From the Republic of Social Contract. Artamon Z. Muravyov

In the history of Russia, I counted 7 Muravyov-Decembrists. Of these, one is hanged instead of quartering, the three are convicted of the first category, that is, to the cutting off of the head, but by the king's mercy sent to eternal hard labor with subsequent softening. Four of the Muravyov-Decembrists graduated from the School for the columned ones, founded by the father of the three Decembrists, Major-General Nikolai Nikolayevich Muravyov. This article is about the graduate of this school Artamon Zakharovich Muravyov.

How liberal was the autocracy, if it is possible to establish such educational institutions in the state, where students were filled with freedom-loving ideas, after which they organized riots? Eyewitnesses write that the students of the Collegiate School were distinguished by patriotism, exceptional honesty and a sense of justice.

In this School, the cadets were trained for the future composition of the officers of the General Staff. According to various sources, at least 24 students and graduates of the Collegiate School became Decembrists and took part in the mutiny.

Artamon Muravyov was born in 1793. Colonial College, Moscow University, Moscow Society of Mathematicians, Patriotic War of 1812, foreign campaigns, secret societies of the Decembrists, Peter and Paul Fortress, interrogation by the tsar himself (!), Alexandrovsky distillery, Blagodatsky mine, Chita prison, Petrovsky Zavod, Elan and Malaya Divorce Irkutsk province - here, in brief, is his way.

Special signs: a wound on the left leg below the hip, on the right hand a tattoo of gunpowder - Vera, the name of his wife.

For bravery in battles awarded the orders of Russia and Prussia, in particular the sign of the Iron Cross.

According to the reminiscences of eyewitnesses who knew him at the settlement, he was a fat man, but very mobile and cheerful, never losing courage. Fifteen years after the painful path through the whole of Russia in shackles, staying at the Blagodatsky mine, in the Chita and Petropavlovsk jails, losing everything that he once had and could have, he remained a cheerful and free person. By the way, he liked to eat and adored sweet, treated sweets to all the children who met on his life's journey.

The fate and biography of this colonel, the commander of the hussar regiment, as well as family ties with many well-known surnames of noble Russia can be learned by anyone from materials published in the worldwide network. But I am interested in everyday details and dreams of this cheerful person who fought on the battlefields of Russia and Europe. According to our ideas of the people of the XX century, he is a real front-line soldier, a man of iron will, at the same time a dreamer and humanist, thinking about the happiness of all people. Where does he get such conviction about the possibility of such a world order? From the Republic of Social Contract.

This development of the doctrine, based on the work of J. J. Rousseau, in which the idea of ​​the equality of all people is expressed. Even in his youth, Artamon Murav'ev and his comrades conceived, after five years of study and preparation, to find some island, apparently Sakhalin, to go there, leaving their surroundings where people oppressed each other. And on that island to create a new state where universal equality would reign, where people would be brothers and sisters to each other.

Every member of this youthful fellowship had to learn some craft. Artamon was to become a physician. In penal servitude and exile, he was a doctor, an assistant to Dr. FB Wolf.

These naive people did not dream of seizing foreign lands and enslaving other people, expanding the limits of their state by colonizing other peoples and territories. They did not dream of any adventures and untold riches for themselves. They dreamed of universal justice and the happiness of their neighbor - a simple inhabitant of the planet Earth. This is not the fulfillment of the biblical commandment - to love one's neighbor. There is no other way to become a man.

Artamon Muravyov chose this path for himself. Accurately. That's why I was calm. This road ended on November 4, 1846 in the village of Malaya Divorce.

His wife - Vera Alekseevna Muravyova wanted to come to him for hard labor and a link, but she could not. There are insurmountable circumstances in life.

His biography can be found from many sources. There will be a great many relatives, dates, titles, awards. And only a small mention of how this cheerful person treated children with sweets and ate sweets, perhaps, will reveal to you the main core of his soul - humanism.