Discussions on the Electoral Rights of Peasant Self-Government Officials in the Zemstvo in the Late 19th Century

Abstract

 This article examines the discussions by the zemstvo assemblies of the circular request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the possibility of banning volost elders and volost clerks from being elected as zemstvo deputies. Based on the materials of minute books and resolutions of the zemstvo assemblies, as well as reports of the zemstvo administrations, the main points of view on this issue are singled out. Five standpoints of the zemstvo assemblies and zemstvo administrations are considered here: to preserve the right of volost elders and volost clerks to be elected, to preserve the right of volost elders to be candidates, to ban volost elders from being candidates, to ban volost clerks from being candidates, and to ban volost elders and volost clerks from being candidates. The article provides key arguments of zemstvo representatives for preserving (voters’ trust and good knowledge of the needs of the peasant population) or abolishing (dependence on the land captains who are zemstvo deputies and difficulty of combining the work as a deputy with the official duties in the peasant administration) the right to be elected for the abovementioned officials in peasant self-government. Further, the paper presents zemstvo initiatives to introduce additional changes to the articles of the Statute on Zemstvo Institutions in order to protect the rights of peasant zemstvo deputies when executing their duties as such (restricting the discretionary power of land captains and banning land captains from being elected as zemstvo deputies). The discussion of these initiatives and their criticism are presented. Furthermore, a memorandum by the head of the Economy Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is introduced into academic discourse, demonstrating the distribution of the standpoints of the zemstvos on the right of volost elders and volost clerks to be candidates in zemstvo elections and the suggestions of the department’s leadership on how to solve this issue.