L-14
Part III Pre-reform Russia (5)
7. Culture
A. Themes
1. Expansion of education, esp. secondary and tertiary
2. Religious dissent: intensifies, diversifies
3. Growth of Russian national consciousness
4. Emergence of proto-intelligentsia
5. Golden age of Russian literature
B. Education
1. Educational Reform of 1804a. Structureb. Problems
2. Nikolaevan Retrenchmenta. Education as social policyb. Nikolaevan policy
3. Growth and Impact4. Science and Scholarship
Primary and Secondary School Enrollments
Country 1840 1860
Total (thousands)
Per 1,000 population
Total (thousands)
Per 1,000 population
Russia 270 5 955 13
Germany 3,700 113 7,100 156
France 2,900 85 4,029 149
Literacy Rates (percent)
Country 1800 1850
M F M F
Russia 6 4 19 10
Gt. Britain 68 43 72 45
Germany 80 50 86 84
France 47 27 69 46
Russia: Gymnasium and University Enrollments
Year Gymnasium University
1809 450
1825 7,700 1,700
1848 18,900 4,600
1854 17,800 3,600
Social Composition of University (1848-49)
Social Group Number Percent
Nobility 2,506 63.6
Clergy 279 7.2
Raznochintsy 1,152 29.3
Total 3,937 100.0
Moscow University: 1804 Charter
C. Religion: Orthodoxy and Dissent
1. Official Church and Popular Orthodoxy
2. Dissent: Old Believers and Sectarians
Old Believer Center: Rogozhskoe Cemetery Complex (Moscow)
D. Russian National Consciousness
Admiral Aleksandr S. Shishkov (1754-1841)
A. N. Karamzin(1766-1826)
E. Decembrism
1. Historiography
2. Movement: overview
3. Decembrists: profile
4. “Decembrism”: liberal nationalism
5. Significance: mutual alienation
Decembrist Movement: Overview
1816 SPB Union of Salvation1818 Union of Welfare1821 Northern Society1821 Southern Society1825 Society of United Slavs1825 Uprising:
14 December SPB29 December Chernigov Regiment
Decembrist Uprising on Senate Square (December 1825)
Pavel Pestel: Pravda Russkaia (Russian Truth)
Sergei Murav’ev-Apostol
Decembrists in Chains
5 Decembrist Martyrs:Pestel, Ryleev, Bestuzhev,
Murav’ev, Kakhovskii
Decembrist Execution Site: Petropavslovskii Fortress
F. Proto-intelligentsia1. Terminology: Radicals and obshchestvo
(“educated society”)
2. Social Profile
3. “Circles” (kruzhki) of the 1830s
4. Westerner-Slavophile debate
5. Radical socialist currentsa. Herzen: Russian peasant socialism
b. Bakunin: Anarchism
c. Petrashevtsy: Utopian socialism, mass engagement
6. Russian Liberalism
Radical Dissenters: Social Origins
Social Category Percent of Arrested
Nobles 80
Non-nobles 20
Radical Dissenters: Social Position
Social Status Percent of Arrested
Student 49
Civil Servant 25
Writer, Artist 10
Army Officer 6
Teacher 9
Unknown 1
P. Ia. Chaadaev (1794-1856)
1836 “Philosophical
Letter”
1837 “Apology of a
Madman”
Vissarion G. Belinskii (1811-1848)
Konstantin Dm. Kavelin (1818-85): Westerner, Historian
Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov (1759-1859)
Konstantin S. Aksakov (1817-60)
Ivan S. Aksakov (1823-86)
Boris Chicherin 1828-1904: Liberal Ideologist
Alexander Herzen (1812-70):Russian peasant socialism
Alexander Herzen & Family Estate near Moscow
Mikhail Bakunin, 1814-76:Anarchism
Mikhail V. Petrashevskii (1821-66): Utopian socialism
6. Literature and Creative Arts
1. Why a golden age?
2. Literary giants: Griboedov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol’
3. Art: Ivanov and Venetsianov
4. Music: Glinka and Russian national opera
Aleksandr Griboedov (1795-1829): “Woe of Wit” (1822-4)
A.S. Pushkin, 1799-1837
Hannibal and Granddaughter, Nadezhda O. Pushkina (and
Pushkin’s mother)
Mikhail Iu. Lermontov (1814-41)
Nikolai V. Gogol (1809-52)
Aleksandr Ivanov (1806-58)
Ivanov: “Appearance of Christ before the People” (1837-57)
Aleksei G. Venetsianov 1780-1847
Venetsianov: “Fortune-telling with cards” (1830s)
Venetsianov: “In the Fields in Spring”
Venetsianov, “Peasant Children” (1820s)
Venetsianov, “The Reapers” (1820s)
Mikhail Iv. Glinka 1804-57
6. Conclusions
1. Elite identity
2. Impact of Western ideology
3. Revolutionary inaction
4. Cultural pluralism
5. Elite/narod gap