Veche

'council, counsel' or 'talk'), which is also represented in the word soviet, both ultimately deriving from the Proto-Slavic verbal stem of *větiti 'to talk, speak').

For these nations, the Sclaveni and the Antae, are not ruled by one man, but they have lived from of old under a democracy, and consequently everything which involves their welfare, whether for good or ill, is referred to the people.

[5] The veche is thought to have originated in the tribal assemblies of Eastern Europe, thus predating the state of Kievan Rus'.

[19] In 1262, veche meetings were held in Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir and Yaroslavl, in which it was decided to throw out the tax collectors sent by the Tatars.

[18] Nikolay Karamzin said that the people of Moscow "at the sound of the bells assembled for a veche, remembering the ancient right of the Russian citizens to decide their own fate in important situations by a majority of votes".

[13] Historians debate whether the Novgorod veche consisted of entirely free males or was instead dominated by a small group of nobles known as boyars.

[23] Traditional scholarship argues that a series of reforms in 1410 transformed the veche into something similar to the public assembly (Concio) of the Republic of Venice; it became the lower chamber of the parliament.

An upper chamber knowns as the Council of Lords (sovet gospod) was also created which oversaw the veche,[13] with title membership for all former city magistrates (posadniki and tysyatskiye).

The whole population of the city, including boyars, merchants, and common citizens, then gathered in front of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia or at Yaroslav's Court on the Trade Side.

[23] The unification of Russia gave rise to a new political system characterized by the dominance of the grand prince, who viewed the country as his personal patrimony and dismantled traditional institutions like the veche.

[30] In the autumn of 1509, Grand Prince Vasily III visited Novgorod, where he received complaints from the Pskov veche against the Muscovite governor of the city.

[31] At first, Vasily encouraged complaints against the governor, but soon demanded that the city abolish its traditional institutions, including the removal of the veche bell.

[31] From that point on, Pskov was to be ruled exclusively by his governors and officials, and on 13 January 1510, the veche bell was removed and transported to Moscow.

[34][35] The election privilege was usually limited to the elites,[32] which in the later times took the form of the most powerful nobles (magnates, princes) or officials, and was heavily influenced by local traditions and strength of the ruler.