Decembrists

Categories / Social Life/Political Parties and Organizations
DECEMBRISTS, members of secret societies, mainly, Guard officers and Masonic lodge members, who excited a rebellion against autocracy and serfdom in December 1825 (hence the name). Many of the future Decembrists were born in St. Petersburg and over 70 of them were educated in schools of St. Petersburg such as the 1st and 2nd Cadet Corps, Sea Cadet Corps, Page Corps, Noble Regiment, Cadet Corps of Mining, Institute of Corps of Communications Engineers, Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, St. Petrischule, Regional Gymnasium, Noble Boarding School, Jesuit Boarding School, and private boarding schools of Jacquino, Meyer, Nicolas, etc. The first pre-Decembrist organizations appeared in St. Petersburg in 1814. These were called artels and consisted of officers of the Headquarters (Holy Artel) and Semenovsky Life Guard Regiment (Semenovskaya Artel). The first secret society called Soyuz Spasenia (the Union of Salvation) was founded by A. N. and N.M. Muravyevs, M.I. and S.I. Muravyev-Apostols, Prince S.P. Trubetskoy, and I.D. Yakushkin on 9 February 1816 at the meeting held in the officers" quarters of the Semenovsky Regiment on Zagorodny Avenue (not preserved). Another secret society was Soyuz Blagodenstvia (the Union of Welfare) with a number of boards operating in St. Petesburg from mid-to-late 1818. The Decembrists held their meetings in the apartments of N.M. Muravyev (25 Fontanka River Embankment; commemorative plaque), N.I. Turgenev (20 Fontanka River Embankment; commemorative plaque), Prince I.A. Dolgorukov (Ekateringofsky Avenue, today 37 Rimskogo-Korsakova Avenue), and I.P. Shipov at Preobrazhenskie quarters, Millionnaya Street (not preserved). In January 1820, a meeting of the Main Board of the Union of Welfare was held at F.N. Glinka"s flat (18 Teatralnaya Square; commemorative plaque) where a decision was made to fight for the republican form of government for the first time in the Russian liberation history on the initiative of P.I. Pestel. Aggravated by the disturbances among soldiers of the Semenovsky Regiment in October 1820, and disputes between the Union members the organization was brought to voluntary dissolution. In 1821, N.M. Muravyev and Turgenev founded the Northern Society in St. Petersburg. The Southern Society was founded in Ukraine nearly at the same time with a branch established in St. Petersburg and headed by P.N. Svistunov. K.F. Ryleev, Prince E.P. Obolensky, and A.A. Bestuzhev who took the lead of the Northern Society by the middle of 1825 were strong supporters of republicanism and determined actions. The secret society was widely represented in the Guards with its members doing their military service in all the units. The integration of the Southern and Northern Societies was negotiated in St. Petersburg from 1823. The joint march was scheduled for 1826 but the dynastic crisis resulted from the unexpected death of Emperor Alexander I in Taganrog prompted the Decembrists to rise before the scheduled time. The rebellion plan of December 14, 1825 was drawn up at Ryleev"s (72 Moyka Embankment; commemorative plaque) and Trubetskoy"s (4 Angliiskaya Embankment) during the interregnum period. The Decembrists" intention was to prevent guards units from swearing to the new sovereign and make the Senate declare abolition of serfdom and autocracy and announce convocation of the Constitutional Assembly. After the rebellions had been crushed down in St. Petersburg and Ukraine, most of the Decembrists were arrested and confined to Peter and Paul Fortress including about 300 members of the secret societies and over 700 soldiers and sailors. The committee of inquiry had a meeting in the house of the governor of the fortress from December 23, 1825 (devoted to the Decembrists, the exposition of the Museum of St. Petersburg History can be now seen in the former governor"s house). The sentence of the Supreme Criminal Court was passed on 120 participants on July 12, 1826. On July 13, 1826, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, P.G. Kakhovsky, S.I. Muravyev-Apostol, P.I. Pestel, and K.F. Ryleev were hanged on the eastern rampart of Peter and Paul Fortress. In 1940, a monument was erected on Dekabristov Island where the 5 hanged Decembrists had been supposedly buried. In 1975, another monument was put at the place of execution. The execution of 97 Decembrists sentenced to penal servitude and exile was held as a ceremony on the glacis of the fortress (today, Alexandrovsky Park) on the same day. A similar execution of 15 naval officers was held in the roads of Kronstadt. About 40 Decembrists were buried in Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Hermitage of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius, Smolenskoe Cemeteries, Volkovskoe Cemeteries, Bolsheokhtinskoe Cemetery, Mitrofanievskoe Cemetery, Novodevichye Cemetery, and other cemeteries (most of graves were not preserved). Former Ofitserskaya Street, bridge over the Kryukov Canal, former Senatskaya Square, Goloday Island, and former Golodaevsky Lane were named after the Decembrists in 1918, 1923, 1923, 1926, and 1940s, respectively.

Reference: Восстание декабристов. М.; Л., 1925-2001. Т. 1-20; Принцева Г. А., Бастарева Л. И. Декабристы в Петербурге. Л., 1975; Декабристы: Биогр. справ. М., 1988; Декабристы в воспоминаниях современников: Сб. ст. М., 1988; Гордин Я. А. Мятеж реформаторов 14 декабря 1825 г.: После мятежа: (Хроника). СПб., 1997; Пушкина В. А., Ильин П. В. Персональный состав декабристских тайных обществ (1816-1826): Справ. указ. // 14 декабря 1825 года: Источники, исслед., историография, библиография. СПб.; Кишинев, 2000. Вып. 2. С. 9-77; Петербург декабристов. СПб., 2000.

A. D. Margolis. Alexander I, Emperor
Bestuzhev Alexander Alexandrovich
Bestuzhev-Ryumin Mikhail Pavlovich
Dolgorukov Ilya Andreevich, Duke
Glinka Fedor Nikolaevich
Jaquinot P.I.
Kakhovsky Peter Grigorievich
Meyer
Muravyev Andrey Nikolaevich
Muravyev Nikita Mikhailovich
Muravyev-Apostol Matvey Ivanovich
Muravyev-Apostol Sergey Ivanovich
Nicolle Charles Domenique
Obolensky Evgeny Petrovich, Duke
Pestel Pavel Ivanovich
Ryleev Kondraty Fedorovich
Shipov Ivan Pavlovich
Svistunov Peter Nikolaevich
Trubetskoy Sergey Petrovich, Duke
Turgenev Nikolay Ivanovich
Yakushkin Ivan Dmitrievich
Angliiskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 4
Dekabristov Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Dekabristov Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Dekabristov St./Saint Petersburg, city
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 20
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 25
Millionnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 72
Rimsky-Korsakov Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 37
Teatralnaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city, house 18
Восстание декабристов. М.; Л., 1925-2001
Пушкина В. А., Ильин П. В. Персональный состав декабристских тайных обществ (1816-1826): Справ. указ. // 14 декабря 1825 года: Источники, исслед., историография, библиогр. СПб.; Кишинев, 2000
Декабристы: Биогр. справ. М., 1988
Декабристы в воспоминаниях современников: Сб. ст. М., 1988
Гордин Я. А. Мятеж реформаторов 14 декабря 1825 г.: После мятежа: (Хроника). СПб., 1997
Принцева Г. А., Бастарева Л. И. Декабристы в Петербурге. Л., 1975
Петербург декабристов / Сост. А.Д.Марголис. СПб., 2000 Naval Cadet Corps
Naval Cadet Corps
Page Corps
Page Corps
Nobility Regiment
Plekhanov State Mining Institute, St. Petersburg
Lyceum
Lyceum
St. Petrischule
Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment
Senate
St. Peter and Paul fortress
St. Peter and Paul fortress
Commandant's House
St. Petersburg Museum of History
Kronverk (Crownwork)
Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Holy Trinity & St. Sergius Hermitage
Smolenskoe Cemeteries
Volkovskoe Cemeteries
Novodevichye Cemetery
Novodevichye Cemetery
1816
1818
1821
1826
1975