(^138) PLANS OF REFORM
contemporaries, and historians did not read it until almost a century
after it had been written. It was published in full only in 1905. The
general public learned some of the specific proposals contained in the
Plan through the excerpts given by Nicholas Turgenev in his book, La
Russie et les Russes, published in 1847 in Paris. This accounts for the
many erroneous expositions and hasty conclusions which have been
made by writers and scholars throughout the 19th century. We only
possess the final version of the Plan, as it was presented to the Emperor
and kept among the archives of Count A. Arakcheev. We do not know
what the first original drafts were like, and, consequently, we cannot
follow the development or changes in Speransky's mind as he was
working on the plan. 1
The Plan was written for Alexander I who was a busy man and not
very familiar with political science and theory. That is why Speransky
indicated the theoretical grounds of his proposals only in the most
sketchy and simplified form, in terms of the current intellectual fashions
and jargon, easily understood by his imperial reader. It would be quite
misleading, therefore, to look for the political philosophy underlying
the Plan in the vague and popular introductory statements. Rather, the
State Secretary's political theory ought to be distilled from the im-
plications contained in his practical proposals. As a mechanical sum-
mary of the Plan would not be satisfactory, we shall present his ideas
and suggestions in an analytical form, not necessarily in the same order
as they occur in the original.
In distinction from his earlier projects, and under the growing
influence of historicist and romantic philosophies, Speransky sets his
reform proposals in a broad historical framework. He seeks to justify
the need for a reform of Russian political life by reference to an
evolutionary and dialectical approach to historical development. The
history of Europe, according to him, evidences a definite pattern of
political evolution: from republic (in the classical, Roman sense) to
feudalism, and again back to a form of "republic." Modern European
history has been characterized by a struggle between the feudal and
the "republican" principles, the latter prevailing to the extent that
enlightenment spread among the people. Actually, feudalism itself went
through two stages: the original feudalism of the Dark Ages and
1 For full details on the existing copies of the project, see S. M. Seredonin, "K
planu vseohshchego gosuclarstvcnnogo preobrazovaniia 1809 g", Sbornik S. F. Platonovu
(SI. I'hg. I'll I). ,-)~!l-<-)'H. 'I he ,oJ1lplclc edilioll 01 the Plan 01 IH()') ill S. :. Vall;.
ciled ill addelllhllli to 1IlIlOdllliioll alld hi, allide ciled p. :1I~. Ilute 2 below.