Teachers' «riot»: on the issue of the unrest in the first Saint Petersburg non-classical secondary school (realnoe uchilishche), 1905 - 1906

The paper based mainly on unpublished documents from the Central State Historical Archives of Saint Petersburg and the Russian State Historical Archives focuses upon the conflict between the teaching staff and the administration of the first Saint Petersburg non-classical secondary school (real'noe uchilishche), which happened in 19051906. Special attention is paid to the teachers' behavior under the new conditions, caused by the First Russian revolution, and to the reaction of their heads from the Saint Petersburg Educational District and from the Ministry of Education. It helps to reveal the forms of the teachers' involvement into the so called "school revolution", as well as their attitudes towards the main issues of school life and the future of Russian secondary education. Of special interest is also the question whether the teachers had an opportunity to take independent decisions under bureaucratic pressure. The author comes to a conclusion that the case under consideration reveals inner contradictions and imperfection of a number of legal norms, which regulated activities of the secondary schools, and in the first place that of the Statute of non-classical secondary schools. The teachers' attempt at establishing collective management after the removal of the director and inspector of the school ended for the "rebels" with dismissal of their posts and putting them on a trial. So, the transformation of the bureaucratic order of the state secondary schools, dependent to the Ministry of Education, even on the wave of the revolutionary events of 1905 - 1906, was doomed to failure. In most of classical gymnasiums and non-classical secondary schools of Saint Petersburg, teachers supported, voluntarily or by force, the existing school regime and did not side with their "rebellious" colleagues. Under those conditions, real advance to autonomy and collective management was possible only in private schools, which experienced less pressure of the Saint Petersburg Educational District and the Ministry of Education.