The case of the Petrashevites is the case of a progressive group of young people whose views were very heterogeneous. They studied and propagated the socio-utopian Western thought of the 19th century, and only a few of them had ideas of a revolutionary nature. Representatives of the Petrashevist society were convicted in 1849. We will tell about how this happened in our article.
People of different views
The activity of the Petrashevists circle occupies a prominent place in the liberation movement of the middle of the 19th century. The founder of this circle was Butashevich-Petrashevsky Mikhail Vasilyevich. He served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was a graduate of Moscow University. He was distinguished by talent and sociability.
In his spacious apartment in St. Petersburg on winter Friday evenings in 1845, a diverse audience began to gather. They were writers, teachers, students,petty officials, and later the military youth of advanced views.
Among the participants in the Petrashevsky case there were representatives of the radical wing, the most prominent figures of them are Speshnev, Mombelli, Durov, Kashkin and Akhsharumov. Subsequently, they organized their own circles and meetings, the scale of which was smaller.
Famous names
Petrashevsky's Friday evenings were attended by famous people of that time, such as writers S altykov-Shchedrin, Pleshcheev, poet Maikov, artist Fedotov, composers Glinka and Rubinstein.
Especially famous is the connection between the case of Petrashevsky and Dostoevsky F. M.
It should be noted that sometimes N. G. Chernyshevsky and even L. N. Tolstoy himself visited Petrashevsky. Every season new people came, over time, the composition of the meeting participants expanded significantly.
The start of the activity of the circle
Mikhail Petrashevsky's circle was not formalized as an organization. At the beginning of its activity, it was rather a literary circle. Until the beginning of 1848, it was semi-legal and had an educational character.
The main role in it belonged to self-education, as well as the exchange of opinions concerning novelties of fiction, scientific literature, socio-political, economic and philosophical systems. The close attention of the Petrashevists was attracted by those who at that time had a widedissemination of socialist doctrines in Europe. Petrashevsky himself set the tone at these meetings.
Shaping attitudes
The views of Petrashevsky and the members of his circle were shaped by the influence of the ideas of Saint-Simon and Fourier, the French utopian socialists. They collected at their own expense an extensive collection of books banned in Russia. It contained books by most Western enlighteners, socialists, and the latest philosophical writings.
It was this library that served as the main lure for Friday visitors. In particular, Petrashevsky and many of his comrades were interested in the problems of the socialist structure of society.
Dictionary of foreign words
In order to promote the ideas of materialism and socialism, the Petrashevists published a dictionary, which contained many foreign words that had never been used in Russian before. In this way, they were able to express the ideas of Western socialists, as well as set out almost all the articles of the French constitution, adopted during the revolutionary era in the 18th century.
In order to initially disguise the true meaning of the dictionary, Petrashevsky found a well-intentioned publisher, and dedicated the book itself to Mikhail Pavlovich, the Grand Duke. The first issue came in April 1845. V. G. Belinsky quickly responded to it, giving the dictionary a positive review, advising everyone to buy it. The second issue came out a year later, but soon almost the entire circulation was withdrawn from circulation.
New people
Starting fromIn the winter of 1846-1847, the nature of the meetings noticeably changes, there is a transition from the analysis of novelties of literature and science to the discussion of urgent social and political problems and criticism of the tsarist regime.
Due to these changes, the members of the circle with the most moderate views began to move away from him. But at the same time, new people joined the Friday visitors who held radical views, advocating the use of violent measures to overthrow the existing regime. Among them were Debu, Grigoriev, Pal, Filippov, Tol, Yastrzhembsky.
Political program
Gradually, the future participants in the Petrashevsky case developed a political program, the main plans of which were:
- Introduction of republican government with a single chamber parliament.
- Establishing an elective system to fill all government positions.
- Equality of all members of society before the law.
- Distribution of voting rights to all segments of the population without exception.
- Introduction of freedom of speech, press and movement.
At the same time, representatives of the radical wing, headed by Streshnev, proposed to carry out the implementation of the program of transformations with the help of violent measures. And the moderate wing, which included Petrashevsky himself, suggested the possibility of a peaceful path.
Secret organization
In the winter of 1848-49, revolutionary problems were already discussed during meetings, and the future political structure of the Russian state was discussed. In the spring, participants in the Petrashevsky casenot only began to create a secret organization, but also compiled a proclamation, which was intended for the soldiers and was called "Soldier's Conversation". Members of the organization bought a printing press to organize a secret printing house.
However, the activities of the circle were interrupted at this point. The fact is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an agent to the Petrashevites, who gave reports in writing, setting out in detail everything that was discussed at the meetings.
Arrest and trial
23.04.1849 at night, the Petrashevites were arrested in their apartments and first taken to the III section, and after the first interrogations - to the Peter and Paul Fortress. In total, 122 people were involved in the investigative actions in the case of Petrashevsky.
They were tried by a military court, which actually revealed only a "conspiracy of minds". The case file states that a handful of young, insignificant and immoral people dreamed of the possibility of violating the sacred rights of law, religion and property. That is, no action was taken by the Petrashevites.
At the same time, many were punished in the Petrashevsky case for spreading the ideas of Belinsky, set out by him in a letter to Gogol, or for not informing about the meetings - nothing more. However, the sentences passed were quite harsh - 21 people were threatened with execution.
Mock execution
Emperor Nicholas I was never able to approve the death sentence, but the convicts were not informed about this. Thus they were forcedsurvive the terrible moments awaiting the death pen alty. It was staged on December 22, 1849 in St. Petersburg on Semyonovskaya Square.
The death sentence was read to the condemned, white caps were put on their heads. To the beat of the drums after the command, they were taken by the soldiers at gunpoint. After that, the adjutant wing read out the order to cancel the execution.
Recalling that day, F. M. Dostoevsky wrote that the Petrashevites spent 10 minutes waiting for death, which he called terrible, immensely terrible. Those who stood at the leadership of the circle were sent to Siberia for hard labor, Dostoevsky was among them. The rest were sent to the prison companies.
