1. | Apr 3, 2014

This is so interesting, John! First, I feel like I see a spike of cases of plpeoe firming up their status in the early 1760s, too and my theory is that it has a lot to do with the third revision. The action of cleaning up the books certainly affected individuals and societies in terms of having them register properly, and I can also see it having the effect of making societies guard their privilege more carefully.As far as what makes it in to the PSZ, there's also the factor that apparently Nicholas didn't open all state archives and files to Speransky et al (see here: Marc Raeff, “Preface,” Catherine II’s Charters of 1785 to the Nobility and the Towns,, trans. and edited by David Griffiths and George E. Munro (Bakersfield: Charles Schlacks, Jr., Publisher, 1991), xii.)Then there were a number of books in the early 1800s in which individual authors tried to recover all the laws (or a lot of the laws) pertaining to various subject. I looked at one of them: P. Khavskii, Sobranie zakonov o kuptsakh, meshchanakh, posadskikh i tsekhovykh, ili Gorodovoe Polozhenie so vkliucheniem zakonov predshestvuiushchikh i posleduiushchikh s 1766 po 1823 god (SPb, 1823). I sat there in the Publichka using a usb modem to search through the PSZ online as I looked through the book, to see what wasn't in one or the other. Somewhat to my surprise, the things missing in the PSZ were mostly ukazes from Alexander's reign (and I should note that they may be there, hidden under a different date I had that problem, too, that things were reported oddly).

2. | Nov 15, 2013

Hi, Alison!I agree that the phrasing is sktriing. And I like the point you make about truth and reconciliation being a modern concept. I'd be interested to see when it first cropped up, because it's something human beings tend to shy away from, as a whole. Governments/powers/etc., certainly do, on the grounds of avoiding embarrassment.Another thing that occurred to me, too, after I replied, was the use of semantics. If I understand the climate of Catherine's time correctly, one couldn't pardon treason. It simply wasn't done. One could, however, pardon a disturbance.But you're right that it does sound an eerie note. I think because the language itself, however kindly, is only a mask for the motives. Catherine may have been looking to show mercy, but others have used similar phrases to mask some of the world's great horrors. Reading it is like looking through a smoky glass; what's hidden behind can be light or disturbingly dark.All the best,Lucy

3. | Nov 15, 2013

This looks like the beginning of the diseullsionmint with the Table of Ranks' being able to critically define the Russian citizen. Where did these 273 lowly bureaucrats come from? Also, the category of Peasant, while certainly low, did possess a surprising amount of flexibility. It seems you would need to map out the networks' of connections with these 273 anomalies- who did they belong' to, what did they do in Moscow, were they from Central Region or somewhere more remote, etc Also, what so incensed the Senate? This hints towards larger issues than just wasteful bureaucratic hiring. Very interesting puzzle.

4. | Nov 11, 2013

This is so interesting, John! First, I feel like I see a spike of cases of peploe firming up their status in the early 1760s, too and my theory is that it has a lot to do with the third revision. The action of cleaning up the books certainly affected individuals and societies in terms of having them register properly, and I can also see it having the effect of making societies guard their privilege more carefully.As far as what makes it in to the PSZ, there's also the factor that apparently Nicholas didn't open all state archives and files to Speransky et al (see here: Marc Raeff, “Preface,” Catherine II’s Charters of 1785 to the Nobility and the Towns,, trans. and edited by David Griffiths and George E. Munro (Bakersfield: Charles Schlacks, Jr., Publisher, 1991), xii.)Then there were a number of books in the early 1800s in which individual authors tried to recover all the laws (or a lot of the laws) pertaining to various subject. I looked at one of them: P. Khavskii, Sobranie zakonov o kuptsakh, meshchanakh, posadskikh i tsekhovykh, ili Gorodovoe Polozhenie so vkliucheniem zakonov predshestvuiushchikh i posleduiushchikh s 1766 po 1823 god (SPb, 1823). I sat there in the Publichka using a usb modem to search through the PSZ online as I looked through the book, to see what wasn't in one or the other. Somewhat to my surprise, the things missing in the PSZ were mostly ukazes from Alexander's reign (and I should note that they may be there, hidden under a different date I had that problem, too, that things were reported oddly).

5. | Nov 3, 2013

I'd be interested to hear more on the 1760s aspcet, John, if you run across anything. I can think of a few things going on at the time all over Europe, but not what would have affected Russia in particular.It would be interesting to know if there are exact dates to these cases: do they start in a trickle and then cluster? Does one court case lead to a dozen copycats? It might be an interesting question of whether this was a broader social/economic/political development, or whether it burst out as a kind of legal fad.Allison, that statement by Kliuchevsky would boggle me too. I'm not sure what he thought the larger world was made up of, or what the individual consciousness reflected, if not the larger social world!

6. | Oct 17, 2013

etot kurginyan sodlat rothschildov! ego tozhe raskrutshiwaut w Rossii dlja psewdosozialisma po trotskomu (nowi tolpolitarism) i raswala Rossii (revoluzia kak eto uzhe bilo) Info pro kurginyana na KPE. ru !!!Dmitri Slawoljubov ..wash bibleiski projekt w rasnowidnoi forme skoro prowaliza i washa psewdowlast (kapitalism, pwsewdosozialism gde toka elita rulit a ne narod..) isbrannix balnix skoro bolshe nebudet

7. | Oct 6, 2013

There is more than 50km from any city with PD/FD or ambulance. Not a fly wtaheer for ambulance helicopter. Why you think nobody call them?And in this situation there is no possibility to help injured 'cause the may have broken bones or neck you rather kill him not help. And i such a temperatire they will be frozen in any way