Imperial Russia as a Final Bastion of Autocracy
The last state where the liberal revolution would end up toppling absolute monarchy would be Russia, which would not become a nation-state until the 1905 Revolution.
16.8.1 From Enlightened Absolutism to the Consolidation of Autocracy
Russia became an empire under Peter the Great (1682-1725) and Catherine the Great (1762-1796), but, from a constitutional perspective, it was an absolute monarchy.
Even though these two monarchs accepted the principle of enlightened reform, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Russia was still an autocracy (Pipes 2005, 13-21). While the Napoleonic wars brought the ideas of the French Revolution, they did not introduce changes into the Russian constitution during the reign of Alexander I (1801-1825).[932] After his death, some Russian army officers sought to liberalize the regime through the abovementioned Decembrist Uprising of 1825, following the liberal revolutionary model, pioneered in Spain by Coronel Riego in 1820. The revolt failed and Tsar Nicholas I (1825-1855) reestablished autocracy, becoming the defender of absolutism throughout Europe, dubbed the “gendarme of Europe” by liberals as he brutally suppressed any liberal stirrings, not only in Russia, but also in Poland and Hungary.[933] [934]At the end of the nineteenth century, the last absolutist regime standing in Europe was Russia, headed by its Tsar, Alexander II (1855-1881), who had failed to liberalize the country, his life cut short by a terrorist’s bomb on March 13, 1881, the same day that he had granted a constitution (Radzinsky 2005, 417). The assassination led his successor, Alexander III (1881-1894), to reimpose 92
autocracy.
16.8.2 Speransky and the First Attempt to Establish the Principle of the Rule of Law in Imperial Russia
Despite the brutal reestablishment of absolutist autocracy there were some attempts to introduce the principle of the “rule of law” in Russia, essentially thanks to the initiative of one man: jurist Mikhail Speransky (1772-1839).[935] In 1802 he argued in his work “On the Fundamental Laws of the State” that the monarchy’s powers needed to be limited by society.
Though it was not truly democracy which Speranski advocated, as he wished for the tsar to share his power with a powerful nobility (Smith-Peter 2006, 2236-2237), he believed that the spirit of the times called for a constitutional monarchy kept in check by public opinion, with a legislative body, the State Duma, to assist in this process (Christian 1976, 192213). These views, which Speransky put into writing in 1809 in a memorandum (Leontovitsch 2012, 48), earned him many high-ranking enemies which, combined with his social isolation and somewhat difficult personality, led to his exile in March of 1812. He was not allowed to return to St. Petersburg until 1821.[936] During his expulsion he was influenced by the German Historical School of Law, based on the principle that each nation developed according to its own essence, embodied in its unique historical and legal institutions and practices (Beiser 2011, 231). The Historical School’s approach provided a foundation for Speransky’s codification of Russian law, based on organizing and publishing the laws and edicts issued since the prior codification carried out in 1649.Although some “Decembrist” officers stated that Speransky had influenced them, he not only denied this but was one of the organizers of the trial against the rebels, and called for harsh penalties for them. His attitude persuaded Nicholas I to allow him to head up the effort to codify Russia’s laws. This was the origin of the 45 volumes of the Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire, issued in 1830, followed up by the 15-volume Digest of the Laws, containing laws currently in effect, published between 1832 and 1839. While the Complete Collection of Laws contained the texts of nearly all laws and edicts issued from 1649 to 1825, the Digest organized laws currently in effect by topic. This was, then, a bona fide legal code. This codification was one of the main accomplishments of Nicholas’s reign, and Speransky was the man behind it.[937]
16.8.3 The Revolution of 1905 and the First Russian
Constitution (1906)
Significant political change in Russia would not come about until Nicholas II (1894-1917).
After losing the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the tsar had to grapple with the Revolution of 1905, which forced him to accept the establishment of a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system.[938] After signing a manifesto granting civil liberties and universal male suffrage (October 1905), on April 23, 1906 Nicholas II enacted the “Russian Fundamental Law”,[939] a sweeping revision of Speranski’s code which, among other aspects, contained regulations stipulating how the tsar was to exercise his prerogatives. This legislation is considered the first Russian constitution, and in 1906 for the first time, the tsar shared his power with an elected parliament composed of two houses: the upper chamber, the State Council, and the lower, the Duma.[940]Liberal Russians faced an uphill struggle because of tsarist opposition to the parliamentary system and the fact that they were not powerful enough in the Duma.[941] In any case the regime was short-lived, however, as the outbreak of World War I triggered two revolutions (that of February and October) in 1917, which simultaneously obliterated monarchy and liberalism in Russia.[942]
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