Who is the zemstvo head?

Zemsky Starosta - an original post, which became known in the territory of Rus, since the 16th century. The emergence of this type of officials is directly related to the reform of local government. The further development of these institutions enshrined the rights and duties of Zemstvo headmen, who continued to operate until 1917. Despite all attempts to liberalize local authorities, they still worked in an old fashion. Why did it happen? Let's try to understand.

Ancient Russia

This post was known since the days of Kievan Rus. At that time zemstvo elder, who were also princely serfs and faithful servants, were appointed by the prince or his closest supporters to carry out the leadership of the lower classes. In the laws of Yaroslav the Wise, rural and military elders are mentioned. The former were engaged in the rural population of the princely patrimony, discussed quarrels, lawsuits, collected taxes. The latter were in charge of land problems, disputes over communal and patrimonial lands, and disassembled property problems. Later, the Institute of the elders moved to the territory of the northeastern principalities.

Reform of Ivan the Terrible

For a long time, the labial and zemstvo elder were appointed by a prince's decree. In fact, they did not exert any influence on the local population, but drove by the method of Tatar raids: they jumped, collected, and were taken away. Although they were instructed to monitor the order in the most remote places of the Russian lands, they performed their duties reluctantly. Arbitrariness and monstrous corruption reigned everywhere, and there were neither local councils nor chiefs on the local kings. It took the iron will of the individual ruler to break down the existing system and work out a new principle for the functioning of the local administration.

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, there was an urgent need to completely reorganize the administrative system of the Russian state. The general code of laws, tied to this political process, was called the reform of local government. The main reason for their occurrence was the need to abolish the so-called feeding - an archaic relic of ancient times, which gave the right to newcomers to live with income (that is, feed) a certain area. Instead of a natural loan, a financing system was introduced, and cash flows were directly controlled by the state.

Stoglavy Cathedral

In 1551 Stoglavy Cathedral gave the go-ahead for the introduction of the statutory zemstvo charter, according to which the institute of vicegerents was completely liquidated. Instead of appointees in all corners of the Russian state, the zemstvo elder began to be elected locally. The Royal Decree of 1555 ordered the annulment of feeding and the election of these officials on the ground. The concentration of local power was the Zemsky huts, which personified the executive power. The judiciary and management system was completely reformed, and the zemstvo elders under Ivan the Terrible were given new rights and powers.

Career Zemstvo Starost

The transformation of local authorities completely changed the profile of the administrative system of the Russian kingdom. Zemsky's elder began to have a wide range of powers. He was in charge of local courts, which dealt with not only civil cases, but also small criminal violations of the law. Particularly high-profile criminal offenses were dealt with separately. The headman was engaged in problems of draft population, management of lower estates and collection of taxes. The main type of tax was "dues", which was required to pay the entire adult male population of the country. This collection was replaced by an outdated governor. Money began to flow directly to the tsarist treasury, and from there, the maintenance of local officials and visiting auditors was paid.

Zemsky Starost stood at the head of the Zemsky hut. He dealt with the problems of the use of communal lands, records in the tax, the collection and distribution of state taxes, and carried out other assignments. If, for a number of reasons, the labial elder did not fulfill his duties or was not elected, then these duties were under the authority of the head of the Zemsky hut. In this case, the zemstvo elder supervised the public police, supervised the work of zemstvo courts, zemstvo deacons and scribes, taverners.

Election and control

The candidate for this remarkable position was elected from among the most influential and wealthy local residents. With a good concurrence of circumstances, they were prepared for a career of metropolitan officials and boyars. Of course, many small noblemen sought to make such a career. Zemsky's elder was elected on the spot, but obeyed directly to the central order, in charge of which were nearby counties. The period of his term lasted from one to two years. Simultaneously with the re-election, the whole staff of the Zemsky hut was also revised. The most famous zemstvo was A. Minin.

In 1699 the landed huts become like local councils of small European cities. The zemstvo elder became the mayor with a considerable extension of his duties. But in the remote places of the Russian Empire, the old form of local power existed even further. Another reorganization of local government institutions was carried out in 1719.

Provincial reform

Changes in the central government for two centuries (from the 16th to the 18th century) were periodic and non-systemic. Peter the First sought to give the dense Russian administration a civilized European look. Of course, there was no question of any self-sufficiency of the European bodies of local self-government , rather, about imitating the Swedish system of self-government, but in fact all power was still concentrated in the hands of the tsarist appointees. The labial and zemstvo elders seemed to have been chosen on the ground, but to approve them in office, a separate decree of the tsar was required.

Why did not it work?

The city authorities reformed according to the Swedish model, but rural rural huts were reluctant to innovate. First of all, this was due to the lack of an educated population and strict class restrictions, which did not give the right to hold elective offices to the draft class. Therefore, the staff for new local self-government bodies was recruited from old clerks and sub-lieutenants, who could not and could not reorganize their work according to a given pattern. Therefore, the Petrine reform of local self-government failed to fulfill the tasks assigned to it, but became only an autocratic set of existing European freedoms.