Page 184 - Global Freemasonry

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

nally turned out to be a 'political conspiracy' of Masonically organized
clubs that covered the land." 133
The Masonic plot in Russia is especially interesting.
Masonry came to this country in the second half of the eighteenth
century and was widespread among intellectuals. Although it appeared
externally as merely a cultural club, anti-religious and anti-government

ideas from other parts of Europe were discussed in these lodges. The first
to take notice were the priests of the Orthodox Church. The priests sent
the information they had obtained to Tsar Alexander I, whose relationship
with the Church was good, telling of a Masonic plot to topple the Tsar's
regime. In response, the Tsar issued a law in 1822 to shut down all the Ma-
sonic lodges in the country and outlaw the organization. Nevertheless,
this failed to eliminate the Masons; they merely went underground.
Three years after Tsar Alexander I outlawed the lodges, he became ill
and passed away. He was succeeded by Tsar Nicholas I. But, Tsar

Nicholas' succession came as a result of a series of disputes and intrigues
and gave rise to a disorderly situation in the country. Certain individuals
who had wanted to bring stability to the situation by toppling the regime
had planned a coup against the new Tsar. They had many supporters in
the army. Confident in this support, a number of revolutionary soldiers,
together with a number of civilians, marched into the Tsar's palace, in the
capital of St.Petersburg, on the 14th of December 1825. There was an

armed encounter between the revolutionaries and the forces of the Tsar in
which the revolutionaries were defeated. This group was called the "De-
cembrists" because of the month in which they attempted their revolution.
The leaders of this group were arrested and five were hanged.
The Decembrists were none other than Masons…The officers, intel-
lectuals and writers who made up the group were members of the lodges
outlawed by Tsar Alexander I three years earlier. One of these revolution-
ary Masons was the prominent writer Count Pushkin. 134
The venture of the Decembrists ended in failure, but the Masons did

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