Latest / The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History / Catherine the Great and the 1767 Legislative Commission
Transcript
- Lucas: So last time we looked at Catherine's German colonists on the Volga — her grand effort to populate and cultivate Russia's southern frontier. And it's easy to see that as a top-down reform. But there's another project she launched that same decade that was even more ambitious, more philosophical, and it ended up revealing just how divided her empire really was. Luna: What are we talking about — something with the nobility? Lucas: Sort of, but broader. In 1767, Catherine convened the Legislative Commission — a gathering of over 500 elected deputies from across the Russian Empire. They came from every social class except serfs: nobles, townspeople, state peasants, Cossacks, and non-Russian minorities like Tatars and Bashkirs. Their mission was to draft a new legal code to replace the outdated one from 1649. Luna: Five hundred deputies — that's huge. And Catherine herself was involved? Lucas: Absolutely. She wrote what's called the Nakaz, or 'Instruction' — a document of over 500 articles that laid out her Enlightenment-inspired principles for the new code. She borrowed heavily from Montesquieu's 'Spirit of the Laws' and Beccaria's 'On Crimes and Punishments'. She called for equality before the law, limits on torture, and even religious tolerance. It was a radical blueprint. Lucas: And you know, if this conversation has been worth a coffee to you — something small — there's a link where that kind of support keeps us ad-free and going deep into things like the Nakaz. It's at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a nice way to say this show matters to you. So back to the commission — did the deputies actually read the Nakaz? Lucas: They did. And the Nakaz was published in multiple languages, including Russian, French, and German. But here's the tension: Catherine was an autocrat. She wanted to reform the empire, but she didn't want to give up her absolute power. The Nakaz talked about liberty and equality, but it didn't touch the core institution of Russian society — serfdom. Luna: Did the deputies bring up serfdom anyway? Lucas: They did, and that's where the debate got explosive. The nobility, represented by men like Prince Mikhail Shcherbatov, wanted to protect their privileges. They argued that serfdom was essential for agriculture and the state. But some deputies from the towns and state peasants pushed back. A deputy named Grigory Korobin from the nobility itself proposed a gradual emancipation. Luna: Wait, a noble proposing emancipation — that's surprising. Lucas: It was. Korobin argued that serfs were human beings and that their condition violated natural law. But the majority of nobles were outraged. They saw any reform as a threat to their livelihood. The commission ended up debating serfdom for months, and Catherine — ever the pragmatist — let them talk, but she didn't push for change. Lucas: Beyond serfdom, the commission also heard petitions from other groups. The Cossacks wanted more autonomy. The Bashkirs complained about land seizures. The Old Believers asked for religious freedom. Catherine had basically opened a Pandora's box of grievances. Luna: And she was getting all of this in writing? Lucas: Yes. The commission collected over a thousand petitions, which gave Catherine an unprecedented view of her empire's problems. She had clerks summarize them, and she read those summaries carefully. So even though the commission never actually produced a new legal code — it was dissolved in 1768, officially because war with Turkey broke out — it was a massive intelligence-gathering exercise. Luna: So it was more about listening than legislating. Lucas: Exactly. Catherine used the commission to gauge public opinion, and she learned that noble opposition to reform was too strong. She also saw how diverse and fractious the empire was. That knowledge shaped her later policies. For instance, the Charter to the Nobility in 1785 — which we covered in episode 107 — was partly a response to what she heard in 1767. Lucas: But there's another layer. The commission itself was a kind of theatrical performance. Catherine wanted to project an image of an enlightened monarch consulting her people. The deputies were given elaborate uniforms, and the opening ceremony was held in the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin. It was meant to impress foreign observers and show that Russia was a modern, reform-minded state. Luna: It sounds like a mix of genuine reform and political theater. Lucas: Absolutely. And the Nakaz itself became famous across Europe. It was translated and praised by Voltaire and Diderot. But in Russia, it was mostly ignored after the commission ended. Catherine herself became more conservative after the Pugachev Rebellion in 1773-75. That massive peasant uprising — which we covered in episode 109 — scared her. She realized that Enlightenment ideas could be dangerous if they gave the lower classes any hope of freedom. Luna: So the commission was really a turning point in Catherine's reign — from reformer to autocrat. Lucas: In many ways, yes. After 1775, she reorganized local government to strengthen noble control. She never again attempted a large-scale reform of the legal code. But the Legislative Commission wasn't a total failure. It influenced her later provincial reforms, and the petitions she collected became a valuable historical record. They show us what ordinary Russians — well, not serfs, but everyone else — wanted from their government. Luna: And the Nakaz — did it have any lasting impact? Lucas: The Nakaz itself was banned by Paul I — Catherine's son — and it remained a kind of forbidden text for later reformers. But its ideas seeped into Russian intellectual life. The Decembrists in 1825, for instance, were influenced by the Enlightenment principles she had articulated. So in a roundabout way, Catherine's commission helped plant seeds that would grow long after her death. Lucas: One last detail: the commission met again briefly in 1768, but after war with the Ottoman Empire, Catherine indefinitely recessed it. She never formally dissolved it, which meant she could claim she was still working on reform. It was a clever political move — never say no, just postpone. Luna: Classic Catherine. So the commission was a kind of grand conversation that Catherine started, but then stepped away from when it got too real. Lucas: Exactly. She was a brilliant politician who knew when to push and when to pull back. The Legislative Commission shows her at her most idealistic — and also at her most calculating. It's a fascinating window into the challenges of ruling a vast, multi-ethnic empire in the age of Enlightenment. Luna: Thanks, Lucas. Next time I'd love to look at Catherine's foreign policy — maybe her wars with the Ottomans beyond the Greek Project. Lucas: We'll get there. That's a whole other story.