Catherine the Great: A Profile

339 Pages·1972·30.318 MB·English

by  Marc Raeff (eds.)

CATHERINE THE GREAT
Also by Marc Raeff
M. M. SPERANSKY: STATESMAN oF IMPERIAL RussiA
SIBERIA AND THE REFORMS OF 1822
ORIGINS OF THE RussiAN INTELLIGENTSIA: THE
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NoBILITY
IMPERIAL RussiA, 1682-1825: THE CoMING oF AGE
OF MoDERN RussiA
Catherine the Great
A PROFILE
Edited by Marc Raeff
WORLD PROFILES
General Editor: A"ida DiPa ce Donald
Palgrave Macmillan
COPYRIGIIT @ 1972 BY MARC RAEFF
SOFfCOVERR EPRINTO F TilE HARDCOVERl SI' EDmON tg;.z
ALL RIGIITS RESERVED
l'IRST PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1972
FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1972 BY
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
LONDON AND BASINGSTOKE
ASSOCIATED COMPANIES IN NEW YORK TORONTO
DUBLIN MELBOURNE JOHANNESBURG AND MADRAS
SBN 333 13497 4
ISBN 978-1-349-01469-9 ISBN 978-1-349-01467-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-01467-5
Contents
Introduction vii
Chronology xi
PART ONE THE INDIVIDUAL
Portrait of an Enlightened Autocrat 3
ALEKSANDR A. KIZEVETTER
The Intellectual Formation of Catherine II 2I
VASIUI A. BIL'BASSOV
The Empress and the Philosophe 41
IVAN K. LUPPOL
The Empress as Writer 64
GRIGORII A. GUKOVSKII
PART TWO THE AuTOCRAT AND RussiAN EDUCATED SocmTY
Educational Reforms 93
PAVEL N. MILIUKOV
Voices of the Land and the Autocrat II3
PAVEL N. MIUUKOV
The Autocrat and the Open Critic 156
ALLEN MC CONNELL
v
vi CONTENTS
PART THREE THE RuLER
l)iplornacy 181
SERGEI V. BAKHRUSHIN and SERGEI D. SKAZKIN
In the Imperial Manner 197
MARC RAEFF
The Legislator in Her l)ebut 247
ALEKSANDR A. KIZEVETTER
The Serf Question in an Age of Enlightenment 267
ALEKSANDR S. LAPPO-DANILEVSKII
Church Affairs 290
A.M. AMMANN, S.J.
Postscript 301
Suggestions for Additional Reading 323
Contributors 327
Introduction
T
HE PERSONAL LIFE of Sophie Frederike Augusta von
Anhalt-Zerbst who became Catherine II, Empress of Russia,
is a glittering erotic tale, while her rule proved to be of profound
and lasting significance for both European politics and Russian
society. Naturally enough, the former has attracted writers more
than the latter; the bibliography alone of popular and more or less
inventive accounts of Catherine's love life would fit a volume. Un
fortunately, too, most authors of these accounts have been tempted
into adding their own spices to an already well-seasoned dish, and
the results are quite unpalatable fare either as literature or as his-
vii
viii MARC RAEFF
tory. Whatever can be found out with certainty about Catherine's
personal life-and she was remarkably discreet and tactful about
it-has been told and retold in practically all European languages.1
Because it would be superfluous, I have not chosen to draw on these
easily accessible works for the present profile.
The accomplishments of Catherine II as a ruler, however, have
not been well illuminated in Western historiography. This is due
in part to the fact that the personal role of a ruler is difficult to
isolate during a long period of gradual social, economic, and in~
stitutional transformations. Another obstacle to knowing Catherine
is that Russian history is still deficient in modern, perceptive, in
formed studies of her major legislative acts and of their social and
economic impact. Whenever such topics are dealt with at all in the
monographic literature, their treatment ranges widely beyond the
limits of Catherine's reign. For these reasons the selections pre
sented in this volume only highlight the major social, political, and
cultural aspects of Russia in the second half of the eighteenth cen
tury, and then only as they relate to Catherine. The Empress is on
center stage, but that stage is so vast that, perforce, to keep
Catherine in focus, the profile is necessarily narrow.
The writings here collected stress most particularly Catherine's
intellectual development and accomplishments and her influence
on contemporary Russian cultural and social life because it is in
this domain that the Empress' personal impact can best be iden
tified and described. Indeed, Catherine's activities in these fields
set the stage for the first serious conflict between educated society
and the imperial establishment, a struggle that became a dominant
1. The classic early representative of the genre was K. Waliszewski, The
Romance of an Empress, first published in French in 1893 and in English, in
two volumes, in 1894-1895. Among the better and more recent works of
popular biography are: G. P. Gooch, Catherine the Great and Other Studies
(1954); Z. Oldenbourg, Catherine the Great (1965); K. Anthony, Catherine
the Great. All these authors rely heavily on Catherine's own memoirs, Mem
oirs of Catherine the Great, edited by D. Maroger, translated by M. Bud
berg (1961).
Introduction ix
theme in Russia's political and cultural history of the nineteenth
century.2
I have made an effort to give as catholic a selection as possible
within the space allowed and the literature available. With the ex
ception of detailed analyses of the nature and background of well
known and seminal legislative acts (e.g., the Charters to the No
bility and the Towns of 1785, the Statute on Provinces of 1775), I
have tried to offer a glimpse of all significant facets of Catherine's
public activities8: connections with West European intellectual
leaders, contributions to Russian literature, efforts at molding pub
lic opinion and education, ambiguous relations with educated so
ciety and "progressive" thinkers, and the style and achievements of
her diplomacy, imperial expansion, social legislation, and eccle
siastical policy. In the Postscript, Catherine's rule is placed in
the perspective of Russian historiography and assayed in the insti
tutional development of her country.
The contributors in this volume are representative of both Soviet
and non-Soviet (pre-1917 and Western) history. I have made an
effort to present items that heretofore have not been available in
English. I hope thereby to acquaint the reader with another his
toriographical manner as well as with facts and conclusions that
have not been adequately reflected in Western writing on Russian
history.
The dates given in the Russian articles are those of the Julian
Calendar and the transliteration used is that of the Library of
2. This justifies the inclusion of the article by Allen McConnell which deals
with Catherine II only in the context of the persecution of A. Radishchev
which marked the opening shot in the battle between educated elite and
establishment in Russia.
3· The famous Instruction (Nakaz) to the Commission on Codification
of 1767 was published repeatedly; the first English translation by Michel
Tatischeff appeared in London in 1768. The most recent English edition
is by W. F. Reddaway, Documents of Catherine the Great (Cambridge,
1931). The Fall 1970 issue of the Canadian Slavic Studies illustrates the
most recent English and American scholarship on the institutional reforms
of Catherine II.