XI International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia
10th-14th July 2023
Koichi Toyokawa (Meiji University, Japan), "Old Believers and the Pugachev Rebellion"
>The connection of the Pugachev uprising with the raskolniks is also noted in the general works on the history of the 18th century. A.S. Pushkin in his story "The History of the Pugachev Rebellion", giving a description of the leader of the uprising, called him "Don Cossack, raskolnik Pugachev". Under the influence of Pushkin, many pre-revolutionary historians considered the Old Believers to be one of the main driving forces of the uprising. This idea was based mainly on three factors: First, Pugachev was associated with the Old Believers, especially with the Old Believer priest Filaret. Secondly, many of the Yaik Cossacks, who were the main force of the uprising, were Old Believers. Thirdly, Pugachev's manifestos and decrees contained Old Believer motifs. Thus, in the pre-revolutionary historical literature there was a certain tendency to consider the split as a phenomenon most directly related to the uprising of Pugachev.
Looking at previous studies, the following questions surfaced. First, how Pugachev related to the Old Believers on the eve of the uprising? Especially did the Old Believers influence the pretending of Pugachev? Secondly, did the Old Believers play an important role in the process of Pugachev's uprising? What traces or influences of the Old Believers can we notice in the specific activities, decrees, and manifestos of the Pugachev camp? We will investigate these problems.
