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PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — T. N. Zhukovskaya, K. S. Kazakova. STUDENTS, CORPORANTS, LOYAL SUBJECTS. REVIEW ON MONOGRAPH: FRIEDMAN R. MASCULINITY, AUTOCRACY, AND THE RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY, 1804–1863 / TRANSL. FROM ENGLISH BY N. PROTSENKO. BOSTON / ST. PETERSBURG: ACADEMIC STUDIES PRESS / BIBLIOROSSIKA, 2024. 264 P. SERIES “MODERN WESTERN RUSSIAN STUDIES” // PETERSBURG HISTORICAL JOURNAL, NO. 2, 2025, PP. 250–258

The book under review is a study of the relationship between the student community and the authorities, both university and state, as well as the characteristics of the legal and corporate organisation of students at the pre-reform university. The author examines the social relations of student youth, the formation of official and alternative models of student behaviour, which at that time was an exclusively male community. The author argues that there was a significant gap between the normative gender model of the loyal subject “servant of the fatherland and the Tsar” and the ideal of the educated, emancipated young man developed by the university corporation. The article critically evaluates the ideals of masculinity reconstructed by the author for this socio-cultural group.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — A. V. Apanasenok. IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE “BLUE SNAKE”: THE PROBLEM OF TOBACCO SMOKING ON THE PAGES OF OLD BELIEVER MAGAZINES OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The present paper is devoted to an examination of the history of the anti-smoking campaign that emerged in Russia in the pages of thick Old Believer magazines between 1906 and 1916. It is demonstrated that following the Russian Old Believers’ attainment of fundamental civil liberties in 1905, their customary anti-smoking rhetoric transitioned from the intra-confessional domain to the national stage. The active fight against tobacco use in the territory of the Russian Empire was intended to become a kind of calling card of the Old Believer communities in the process of their integration into the public life of the country. The paper examines the various arguments against smoking that were advanced by Old Believer monthly magazines, as well as the proposed ways to limit the impact of tobacco on Russian society. The study concludes that the expressed ideas had little chance of widespread dissemination and mass support in the context of the growing crisis in Russian society. Nevertheless, they represented a noteworthy landmark in the evolution of the national “anti-smoking discourse”.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — A. K. Kirillov. TAX PETITIONER AS PART OF THE TAX OPTIMIZATION CULTURE IN THE LATE IMPERIAL RUSSIA

The article under consideration pertains to the study of a relatively obscure phenomenon in the annals of Russian history — namely, tax offices. By the onset of the 20th century, these institutions had evolved into a pivotal component of the tax calculation technology within the advanced segment of the Russian tax system. A significant aspect of their function pertained to the consideration of objections raised by entrepreneurs with regard to the amount of additional business tax levied upon them. The study draws upon a collection of objections lodged by taxpayers of the 2nd Tomsk office in 1907. The research methods employed encompass graphology, textology and hermeneutics. By comparing the design of the objections, typical expressions and the logic of substantiating taxpayers’ demands, identifying differences between similar documents and analysing corrections in the texts, the author discovers three series of objections, in each of which all documents (from two to eight in number) were undoubtedly composed by the same person. The author’s analysis is further enriched by a comparison of the handwritings in which the objections themselves, the signatures under them and the notes to them were written. This analysis demonstrates two key findings. Firstly, the objections were not composed by the taxpayers themselves, but by professional consultants. Secondly, at least two consultants had assistants who were directly involved in the preparation of the documents. In one particular instance, the name of the consultant was also identified. This finding suggests a discernible tendency among provincial entrepreneurs in late imperial Russia to entrust the reduction of their tax payments to professionals engaged in legal services.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — M. N. Baryshnikov. BATUM IN THE OPERATIONS OF THE RUSSIAN STEAM NAVIGATION AND TRADING COMPANY (1874–1913)

The article, which is based on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, examinesthe main directions of operations of the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company in the port of Batum between 1874 and 1913. The data sources were used to address three research questions. Firstly, what were the regional directions and content (cargo and passenger transportation) of these shipping operations? Secondly, the importance of these operations in terms of the regional needs of Batum was investigated. Thirdly, the investigation sought to ascertain whether these operations exerted a substantial influence on coastal and international shipping. The methodological framework utilised facilitated the identification of key stages,institutional agreements between stakeholders (public-private partnerships) and goods movements within supply chains, and the nature of trade relationships between regions. It also illuminated how corresponding change and development is shaped by consumer demand, geopolitical and socio-economic situation, and, naturally, the functioning of maritime transport. The findings reveal that these changes and developments are driven by several factors: favourable infrastructural conditions in the port of Batum; location-specific advantages such as the ability to coordinate domestic and foreign transportation and effectively redirect cargoand passengers; and governmental negotiations processes as a result of the shipping company’s strong position, peculiarities of the multinational character and Black Sea region’s economic capabilities.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — A. A. Efimov. THE ISSUE OF ESTABLISHMENT THE INSTITUTION OF JUDICIAL INVESTIGATORS IN PALACE TOWNS

The article addresses one of the problems of the administrative history of palace towns of the mid-19 th century. The author notes that these settlements had a special status in the Russian Empire. They were under the jurisdiction of special institutions of the Ministry of the Imperial Court — palace boards, being largely outside the general system of public administration and local self-government. This special status gave them a certain independence and even the opportunity to engage in some opposition when deciding on the applicability of certain administrative innovations. As noted in the article, this observation also applies to the issue of introducing the institution of forensic investigators. In a significant part of the provinces they began their work soon after the signing of the corresponding decree in the early summer of 1860. The author draws attention to the fact that in the palace towns only in August the question was raised about the possibility of these officials acting on their territory. As the article notes, representatives of the local administration of Peterhof were somewhat enthusiastic about the idea of outsourcing some of the work that fell to the city police, which was considered overloaded. At the same time, the boundaries of the participation of judicial investigators in the proceedings were also specified. In Tsarskoe Selo the situation was different. Despite the declared readiness to transfer the investigative work, officials of the Tsarskoye Selo city police, under various organizational and bureaucratic pretexts, delayed this process. The author notes that in the end, to resolve this issue, the intervention of the St. Petersburg provincial government was required. The latter had to issue an order with direct reference to the imperial decree on the transfer of cases subject to criminal proceedings to a judicial investigator.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — L. P. Marney. DEVELOPMENT OF THE MONETARY AND CREDIT SYSTEM OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 19 TH CENTURY IN PROJECTS OF M. M. SPERANSKY AND D. A. GURYEV

In the early 19 th century, two Russian statesmen, Secretary of State Mikhail Speransky and Minister of Finance Dmitry Guryev, proposed financial reforms with a particular emphasis on the development of the monetary system, a key component of the economic security of the Russian Empire. This strategy, which sought to enhance financial management, mobilise material resources, strengthen monetary circulation and stabilise the Empire’s financial system, had been in development since 1802, when the Ministry of Finance was established, and continued until 1823, when the subsequent finance plan was formulated. Despite the presence of certain discrepancies and idiosyncrasies, the finance plans devised by Speransky and Guryev constituted a unified programme for the development of the Russian financial system. The objective of this programme was to consolidate all revenue streams within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, to ensure the autonomy of the monetary system, to facilitate the implementation of administrative and political reforms, and, in general, to enhance the resilience and stability of the Russian Empire’s economic and political systems.

PHJ № 3 (35) 2022 – T. V. Andreeva. Return: M. M. Speransky in 1821–1824 (according to the diary of a reformer)

The article is devoted to the diary of M. M. Speransky, which refers to the period of the reformer’s arrival from Siberia to St. Petersburg and is a valuable source of information not only about the complex process of his return to big politics, but also about the most important domestic and foreign policy problems of the last period of the reign of Alexander I. Diary of the greatest statesman of the 19th century allows you to expand and, possibly, to some extent change the ideas that have developed in historiography, both about the role and place of M. M. Speransky in public life in the early 1820s, and about the activities of the administrative apparatus of that time.