The Collegia of Peter the Great
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The Collegia of Peter the Great Specialized Agency Background Guide QMUN 2020 Letters from your Committee Directors Dear Delegates, Welcome to Queen’s Model United Nations 2020! The history of Russia is riveting and unique, and we hope that you gain a better understanding and appreciation for how a modern day global superpower came to be. As part of the advisory board for Peter the Great, the leader of Russia at that time, you will have the opportunity to change the political, economic, and social landscapes as well as prepare for war. We are incredibly excited to see where you decide to take this journey. My name is Melissa Cole, and I am your Committee Director for the Peter the Great Specialized Agency! I am a third-year political studies major and history minor here at Queen’s University. Although I am a politics major, I am especially interested in Russian history. I have taken pretty much every Russian history course the department has to offer, from Imperial Russian history to Soviet history. Fun fact, I am part Russian, my family was stationed in Finland when it came under Russian rule after the Great Northern War. But, my great grandfather fled back to Russia in 1918 when the Finns revolted against the Russians and his father was killed. He immigrated to France in 1924 never to return to Russia. 2020 marks my 5th year of involvement in MUN. I grew up in Calgary, where I joined my highschool’s first-ever MUN team in my grade 11 year. Since then, in my first year at Queen’s, I became a member of our MUN team, and I have attended conferences at both the University of Pennsylvania and at Harvard. I am looking forward to meeting all of you and to hearing your creative ideas for Russia’s domestic development and solutions to the Great Northern War with Sweden! Please feel free to email me any questions, comments, or concerns you may have at [email protected] (Melissa) . Sincerely, Melissa Cole, Chair and Committee Director Hello delegates, My name is David Hultin, and I will be your vice-chair for this committee on the reforms of Peter the Great! I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and I’m currently in my second year here at Queen’s, majoring in political studies with a minor in history. I joined the Queen’s Model United Nations (MUN) Team and the Queen’s International Affairs Association (QIAA) at the start of my first year at Queen’s in September 2018, and this club has given me the opportunity to meet and form many great friendships with so many amazingly intelligent and talented people! In my time as a member of the Queen’s MUN team, I’ve attended conferences at Cornell University, McGill University, and the University of Pennsylvania. I’ve also been involved in the other MUN conferences run by QIAA; as a page at QMUNI 2018 and QNMUN 2019 and co-directing a joint-crisis committee based on the Cuban Missile Crisis at QMUNi 2019. I’ve always been interested in European history, and military history in particular, so this committee is an exciting opportunity for me to see what kinds of innovative solutions delegates will come up with to solve the problems facing Peter the Great’s Russia at the turn of the 18t h century! Hopefully, you will be able to reform the Russian state into a powerful political, economic, and military force in preparation for the Great Northern War with your bitter Swedish rivals. Peter’s victory in this war marked the emergence of Russia as one of the predominant land powers in eastern Europe, setting the stage for future Tsars and Tsarinas to push Russia into the ranks of the great powers of Europe and dominate the vast expanse of territory from the Vistula river to Sakhalin island. It is now in your hands to see if you can emulate Peter the Great’s success, or perhaps, go even further. Sincerely, David Hultin, Vice-Chair Introduction Welcome Presidents! It is December 1st, 1700, and Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great) needs your guidance! Russia has just entered into the Great Northern War with Sweden, and Peter’s newly reformed government made up of Colleges, state ministries led by presidents, and the advisory senate is required to hastily reform and westernize Russia. Reform is needed to make Russia's political, social and economic systems more closely resemble a European structure. Peter needs the Russian military to transform into an unstoppable force, which can compete with Europe's great armies, and to do so, Russia needs to implement western military tactics. Your ultimate goal is to revolutionize Russia itself, domestically and militarily, to be able to compete - and ultimately win - against Sweden. War is upon Russia. Is this Peter’s final chance to lead and emerge as a great Western power, or will this be the downfall of Russia? Historically the colleges acted as an advisory board for Peter, each was a specialized state ministry which would focus on specialized issues. Instead of serving an advisory role for Peter, where he would ultimately decide how to act, for the purposes of this body, any resolutions passed by the colleges will be promptly implemented by Peter. Resolution Format QMUN 2020’s simulation of Petrine Russia will include restrictions on the government’s resources. This will affect which resolutions can be passed. Because this body serves at the pleasure of Peter the Great, the chairs will act as the monarch, and guide delegates by informing them of the “cost” of draft resolutions. Delegates should enter the simulation expecting to discuss priority of proposed reforms, as well as their benefits with respect to their costs. This may manifest as ruling a costly policy dilatory, or informing delegates that a set of resolutions are mutually exclusive. A useful analogy is shopping: If you only have $4, you must allocate it appropriately between items with different costs and utilities. This practice is unusual for MUN committees, even at the University level, and will be explained by the committee chairs at the beginning of the conference, as well as during a point of parliamentary inquiry General Overview of Russia 1700 Western Ideologies Peter the Great became the ruler, or Tsar of Russia in 1682. 1 He came to power with a desire to completely revolutionize Russian society. Peter was greatly influenced by Europe, which drove him to both desire and create a more western culture in Russia, including European customs, military, religion and economic principles. Political & Social Regimes of Pre-Petrine Russia An understanding of the political and social landscape that existed in Russia before Peter came to power is crucial for grasping the need for reform in Russia. Pre-Petrine Russia refers to the timeline before Peter the Great became the Tsar. Political Regimes Prior to Peter's reign, Russia was divided into districts, uyezds, made up of cities and their surrounding areas. 2 Uyezds were not divided based on population, which meant that some were far more populous, making them difficult to manage.3 The Boyar Duma, a royal council of the ruling elite, was another feature of Russia's political system, which lasted from the fifteenth century through to the seventeenth.4 The term consists of the Russian word for "counsel" or "advice," duma, and boyar , the name used for Russia's elite class at the time. 5 The Boyar Duma gave political power to individuals based on family status, supporting Mestnichestvo , the system of dynastic politics that Peter hated.6 The Prikaz, the palace, civil, military, and church authorities was a higher advisory body than the Boyar Duma and was also a Mestnichestvo system. Peter despised ruling families 1 Massie, Robert K. P eter the Great His Life and World. New York, NY: Random House Trade Paperback, 1980, p. 108. 2 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Zemstvo.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., June 18, 2015. 3 Encyclopedia Britannica, June 18, 2019. 4 Ana Siljak, “Peter the Great, Part 2,” lecture, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, September 16, 2019. 5 Ana Siljak, September 16, 2019. 6 Ana Siljak, “Peter the Great: Childhood and Youth,” lecture, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, September 11, 2019. and wanted to rid them of their power. These systems ruled by dynastic politics would eventually be overturned by Peter and replaced with the Colleges and Senate, respectively. Neither the Boyar Duma nor the Prikaz wrote down what was discussed during their meetings, which has made it difficult for historians to discern their exact function or exactly how much power they had.7 The Russian Orthodox church (which is discussed in greater detail in the social regime section) also held a great deal of political power in Russia and greatly influenced the Tsar. Social Regimes Russia’s social system was made up of a hierarchy of social estates or classes in society which were determined by law, for example, the nobility, clergy, and peasants. 8 There was no possibility of upward movement because the status of an individual was determined at birth. 9 Furthermore, each social estate had specific rights and duties associated with it. Typically, this involved the principle of serfdom, in which the nobility would own land, and serfs, the lowest rank in the peasantry, would be forced to work the land. 10 Russia's social climate was also largely influenced by the dominant religion, Russian Orthodoxy. 11 The peasants were deeply religious. Before Peter, Tsars partook in the Orthodox tradition and held the Russian Patriarch (head of the Russian Orthodox church) in close counsel.