«Просвещение» российского абсолютизма на весах успехов и провалов

The author ventures to analyse the “Enlightenment” process of Russian absolutism, to point to Western European prototypes and the successes and failures of government policies associated with Catherine II. In connection with this, it is essential to recognise that these policies had real value: the Empress’ successes in foreign policy, the victorious wars of 1768–1774 and 1787–1791 against the Ottoman Empire, the outcome of the confrontation with the Swedes and the impacts of the three partitions of Poland (1772, 1793 and 1795). Equally important factors in the Empire’s rising fame were undoubtedly Russia’s territorial gains, the development of the military, the modernization of state machinery, the reforms in the administration and the rise in tax revenues from 18 to 60 million roubles. Especial attention will be given to the French and German models for “Nakaz” that the Semiramis of the North deemed reasonable to follow. László V. Molnár also specifies the factors that necessitated the revision of the policy on serfs, as well as referring to contemporary thinkers who were urging modernisation. Concern that the Legal Code of 1649 was outdated was what chiefly prompted the tsarina, in the summer 1767, to convene the Legislative Commission, a collegial body of 564 deputies, to compile a new legal code. Her purpose was to have the country’s modernisation programme debated in the spirit of the proposed “Nakaz.” Speeches delivered by P. A. Vyazemsky, M. M. Shcherbatov and A. P. Naryshkin as well as other representatives of the nobility will also be examined in detail. These speeches, which reflected conservative principles, prevented Catherine from putting her political concept into practice. The majority of delegates, however, consented to curtail the rights of the Baltic provinces, Livonia and Estonia, and thought the situation of serfs living there to be a pattern worth copying. The author of this article also stresses the fact that most of the Russian nobles at the time did not support this manoeuvring on the part of Empress Catherine the Great. The debates sparked during the 203 sessions of the Commission convinced the Empress that, since conflicting interests could not be reconciled, this legislative body was incapable of functioning.