Russian Veche: what is it and how to define this phenomenon?

Anyone who has studied the school history course knows the concept of "veche". What is this phenomenon, to explain simply. This is an ancient form of social management. However, this form of relationship between people is so interesting that it is worth talking about it in more detail.

Definition

The word "veche" comes from such single-root words as "knowing" (that is, "knowing") and "vedas" (that is, "advice"). The People's Council was a form of people's council in tribal society, preserved in ancient and medieval Russia.

Often such a form of the meeting is called democracy in Slavonic, when men summoned the square to the square and decided by direct and open voting which prince or voivode to place over their city, whether to fight with enemies or make peace with them, pay tribute or compensation and Other.

Modern historians therefore study the form of the "veche", that such a collection of respected men actually exercised control over their community on an equal footing.

The tasks that faced the people's congress

The first Russian chronicles already mention that this or that prince was chosen to reign with the help of the veche, that such a reign of this prince is God-chosen (God and people in the Russian consciousness have always been bound by strong ties). The historian I.Ya. Froyanov believes that this form of government was present throughout the old Russian state, and not only in Novgorod and Pskov.

Some historians believe that the traditions of the veche were so strong that during the Tatar-Mongol yoke there was a certain dual power, on the one hand, the princes appointed the Golden Horde khan, but on the other hand, the protégés were chosen for certain posts. Thus, it was the prince's duty to collect tribute for the khan, and it was the duty of those appointed by the veche to rule the people. Gradually, the princes took away part of the power of the "Vechnics" (appointed from the Veche people), vied with them, which led to discontent among the townspeople and popular riots.

Who entered the veche? Vest traditions

According to the tradition, going from the tribal system, the staff included the heads of large families, as well as heads of families. Gradually, however, "great" and "small families" began to stand out in the composition of the voyce. Subsequently, the opinion of the "small genera" actually ceased to be taken into account.

In addition, veche traditions were used not only in the big city council, but also in small street, where urgent questions were addressed for residents of the street or several houses.

Scientists find similarities between the Old Russian veche and similar gatherings of respected elders in Europe. For example, such meetings were practiced in Medieval England (they called themselves "vitenagemot"), in Scandinavia ("Thing"), in Prussia (a meeting of elders) and so on.

Old Russian veche. What is the "original Russian democracy"?

Some historians also believe that this notion implied not only a completely legitimate meeting of citizens attracted by the sound of the bell, but also rebellious gatherings of people who turned into the overthrow of princes and boyars, somehow not suiting ordinary citizens of the country.

From this it becomes clear that the Russian Veche effectively coped with its functions in the era of feudal fragmentation and began to interfere with the development of the state in the period of its centralization. Hence the dislike of the great Russian princes for this type of gatherings and the imposition of a ban on them (in history, the sad fate of the two Russian cities, Novgorod and Pskov, in which the veche traditions were particularly strong, was exposed to punitive expeditions by Ivan III and his Grandson of Ivan the Terrible).

Why did the Old Russian and Middle Ages cease to exist?

All historians agree that the people's council ceased to exist in Medieval Russia because it could not withstand competition with the prince's power. Such a form of government was unprofitable for the princes, who aspired to a centralized state, subordinate to their power. Therefore ruthless struggle against such assemblies was conducted by Russian monarchs, beginning from the 15th century.

At the same time small veche, which gathered as gatherings of rural communities, continued to exist in our country until the beginning of the 20th century. After the destruction of the traditional peasant way these forms have become a thing of the past, but at the stage of collectivization they were replaced by communist assemblies, etc.

At the present stage of the existence of Russia, the highly modified forms of veche democracy continue to be used in the government of the country: there is an elective system for appointing central government bodies, the State Duma operates, elected bodies of local self-government, so we can say that the "great veche" has not completely disappeared, its traditions live in Consciousness of Russian people, closely interwoven with the notions of justice and truth.