The chinovnik (Russian and Ukrainian: Чиновник; Belarusian: Чыноўнік) was a Russian title for a person having a rank and serving in the civil or court service. The institution of chinovniks existed de facto in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, but until 1722 it did not have a clear structure. The de jure chinovnik institute was structured by the establishment of the Table of Ranks on February 4, 1722.
"As the peasants were slaves of the landowners, the Russian people are still slaves of chinovniks", wrote Lenin in 1903, "Political freedom means the people's right to choose all the chinovniks themselves".[2]
After the victory of the October Revolution in 1917, the Table of Ranks was abolished, and the institution of chinovniks was liquidated.[3] Persons employed in the field of public administration became known as civil servants.
- ^ Figure 407. Officers of the War Ministry of 5th and 8th grades. (In full dress). September 14, 1863. // Changes in Uniform and Armament of the Troops of the Russian Imperial Army From Accession to the Throne of the Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich (With Additions): Compiled by the Imperial command / Compiled by Alexander II (Emperor of Russia), illustrated by Balashov Peter Ivanovich and Pirate Karl Karlovich. – St. Petersburg: Military Printing House, 1857-1881. – Up to 500 copies – Notebooks 1–111: (With Figures No. 1–661). – 47 × 35 centimeters
- ^ To the Rural Poor
- ^ "Decree on the Destruction of Estates and Civil Officials". 1: 25 October 1917 – March 16, 1918 / prepared by Sigismund Valk and others (Decrees of Soviet Power: a Collection of Documents / Institute of Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Institute of History, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union). 1957–1997: 71–72.
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