Working the rough stone: Freemasonry and society in eighteenth-century Russia

This dissertation explores Russia's eighteenth-century Masonic movement, a major social and cultural phenomenon comprising over 3,000 Masons active in more than 130 lodges. Attempting to avoid the unmistakable teleology and anachronisms that color the established historiography, which has conceptualized the history of the lodges as a chapter in the history of the Russian intelligentsia, this work situates Masonry within the specific socio-historical context in which it operated and uses Masonry as an entry point into an examination of the local logic of eighteenth-century Russian society.; Informed by recent investigations into the history of the public sphere, or civil society, in the Old Regime societies of western Europe, this study examines the lodges against the background of Russian society in order not only to assess their relationship to this broad social topography but also to rethink our understanding of Russian society itself. It demonstrates the existence of a Russian public sphere composed of the print market, on the one hand, and of circles, clubs, societies, salons, as well as Masonic lodges, on the other. In addition, through an examination of the public debate over Freemasonry, this dissertation sheds light on the development of the modern notion of public opinion in the eighteenth century.; This essay also seeks to disclose the sources of Freemasonry's appeal by illuminating the chief aim of Masonic practice as well as the salient features of the Masons' mental world. Seeking to distinguish themselves as men of superior moral and social worth, the Masons envisioned the lodge as society's sole seat of virtue and enlightenment within which they could devote themselves to a specific program of self-improvement. By "working the rough stone," Russia's Masons sought to reform their morals and to refine their manners and to become civilized, enlightened, and moral beings. Freemasonry played a major role in the construction of personal and social identities based upon novel ideas of civility and politeness that were then acquiring increasing importance among Russia's educated classes as the primary signs of social distinction in a new economy of status.