Muravev, Aleksandr

Murav’ev, Aleksandr Nikolaevich 

Born Oct. 10 (21), 1792; died Dec. 18 (30), 1863, in Moscow. Decembrist. Son of N. N. Murav’ev, founder of the School of Column Leaders. Brother of N. N. Murav’ev (Karskii) and M. N. Murav’ev.

Murav’ev graduated from Moscow University in 1810. He served in the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the campaigns of the Russian Army abroad in 1813–14. He became a colonel on the general staff of the guards in 1815.

Murav’ev was a founder of the Union of Salvation in 1816 and a member of the Military Society in 1817. One of the founders of the Union of Welfare in 1818, he became the leader of the union’s Moscow branch. Murav’ev opposed serfdom and supported the allotment of land to the peasants and the replacement of the autocracy by a constitutional monarchy. He retired from military service in the autumn of 1818 and soon after left the secret society. In 1826 he was sentenced to exile in Siberia in the aftermath of the Decembrist uprising.

Murav’ev held a succession of administrative posts from 1828 on, including civil governor in Arkhangel’sk from 1837 to 1839 and military governor in Nizhny Novgorod from 1856 to 1861. He was actively involved in drafting the peasant reform of 1861. In 1861, he became a lieutenant general and a senator.

REFERENCES

Vosstanie dekabristov, vol. 8. Leningrad, 1925.
Dekabristy: Novye materialy. Moscow, 1955.
Nechkina, M. V. Dvizhenie dekabristov, vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1955.
Vetrinskii, Ch. “A. N. Murav’ev i drugie dekabristy vo vremia krest’ianskoi reformy.” In the collection Velikaia reforma, vol. 5. Moscow, 1911.

A. G. TARTAKOVSKII