Ennobling Russia

If, according to plan, the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family are officially laid to rest in St. Petersburg on February 25, it will end a 79-year chapter in modern Russian history: one typified by murder, persecution and exile of the former Russian gentry. The Assembly of the Descendants of Russian Nobility, on the other hand, may choose to mark the event as the beginning of a new chapter: the resurgence of a noble class in Russia which, one day they hope, will lead to the revival of the monarchy.

In central Moscow, just yards from the construction site of the Church of Christ the Savior, is the headquarters of the "Nobles' Assembly" (Dvoranskoe sobranie).

The mansion, built in 18th century classical style, reflects the history of the nobility that has occupied it. A history that is hardly auspicious. The house belonged to some highly distinguished noble families: the Vyazemskys and Dolgorukys – names synonymous with the golden age of their class. However, both families fell afoul of imperial power -- the Vyazemskys through the scheming jealousy of a political rival at the time of Ivan the Terrible, the Dolgorukys through an unsuccessful grab for power when Tsar Paul II died on the day he was to be wed to Ivan Dolgoruky’s daughter, Ekaterina.

Between the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the house became a stronghold of the conservative Constitutional Democratic Party, the Cadets, subsequently branded counterrevolutionaries by the Bolsheviks. After the 1917 revolution, the estate of the Dolgorukys, including the house, was confiscated.

Ironically, in 1962, the mansion was turned into a museum dedicated to Marx and Engels, though the buildings never had any connection with Marx or Engels, and were filled entirely with fake exhibits.

In the early 1990s, the newly-formed Assembly obtained a 49-year lease on the building. But the Ministry of Justice blocked the group from registering under its old name, explaining "We have no classes in Russia, therefore no nobles." The group therefore temporarily used the pragmatic name, "Assembly of Descendants of the Russian Nobility."

The word dvoryanye, or "people of the court," the general name for Russian nobility from the 18th century on, first entered into broad use in the latter half of the 17th century, in reference to petty court officials. In contrast to the old estate of nobility, the boyars, which traced back to Kievan Rus and claimed land through inheritance, the dvoryanye received land only on condition of their service to the State.

Under Peter the Great, however, the privileges of the boyars began to be challenged, as Peter bolstered the dvoryanye through a series of decrees. His 1714 decree "On Single Inheritance" sought to dissolve differences in status between boyars and dvoryanye (and reduce the number of boyars), and gained Peter powerful allies in the dvoryanye, against the conservative boyars, who resisted his progressive reforms.

Further, in 1722 Peter established the famous "Table of Ranks," which divided all military and civil officials into 14 categories, opening the way for non-titled persons to rise through the ranks to attain hereditary peerages. Also, a series of prestigious medals and orders were created which conveyed hereditary noble status upon their recipients.

In the latter part of the 18th and early 19th century, beginning with the reign of Catherine the Great, the noble class enjoyed its Golden Era. The gentry’s superior property and legal rights were codified and their corporate power expanded: in every region or city in the Russian Empire, a Nobles" Assembly was established, with a "Marshal of the Nobility’ selected every two years. As a body, each Assembly had the right to petition the Tsar on issues of concern -- a right not extended to any other class.

This Golden Era lasted until the late 1800s, its end being heralded by the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, which impoverished many of the landed gentry, many of which were in great debt. Their power and influence as a class swiftly declined.

In 1917, revolutionary decrees abolished the hereditary class system, and with it all privileges of nobility. Many nobles fled abroad to Europe or America, while others fought with the White armies in the Civil War.

Those who stayed in Russia after the consolidation of Bolshevik power in 1921 faced two choices, repression or denial. Some changed their names and acquired forged documents, even taking their family secrets to the grave. In the years of Lenin’s Red Terror, public avowal of one’s noble status was a sure sentence to internal exile or death.

Such was the case of Prince Kirill Nikolaevich Golitsyn, who spent several decades in gulags and Siberian exile rather than disavow his nobility (he was rehabilitated in 1987). Fittingly, it was Kirill’s son Andrei who was to spearhead the founding of the current Nobles’ Assembly. He is presently Chairman of the Assembly.

The new Assembly, founded on May 10, 1990 with just 52 members, now boasts some 2,000. With family members counted, its ranks swell to over 6,000. As the Assembly has grown since its tentative early days, so has it focus evolved from a cultural heritage society (publishing books, collecting documents related to gentry families, etc.) to an outright pro-monarchy movement.

Sitting in his cramped office, Assembly Vice-Chairman Sergei Sapozhnikov bemoans the shallowness of today's political elite:

"Today"s political situation revolves around social democratic values,Ó he sighed, Òand democracy is considered to be some sort of indisputable axiom. In Russia democracy has no history nor any roots whatsoever... Russia is a country meant for monarchy and the Orthodox faith. We adhere to the slogan "Tsar, Orthodoxy and Fatherland."Ó

The Assembly"s values, though rooted in history, do recognize modern political realities.

"Alas, I'm afraid we won't manage to restore absolute monarchy, so we will have to settle for a constitutional one,Ó says Count Bobrinsky, head of one of Russia"s leading noble families. ÒBut it will come for sure."

Indeed, it was Andrei Golitsyn, together with Patriarch Alexi, who arranged the first visit of members of the Romanov family to Russia since the murder of the royal family in 1918.

For the moment, though, the Nobles" Assembly tends to be concerned with matters of a more prosaic nature. Next to the colorful coats-of-arms and announcements for social events, the Assembly bulletin board features a more modest notice, about a small shipment of medical aid from Germany to be distributed to needy members. The group is diverse  geographically and ethnically as well as financially.

  In addition to direct descendants of Russian nobility, the assembly welcomes ethnic nobility from the country"s smaller nations. Its ranks include Tartar murzas and Dagestani khans. Islam is presently tolerated by the Assembly, in return for loyalty to the monarchist cause. This is in contrast to past, Tsarist policies that allowed such ethnic nobility to join the ranks of Russian nobles only if they embraced Orthodoxy.

Outside of Russia, there are independent organizations, some of which affiliate with the Moscow organization, some of which do not, in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Finland, France, the UK, the US and Australia.

The mission of the US organization, says Vladimir Golitsyn, vice-president chairman of the Russian Nobles’ Assembly in the US, is “to maintain a library of rare books dealing with Russian and European nobility, and to help out churches, seminaries, youth groups and other groups related to Russia.” The organization’s largest fundraiser is its annual Noble Ball.

   Various departments in the Moscow organization deal with culture, education, international relations, charity, and other issues of concern. The most prestigious of these is the Heraldry Department, headed by Sapozhnikov. It works with Count Bobrinsky"s Acceptance Committee to screen aspiring members, thereby sorting the truly blue-blooded from the pretenders.

According to the updated Imperial Russian Law, the committee requires documents from applicants confirming high-born status. However, during the Terror, many nobles destroyed these documents to protect their families. Now they must apply to various state archives for evidence acknowledged by the committee. As a last resort, when all documents are irretrievable, the testimony of three members of the Assembly confirming nobility can serve as proof.

Under Imperial legislation, nobility was descended only through the males of the family. Thereby the Assembly is divided into full members (those who have proven their descent from a noble male ancestor in Imperial Russia), associate members without voting rights (descendants from noble female ancestors) and guests (non-nobles who sympathize with the cause).

"When my non-noble boss at the research institute found out that we were organizing the Assembly," Sapozhnikov recalled, "he asked me if I would make him a guest member. I agreed, and said that the moment we restored the monarchy, we"d give him a title as head of a major research center, and even make him a general [thus a noble].”

And what about Russia"s current generals? Could we expect the top brass to be accepted into the nobility on the basis of their achievements?

ÒWe will make [Defense Minister] Grachev a nobleman,Ó declared Sapozhnikov. ÒHe"ll have to take a few oaths and sign some documents, but that"s no problem.Ó

This eccentric aside seems unusual for a movement with such serious intentions. But then military rank went hand in hand with social rank for over 200 years prior to the Bolshevik revolution. That military leaders today are less frequently revered than in centuries past is something the Table of Ranks did not account for.

Which is just one reality that today’s Russian nobles must grapple with. The tsars are gone. The grand, 18th and 19th century estates have been confiscated and let deteriorate. All that remains is pride in family history and the family name. It does not pay the rent, but it is a start for restoring some of the valued social traditions lost in the brutal melee of this century’s revolutions.

======

Andrei Polyakovsky is ??? a freelance writer whose work appears frequently in Russian Life.

===== RUN AS A SIDEBAR TO THE STORY OR MAYBE AS SIDEBAR IN OUTSIDE COLUMN OF ALL PAGES OF THE STORY, LIKE IN BRIEFS COLUMN (screened, with 8pt type) =====

500 Years of the Russian Gentry

1475: Tsar Ivan III (“The Great”) implements the mestnichestvo, where the names and standings of all boyar families (landlords, the first Russian gentry) in state service were entered into a state genealogical register, which became the basis for subsequent state appointments. Henceforth, a boyar’s appointment had to correspond to hereditary status.

1649: Tsar Alexis’ Ulozhenie, among other changes, fully establishes serfdom in Russia, which had evolved from peasant bondage since the times of Kievan Rus. The Ulozhenie assumed the principle of “once a serf, always a serf.” This protected one important foundation for boyar wealth in the emerging Russian state.

1682: Tsar Theodore III abolishes mestnichestvo.

1714: In an attempt to limit boyar power, Tsar Peter I (“The Great”) decrees that estates could be inherited only by one son; the others had to exist entirely through service to the crown -- as dvoryanye. The decree proved very difficult to enforce and was repealed in 1731.

1722: Peter the Great’s Table of Ranks establishes 14 hierarchical ranks (14 the lowest and 1 the highest) that could be attained in the military, civil and judicial services. The Table was to serve as the basis of the imperial bureaucracy until 1917: all persons of rank were gentry. Advancement through service became possible for all. Persons of non-noble origin received hereditary titles upon attaining the eighth rank in the civil service or the twelfth rank in the military. This codified the existence of the dvoryanye, the second gentry class that was based on merit, rather than inheritance. In actuality, meritocratic ennoblement existed as far back as Ivan III. This codification, however, helped swell the ranks of the dvoryanye and strengthen Peter’s power base and reforms against the boyars.

1736: Compulsory obligation of the gentry’s service to the state (which began at age 16) is limited to 25 years.

1762: On 18 February, Tsar Peter III liberates the gentry completely from compulsory service to the state, a practice which had been prevalent for 200 years, but nearly universal under Peter the Great. One day (and 99 years later), the serfs are liberated.

1785: Tsarina Catherine II’s Charter of the Nobility marks the high point of the gentry’s position and privilege and the beginning of its Golden Era in Russian social and political life. The Charter granted the gentry true private property rights over their land, right of corporate petition of the tsar, affirmed their freedom from state service and taxation, and freed them from corporal punishment.

1861: Emancipation of the serfs signals the end of the gentry’s Golden Era. Their holdings, power and prestige decline over the next 50 years (in 1877, 35% of all land was held by the gentry; in 1917, just 10%).

1897: Census reveals that 1.5% of the Russian empire’s population is nobles -- over 1.8 mn persons. Of these, two-thirds were hereditary nobles. Over 70% of all Russia’s university graduates at the time were nobles. Still, 29% of all nobles were illiterate.

1905: Of the growing business elite, just 2% are of noble origin; 10% are of peasant origin.

1917: Bolshevik revolution leads to abolition of hereditary gentry system. Nobles emigrate or join classless society. Tens of thousands perish under Lenin’s Red Terror.

1937: Russian Nobles Association is founded in New York.

1990: Assembly of Nobles is founded, with effort spearheaded by Andrei Golitsyn, a descendant one of the oldest Russian noble families.

Sources: A History of Russia, Nicholas Riasonovsky; A Social History of 20th Century Russia, by Vladimir Andrle; Discovering Moscow, by Helen Boldyreff Semler.