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Russia was to be transformed into a republic |
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All branches of government — both a legislative People’s Assembly
and an executive State Duma — would be formed on the basis of
universal franchise without any property qualifications |
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Serfdom would be abolished and a public land fund would be created
out of land previously owned by the crown and the church and
partially confiscated from the nobility |
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From this fund each peasant would receive land sufficient to meet
basic needs |
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Pestel also advanced the idea of a temporary dictatorship needed to
maintain order and defend the revolution |
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In this view he was a pupil of the French Jacobins and a forerunner
of Vladimir Lenin |
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In Pestel’s project it was to be a dictatorship of the
liberal-minded aristocracy |
