Statutes of the Destitute Students Relief Societies as a Historical Source
| 04 March 2025
Posted in
Anniversaries
Gularyan A.B., Orel, Russian Federation
Statutes of the Destitute Students Relief Societies as a Historical Source
Abstract
Russian archives store many charters of pre-revolutionary voluntary organizations. Analysis of the statutes of the destitute students relief societies demonstrates changes in the major regulations of the societies activities over ten years. These standard documents are interesting because their content, on the one hand, captures the tsarist legislation concerning jurisdictions and responsibilities of voluntary organizations and, on the other, highlights the ins and outs of their activities. Comparison of the statutes texts provides interesting data on the period of their creation. Analysis of the data shows growing statutory regimentation of public life in tsarist Russia at the turn of the 20th century. In defining society membership the statutes were uniform: “unlimited number of persons of box sexes, of all states and ranks”, sometimes “of all states, ranks and confessions”. Thus, the founders gave equal rights of initiative to the Russians and to national minorities or other confessions. Some society statutes barred students from membership, or persons who had not reached majority, some did “not admit junior grades, pupils of military schools, persons with legal incapacity to participate in meetings”. The author concludes that legislation in the sphere of regulation of voluntary organizations evolved towards statutory micromanagement.
Keywords
Source, “normal” statute, original statute, typical structure, destitute students, legislation, approval procedure, regulation, membership
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About the author
Gularyan Artem Borisovich, PhD in History, assistant professor of the department of humanities of the Orel State Agrarian University, 8-905-167-17-91, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it