Michael Speransky. Statesman of Imperial Russia, 1772–1839 - Marc Raeff

PLANS OF REFORM 129

and method, Speransky was asked by a member of the Unofficial
Committee, possibly Count Kochubei, to write up his ideas on a
reform of Russian political life, with specific suggestions for imple-
mentation. Written in 1803, this paper bears the title "Report on the
establishment of judiciary and government institutions in Russia." 1
Whether it ever reached the eyes of Emperor Alexander, we do not
know.

It would seem that Speransky was asked to write the memoire in

connection with the Emperor's study of local administration. Indeed,
Speransky starts out by pointing to the close connection existing between
the condition of local government and that of the central administra-
tion. Before the local institutions can be improved, he argued, order
and clarity must reign at the top. However good the system of local
administration, it will be neither workable nor beneficial if the
central government is inadequate or bad. 2 In Russia, the first step in
the right direction has been taken with the establishment of the minis-
tries. Let us remember that young Speransky is writing only a few
months after their creation, when the hopes for their success had not

faded yet. It is only a beginning; the process of reorganization of the

central institutions of government must continue for the improvements

to bear fruit. In this connection it should be noted that throughout

the period of his greatest activity, 1801 to 1812, Speransky approached

all problems of political reform from the point of view of the reorgan-

ization of the central administration. Local institutions and provincial

administration, if mentioned at all, were relegated by him to a

subordinate plane. One has distinctly the feeling that he was rather

vague and ill-informed about the local aspect of government, and he

hurried past it, as if afraid of being deflected from more important

matters by bothersome details. Not until much later, after years spent

in direct contact with Russian provincial administration, did Speransky

come to appreciate at its full value the importance of this area of

government and give it its deserved place in state papers and reform

projects.

The main cause for the inefficiency and poor state of Russia's

political and administrative institutions, Speransky wrote in the report

of 1803, is that they have been brought into existence without any

system. A fac;ade of apparent unity only serves to hide the chaos and

1 "Zapiska ob ustroistve sudebnykh i pravitel'stvennykh uchrezhdenii v Rossii

(IS03)." Published in Plan Gosudarstvennogo preobrawvaniia grata M. M. Speranskogo

(Moscow 1905), pp. 121-229. Hereafter cited as Zapiska 1803.

2 Zapiska 1803, pp. 121-122, IS6.