Petitions, Responsibility, and Mercy in Late-Imperial Russia

• In Event: Appealing to the Tsar: Petitioning and Advocacy in Imperial Russia

Abstract

Complaints, denunciations, and petitions, both formal and informal, were an essential mechanism of the Imperial Russian state in its interactions with its subjects up until its end. This paper begins with a 1914 case in which a petition was refused, leading to a double suicide. The case horrified higher officials because it indicated that something had gone wrong in the process of petitioning and granting mercy, leading to an investigation. It was an extreme example of what could go wrong with the system, and is put in conversation with other examples of petitions handled by the same authorities, some of which were granted, some of which were passed on to other responsible parties, and some of which were refused. Thinking about them all together helps make clear just how essential they were to the functioning of the Imperial state.

Author

• Alison K. Smith, U of Toronto (Canada)