V. G. Korolenko

"Civil execution of Chernyshevsky"

(According to an eyewitness)

Collected works. Volume 5. Literary-critical articles and memoirs. Library "Spark". Pravda Publishing House, Moscow, 1953. OCR Lovetskaya T.Yu. In Nizhny Novgorod, at the end of the last century, the doctor A.V. Vensky, "a man of the sixties", a school friend of P.D. Boborykin and even the hero of one of the writer's novels, died. It was known that he was present as an eyewitness at the "civil execution" of Chernyshevsky. On the first anniversary of Chernyshevsky's death, a circle of the Nizhny Novgorod intelligentsia decided to arrange a memorial service and a number of messages to restore this bright, significant and suffering image in the memory of the younger generation. The well-known zemstvo figure A. A. Savelyev suggested that Vensky also make a report on the event, of which he was an eyewitness. At that time, a meeting in memory of the persecuted writer could not, of course, take place quite "legally", and Vensky refused to participate in it. But he agreed to give written answers to precisely posed questions, which were read at our meeting. This leaflet remained with me, and I restored Vensky's answers in the first edition of my book ("The Departed"). Then, in the December book of "Russian wealth" (1909), MP Sazhin's note about the same event was printed. Using this last note as a basis, and supplementing it with some features from the answers of A. V. Vensky, we can now restore with considerable completeness this truly symbolic episode from the history of Russian oppositional thought and the Russian intelligentsia. The civil execution of N. G. Chernyshevsky took place, as you know, on May 19, 1864. The time of the execution, - says M. P. Sazhin, - "was announced in the newspapers a few days in advance. On the appointed day, I went to Horse Square early in the morning with my two fellow students-technologists. Here, in the middle of the square, stood the scaffold - a quadrangular platform, a yard and a half to two arshins high from the ground, painted with black paint. On the platform rose a black pillar, and on it, at a height of about one sazhen, hung an iron chain. At each end of the chain there was a ring so large that through it the hand of a man dressed in a coat could pass freely.The middle of this chain was put on a hook driven into a post.Two or three fathoms back from the platform, soldiers with rifles stood in two or three lines, forming a solid carre with a wide exit against the front side of the scaffold Then, retreating another fifteen to twenty fathoms from the soldiers, there were mounted gendarmes, quite rarely, and in the interval between them and a little back, policemen. Directly behind the policemen there was an audience of four or five rows, mostly intelligent. My comrades and I stood on the right side of the square, if you stand facing the steps of the scaffold. Writers stood next to us: S. Maksimov, author of the famous book "A Year in the North", Pavel Ivanovich Yakushkin, a populist ethnographer, and A. N. Morigerovsky, an employee of the "Russian Word" and "Delo". I knew all three personally. The morning was gloomy, overcast (it was raining lightly). After a rather long wait, a carriage appeared, driving inside the carré to the scaffold. There was a slight movement in the public: they thought it was N. G, Chernyshevsky, but two executioners got out of the carriage and climbed onto the scaffold. A few more minutes passed. Another carriage appeared, surrounded by mounted gendarmes with an officer in front. This carriage also drove into the carriage, and soon we saw how N. G. Chernyshevsky climbed the scaffold in a coat with a fur collar and a round hat. He was followed by an official in a cocked hat and uniform, accompanied, as far as I remember, by two persons in civilian clothes. The official stood facing us, and Chernyshevsky turned his back. The reading of the verdict was heard over the hushed square. However, only a few words have reached us. When the reading was over, the executioner took N. G. Chernyshevsky by the shoulder, led him to the post and thrust his hands into the ring of the chain. Thus, with his arms folded across his chest, Chernyshevsky stood by the post for about a quarter of an hour. During this interval of time, the following episode played out around us: Pavel Ivanovich Yakushkin (dressed as usual in a red calico shirt, in plush trousers tucked into simple oiled boots, in a peasant coat made of coarse brown cloth with a plush trim and in gold glasses) suddenly quickly slipped past policemen and gendarmes and headed for the scaffold. The policemen and the mounted gendarme rushed after him and stopped him. He began to warmly explain to them that Chernyshevsky was a close person to him and that he wanted to say goodbye to him. The gendarme, leaving Yakushkin with the policemen, galloped to the police authorities, who were standing at the scaffold. A gendarmerie officer was already walking towards him, who, having reached Yakushkin, began to convince him: "Pavel Ivanovich, Pavel Ivanovich, this is impossible." He promised to give him a meeting with Nikolai Gavrilovich later. At that time, on the scaffold, the executioner pulled Chernyshevsky's hands out of the rings of the chain, placed him in the middle of the platform, quickly and roughly tore off his hat, threw it on the floor, and forced Chernyshevsky to kneel; then he took a sword, broke it over N. G. and the wreckage threw in different directions. After that Chernyshevsky got to his feet, raised his hat and put it on his head. The executioners grabbed him by the arms and led him off the scaffold. A few moments later the carriage, surrounded by gendarmes, drove out of the carré. The audience rushed after her, but the carriage sped away. For a moment she stopped already in the street and then quickly drove on. As the carriage pulled away from the scaffold, several young girls drove forward in cabs. At that moment, when the carriage caught up with one of these cab drivers, a bouquet of flowers flew to N. G. Chernyshevsky. The driver was immediately stopped by police agents, four young ladies were arrested and sent to the office of the Governor-General Prince Suvorov. The one who threw the bouquet, as it was said then, was Michaelis, a relative of N. V. Shelgunov's wife. I heard a story about flowers from one of the four young ladies, who was also arrested and escorted to Suvorov. The latter, however, limited himself to a reprimand. The story seems to have had no further consequences." To this description, "Vensky's answers" add a characteristic feature that depicts Chernyshevsky's behavior on the scaffold and the attitude of different categories of spectators towards him. there were literary brethren and women - in general, no less than four hundred people) (Vensky gives the following approximate scheme: the distance of the public from the scaffold was eight or nine fathoms, and "the thickness of the ring is not less than one fathom."). Behind this audience are the common people, factory workers and workers in general. “I remember,” says Vensky, “that the workers were stationed behind the fence of either a factory or a house under construction, and their heads protruded from behind the fence. While the official was reading a long act, ten sheets, the audience behind the fence expressed disapproval of the culprit and his malicious intentions. Disapproval also concerned his accomplices and was expressed loudly. The audience, standing closer to the scaffold, behind the gendarmes, only turned around at the grumblers. Chernyshevsky, blond, short, thin, pale (by nature), with a small wedge-shaped beard, - stood on the scaffold without a hat, in glasses, in an autumn coat with a beaver collar. During the reading of the act, he remained completely calm; At the scaffold, the public did not hear the loud reading of the official. At the pillory, Chernyshevsky looked at the public all the time, two or three times taking off and rubbing his glasses soaked with rain with his fingers. The episode with flowers Vensky tells as follows: “When Chernyshevsky was brought down from the scaffold and put into a carriage, bouquets of flowers flew from among the intelligent public; some of them hit the carriage, and most of them missed. There was a slight movement of the public forward. there was no comment from the crowd... The rain came down harder"... Finally, Mr. Zakharyin-Yakunin in "Rus" speaks of one wreath that was thrown on the scaffold at the time when the executioner was breaking his sword over Chernyshevsky's head. This bouquet was thrown by a girl who was immediately arrested. It may very well be that there is no contradiction here, and each of the three narrators conveys only different moments they noticed. That was forty years ago (Written in 1904). The people, who had just been liberated from serfdom, probably considered Chernyshevsky the representative of the "gentlemen" who were dissatisfied with the liberation. Be that as it may, the story of the old woman who, in holy simplicity, brought a bundle of brushwood to the fire of Hus, was repeated, and the picture drawn by the ingenuous stories of "eyewitnesses" will probably catch the attention of the artist and historian more than once ... This cloudy morning with a fine Petersburg rain ... a black platform with chains on a pillory ... a figure of a pale man wiping his glasses in order to look through the eyes of a philosopher at the world as it appears from the scaffold ... Then a narrow ring of intelligent like-minded people, squeezed between a chain of gendarmes and the police, on the one hand, and the hostile people, on the other, and ... bouquets, innocent symbols of sympathetic confession. Yes, this is a real symbol of the fate and role of the Russian intelligentsia in that period of our society... There can hardly be any doubt that now the attitude of even the common public towards the civil execution of the author of "Letters Without an Address" would be much more complicated... 1904

NOTES

This volume includes selected literary-critical articles, memoirs and journalistic works of V. G. Korolenko. As a critic and historian of literature, V. G. Korolenko began to speak in the mid-90s of the last century, however, issues of aesthetics, literary history and criticism attracted the attention of the writer from the beginning of his creative activity. This is evidenced by his numerous letters to writers and novice writers, as well as diary entries. Korolenko's statements about the work of the young Gorky, Serafimovich and a number of writers from the people (S. Podyachev, S. Drozhzhin, and others) are of great social and literary significance. Korolenko's literary-critical views are based on the traditions of Russian revolutionary-democratic criticism of the last century. In his articles and reviews, Korolenko acted as an irreconcilable enemy of literary reaction. Korolenko's literary-critical articles were directed against decadent and decadent literary theories. He recreated in his articles the images of Gogol, Belinsky, Chernyshevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, and advocated the principles of critical realism. According to his aesthetic views, Korolenko belonged to that democratic camp in literature, which since the beginning of this century was headed by A. M. Gorky. For all that, Korolenko's literary-critical activity is not free from certain subjectivism, underestimation of the philosophical independence of the giants of revolutionary democratic thought, and is not without individual historical and literary inaccuracies. Korolenko's memoirs supplement his critical speeches. Korolenko was personally acquainted with the largest writers of his time - N. G. Chernyshevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, A. M. Gorky, G. I. Uspensky and others. An excellent master of the memoir genre, Korolenko left vivid portraits of their contemporaries-writers, which have not only historical and literary, but also artistic significance. Only a small part of his essays is included in the present volume from the writer's enormous journalistic heritage. Filled with passionate protest against political arbitrariness, the essays were an effective form of struggle against autocracy and reaction. Pravda wrote in 1913: “Korolenko cannot pass by a whole series of oppressive phenomena of Russian life, generated by the domination of reaction, he, too, “cannot be silent” and raises his voice of protest” (“Pre-October Pravda about Art and Literature”, 1937). Drawing the horrors of the lawlessness of the tsarist police, exposing the dark forces of reaction, Korolenko firmly believed in the triumph of truth, in the strength of the people. “Korolenko happily combined in himself,” Pravda wrote in the same article “Writer-Citizen,” the gift of an outstanding artist with the talent and temperament of a publicist and public figure. His cheerful mood, his great faith in a better future Korolenko from youthful carried through the gloomy era of the 80s [years], the era of general despondency and unbelief, and through a dead streak of reaction, and in his 60 years is still the same tireless Protestant ... "

"Civil execution of Chernyshevsky"

Written in 1904, published for the first time in the collection of articles by V. G. Korolenko "Departed" in 1908, received final processing in the second edition of this collection in 1910. Included in the Complete Works of V. G. Korolenko in 1914.

CIVIL EXECUTION CIVIL EXECUTION - in Russia XVIII-XIX centuries. kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. The convict was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head as a sign of deprivation of all state rights (ranks, class privileges, property rights, parental rights, etc.).

Big legal dictionary. - M.: Infra-M. A. Ya. Sukharev, V. E. Krutskikh, A. Ya. Sukharev. 2003 .

See what "CIVIL EXECUTION" is in other dictionaries:

In Russia 18-19 centuries. kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. The convict was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head as a sign of deprivation of all rights of state (ranks, estate privileges, property rights, parental rights, etc.) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Civil penalty in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries a type of public punishment (usually for nobles), consisting in the fact that the convict was tied to a pillory and, as a sign of deprivation of all the rights of the state (ranks, class privileges, property rights, etc.), they broke over him ... ... Encyclopedia of Law

CIVIL EXECUTION in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. The convict was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head as a sign of deprivation of all state rights (ranks, class privileges, property rights, parental rights, etc. "... to ... ... Legal Encyclopedia

In the Russian Empire and other countries, one of the types of shameful punishment in the XVIII-XIX centuries. Her rite consisted in the public humiliation of the punished with the breaking of a sword over his head as a sign of the deprivation of all state rights (ranks, class privileges, ... ... Wikipedia

In Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. The convict was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head as a sign of deprivation of all state rights (ranks, class privileges, property rights, parental rights, etc.). * * *… … encyclopedic Dictionary

In Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. The convict was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head as a sign of deprivation of all state rights (ranks, class privileges, property rights, parental, etc. ... to ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Economics and Law

civil penalty in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. The convict was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head as a sign of deprivation of all state rights (ranks, class privileges, property rights, parental rights, etc.). * * * v… … Big Law Dictionary

Civil penalty- in the XVIII XIX centuries. kind of shameful punishment for the nobles. Deprivation of all state rights ... Brief Dictionary of Historical and Legal Terms

civil penalty- In Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries: the public punishment of a state criminal, a nobleman, depriving him of all the rights of a state (the criminal was tied to a pillory and a sword was broken over his head) ... Dictionary of many expressions

CIVIL EXECUTION- CIVIL EXECUTION ... Legal Encyclopedia

On the eve of his departure for Siberia, the civil execution of Chernyshevsky took place on Mytninskaya Square in St. Petersburg.

It was May 19, 1864. All night they put up a platform, painted it black. On this scaffold stood a pillar from which chains stretched. A crowd has been running here since early morning. There were many young students. Students of the Institute of Railway Engineers, dressed in civilian clothes, brought with them a little girl, Maria Petrovna Michaelis. The young men surrounded her and hid her from the eyes of the police so that it would not be visible that the girl was holding a large bouquet of red roses in her hands.

A black carriage drove up, surrounded by gendarmes with drawn sabers. Two executioners in red shirts appeared, led out of the carriage under the arms of a pale man in a black coat. They hung a board with the inscription "State criminal" on his chest. They were led up the stairs to the scaffold. The royal official read the verdict. After that, the executioner put Chernyshevsky on his knees and broke his sword over his head as a sign of the deprivation of all rights. Only at that moment did a spasm pass over Chernyshevsky's calm face, and dead silence reigned in the crowd. Then the "state criminal" was brought to the pillory and tied to it with chains.

Such was the ritual that came from the depths of the Middle Ages and was intended to intimidate the people. Only the tsarist government miscalculated. Quite unexpectedly for the police, red roses were thrown at Chernyshevsky's feet. At that moment, Nikolai Gavrilovich's face brightened, and he nodded with a smile in the direction from which the bouquet had been thrown. The shameful ceremony turned into a public celebration. The crowd became agitated, people began to make their way to the scaffold, wishing to say goodbye to Chernyshevsky. The gendarmes seized the girl who had thrown the flowers. She was expelled from Petersburg. Chernyshevsky did not stand at the post of the allotted time. They hurried to take him off the scaffold, put him in a carriage, and, contrary to the rules according to which the arrested person was taken at a walk, the gendarmerie officer commanded: "Trot!"

The horses sped off. And people ran after the carriage, shouting: "Farewell, Chernyshevsky!"

And new flowers flew through the carriage windows. They remained lying on the pavement, flooded with spring rain, as fresh and beautiful as the feelings that prompted Chernyshevsky to give, along with the last "Forgive me!" a promise never to forget his precepts.

On this day, the teacher of the Technological Institute A. N. Morigerovsky, together with his wife, carefully led Olga Sokratovna, barely stepping after a sleepless night, by the arms. With infinite love, Morigerovsky, who was under tacit police surveillance, received from Chernyshevsky's wife an expensive gift - a copper plate from the door of the Chernyshevskys' last apartment with the inscription: "Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky" *.

* (It was kept by him for many years and has survived to our time.)

Olga Sokratovna! You saw: no shame! Honoring turned out, - he said. - How many flowers! .. Nikolai Gavrilovich will return!

Already in his student years, Chernyshevsky was ready to devote himself entirely to revolutionary activity. His first literary works date back to this time. He wrote political-economic, literary-critical and historical-literary works, articles covering economic and political issues. Nikolai Gavrilovich was the ideological inspirer of the organization "Land and Freedom".

Political ideology: the peasant question

In several of his publications, Chernyshevsky touched on the idea of ​​freeing peasants with land without a ransom. In this case, communal ownership should have been preserved, which would later lead to socialist land tenure. But according to Lenin, this could lead to the most rapid and progressive spread of capitalism. When the press printed the "Manifesto" of Tsar Alexander II, only excerpts were placed on the first page of the Sovremennik. In the same issue, the words "Songs of the Negroes" and an article on slavery in the United States were printed. Readers understood exactly what the editors wanted to say.

Reasons for the arrest of the theorist of critical socialism

Chernyshevsky was arrested in 1862 on charges of drawing up a proclamation "To the fraternal peasants ...". The appeal was passed on to Vsevolod Kostomarov, who (as it turned out later) turned out to be a provocateur. Nikolai Gavrilovich was already then in documents and correspondence between the gendarmerie and the police called "enemy number one of the Empire." The immediate reason for the arrest was an intercepted letter from Herzen, in which Chernyshevsky was mentioned in connection with the idea of ​​publishing the banned Sovremennik in London.

The investigation went on for a year and a half. In protest, Nikolai Gavrilovich went on a hunger strike, which lasted 9 days. In prison, he continued to work. For 678 days of imprisonment, Chernyshevsky wrote at least 200 sheets of text materials. The most ambitious work of this period is the novel What Is To Be Done? (1863), published in issues 3-5 of Sovremennik.

In February 1864, the senator announced the verdict in the case: exile to hard labor for fourteen years, and then life-long settlement in Siberia. Alexander II reduced the term of hard labor to seven years, but in general, Nikolai Gavrilovich spent more than twenty years in prison, hard labor and exile. In May, the civil execution of Chernyshevsky took place. Civil execution in the Russian Empire and other countries was a type of punishment consisting in depriving a prisoner of all ranks, privileges by estate, property, and so on.

Ceremony of civil execution of N. G. Chernyshevsky

The morning of May 19, 1864, was foggy and rainy. About 200 people gathered on Mytninskaya Square - at the site of the civil execution of Chernyshevsky - writers, employees of publishing houses, students, and detectives in disguise. By the time the verdict was announced, about two and a half thousand people had already gathered. Along the perimeter, the square was cordoned off by policemen and gendarmes.

A prison carriage drove up, from which three people got out. It was Nikolai Chernyshevsky himself and two executioners. In the middle of the square stood a high pillar with chains, to which the new arrivals headed. Everything froze when Chernyshevsky went up to the dais. The soldiers were commanded: "On guard!", And one of the executioners took off the convict's cap. The reading of the verdict began.

The illiterate executioner read loudly, but with stutters. In one place he almost uttered: "Satsal ideas." A smile flickered across Nikolai Gavrilovich's face. The verdict declared that Chernyshevsky had a great influence on the youth through his literary activity and that for malicious intent to overthrow the existing order, he was deprived of his rights and referred to hard labor for 14 years, and then settled permanently in Siberia.

During the civil execution, Chernyshevsky was calm, all the time looking for someone in the crowd. When the verdict was read, the great son of the Russian people was lowered to his knees, his sword was broken over his head, and then he was chained to a pillory. For a quarter of an hour Nikolai Gavrilovich stood in the middle of the square. The crowd calmed down and at the place of civil execution N.G. Chernyshevsky, deathly silence reigned.

Some girl threw a bouquet of flowers to the post. She was immediately arrested, but this act inspired others. And other bouquets fell at Chernyshevsky's feet. He was hastily released from the chains and put into the same prison carriage. The youth who were present at the civil execution of Chernyshevsky saw off their friend and teacher with shouts of "Goodbye!" The next day, Nikolai Gavrilovich was sent to Siberia.

The reaction of the Russian press to the execution of Chernyshevsky

The Russian press was forced to remain silent and did not say a word about the further fate of Nikolai Gavrilovich.

In the year of the civil execution of Chernyshevsky, the poet Alexei Tolstoy was on a winter court hunt. Alexander II wanted to find out from him about the news in the literary world. Then Tolstoy replied that "literature has put on mourning over the unjust condemnation of Nikolai Gavrilovich." The emperor abruptly interrupted the poet, asking him never to remind him of Chernyshevsky.

The further fate of the writer and revolutionary

Chernyshevsky spent the first three years of hard labor on the Mongolian border, and then was transferred to the Alexander Plant. He was allowed to visit his wife and young sons. Nikolai Gavrilovich's life was not too hard, since political prisoners at that time did not carry real hard labor. He could communicate with other prisoners, walk, for some time Chernyshevsky even lived in a separate house. At one time, performances were staged in hard labor, for which the revolutionary wrote short plays.

When the term of hard labor ended, Nikolai Gavrilovich could himself choose a place of residence in Siberia. He moved to Vilyuisk. In his letters, Chernyshevsky did not upset anyone with complaints, he was calm and cheerful. Nikolai Gavrilovich admired the character of his wife, was interested in her health. He gave advice to his sons, shared his knowledge and experience. During this time, he continued to engage in literary activities and translations. In hard labor, Nikolai Gavrilovich immediately destroyed everything written, in the settlement he created a cycle of works about Russian life, the most significant of which is the novel Prologue.

Russian revolutionaries tried several times to release Nikolai Gavrilovich, but the authorities did not allow it. Only by 1873, ill with rheumatism and scurvy, was he allowed to move to Astrakhan. In 1874, Chernyshevsky was officially offered release, but he did not apply. Thanks to the cares of Mikhail (son of Chernyshevsky), in 1889 Nikolai Gavrilovich moved to Saratov.

Four months after the move, and twenty-five years after the civil execution, Chernyshevsky died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Until 1905, the work of Nikolai Gavrilovich was banned in Russia.

Other Notable Persons Subjected to Civil Execution

Hetman Mazepa was the first in Russian history to be subjected to civil execution. The ceremony took place in the absence of the convict, who was hiding in Turkey.

In 1768, Saltychikha was deprived of all property and estate rights - Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova, a sophisticated sadist and murderer of several dozen serfs.

In 1775, the executioners performed the ritual execution of M. Shvanvich, and in 1826 the Decembrists were deprived of their rights: 97 people in St. Petersburg and 15 naval officers in Kronstadt.

In 1861, Mikhail Mikhailov was subjected to civil execution, in 1868 - Grigory Potanin, and in 1871 - Ivan Pryzhkov.

Revolutionaries and members of the opposition movement in the Russian Empire were often referred to hard labor in Siberia. Hard labor was usually preceded by a civil execution, that is, the deprivation of class, political and civil rights. Of the well-known personalities who were subjected to such punishment, only the Decembrists and Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky are usually remembered. Civil execution (a brief description of the ceremony and reasons) of the latter are discussed in this article.

Activities N.G. Chernyshevsky

Already in his student years, Chernyshevsky was ready to devote himself entirely to revolutionary activity. His first literary works date back to this time. He wrote political-economic, literary-critical and historical-literary works, articles covering economic and political issues. Nikolai Gavrilovich was the ideological inspirer of the organization "Land and Freedom".

Political ideology: the peasant question

In several of his publications, Chernyshevsky touched on the idea of ​​freeing peasants with land without a ransom. In this case, communal ownership should have been preserved, which would later lead to socialist land tenure. But according to Lenin, this could lead to the most rapid and progressive spread of capitalism. When the press printed the "Manifesto" of Tsar Alexander II, only excerpts were placed on the first page of the Sovremennik. In the same issue, the words "Songs of the Negroes" and an article on slavery in the United States were printed. Readers understood exactly what the editors wanted to say.

Reasons for the arrest of the theorist of critical socialism

Chernyshevsky was arrested in 1862 on charges of drawing up a proclamation "To the fraternal peasants ...". The appeal was passed on to Vsevolod Kostomarov, who (as it turned out later) turned out to be a provocateur. Nikolai Gavrilovich was already then in documents and correspondence between the gendarmerie and the police called "enemy number one of the Empire." The immediate reason for the arrest was an intercepted letter from Herzen, in which Chernyshevsky was mentioned in connection with the idea of ​​publishing the banned Sovremennik in London.

The investigation went on for a year and a half. In protest, Nikolai Gavrilovich went on a hunger strike, which lasted 9 days. In prison, he continued to work. For 678 days of imprisonment, Chernyshevsky wrote at least 200 sheets of text materials. The most ambitious work of this period is the novel What Is To Be Done? (1863), published in issues 3-5 of Sovremennik.

In February 1864, the senator announced the verdict in the case: exile to hard labor for fourteen years, and then life-long settlement in Siberia. Alexander II reduced the term of hard labor to seven years, but in general, Nikolai Gavrilovich spent more than twenty years in prison, hard labor and exile. In May, the civil execution of Chernyshevsky took place. Civil execution in the Russian Empire and other countries was a type of punishment consisting in depriving a prisoner of all ranks, privileges by estate, property, and so on.

Ceremony of civil execution of N. G. Chernyshevsky

The morning of May 19, 1864, was foggy and rainy. About 200 people gathered on Mytninskaya Square - at the site of the civil execution of Chernyshevsky - writers, employees of publishing houses, students, and detectives in disguise. By the time the verdict was announced, about two and a half thousand people had already gathered. Along the perimeter, the square was cordoned off by policemen and gendarmes.

A prison carriage drove up, from which three people got out. It was Nikolai Chernyshevsky himself and two executioners. In the middle of the square stood a high pillar with chains, to which the new arrivals headed. Everything froze when Chernyshevsky went up to the dais. The soldiers were commanded: "On guard!", And one of the executioners took off the convict's cap. The reading of the verdict began.

The illiterate executioner read loudly, but with stutters. In one place he almost uttered: "Satsal ideas." A smile flickered across Nikolai Gavrilovich's face. The verdict declared that Chernyshevsky had a great influence on the youth through his literary activity and that for malicious intent to overthrow the existing order, he was deprived of his rights and referred to hard labor for 14 years, and then settled permanently in Siberia.

During the civil execution, Chernyshevsky was calm, all the time looking for someone in the crowd. When the verdict was read, the great son of the Russian people was lowered to his knees, his sword was broken over his head, and then he was chained to a pillory. For a quarter of an hour Nikolai Gavrilovich stood in the middle of the square. The crowd calmed down and at the place of civil execution N.G. Chernyshevsky, deathly silence reigned.

Some girl threw a bouquet of flowers to the post. She was immediately arrested, but this act inspired others. And other bouquets fell at Chernyshevsky's feet. He was hastily released from the chains and put into the same prison carriage. The youth who were present at the civil execution of Chernyshevsky saw off their friend and teacher with shouts of "Goodbye!" The next day, Nikolai Gavrilovich was sent to Siberia.

The reaction of the Russian press to the execution of Chernyshevsky

The Russian press was forced to remain silent and did not say a word about the further fate of Nikolai Gavrilovich.

In the year of the civil execution of Chernyshevsky, the poet Alexei Tolstoy was on a winter court hunt. Alexander II wanted to find out from him about the news in the literary world. Then Tolstoy replied that "literature has put on mourning over the unjust condemnation of Nikolai Gavrilovich." The emperor abruptly interrupted the poet, asking him never to remind him of Chernyshevsky.

The further fate of the writer and revolutionary

Chernyshevsky spent the first three years of hard labor on the Mongolian border, and then was transferred to the Alexander Plant. He was allowed to visit his wife and young sons. Nikolai Gavrilovich's life was not too hard, since political prisoners at that time did not carry real hard labor. He could communicate with other prisoners, walk, for some time Chernyshevsky even lived in a separate house. At one time, performances were staged in hard labor, for which the revolutionary wrote short plays.

When the term of hard labor ended, Nikolai Gavrilovich could himself choose a place of residence in Siberia. He moved to Vilyuisk. In his letters, Chernyshevsky did not upset anyone with complaints, he was calm and cheerful. Nikolai Gavrilovich admired the character of his wife, was interested in her health. He gave advice to his sons, shared his knowledge and experience. During this time, he continued to engage in literary activities and translations. In hard labor, Nikolai Gavrilovich immediately destroyed everything written, in the settlement he created a cycle of works about Russian life, the most significant of which is the novel Prologue.

Russian revolutionaries tried several times to release Nikolai Gavrilovich, but the authorities did not allow it. Only by 1873, ill with rheumatism and scurvy, was he allowed to move to Astrakhan. In 1874, Chernyshevsky was officially offered release, but he did not apply. Thanks to the cares of Mikhail (son of Chernyshevsky), in 1889 Nikolai Gavrilovich moved to Saratov.

Four months after the move, and twenty-five years after the civil execution, Chernyshevsky died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Until 1905, the work of Nikolai Gavrilovich was banned in Russia.

Other Notable Persons Subjected to Civil Execution

Hetman Mazepa was the first in Russian history to be subjected to civil execution. The ceremony took place in the absence of the convict, who was hiding in Turkey.

In 1768, Saltychikha was deprived of all property and estate rights - Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova, a sophisticated sadist and murderer of several dozen serfs.

In 1775, the executioners performed the ritual execution of M. Shvanvich, and in 1826 the Decembrists were deprived of their rights: 97 people in St. Petersburg and 15 naval officers in Kronstadt.

Mikhail Mikhailov was executed in 1861, Grigory Potanin in 1868, and Ivan Pryzhkov in 1871.