(^372) Towards a Modern Army, 1825-1874
the top. Most younger and better educated officers identified with the reform
movement. On being posted to a unit they wcrnlrl try; at k-ast irtitia!!y; to <:arry
out their duties humanely and to abstain from traditional abuses. P•crnalism,
not comradeship, was still the watchword; but it was characteristic that-Officers
should now venture into print with edifying stories about individual sOldiers
whom they knew.^111 Writers in Voyennyy sbornik drew attention to tlie pl)ght
of officers' servants (denshchiki), who drew lower rates of pay (normally 2.10
roubles p.a.) and sometimes stole their master's effects or took to drink. 112
The economy drive prevented any general increase in soldiers' pay-or that
of officers either, although they had their disability pensions raised by approx-
imately 33-55 per cent.^113 The question of the men's pay seems to have been
too sensitive for Voyennyy sbornik even in its most outspoken phase. But the
reformers did at least eliminate compulsory deductions for artcls and other
purposes, which had given rise to many 'misunderstandings' ~ the past. 114
Men were encouraged to open personal savings accounts instead. The distinc-
tion between the men's own funds and those of their unit was still not always
adhered to in practice: in 1869 soldiers in the Aleksopol'. infantry rePnent had
964 roubles deducted from their savings for the privilege of boina transported
to camp by raiJ.^11 S More than ten years later there were still complaints that
arte/'shchiki showed favour to their friends or connived with local tradesmen
to feather their own nests.^116 The problem was not one that could be corrected
simply by tighter controls, or even by raising cultural standards. It was bound
up with the men's quite natural anxiety to make some money on.the side to
satisfy their elementary needs, especially for food.
Rations were increased for those serving in Poland during the insurrection-
evidently to prevent them drawing unfavourable comparisons with the local
inhabitants' diet. In most areas of the empire the allowance designed to give
each man a daily hot dish, called 'stew money' (privarochnye den 'g1), was also
raised. But it was not until 1871 that the basic ration was improvcd.U7 fApracticc
111 N., 'Vyderzhki iz soldatskoy zhizni', VS 34 (1863), 11-12, pp. 13~; 35 (11164), 1-2,
pp. 289-305. -
1.12 M. N., '0 zamene denshchikov ... ', VS 31 (1863). S-6, pp. 407-18.
113 II PSZ xxxi. 30891 (26 Aug. 1856); Bogdanovich, /st. ocherk, ii. 462-3. Kolokolnoted that
many wounded officers did not receive the pensions due to them: I Dec. 1862, p. 12S4~New pay
scales issued in 1863 (II PSZ xxxviii. 40229, 40425, 6 Nov., 24 Dec.) left prlvatel' pay rates un-
changed. In 1861 pensions and grants paid to other ranks amounted to 9.7 per cent of those paid to
officers, but in 1864 they rose to 22 per cent: VOVM 1858, p. 69; 186", p. 8.
114 II PSZ xxxviii. 39758 (19 June 1863). § 2; Martyanov, 'Obyazatel'nyc vychety iz
zhalovan·ya nizhnikh chinov ... ', VS 29 (1863), 1-2, pp. 113-24. Conservatives fiuatrated an
effort to transfer responsibility for managing the latter funds to an independeat c:Ommittee of
officers, fearing that this would undercut the authority of the CO: Bogdanovlc:b. UL. oclwrk, iv.
202-24.
11$ Zayonchkovsky, Voyennye reformy, p. 219 n.
116 Butovsky, 'O kazarmennoy nravstvennosti', pp. 136-7.
(^117) II PSZ xi. 41790, 42470 (II Feb., 15 Sept. 1865); VOVM 1861. p. 118; 8oadaiiovich, /st.
ocherk, iv. 144-6; Petrov, Russkaya voyennaya sila, ii. 443. Some units were able. to maintain
kitchen gardens, and tinned food made its appearance around 1871: VE xiii. 122.
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