"Correspondence on the Reduction of Correspondence": Attempts to Optimize the Activities of the Russian Government System in the Field of Business Communication During the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 (Based on the Materials of the Kaluga Province)

Kovalev Artem PhD in History Associate Professor, Department of State and Municipal Administration, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Kaluga Branch) 248021, Russia, Kaluzhskaya oblast', g. Kaluga, ul. Okruzhnaya, 4, korpus 3, of. 613 artem-v-kovalev@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The participation of the country's armed forces in military operations has an impact on a variety of areas of "rear", provincial life, in particular, on the managerial sphere. That is why it is relevant to study the experience of the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905. Well–prepared Japan was supported in these events by the then rivals of the Russian Empire in the Pacific - Great Britain and the USA. As a result, the campaign, which initially seemed not too difficult to representatives of the Russian power circles, became a serious test of strength for the empire.

It should be noted that the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 is devoted to a significant amount of scientific literature, which it is not possible to consider completely within the framework of a small text. In addition to understanding purely military and "near-war" issues ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}, the authors talk about various realities related to the life of the country at that time, for example, about changes in public sentiment, in the economic component and in the standard of living of the population ^{[6, 7, 8]}, also the participation of the province in various events related to the war, for example, charity, is considered ^{[9, 10]}. At the same time, it seems that the authors are less interested in how the outbreak of the war of 1904-1905 directly affected the sphere of governance (if, of course, it did).

At the same time, there is a lot of literature devoted in general to the administrative system of the Russian Empire in the late XIX – early XX centuries. Among the major authors are L. E. Shepelev ^[11], and, of course, K. A. Solovyov ^{[12, 13]}, who in his works examines the patterns and paradoxes of the existence of the bureaucratic system of late imperial autocratic Russia – a system that functioned more or less satisfactorily in a relatively stable period, but gradually "slipped" into a crisis situation and it could give dangerous failures in an unusual situation.

The analysis of the literature shows that, on the one hand, the authors studying the managerial sphere of Russia "close-up", significant time intervals, do not go into details related to the "episode" of 1904-1905, and on the other hand, the authors studying Russia during the Russian-Japanese War, do not pay much attention to the sphere of management at that moment in time. In particular, insufficient attention is paid to such a part of the management system's activities as business communication, which largely forms the basis of the system's work. Also, in our opinion, there are not enough studies in the literature that would consider the trends of the existence of the Russian administrative sphere during the war of 1904-1905. "in parallel" - both at the highest level and at the provincial level.

Russian Russian administrative sphere during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 is the object of consideration, and the subject is the activity of the management system in Russia in the field of business communication during the Russo–Japanese War of 1904-1905, including within the Kaluga province.

The choice of time – 1904-1905 – is due to the fact that it was a period of aggravation of complex, crisis phenomena in the Russian Empire, which directly affected the management system. This complication of various problems is connected with Russia's entry into the Russo-Japanese War and the gradual "slide" to the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Special attention to the territory of the Kaluga province is due to the availability of information sources, as well as the fact that, in general, the "peasant", provincial Kaluga province can, with a certain assumption, play the role of a "typical" territory of the Russian Empire ^{[14, pp. 5-19]}.

The purpose of the study is to trace the main trends in the optimization of the Russian management system in the field of business communication in 1904-1905 based on archival documents.

To achieve the goal, a number of tasks should be solved. To analyze the innovations developed by the management system, represented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to optimize business communication in 1904-1905. To study how these innovations were implemented in a particular region - Kaluga Province. To consider the results of the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the provincial leadership in optimizing business communication in 1904-1905.

The methodological basis of our small study, in addition to general scientific methods, such as analysis and synthesis, is the narrative method, the comparative historical method, the creation of classification, etc. As a source base, a small group of official documents stored in the State Archive of the Kaluga Region (GAKO) in the fund of the Office of the Kaluga Governor (F. 32) is used. It contains documents (circulars), both originating from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and sent by the governor and were in circulation in the Kaluga province ^[15]. A comparison of these documents allows us to see how the will of St. Petersburg was embodied in a particular region. Some unpublished documents are involved in scientific circulation for the first time.

The novelty of the study is as follows. In this article, we raise the question of how the Russian management system reacted to the complicated situation of 1904-1905. The emphasis is placed on the consideration of optimization attempts in the field of business communication. This problem is considered at two levels: the All-Russian - Ministry of Internal Affairs and the regional - Kaluga province.

There is an ingrained and, to a certain extent, fair opinion that the administrative system of the Russian Empire was "unwieldy" and incapable of transformation, which was one of the reasons for the upheavals of the early twentieth century. However, does this statement fully correspond to the events of 1904-1905 that we are considering? Did the empire's management sphere try to change anything in its "paper" activities in connection with the new military situation? Such attempts are noticeable in the summer of 1904. Why in the summer, if hostilities began in the winter of 1904? Apparently, because it was five or six months after the start of hostilities that it became clear to representatives of the managerial sphere that the war that had begun would not be easy. The prepared enemy, especially those who received the help of third countries, managed to achieve success at sea in the winter and spring of 1904 by sinking several Russian warships, went on the offensive on land, and after several battles (for example, at Tyurenchen in April and at Vafangou in June 1904), parts of the Russian land army were forced to retreat, providing The enemy has the possibility of a siege of Port Arthur. In Russia itself, the war, with the need for military mobilizations, setting up the transport system for military needs, organizing the provision of troops with everything necessary, conducting moral mobilization of the population, transforming the financial system, etc., caused difficulties in the work of the civil administrative apparatus ^{[16, pp. 215-375]}. Consequently, there was an understanding in the ruling circles that it was necessary to make certain efforts to improve the efficiency of management. According to our assumption, one of such efforts was an attempt to optimize the activities of the management system in the field of business communication, reflected in the circular, which will be discussed later.

On June 10, 1904, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sends out a circular addressed to military governors, governors, mayors and chief police officers throughout the Empire, entitled "On the reduction and simplification of correspondence" ^{[15, l. 13]}. Prominent persons of the Ministry were involved in the creation: the document was signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, State Secretary V. K. Plehve, Director of the Department of General Affairs B. V. Shturmer and head of the 1st department of the Department V. V. Lysogorsky.

The circular was based on the ideas of optimizing the activities of the management system in the field of business communication. Innovations or requirements updated by this circular can be reduced to two groups. Firstly, there are innovations aimed at optimizing the form of business communication in order to make it more effective. Secondly, there are innovations aimed at creating conditions for saving money in the process of business communication.

What was the attempt to optimize the form of business communication in order to make it more effective?

The sending of separate notifications from the provincial authorities to the central institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about official changes of subordinates – that is, about new appointments or dismissals, promotion, awarding or vacation - was canceled. The fact is that this information duplicated the information already published in the "Government Bulletin" from the orders of the ministry.

All papers on official changes of persons holding technical positions in the province, for example, engineers and architects, sent to the Minister of Internal Affairs, were now required to be marked with the inscription: "According to the Technical And Construction Committee." This was caused by the fact that, otherwise, these papers were sent "improperly" to the Department of General Affairs, and the decision on them was delayed longer than usual.

From now on, it was prescribed to ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs for permission to transfer officials from one province to another only if there was already a review of the "absence of obstacles to that" from the head of the province – the current place of service, moreover, the presence of such a review had to be indicated. Otherwise, it turned out that the ministry was doing work that could be unnecessary with a negative response from the local governor.

In the representations of the provincial authorities to the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the appointment of pensions to officials, it was henceforth supposed to adhere to brevity, limiting itself only to "essential information for the case." After all, all the other necessary information was already contained in the attached documents – a form list and a medical certificate. In addition, such a submission could be sent only after the release of an official order on the dismissal of a potential pensioner "indicating at what time the person is satisfied with the content."

In correspondence, both from the provincial authorities to the Minister of Internal Affairs, and "in the relations of governors and mayors with central institutions and their superiors," laconism and rejection of words that did not carry the necessary information were required. For example, this is the word "master". It was also required to "avoid repeating the title", that is, it was possible and necessary to apply for the first time in accordance with the title, but it was unnecessary to overload the paper with a secondary mention of the title. Instead of "I have the honor to humbly ask", it was prescribed to write "I ask", and instead of "I have the honor to notify and forward" - "I notify" or "I forward" and so on.

Also, in correspondence between central institutions, governors and mayors, it was required that the papers that were to be forwarded by affiliation or for information were sent without additional forwarding papers, simply "with the appropriate inscription on the paper itself with the proper signature and paper clip", for this purpose it was recommended to use stamps. To respond to requests, the circular required not to use new sheets, but to respond to the documents themselves – "on the free part of the page." At the same time, the content of the attitude or review, which can be placed on a half–sheet of paper, was prescribed to be stated on bent half-sheets, and notes in the third person - on unbent half-sheets.

On all papers submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the printed form of the document, it was now supposed to write "briefly about the substance of the content of the paper" and also indicate where the paper was addressed. If the document was addressed to the minister, then – "for which central institution and its department or office work the proposal followed" or, if the paper went to the central institution, then "for which department and office work correspondence is conducted". This would cause, according to the managers, a more "speedy and correct distribution of papers by affiliation" ^{[15, l. 13-14]}.

What were the attempts to save money?

In communications, "both in the central offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in the relations of these latter with local institutions," it was prescribed to "reduce communication by telegraph." It was supposed to use the telegraph only when it was clearly necessary, otherwise it was necessary to use mail messages. If the telegraph is still used, then "in the compilation of telegrams, brevity of presentation should be observed, avoiding unnecessary words." As in the case of paper correspondence, extra words meant titles, as well as the words "humbly", "I have the honor", and, in addition, prepositions and conjunctions, "without which the meaning of the telegram does not change." The appeals of private individuals were allowed to be answered by telegraph only on condition that "if the telegraphic response was paid for." According to the management, this led to savings in both money and telegraph capacity.

In addition, the minister demanded to minimize paper costs. It was prescribed to use, as far as possible, not full sheets, but to write "on half-sheets and quarter-sheets", while "avoiding expensive grades of paper" ^{[15, l. 13-14]}. As you can see, the management took care of both the preservation of the paper, with which, perhaps, they were afraid of a tense situation, and the money to buy it.

It is quite obvious that our classification of innovations updated by the circular does not form isolated groups. The selected groups are interconnected. For example, calling for writing shorter, the minister not only sought greater clarity and ease of presentation and perception, but also saving paper and money to buy it.

It should be noted that the Minister does not refer readers of the circular to the military campaign in the Far East and does not mention the word "war" at all.

On the other hand, what else besides the war could have caused the desire for brevity and economy at that moment? Is it really the death of A. P. Chekhov in July 1904, who, by the way, until the last, like the whole society of Russia in those days, was interested in the course of the war? For fun, of course, we can say that we are involuntarily referred to the immortal A. P. Chekhov by the words of the minister that "in the compilation of telegrams, brevity of presentation should be observed, avoiding unnecessary words." How can I not remember "Brevity is the sister of talent" and "Driving up to this station and looking at nature through the window, my hat flew off"?

But, setting aside the lyrics, it should be pointed out that the impact of military realities not directly expressed in the text of the circular is still noticeable. In particular, the tension associated with military events is given by such a phrase of the Minister: "In order to save money and in view of the extreme encumbrance of telegraphic institutions by sending government telegrams, to reduce communication by telegraph." It seems that the official world of Russia tried to continue to exist without paying too much attention to the distant war, but the war itself reminded of itself with everyday difficulties, the requirement to increase the efficiency of communication and save money.

At the same time, it also suggests that innovations have been brewing for a long time, and the complicated situation due to the war has become only the final reason for the implementation of innovations.

To what extent have the Ministry's requirements been implemented? In other words, how the province reacted to the instructions from the center, using the example of the Kaluga province.

The circular was received in Kaluga on July 20. On the circular there are resolutions, apparently belonging to the governor A. A. Ofrosimov and the Governor's Office manager Ya. I. Generozov, demanding to accept "for information and guidance", as well as to hand over a copy to the provincial board and read it in all the tables of the office. Indeed, on the last page of the text there are notes about reading made by managers of the rank below.

Also, for the information of local managers, the circular of July 10 was published in the same month in the newspaper "Kaluga Provincial Vedomosti" for Nos. 82 and 83 ^{[15, l. 20]}.

In the spirit of the document that came from the capital, on the initiative of Kaluga Governor A. A. Ofrosimov, now from Kaluga, on July 23, an order is sent throughout the province. In total, 145 copies of the document were printed and apparently sent to various participants of the administrative system in the province.

Local leaders and institutions (county congresses, county military service presences, zemstvo chiefs, police chief, county police officers, noble guardians, zemstvo councils, city heads and elders, petty-bourgeois elders and orphan courts) were recommended on documents going "up" in a strictly defined place: "down, on the left side", note which area the correspondence belongs to. That is, to indicate the presence (zemstvo, military, administrative committee, provincial board, etc.) that is competent in this matter ^{[15, L. 15]}.

Thus, in this example, we already see that the province, at least formally, obeys and reacts in the direction desired for St. Petersburg.

However, later archival documents originating from the Office of the Kaluga Governor indicate that not everything went according to the best scenario and, at least, some of the innovations introduced in the spirit of the July 10 circular were implemented with considerable difficulties.

So, in the following month, namely in the circular of August 19, 1904, the Kaluga governor with displeasure indicates that local managers have not adequately mastered measures to optimize the form of business communication. Instead of writing, as indicated, at the bottom on the left side, on which presence the correspondence is conducted, some "either do not write this at all or write, but not on the outer page, but on the middle ones, depending on where the report ended." Thus, the intention to conduct more effective communication was not fully fulfilled. The situation was also not right with the implementation of another group of innovations related to cost savings. To the indignation of the governor, other local officials "use whole sheets and expensive paper for their reports, short in content." In this regard, Governor A. A. Ofrosimov again demanded strict compliance with the instructions of the Minister of Internal Affairs and his own ^{[15, L. 20]}.

Judging by subsequent documents, the problem of discipline of performers, which the Kaluga governor pointed out to his subordinates, existed on a nationwide scale.

A few more months have passed, and another Minister of Internal Affairs, who replaced V. K. Plehve, who died from a bomb of revolutionaries, Adjutant General Prince P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, sends out a circular dated October 13, 1904, where he returns to the requirements of the circular of July 10, according to which "it was proposed" under a printed form of paper to the ministry"indicate briefly about the substance of the content of the paper," and on the first page, in the lower left corner, write exactly where the paper is addressed. The Minister stated that the introduced rule, designed to optimize business communication, is not observed by local officials and, in turn, demanded that measures be taken to comply with the established procedure ^{[15, L. 34]}.

Subsequently, the leadership of the ministry did not abandon attempts to optimize the communication of officials. On July 12, 1905, another circular was issued from St. Petersburg on this topic ^{[15, l. 39]}. By that time, P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky was dismissed after the well-known events in January 1905, and A. G. Bulygin was the Minister of Internal Affairs.

In the autumn of 1905, when it was already about the ratification of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, which ended the campaign in the Far East, the topic of optimization in the field of business communication is again found among the documents of the Office of the Kaluga Governor, which logically suggests that the managers did not perform previous orders carefully enough.

On September 22, 1905, apparently after another initiative from St. Petersburg, the Kaluga governor, referring, among other things, to the Minister's circular of July 12, 1905, sent out a new order "on the issue of correspondence and on the relations of local institutions with equal, higher, as well as with subordinate institutions" ^{[15, L. 39]}.

The new circular concerned various parts of the provincial administration: the Governor's Office, the provincial presence, the provincial board for zemstvo and city affairs, the provincial and county military service presences, the provincial statistical committee, the provincial prison committee, city councils, city elders, petty-bourgeois elders, orphan courts, noble guardianship, county congresses, zemstvo chiefs, provincial and county zemstvo councils, as well as the police department, prison chiefs, medical, veterinary and construction departments, the secretary personally and all the tables of presence, etc. In addition, the contents of the circular had to be presented to subordinates and institutions.

This circular of the Kaluga governor in many of its elements, sometimes verbatim, repeats the circular of the Minister of Internal Affairs on July 10, 1904. Its requirements can be divided into the same groups: optimization of the form of business communication and cost savings in the process of business communication.

Although this circular summarized the requirements of 1904, it is possible to note the appearance of additions. Something new has appeared in the group of norms related to the optimization of the form of business communication. So, regarding the petitions of individuals and non-governmental institutions, there is a demand, if possible, not to start separate cases, but to make resolutions on the requests themselves, but, at the same time, observe the following rule. The announcement of the resolution of the case should contain "a brief but clear explanation of the reasons for the decision", which is based not only on a reference to an article of the law, but also provides the content of this legal norm. Thus, during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, and, perhaps, also, under the influence of the events of the beginning of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, the optimization of business communication begins to include the requirement of a more attentive attitude to petitioners, to the population.

It was especially necessary to urgently abandon excessive correspondence: "without delay, review the statements of urgent reports and information submitted by lower institutions and stop demanding those information whose delivery is not necessary."

Another small addition is related to the group of requirements that relate to cost savings. The circular contains a new motivation for the need to protect paper. Too "bulky" folders "for finding unwritten blank paper in them" take up a lot of space when storing them. Therefore, when attaching used papers to the case, it was prescribed to "cut off, as much as possible without prejudice to the case, unnecessary clean, half- and quarter-sheets of paper." However, an exception was supposed for the most valuable documents ("decrees of the Governing Senate, various acts and documents and communications of higher state institutions and officials") ^{[15, L. 39]}.

In general, we see in this circular a repetition of previously sounded provisions. On the one hand, this testifies to the persistence with which the central government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, relying on the governors, tried to introduce innovations into the management system related to optimizing the form of communication and saving money. But, on the other hand, repeated repetitions, with minor changes, of those provisions that were prescribed more than a year ago, clearly indicate that the managerial sphere, represented by local officials, was in no hurry to change the usual patterns of activity, which caused new and new circulars from the ministry and the governor.

So, based on the reviewed archival documents, it can be seen that the leading circles of Russia in 1904-1905 tried to optimize the activities of the management system in the field of business communication. Perhaps the need for this optimization was brewing and was realized by the leadership even before the Russian-Japanese War, and the war itself became only an additional reason for the implementation of innovations.

Based on the circular of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of June 10, 1904, two main groups of innovations can be distinguished: firstly, innovations aimed at optimizing the form of business communication in order to make it more effective (more accurate addressing of documents, refusal of excessive use of lavish titles in correspondence, refusal of duplicate papers, etc.), secondlysecondly, innovations aimed at creating conditions for saving money in the process of business communication (limiting the use of the telegraph to only the most important and brief messages, the use of small pieces of paper, etc.). We were able to consider specific prescribed innovations. To a large extent, on the basis of these two groups of requirements, later documents were constructed, which came from the authorities in 1904-1905 and aimed at optimizing business communication.

Innovations were spread from top to bottom, in particular, from the capital level to the provincial level and further. The documents, based on the example of the Kaluga province, allow us to conclude that the regional authorities supported the initiative of the center and tried to implement it locally.

However, innovations took root rather slowly. The administrative sphere, local officials sought to minimize energy costs and were sometimes quite inert to changes. The leadership had to remind officials several times about strict compliance with the new rules, as a result, the "correspondence on reducing correspondence" stretched over 1904 and 1905, "survived" the war and "caught" three interior ministers. Judging by the same requirements repeated from circular to circular, there is no guarantee that the innovations have fully taken root. Thus, no matter how useful these delayed, belated changes were, they could not improve the efficiency of governance so much that the empire managed to gain the upper hand in the conflict in the Far East and avoid the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907.