskikh universitetov,” Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, nos. 75 and 76 (Apr. 5 and 6, 1862), pp. 339-40, 346.

26. Dopolnenie k zamechaniiam na proekt obshchago ustava imperatorskikh rossiiskikh universitetov: Universitetskii vopros. N. I. Pirogova (St. Petersburg, 1863). I have used the edition by Smirnov, V. Z.: N. I. Pirogov: Izbrannye pedagogicheskie sochineniia (Moscow, 1952), pp. 380–463Google Scholar (hereafter Univ. vopros).

27. “Chego my zhelaem?” Novorossiiskii literaturnyi sbornik, no. 45 (Odessa, 18S9), pp. 185-236.

28. “Iz Geidel'berga,” Golos, nos. 77 and 78 (Apr. 3 and 4, 1863), pp. 307-8, 311-12; “Po povodu zaniatii russkikh uchenykh za granitseiu,” Golos, nos. 281-83 (Oct. 24-26, 1863), pp. 1110, 1113-14, 1117-18; “Iz Geidel'berga,” Golos, nos. 317-19 (Nov. 29 and 30 and Dec. 1, 1863), pp. 1255-56, 1259-60, 1263-64; nos. 25 and 26 (Jan. 29 and 30, 1864), pp. 90, 94.

29. Univ. vopros, pp. 380-84, 385 (quotation).

30. Ibid., pp. 387-88, 391-92 (quotation, p. 392).

31. Ibid., p. 396. The universities had been reorganized twice by general statutes in 1804 and 1835, and by ministerial fiat in 1849.

32. Ibid., pp. 397 (quotation, italics mine), 407.

33. Ustav 1863, arts. 8, 23-B, 27, 42-B, 42-C, 56, 61, 64.

34. Univ. vopros, pp. 387, 397-99, 407, 411, 446-47, 459-61.

35. “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” p. 48; “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 5, 1862), p. 340; Univ. vopros, p. 404.

36. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 5, 1862), p. 340; Univ. vopros, pp. 403-4, 436.

37. Univ. vopros, pp. 400-401.

38. Ibid., pp. 397 (quotation), 398-99, 413-14.

39. ZhZUK, no. 4, pp. 1-5; Ustav 1863, arts. 13-17.

40. The minority who did share Pirogov's view on this issue included Professors K. D. Kavelin, N. I. Kostomarov, V. D. Spasovich, M. M. Stasiulevich, B. I. Utin, and Minister Golovnin. Zamechaniia na proekt, 1: 135, 182; 2: 109, 111, 113-14, 232-33.

41. This point of view was best articulated by Chicherin, Boris, Neskol'ko sovremennykh voprosov (Moscow, 1862), pp. 57–60 Google Scholar. See also ZhZUK, app., pp. 400-401.

42. Zamechaniia na proekt, 1: 266, 312-13, 398-99; Ustav 1863, arts. 136-38.

43. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346; Univ. vopros, pp. 399, 408-10, 445.

44. The elective principle was nowhere applied. Individual professors and rectors could participate in the Ministry’s major consultative bodies only upon invitation. Any suggestion the local university council might make would continue to reach the minister through the curator, over whose appointment the university had no control. “Uchrezhdenie Ministerstva narodnago prosveshcheniia,” Sobranie uzakonenii i rasporiazhenii pravitel'stva, no. 65 (July 3, 1863), no. 448, pp. 724-27.

45. “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” pp. 43-44; “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt“ (Apr. 5, 1862), pp. 339-40; Univ. vopros, pp. 407-8.

46. Article 54 of the von Bradke draft had simply been carried over from the statute of 1835. See V toroe polnoe sobranie zakonov rossiiskoi imperii (St. Petersburg, 1830-84), vol. 10, sec. 1, no. 8337, art. 8 (hereafter II PSZ) and Proekt in Zamechaniia na proekt, vol. 1, art. 54 (hereafter Proekt), and pp. 10, 85, 134, 300, 392.

47. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 5, 1862), p. 340 (quotation); Univ. vopros, p. 407.

48. Compare these provisions in the statute of 1835, the von Bradke draft, and the statute of 1863, respectively, II PSZ, vol. 10, sec. 1, no. 8337, arts. 47-60; Proekt, arts. 50-60; and Ustav 1863, arts. 32-33, 51, 56, 59, 66, 72-73, 75-77, 79, 82, 84-85, 89-90, 99-100, 105, 109, 118.

49. II PSZ, vol. 8, sec. 2, app. to no. 6670, p. 395; vol. 10, sec. 2, app. to no. 8337, p. 283; Ustav 1863, app., p. 81.

50. II PSZ, vol. 10, sec. 1, no. 8337, arts. 83, 84, 138.

51. “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” pp. 40-41; Univ. vopros, pp. 388-89, 462.

52. II PSZ, vol. 10, sec. 1, no. 8337, art. 80.

53. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346.

54. Ibid. (Apr. 5, 1862), p. 340; Univ. vopros, pp. 396, 412, 421-23, 439.

55. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 5, 1862), p. 340.

56. The rector of Kiev University, N. Kh. Bunge, raised this question in his criticism of Pirogov's “polemical defense” of competition. “Otvet na stat'iu Pirogova ‘zamechaniia na proekt … , ’ ” Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, no. 95 (May 4, 1862), pp. 433-34.

57. Pirogov wrote this eight months after the appearance of articles by P. L. Lavrov and O. Milchevsky, in which they contended that student evaluation of teaching ability should be the major consideration in appointments. In a proposal similar to those aimed at later professorial “establishments,” Milchevsky concluded: “Let anyone who wants to be a faculty professor give lectures, along with other competitors, for one semester; then let the number of students he attracts determine whether he is professorial material.” “Neskol'ko zametok starago studenta po povodu ‘zamechanii Pirogova … , ’ ” Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, no. 87 (Apr. 25, 1862), p. 396. See also Lavrov, , “Zametka na zamechaniia g. Pirogova,” Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, no. 84 (Apr. 21, 1862), p. 383.Google Scholar

58. ZhZUK, app., p. 268; Ustav 1863, art. 71.

59. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 236, Pirogov, “O dotsentakh (Jan. 2, I860),” in “Protokol zasedaniia komissii v sostave dekanov fakul'tetov po rasmotreniiu i obsuzhdeniiu predstavlennykh … popechitelem Pirogovym zapisok … ,” pp. 1-4.

60. “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” p. 44; “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346; Univ. vopros, pp. 374, 438. There was no shortage of complaints against this proposal. See, for example, N. Kh. Bunge, “Otvet na stat'iu Pirogova … ,” Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, no. 95 (May 4, 1862), p. 434; Russkii professor [anonymous], “O proekte novago ustava … po povodu zamechanii Pirogova,” Sanktpeterburgskiia vedomosti, no. 119 (June 5, 1862), p. 531; G. Tsunk, “Neskol'ko slov po povodu zamechanii Pirogova … ,” Severnaia pchela, no. 186 (July 12, 1862), p. 742.

61. Univ. vopros, p. 438.

62. “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” p. 45 (quotations). Pirogov's proposal that re-election be based on a three-fourths majority was the most draconian suggestion offered. Majorities at all universities favored use of a simple majority vote for retention of a professor in service. Zamechaniia na proekt, 1: 80, 113, 168-69, 249, 257, 305, 383-84; Kievskii universitet, “Protokoly soveta marta 6-13,” Univ. izvestiia, March 1862, sec. 1, pp. 23-25, 31.

63. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346; “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” pp. 43 (quotation), 46.

64. Ustav 1863, art. 81.

65. Mathes, “The Origins of Confrontation Politics in Russian Universities: Student Activism, 1855-1861,” Canadian Slavic Studies, 2. no. 1 (Spring 1968): 28-45.

66. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 213 (g. 1859), pp. 34a, 40a (quotations).

67. Ibid., pp. 41a, 45-49. The government chose, however, to adopt half measures. In this particular case Kovalevsky issued an ordinance in May 1859 that placed students under the authority of the city police when outside the walls of the university, but left disciplinary control within the university to the demoralized inspectors. In approving the ordinance Alexander ordered that governors see to it that “the local police deal leniently with university students.” Ibid., p. 51 (A. Sukovkin to Kovalevsky); Sbornik postanovlenii po Ministerstvu narodnago prosveshcheniia (St. Petersburg, 1866-67), vol. 3, no. 206, pp. 419-20.

68. Univ. vopros, pp. 380, 416, 444; “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346.

69. “Chego my zhelaem?” pp. 233-34.

70. Ibid., pp. 229-36; “Vzgliad na obshchii ustav,” pp. 49-50; “Iz Geidel'berga,” Golos, nos. 282 and 283 (Oct. 25 and 26, 1863), pp. 1114, 1117.

71. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 70, d. 966, “Ob osvobozhdenii medinskikh [sic] studentov … ot obiazannosti slushat' lektsii iz bogosloviia,” pp. 1-2; “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 5, 1862), p. 340; Univ. vopros, pp. 444, 451-52, 461-62.

72. Univ. vopros, p. 416.

73. Ibid., pp. 434-35. The annual fee was fifty rubles in the capitals, forty elsewhere.

74. Ibid., pp. 415, 417, 418-19 (quotations).

75. Proekt, art. 122.

76. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346.

77. Univ. vopros, pp. 417-18 (quotations).

78. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 213 (g. 1859), p. 44a; Univ. vopros, pp. 455-59.

79. Proekt, art. 123.

80. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346.

81. Univ. vopros, pp. 459-60. See also ZhZUK, app., p. 148; Zamechaniia na Proekt, 1: 139, 182; N. L. [N. A. Liubimov], “Zamechaniia o russkikh universitetakh,” Moskovskie vedomosti, no. 280 (Dec. 21, 1861), pp. 2278-79.

82. Ustav 1863, arts. 42-B(8), 59, 99-100.

83. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 213 (g. 1859), pp. 35a-36.

84. Univ. vopros, pp. 452-53, 458-60.

85. “Zamechaniia Pirogova na proekt” (Apr. 6, 1862), p. 346. See also TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 240, “Po proektu novago poriadka izbraniia i podchineniia inspektora studentov v universitetakh,” pp. 26-28a (Pirogov’s proposals, Nov. 22, 1860).

86. Ustav 1863, arts. 63-64. This wording was necessitated by the fact that no professor at St. Petersburg University, closed during the riots of 1861, would agree to serve as prorector.

87. TsGIAL, fond 733, op. 88, d. 240, p. 27a.

88. Sbornik rasporiazhenii po Ministerstvu narodnago prosveshcheniia (St. Petersburg, 1866-67), vol. 3, no. 577, pp. 562-63 (quotation), 563-64.

89. “Pravila i instruktsii, sostavlennyia sovetami universitetov: S.-peterburgskago, sv. Vladimira, Kazanskago i Khar'kovskago … ,” ZhMNP, vol. 120 (October-December 1863), app., pp. 1-94; “Pravila moskovskago universiteta,” Golos, no. 107 (Apr. 17, 1864).

90. “Iz Geidel'berga,” Golos, no. 317 (Nov. 29, 1863), p. 1255.