Union of Salvation
Encyclopedia
The Union of Salvation (UoS) was founded in 1816 at the initiative of Alexander Nikolayevich Muravyov by a group of young officers of the Russian army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
, who had taken part in the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns of 1813-1814. UoS numbered some 30 members, including Nikita Muravyov, Sergey Muravyov-Apostol
Sergey Muravyov-Apostol
Sergey Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol was a Russian Lieutenant Colonel, one of the organizers of the Decembrist revolt. He was the brother of other Decembrists Ippolit Muravyov-Apostol and Matvey Muravyov-Apostol...
, Matvei Muravyov-Apostol, Sergei Trubetskoy, Ivan Yakushkin, Pavel Pestel
Pavel Pestel
Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Pestel was a Russian revolutionary and ideologue of the Decembrists.In 1805-1809, Pavel Pestel studied in Dresden. In 1810-1811, he was a student at the Page Corps, from which he would graduate in the rank of praporshchik. Pestel was then sent to the Lithuanian Regiment of...
, Yevgeni Obolensky, Ivan Pushchin, Mikhail Lunin and others. In 1817, they approved the UoS charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
and changed the society's name to Society of True and Loyal Sons of the Fatherland. The UoS aimed at the abolishment of serfdom
Russian serfdom
The origins of serfdom in Russia are traced to Kievan Rus in the 11th century. Legal documents of the epoch, such as Russkaya Pravda, distinguished several degrees of feudal dependency of peasants, the term for an unfree peasant in the Russian Empire, krepostnoi krestyanin , is translated as serf.-...
and introduction of constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
by means of armed revolt at the time of next emperor's succession to the throne. While preparing for the seizure of power, the UoS members had to try and expand the society's influence, secure key military and civil posts in government structures, and form public opinion.
The UoS members were divided into three categories - bolyare (боляре), muzhi (мужи), and brat'ya (братья). The conspiracy was such that only the first two categories of members knew the final purpose of the society. Low-ranking members had to obey high-ranking members implicitly. The admission of new members, as well as internal promotion, could only take place with the consent of the supreme council of the bolyare. Initiations and promotions were accomplished in strict accordance with a complex system of rituals and vows, adopted from Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
.
There were two kind of groups within the UoS - radical and moderate. They debated over tactics and structure of the society, which some of them viewed as extremely secluded and complicated. Also, the UoS members came up with a number of regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
projects, but they were turned down due to the lack of funding and society's general unpreparedness for decisive action. In light of this, the majority of the members decided to vote for the dissolution of the UoS and establishment of a new organization, which would have more members and be more competent. They first created a transitional organization called Military Society ("Военное общество", or Voyennoye obshchestvo) and then in 1818 - the Union of Prosperity
Union of Prosperity
The Union of Prosperity was a secret society of the Decembrists, established in early 1818 on the basis of the dissolved Union of Salvation.The members of the Union of Prosperity included Alexander Nikolayevich Muravyov, Nikita Muravyov, Sergey Muravyov-Apostol, Matvei Muravyov-Apostol, Pavel...
("Союз благоденствия", or Soyuz blagodenstviya).