Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev

Pobedonostsev was known for his gaunt figure and pale, corpse-like countenance, as one may judge from this portrait by Ilya Repin.

Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (Константин Петрович Победоносцев in Russian) (May 21, 1827 - March 23, 1907) was a Russian jurist, statesman, and thinker. Usually regarded as a prime representative of Russian conservatism, he was the gray cardinal of imperial politics during the reign of his disciple Alexander III of Russia, holding the position of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod, the highest position of the supervision of the Russian Orthodox Church by the state.

Life

Pobedonostsev's father Pyotr Vasilyevich Pobedonostsev was a Professor of literature in the Moscow University. In 1841 he placed his son in the School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg, and upon graduating Konstantin Pobedonostsev entered the public service as an official in the eighth Moscow department of the Senate. At the same time in 1859 the Moscow University requested him to hold lectures in civil law, and he continued his scholarly activities while he continued to work in the eighth Moscow department. From 1860 to 1865 he was professor and chair of civil law in the Moscow State University. In 1861 Alexander II invited him to instruct his son and heir Nicholas in the theory of law and administration. On the April 12, 1865 Nicholas died, but Pobedonostsev was invited to teach his brother Alexander (the next tsar Alexander III). In 1866 he moved to permanent residence to St. Petersburg. Relations of Pobedonostsev and Alexander remained very close for almost thirty years until Alexander's death in 1894.

In 1868, he became a senator in St. Petersburg, in 1872 - a member of the State Council, and in 1880 - chief procurator of the Holy Synod. In the latter office Pobedonostsev was de facto head of the Russian Orthodox Church. During the reign of Alexander III he was one of the most influential men in the empire. He is considered the mastermind of Alexander's Manifesto of April 29, 1881. The Manifesto proclaimed that the absolute power of the tsar in Russia was unshakable thus putting an end to Loris-Melikov's endeavours to establish representative body in the empire. He always showed himself an uncompromising [Conservatism|conservative]] and never shrank from expressing boldly his opinions. Consequently, in the liberal circles he was always denounced as an obscurantist and an enemy of progress. Despite his reputation as a conservative, he was involved in the liberal judicial statute of 1861 and corresponded with the intellectuals of his day, including Boris Chicherin and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Pobedonostsev reached the peak of his influence immediately after the death of Alexander III, however his power declined as he lost much of his influence during the reign of Nicholas II. During the revolutionary tumult, Pobedonostsev, being nearly 80 years of age, officially retired from public affairs in 1905. He died on March 23rd, 1907 from pneumonia.

Works and Thoughts

Though Pobedonostsev is mostly known as statesman and thinker his contribution to Russian civil law is significant. He is generally regarded as one of the most educated Russian jurists of the XIX century. His main work was three-volume "Course of civil law" (Курс гражданского права). In addition, Pobedonostsev wrote articles on law, education, religion, and philosophy in various journals, such as the Moskovskie Vedomosti.

Pobedonostsev held the view that human nature is sinful. Consequently, he rejected the Western ideals of freedom and independence as "dangerous delusions of nihilistic youth". In his own works, he would often cite other writers without proper reference, assuming that "thoughts and words of one individual belong not to him, but to mankind in general".

In the early years of the reign of Alexander II Pobedonostsev maintained, though keeping aloof from the Slavophiles, that Western institutions were radically bad in themselves and totally inapplicable to Russia since they had no roots in Russian history and culture and did not correspond to the spirit of Russian people. At that period, he contributed several papers to Alexander Herzen's radical periodical Voices from Russia.

He denounced democracy as "the insupportable dictatorship of vulgar crowd". Parliamentary methods of administration, modern judicial organization and procedures, trial by jury, freedom of the press, secular education - these were among the principal objects of his aversion. He subjected all of them to a severe analysis in his Reflections of a Russian Statesman.

To these dangerous products of Western rationalism he found a counterpoise in popular vis inertiae, and in the respect of the masses for institutions developed slowly and automatically during the past centuries of national life. In his view, human society evolves naturally, just like a tree grows. Human mind is not capable to perceive the logic of social development. Any attempt to reform society is a violence and a crime. Among the practical deductions drawn from these premises is the necessity of preserving the autocratic power, and of fostering among the people the traditional veneration for the ritual of the national Church.

In the sphere of practical politics he exercised considerable influence by inspiring and encouraging the Russification policy of Alexander III, which found expression in an administrative nationalist propaganda and led to Tsarist Russia's most elaborately justified and most thoroughly carried-out programs of religious persecution, largely centered upon Russia's Jews. These policies were implemented by "May Laws" that banned Jews from rural areas and shtetls even within Pale of Settlement.

Although Pobedonostsev, especially during the later years of his life, was generally detested, there was at least one man who not only shared his views but also sympathized with him personally. It was the novelist Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Their correspondence is still read with the utmost interest. "I believe that he is the only man who can save Russia from the revolution", wrote the Russian novelist.

Reference

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

See also

• Konstantin Leontiev
• Ivan Delyanov
• Mikhail Katkov

External links

• The Russian Empire, 1855 to 1900
• Review of Pobedonostsev's doctrines (in Russian)
• Pobedonostsev and Dostoevsky (in Russian)
• Encyclopedia article on Pobedonostsev (in Russian)
• Pobedonostsev (biography) (in Russian)

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