Democracy: Russian Perspectives

The first use of the word (demokratiia) in Russian can be traced to the translation of Samuel Pufendorf's (1718) Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe. But this does not mean that there was no idea of democracy in Russia before that time. Russian chroniclers or statesmen have, centuries earlier, described some democratic practices with words such as (samoderzhavie—literally “self-consolidation”), (samovlastie—literally “self-rule”), and (samovolie—literally “self-will”), and they called some Cossack communities “a kind of a republic” using a transliterated Polish word (rzeczpospolita) or simply called democratic orders “free” (—svobodyi) or “unrestricted” (—vol'nyi). This entry discusses some of the historical roots and various interpretations of democracy in Russia.

Despite the relatively late use of the term, democracy was quickly given a very specific Russian implication. Democracy was considered to be deeply inherent in the everyday life of the Russian peasant community—obschina—and exceptionally specific in this regard, nothing like its plain Western counterpart. The 19th century was a time of profound social crisis and ongoing preparations for the liberation of serfs and subsequent modernizing reforms. It was the time when talk about the democratic instincts of Russian peasants and the archetypal centrality of pure and incorrupt (direct) democracy to Russian obschina were common in intellectual circles. In fact, democratic potential can be traced to primordial tribal times in any tradition. As for Russia, such democratic ways were fairly well expressed in history and were still alive in local communities in the 19th century and even later.

Beginning around the 9th century, the poleis of Eastern Slavic tribes and tribal federations interacted with the equally rudimentary military democracy of Varangian (druzhina—princely retinue, literally “camaraderie”) and set up a common military–trade infrastructure. Their interface contributed to the development of a patrimonial power structure of the Kievan Rus' principality, where interactions between the prince and the people produced legitimizing effects. Polis structures with their democratic potential (such as veche—ecclesia and/or boule in various cities—literally talk, deliberation, council) were important elements of early democratic elements in Russia, as were ves' grad (general assembly or polis, as a partner to the prince, literally all the city), startsy gradskie (city elders), and sbor (assembly). Equally significant were conciliar structures such as druzhina (early princely council, literally camaraderie) and duma (late princely council, literally thought).

The Mongols (the “Golden Horde”) invaded Russia during 1236 to 1242. With the conquest of Rus' by the Horde, princes emerged as the only authority to control political order in Russian dependencies of the Horde in the eastern and southern parts of the former Kievan Rus'. Their rule was granted by Khans (iarlyk—mandate, Mongolian jarligh—literally order). Actually, the Khan was the only source of all power. The power was delegated from the top down. Still, there was only one but significant exception. Princes also had to maintain the Christian derzhaval (literally something holding together), which united them with the people and domestically was an alternative source of power and princely authority.

In ancient and medieval Rus', ideas of democracy and autocracy were not opposed to each other but in fact closely interwoven. In fact, in medieval Russian texts, the terms mentioned earlier—samoderzhavie (“self-consolidation”), samovlastie (“self-rule”), or samovolie (“self-will”)—were used to denote both democracy and autocracy. The difference was contextual. It depended on who was the self in question—the whole community or the ruling authority or, more typically, both, integrated into a single body politic. It was conceptual substance (consolidation of power) that was important, not the form of the consolidation—monocentric, polycentric, or dispersed.

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