Order of Russian Knights

The political projects of the Decembrists concerning the future structure of Russia were diverse, yet all were predicated on the establishment of a republican system in Russia. The tradition of contrasting the constitutional projects of P. Pestel and N. Muravyev as republican and constitutional-monarchical is the result of the transfer of later ideas to the Decembrists’ era. Within the political thought of the early 19th century, both projects were regarded as republican, with the primary distinction lying in the nature of the republican system itself. The two systems under discussion are Pestel’s parliamentary republic and Muravyev’s presidential one. In addition to the two projects previously described in detail in the works of their respective authors, there were at least two other projects that were not described in detail, but can be reconstructed from indirect evidence. The concept of a presidential republic, as outlined by N. Turgenev, deviates from Muravyov’s proposal by virtue of the heightened authority bestowed upon the president, in contrast to the imperial republic of the Order of Russian Knights, a concept elaborated upon within the milieu of M. A. Dmitriev-Mamonov and M. F. Orlov.