Ideologist of the Decembrist Movement: Russian Justice

Abstract

Although Pestel never completed it, Russian Justice (Russkaya pravda) was the most outstandingly original and radical of the Decembrists’ various projects and manifestos. Only the Northern Society’s rather modest proposal for a constitutional monarchy and a federated Russian state, drafted by Nikita Muraviev, came anywhere close to matching the importance and stature of Pestel’s manifesto. This chapter explores the genesis, composition and main ideas of Pestel’s work. It also considers aspects of his idiosyncratic Russian usage of language and the extent to which Russian Justice was known generally among the members of the secret societies. The Decembrists’ reaction to Pestel’s radical agenda will be further considered in subsequent chapters.