- Pavel Pestel
Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Pestel ( _ru. "Павел Иванович Пестель"; OldStyleDate|July 5|1793|June 24 inMoscow – OldStyleDate|July 25|1826|July 13 inSaint Petersburg ) was aRussia nrevolutionary and ideologue of theDecembrists .In 1805-1809, Pavel Pestel studied in
Dresden . In 1810-1811, he was a student at thePage Corps , from which he would graduate in the rank ofpraporshchik . Pestel was then sent to the Lithuanian Regiment of theLeib Guard . He took part in thePatriotic War of 1812 and foreign military campaigns of 1813-1814. In 1821, Pestel was appointedcommander of the Vyatka Infantry Regiment quartered inTulchin , where the enlightened generalPavel Kiselyov welcomed liberal-minded officers.In 1816, he became a member of the
Union of Salvation and one of the authors of itscharter . In 1818, Pestel organized a secret society called theUnion of Prosperity . He managed to make all the society members agree on the republican program of the Union, thereby laying the foundations for the republican traditions in the Russian emancipation movement. At the same time, Pavel Pestel spoke in support ofregicide and physical removal of all the members of the royal family. In March 1821, he established and became the leader of theSouthern Society of the Decembrists . Pestel advocated the merge of theNorthern Society of the Decembrists with the former and even went to Petersburg in 1824 to try and make that happen.Starting in 1821, Pavel Pestel worked on a project of social and economic reforms in
Russia , which he would later call "Russkaya Pravda" (Русская правда) and which would be approved as a political program. The second edition of the Russkaya Pravda manifested further democratization of Pestel’s views. It demanded an immediate emancipation of the Russian serfs with their land, limitations of the right tolandownership , creation of public and private land funds, elimination of classprivilege s, and concession of political rights to males over 20 years of age.Pestel was a staunch advocate of the
republic and state centralization. According to his summary of the "Russkaya Pravda" called "Constitution . State precept" (Конституция. Государственный завет), a one-chamber People'sVeche (Народное вече) was to become thelegislative body. SovereignDuma (Державная дума) was pronounced theexecutive branch . SupremeSobor (Верховный собор) was given thejudicial powers. In 1825, Pavel Pestel conducted negotiations with thePolish Patriotic Society , discussing the possibility of joint revolutionary actions.On
December 13 , 1825, Pavel Pestel was arrested inTulchin . He was hanged with four other Decembrists in thePeter and Paul Fortress a few months later.External links
* [http://www.hrono.ru/dokum/ru_pr1825.html "Russkaya Pravda" - project of Constitution by Pavel Pestel] - in Russian
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