Abstract

Conflict of the Tver’ Governor P.D. Akhlestyshev with the provincial zemstvo lasted throughout the entire period of his tenure in this post in the 1890s, however, after I.L. Goremykin was appointed Minister of the Interior in the fall of 1895, it moved into a new phase. The Minister actually sided with the opposition-minded zemstvo, and Akhlestyshev was forced to resign in the late 1897. Goremykin’s position in this matter was determined by two reasons: first, by the legalism inherent in the mode of his administration (thus he refused to regard the opposition of the zemstvo to the Governor as a challenge to the entire autocratic regime), and second, by intrigues inside the Ministry of the Interior in order to discredit Akhlestyshev. For almost two years, from the late 1895, the Governor tried to convince Goremykin of the legitimacy of his complaints against the zemstvo, however, judging by the quite negative reaction to Akhlestyshev’s reports, it was the Governer himself whom the Ministry blamed for the unhealthy socio-political conditions in the Tver’ guberniya. Correspondence of the Governor and Minister in 1896–1897 allows to follow the escalation of tension between them. What remained beyond the scope of this official documentation can be analyzed due to correspondence of the Governor with his confident Count S.D. Sheremetev, with whom Akhlestyshev shared the details of his relationship with the local zemstvo and the Ministry. This story shows that the political process in the Russian Empire in the late 19th century was much more complex than the confrontation between conservatives and liberals. The idea of building constructive relations with the zemstvo, despite the often provocative behavior of the latter, was evidently spreading among the representatives of the highest bureaucracy, as can be clearly seen in the case of the Tver’ guberniya. Such a link between legalist bureaucrats and liberals set a trend that doomed the utmost conservatives to marginalization.