Until 1917, the State Council—established in 1810—served as the highest legislative advisory body to the emperor within the territory of the then-Russian Empire. Major changes were introduced by the “Imperial Manifesto on the Reform of the State Council” of February 20 (March 5), 1906. It effectively transformed the council into a sort of upper house of parliament and also defined the procedures for interaction between the state’s two highest legislative bodies—the State Duma and the State Council.
Regarding his powers and duties, the text of the aforementioned manifesto, issued on behalf of the emperor, stated the following:
Under this revised structure, the State Council is granted rights equal to those of the State Duma in legislative matters. We hereby reaffirm as unshakable the fundamental provision of the Fundamental State Laws, pursuant to which no law may come into force without Our approval. We hereby decree as a general rule that, from the time the State Council and the State Duma are convened, no law may take effect without the approval of the Council and the Duma…
…The State Council and the State Duma are convened and dissolved annually by Our decrees. The State Council verifies the credentials of its members following elections. No person may simultaneously be a member of the State Council and a member of the State Duma.
The State Council and the State Duma are authorized, in accordance with the procedures established by their respective institutions, to initiate proposals for the repeal or amendment of existing laws and the enactment of new laws, with the exception of the Fundamental State Laws, the initiative to revise which We reserve for Ourselves. Legislative proposals are considered by the State Duma and, upon its approval, are submitted to the State Council. Legislative proposals initiated by the State Council are considered by the Council and, upon its approval, are submitted to the Duma. Legislative proposals approved by the State Council and the State Duma are submitted to Us for consideration. Legislative proposals not adopted by the State Duma are deemed rejected…
The new legislation, of course, brought about many changes.
1) The State Council consisted of two equal parts. Half were appointed by the emperor, and the other half were elected by vote according to categories, namely:
a) from the clergy of the Orthodox Church—6 people;
b) from the provincial zemstvo assemblies—one representative from each province;
c) from the noble societies—18 members;
d) from the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Universities—6 members;
e) from the Council of Trade and Manufactures, local committees of trade and manufactures, stock exchange committees, and merchant administrations—12 members.
2) Members of the State Council who were appointed by imperial decree remained public officials. Those who were elected to the council, however, enjoyed parliamentary immunity.
3) Elections were both direct (by provincial zemstvo assemblies) and two-stage. The term of office for elected members of the State Council was 9 years. However, a rotation took place every 3 years, resulting in the departure of one-third of the members in turn.
Persons under the age of 40, those who had not completed secondary education, foreign nationals, and those ineligible to vote in State Duma elections were ineligible for election to the Council.
4) The Chairman of the State Council and his deputy were appointed annually by the Emperor himself from among the members of the council.
5) The sessions of the State Council’s general assembly became open to the public, and both members of the public and representatives of the press were allowed to attend.
6) The number of departments was reduced from four to two. The number of standing special commissions, on the other hand, increased.
It is only natural that, from 1906 to 1917, the State Council included quite a few natives of Sloboda Ukraine and the city of Kharkiv. Let’s begin, perhaps, with those whom the emperor personally appointed to the council.
For many years, beginning in 1902, Senator Stepan Fedorovich Platonov served on the council. He was born on December 21, 1844, in the Starobil’s’k District of the Kharkiv Governorate. After graduating from the law faculty of Kharkiv University, he worked in the district court and enjoyed a fairly rapid rise through the ranks. Upon becoming a member of the State Council, he took an active part in the work of various commissions, including those on local court reforms, land management, the development of health resorts, the establishment of fees for cities on cargo, the regulations governing the use of surface water in Crimea, and so on.
In 1906, Alexander Nikolaevich Shcherbachev became a member of the council. He was born in our city on March 23, 1845. After graduating from the law faculty of Moscow University, Shcherbachev held various positions in Kharkiv over the course of many years, including assistant judicial investigator of the 2nd district, associate chairman of the district court, and member of the Kharkiv Judicial Chamber. In 1899, Alexander Nikolaevich became a senator in the Civil Cassation Department of the Governing Senate.
In early February 1914, the emperor appointed Sergei Fedorovich Weber, a hereditary nobleman from the Kharkiv Governorate, to the council. He spent the first 35 years of his life in Kharkiv, where Weber was educated at the 3rd Gymnasium and the university’s law school. He also worked for a long time as a supernumerary official for special assignments at the Kharkiv State Treasury, as a tax inspector for Kharkiv’s 1st district, and as head of the 1st department of the Kharkiv State Treasury. Later, this talented native of Slobozhanshchina was appointed director of the State Treasury Department, and in 1909 he became deputy minister of finance. Weber was in charge of the departments of the State Treasury, Customs Duties, and Railway Affairs, as well as the Chinese Eastern Railway. In the minister’s absence, Sergei Fedorovich was entrusted with the responsibility of managing the ministry, a task he handled brilliantly. Thus, Sergei Weber’s appointment to the State Council was not due to his noble birth, intrigue, or patronage, but solely because of his abilities and hard work.
Many distinguished Slobozhans also became members of the State Council through election.
For example, Yakov Vladimirovich Kucherov was elected in 1906 from the Kharkiv Zemstvo. He came from an ancient noble family in the Lebedynsky Uyezd. A military man by profession, he retired in 1864 with the rank of captain of the General Staff. After settling on his estate in the village of Gudimovka, Yakov Vladimirovich became actively involved in agriculture and began participating in both local and national exhibitions, where his exhibits were repeatedly awarded gold and silver medals. Kucherov was also involved in public service. At various times, he served in the Lebedynsky District as a conciliator, district magistrate, justice of the peace, director of the Lebedynsky Prison Welfare Department, chairman of the district zemstvo council, and district leader of the nobility. He enjoyed well-deserved respect and considerable influence in our region.
In December 1909, Leonid Dmitrievich Lesevitsky, a wealthy landowner from the Zmiivsky District who had been elected by the Kharkiv Zemstvo, took the place of the late Kucherov. He was reelected in 1912 and did not leave the Duma until 1915, when his term expired. It is highly telling that, although he was nonpartisan by conviction, the deputy never aligned himself with any political group during his entire time there.
In 1906, Dmytro Ivanovych Bahalii—a well-known figure beloved by many—was elected from the universities to the State Council. I don’t think there’s any point in explaining who he was. However, Dmitry Ivanovich did not serve as a member of the council for very long, because after Emperor Nicholas II dissolved the State Duma of the First Convocation, he voluntarily resigned from this position. In 1911, he once again became a member of the State Council as a representative from the university and served as a standing member of many committees, including the Finance Committee. At general assemblies, the main topic of his public speeches was issues of public education.
Also, thanks to the votes of electors from the Imperial Academy of Sciences and universities, another native of Sloboda Ukraine—one of the most outstanding graduates of the Kharkiv University School of Law—was elected to the State Council on February 8, 1907 — Maxim Maximovich Kovalevsky. By that time, he had lectured at Oxford, Berlin, Paris, London, and Chicago, and his scholarly works had been published in many European languages. Kovalevsky participated in the review of the decree on land reform, was actively involved in the council on social legislation, and served as a member of special commissions on the bills “On the Employment of Commercial and Clerical Workers,” “On Sunday and Holiday Rest,” “On Workers’ Insurance Against Illness and Accidents,” “On Combating Alcoholism and the Establishment of Temperance Societies,” and so on.
In 1906, Archpriest Timofey Ivanovich Butkevich—a renowned Kharkiv theologian, publicist, and professor at Kharkiv University—became a member of the State Council representing the white clergy of the Orthodox Church. In the State Council, he actively advocated for the rights of the Church and the inviolability of the monarchy. Timofey Ivanovich enjoyed respect and authority among his constituents, and on September 30, 1909, he was reelected to the State Council.
In November 1908, Nikolai Alexandrovich Rebinder, the leader of the nobility in the Kharkiv Governorate, was appointed to the State Council by the noblemen’s associations. There, he was a member of the right-of-center group and also served on the agricultural committee.
Well, I’d like to conclude today’s post with some information about a man who is no less well-known among those interested in our city’s past than Dmytro Ivanovych Bahalii. After all, on October 25, 1912, Nikolai Fedorovich von Ditmar—a renowned Kharkiv entrepreneur, public figure, and politician—was elected by industrialists to serve as a member of the State Council. His beautiful mansion at Kulykivskyj Descent, 7 remains a delight to the eye to this day. At general meetings, von Ditmar took an interest in commercial, industrial, and financial matters.
Unfortunately, the activities of residents of our city and region as members of the State Council from 1906 to 1917 remain unknown to this day. It would, however, be interesting to learn which bills were discussed and in which committees Dmytro Ivanovych Bahalii or Nikolai Fedorovich von Ditmar participated.
So I can say that we’ll definitely come back to this topic. Well, that’s all for today…
