15AN AGE OF REFORM
THE changes brought about in Russian society during the reign of Alexander II
(1855-81) spelled the end of the traditional service state. This was their effect:
it was not the express aim of those responsible. Their basic purpose was to
maintain and strengthen the autocracy, whose continued existence they deemed
essential to the empire's survival. A new tsar, they hoped, would push through
major institutional innovations, overriding objections from the nobility and
co-opting its more progressive members in the great task of national renewal.
The reforms were master-minded by a small group of enlightened officials
who had attained senior positions under Nicholas I. At that time, although
they enjoyed the protection of certain members of the ruling family, they
could do little to implement their ideas. After 1855 they had new opportunities.
Alexander II was more open-minded than his father, despite the military
education he had received, which instilled in him the by now customary en-
thusiasm for the parade-ground.^1 The reformers could hope to persuade him
that decisive action was necessary in the monarchy's own interest as well as
that of the country, and that public opinion, which had received a psychologi-
cal shock from defeat, would welcome the government's initiative. Glasnost·
(literally, 'publicity') was a key term in the reformers' vocabulary. By this they
meant opening up issues of current concern to discussion in the salons and in
the press. Such a debate, they believed, could be kept within 'safe' limits and
provide a channel for communication between officials and qualified persons
outside the government. Although the reformers did not say so explicitly, they
also expected the pressure from below to counteract the tsar's natural ambiv-
alence.
Unfortunately Alexander's lack of self-assurance and anxiety to preserve his
Imperial prerogatives led him to pursue an inconsistent course. He was not
above playing some ministers off against others. Bitter factional struggles
ensued. They were fought out in various official bodies, notably in the many
ad hoc commissions set up to formulate policy options. Leading politicians
engaged in a veritable 'war of memoranda' submitted for the monarch's
approval; their contents were occasionally leaked to the public, and journalists
manipulated, with the object of bolstering the contestants' position in these
high-level disputes.
I Wortman, 'Power and R<sponsibility'. In 1858 Alexander conducted 17 Imperial inspections,
and in 1861 13: VOVM 1858, p. 58; 186/, p. SI.