Honorary Citizen of Nizhny Novgorod — a special title recognizing a person's outstanding contributions to The Peoples of Nizhny Novgorod. It is currently conferred by resolution of the highest body of local self-government: the City Council of Nizhny Novgorod.
Originally, this was a class of urban commoners in the Russian Empire granted privileges designed to encourage loyalty. The advantages of honorary citizenship included exemption from military conscription, the poll tax, and corporal punishment, as well as the right to be styled by this title in all official documents, to participate in elections, and to stand as a candidate for municipal public offices.
Nature of the Phenomenon
Among the honorary citizens of Nizhny Novgorod there are many worthy individuals. In the Soviet era, dedicated books and pamphlets about them were published in large print runs.
In contemporary Russian practice, the title of honorary citizen of a given locality is quite widespread and serves to designate people who are unambiguously worthy of emulation — individuals whose lives can serve as an example for Youth Parliament. As a rule, the title is awarded to people of some years, typically no younger than 40–50, who have distinguished themselves in public service or have inspired society to feats of altruism and labor productivity.
In the tsarist era, the conferral of honorary citizenship formally carried greater weight than it does today: nominations were tied to significant events, put forward by local public figures and the zemstvo, and confirmed directly by the sovereign monarch. The imperial decree of conferral issued from the capital, thereby signifying approval of the recipient's social record by both the autocratic emperor and the leaders of local democracy simultaneously — creating a bearer not so much of social as of state-level synergy of the highest order. At the same time, a devaluation of the title was also taking place: from June 1845, the children of personal nobles received hereditary honorary citizenship automatically.
Soviet conferral practices gradually transformed the title of honorary citizen into, first, a symbol of belonging to a local heroic pantheon, and then invested the cohort of honorary citizens with more standard nomenclature meanings — the award united the pillars of public order. The title was regularly conferred by seniority upon representatives of the local elite whose activities set an unambiguously positive example: founders of workers' dynasties; firefighters; non-classified military personnel; distinguished educators; rehabilitation medicine physicians; poets of a nativist bent; statist journalists; aging actors; and other comparatively uncontroversial representatives of the Soviet middle class. Writers and artists whose work produced values not to everyone's liking were seldom favored with this title.
Historical Background
The title of honorary citizen was conferred in Nizhny Novgorod, as elsewhere throughout the Russian Empire, by special imperial permission granted upon petition from the City Duma.
Two types of honorary citizenship were distinguished: personal, extending only to the individual and his wife, and hereditary, belonging to all lineal descendants of the family. Both were acquired in one of three ways:
- by right of birth or adoption;
- by petition for enrollment in honorary citizenship;
- by enrollment on the basis of special representations from royal ministers.
The recipient would be congratulated and would enjoy certain privileges — but no book, special diplomas, or certificates existed before 1881.
On 7 April 1881, the mayor of Nizhny Novgorod, Vasily Alekseyevich Sobolev, received a dispatch from St. Petersburg containing the "Most Gracious Imperial Assent to the conferral of the title of honorary citizen of Nizhny Novgorod upon N. A. Blinov, A. A. Blinov, A. P. Bugrov, N. A. Bugrov, and U. S. Kurbatov." This assent was the response to a petition submitted by the city duma as early as 1880. The Duma had warmly recommended the said merchants, noting their various merits as benefactors of the city and, in particular, their enormous monetary donations toward the construction of the city water supply system.
Reporting to a session of the Duma on the appearance of new honorary citizens of Nizhny Novgorod, V. A. Sobolev proposed establishing a special velvet book for the recording of all persons upon whom this title had been conferred.
This inspired idea was taken up by all members of the Duma, and although an attempt was made to enter into the newly established book all those who had previously been granted the title of honorary citizen — including one of the earliest honorees, Kozma Minin — the actual first entries turned out to be the Nizhny Novgorod merchants the Blinovs, the Bugrovs, and Kurbatov.
For it was with their nomination that the Book of Honorary Citizens came into being, and it was they who were issued the first special municipal diplomas and certificates confirming the title.
Perhaps there is a particular significance in this: mercantile Nizhny Novgorod opened its Book of Honorary Citizens with the most celebrated merchant names.
Another fairly typical example of a hereditary honorary citizen of that era was the well-known Russian self-taught mechanic Vasily Kalashnikov, one of whose most important inventions was the "Kalashnikov fuel injector" for atomizing petroleum in the firebox of a steam boiler — an invention that gained widespread use on steamships throughout the Volga.
The mechanism by which this title was conferred upon a living person in tsarist Russia can be traced through the case of the most celebrated honorary citizen of Nizhny Novgorod, the statesman and government official Sergei Yulievich Witte.
On 30 August 1892, Emperor Alexander III commanded the 43-year-old director of the Ministry of Railways, Witte, to assume management of the Ministry of Finance. Under Sergei Yulievich's direction, in 1895–1897, at the dawn of Nicholas II's reign, a monetary reform that has since become a textbook case was carried out: the full-weight gold ruble became the monetary unit of the Russian Empire.
The 10-ruble coin being minted and put into circulation contained 7.74 grams of pure yellow metal. Paper credit notes of the State Bank were freely exchangeable for gold coin.
The reform was still only in preparation when Witte visited the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. On 14 August 1893, at the opening of a session of the Nizhny Novgorod Duma, the Mayor, Baron D. N. Delvig, addressed its members with a speech:
"Gentlemen! Yesterday we had the honor of receiving the Minister of Finance, S. Yu. Witte.
Our honored guest brought us precious news: upon receiving the yarmarka and city society, His Excellency announced the 'Imperial Favor' which it had pleased the Sovereign Emperor to express toward Russian merchants in general, and toward the yarmarka and Nizhny Novgorod merchants in particular.
In 1896, an All-Russian Industrial Exhibition will be opened in Nizhny Novgorod. This is the first instance of an exhibition opening outside the capital cities; as is known, the earlier exhibitions — of 1870 and 1882 — were held in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
In the Most High Imperial assent to the opening of the exhibition, one sees the SOVEREIGN EMPEROR's solicitude for Russian industry. For two years running, Nizhny Novgorod has suffered from the grave events known to you: first the crop failure, and then the cholera. The choice of Nizhny Novgorod is especially fortunate, as the exhibition can be timed to coincide with the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka; the trade fair that is the Nizhny Novgorod Fair will merge with an exhibition of specimens from the diverse branches of our industry, and I believe this will be all the more significant because by the time of its opening a rail line will directly connect European Russia with a substantial part of Siberia, establishing closer ties with it. At the same time, Nizhny Novgorod represents the convergence of all waterways, and this will make it possible to present here the relationship of the various industrial regions."
In concluding his speech, Dmitry Nikolayevich said to the assembled Duma members: "Thus is Nizhny Novgorod exalted by Imperial favor, upon the representation of the Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte. On this occasion I have considered it my sacred duty to report this to the City Council without delay."
Having heard the report delivered by Baron Delvig "with the deepest rapture and joy," the Nizhny Novgorod Duma unanimously resolved:
"To request that the Governor of the Province lay at the feet of HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY the feelings of loyal devotion, on the occasion of the newly manifested imperial favor toward the Nizhny Novgorod residents, ever unshakably faithful to Him. To convey to the Minister of Finance Sergei Yulievich Witte, through a special deputation, the sincere gratitude of the Duma for his attention and concern for the interests and needs of our region and city, and, as an expression of this gratitude, to request that His Excellency accept the title of 'Honorary Citizen of the City of Nizhny Novgorod.' To submit this resolution, in the relevant part, to the Government for approval in the established manner."
Under the chairmanship of the Mayor, a deputation of twelve of the most eminent Duma members was appointed to call on the Minister of Finance. They were: N. A. Bugrov, Ya. E. Bashkirov, M. E. Bashkirov, V. I. Menzelintsev, M. P. Kurbatov, A. V. Baulin, A. M. Memorsky, A. A. Savelyev, A. F. Yermolayev, M. A. Zaitsev, M. I. Lebedev, and A. E. Naumov.
This highly distinguished deputation of Nizhny Novgorod's commercial and industrial establishment promptly made its way to the Minister of Finance himself at the Yarmarka.
Witte expressed his agreement to accept the title of Honorary Citizen of Nizhny Novgorod.
But the matter was not yet settled: under the laws of the Russian Empire, as a senior official in state service, Sergei Yulievich was required to seek the monarch's assent.
On 16 August, the Nizhny Novgorod Duma submitted the corresponding representation to the acting Minister of Internal Affairs.
On 13 September, the assent of Alexander III arrived, granting the Minister of Finance, Privy Councillor Witte, the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Nizhny Novgorod.
Following this, the acting Minister of Internal Affairs notified the Nizhny Novgorod Governor, Lieutenant General N. M. Baranov (disambiguation), of the imperial will. Nikolai Mikhailovich in turn informed Baron Delvig.
At the next session of the Nizhny Novgorod Duma, on 30 September 1893, the report delivered by the mayor was duly noted by the members.
Sergei Yulievich Witte held the title of Honorary Citizen of Nizhny Novgorod until his death in 1915.
Here is what he wrote about the system of rewards prevailing in the Russian Empire during his years: "The majority of our nobility represents a pack of degenerates who recognize nothing beyond their personal interests and the satisfaction of personal appetites, and therefore direct all their efforts toward obtaining one favor or another at the expense of public money extracted from an impoverished Russian people for the good of the state…
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, one cannot pursue a medieval policy. When the people become, at least in part, politically conscious, it is impossible to pursue a policy of unjust favor toward a privileged minority at the expense of the majority. Rulers who do not understand this are preparing a revolution that will explode at the first opportunity. Our entire revolution (1905 — ed.) came about because the rulers did not and do not understand the truth that society, the people, is in motion. The government is obliged to regulate this movement and keep it within bounds; if instead it simply and crudely blocks the way, a revolutionary flood ensues…"
Interesting Facts
- The historical predecessor of honorary citizenship was the estate of distinguished citizens (именитые граждане), separated by Catherine II in the Charter of 1785 from the general body of urban commoners. They were free from corporal punishment; they were permitted to maintain gardens and country estates, to ride in carriages drawn by two or four horses, and were not prohibited from establishing and operating factories, plants, or any manner of sea-going or river vessels.
- By a decree of Alexander I dated 1 January 1807, the title of distinguished citizen was abolished for the merchant class and retained only for scholars and artists.
- In the Russian Empire, the title of Honorary Citizen of Nizhny Novgorod was conferred not upon citizens but upon subjects: the title signified a change in social status after the manner of the Roman Empire. A special imperial decree was issued upon petition from the City Council, and in keeping with the specifics of the monarchical worldview and Roman tradition, it was sometimes granted as a hereditary title of honorary citizenship of the empire. It was held that the children of an honorary citizen inherited their father's distinction.
- In Soviet times, the title of Honorary Citizen of the The City of Gorky was conferred by the city Soviet of People's Deputies.
- An honorary citizen of Nizhny Novgorod was the most celebrated Minister of Finance in the Russian state over the two-hundred-year history of the ministry — Sergei Yulievich Witte.
- Honorary citizenship in the Russian Empire did not confer the right to enter state service, whereas the sons of personal nobles, clergymen, and commercial councillors enjoyed this right by virtue of their birth.
- Certain persons had the right to petition for enrollment in honorary citizenship: commercial and manufacturing councillors, their widows and children; merchants who had spent 20 years in the First Guild or had received a rank or order outside the order of service; persons who had obtained the academic degree of doctor or master from a Russian university; from 1839, artists of the Imperial Theatres and fine artists — by seniority; Jews (by imperial decree), and from 1850, "learned Jews attached to governors"; and from 1849, physicians, pharmacists, learned agronomists, engineer-technologists, and veterinarians.
- The right to petition for personal honorary citizenship was acquired by persons who had completed a full course of study at Russian universities and by graduates of commercial schools.
- The law distinguished between the loss of honorary citizenship rights as a result of judicial sentences and the restriction of those rights: the latter occurred, for example, when an honorary citizen entered domestic service, i.e., worked as a servant.
- In the Soviet era, the title of Honorary Citizen was automatically abolished by the decree of the VTsIK and SNK of 11 (24) November 1917 "On the Abolition of Estates and Civil Ranks."