Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Born May 21 (June 2), 1827, in Moscow; died Mar. 10 (23), 1907, in St. Petersburg. Russian reactionary state figure, jurist, chief procurator of the Synod. Son of a Moscow University professor.

Pobedonostsev graduated from a school of law in 1846. He served as a clerk in departments of the Senate. From 1860 to 1865 he was a professor and held the chair of civil law at Moscow University. He became a senator in 1868 and a member of the State Council in 1872. From 1880 to 1905 he was chief procurator of the Synod. Pobedonostsev taught jurisprudence to the grand dukes, including the future emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II, over both of whom he exerted great influence. He authored the Manifesto of Apr. 29, 1881, on the strengthening of the autocracy. He was an inspirer of extreme reaction. He opposed Western European culture and bourgeois social reforms. Pobedonostsev set forth his views in the book Moscow Collection in 1896. As chief procurator of the Synod, he carried out repressive measures against the schismatics, and sectarians. He restricted the schools of the zemstvos (district and provincial bodies of self-government) and strengthened those of the church. In the late 1880’s, his influence waned. After the publication of the Manifesto of Oct. 17, 1905, Pobedonostsev went into retirement.