240 1709, Peter wrote to the chief inspector of the Ratusha, A. A. Kurbatov, ordering him to “collect and send money to the army as quickly as possible, for that is the most important matter and without money the troops can go under.” But the guberniia reform must also be considered against the background of the extensive domestic unrest which broke out in Russia during the first decade of the eighteenth century, and of which the Bulavin revolt (1707—1708) and the revolts in Astrakhan’ (1705— 1706) and in Bashkiria (1705—1711) are the foremost examples. Decentralization of administrative power could, in other words, also be a way of trying to silence expressions of discontent and put an end to organized rebellion among the peasants and the less fortunate groups among the urban population.®' The idea of organizing the local administration along the lines of the collegial system of decision-making with elected representatives of the nobility aiding the governor had not been abandoned. Using the system employed in the Baltic provinces, which had been annexed to the realm in 1713, preparations were made for appointing provincial councillors (lantrat) to the guberniia administration. The number of provincial councillors was to be eight, ten, or twelve, according to the size of the guberniia.^^ A decision of January 1714 announced that “provincial councillors are to be elected in each town and province by all the noblemen.” In reality, however, no elections were ever held; the provincial councillors were appointed either by the governor himself or by the Senate, which made its selections from among nominations sent to it fromthe guberniia. The provincial councillors were recruited from the service nobility, and the men considered for these positions had previously served in the central or local administration, in the latter case frequently as voevodas. This group of “professional” administrators began to be called the tsaredvortsy during the early years of the eighteenth century. Usually a tsaredvorets was appointed provincial councillor in the guberniia where his estates were located.®® In this manner, a connection favorable to the 89 PiB, IX: 1, 339. K. V. Bazilevich, “Opyt periodizatsii istorii SSSR feodal’nogo perioda,” Voprosy istorii, no. 11 (1949), 89; see, too, V. V. Mavrodin, “Nekotorye voprosy evoliutsii russkogo samoderzhaviia v XVII—XVIII vv.,” in V. V. Mavrodin et al., eds., Voprosy genezisa kapitalizma v Rossii (Leningrad, 1960), 82, and A. L. Shapiro, “Ob istoricheskoi roli krest’ianskikh voin XVII—XVIII vv. v Rossii,” Istoriia SSSR, no. 5 (1965), 70. Bogoslovskii (1903), 76. »» Ibid., 79, 82—83. Ibid., 84—85.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=