Reforms of Peter I

In the preparatory materials for writing The History of Peter the Great, A. S. Pushkin outlined one of the cross-cutting themes of his future work, namely the bribery of officials and their violation of the law. This topic was of great relevance in Pushkin’s time. Having identified “greedy clerks” as the initial focus of his analysis of the Muscovite kingdom, Pushkin drew upon the work of I. I. Golikov’s account to Peter I detailed the instances of bribery and embezzlement that were prevalent at the time, as well as the efforts made by Peter to combat these practices. From this, we can infer that, in Pushkin’s view, the despotic nature of the autocratic tsar’s reforms was not primarily a reflection of his character, but rather a consequence of the historical and socio-political conditions that shaped Russian life over centuries. From this perspective on Russian autocracy and national history, it is evident that Pushkin was a pioneer in his understanding of these issues.