Perception of the Russian Revolutionary Movement of 1861–1883 by Domestic Professors: The Features of Description in Russian and Foreign Historiography

In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian Empire embarked on the path of modernization. The great reforms influenced the change of not only the political, but also the social ideological paradigm of the intelligentsia, the least studied element of which is the professorial class. The participation of representatives of the scientific community in the political life of the society plays an important role in the history of social thought, which determines the relevance of this study. The study of the specifics of the perception of revolutionary ideas and practices of the revolutionary movement by the domestic professors of the second half of the 19th century is a little studied problematic field in domestic and foreign historiography. The aim of the article is to identify the specific features of the perception study of the revolutionary movement by the domestic professors at different historiographic stages. Depending on the features of the analysis of the professors as an object of the research, each historiographic period has a certain character (research, descriptive, analytical). A more detailed consideration of each of these stages allows us to highlight the least illuminated aspects of the political activity of the professors of the second half of the 19th century. To solve this problem, a historiographical analysis is used using an evolutionary approach and comparative research methods. The result of the analysis was the identification of three historiographical stages: research (pre-Soviet), descriptive (Soviet), analytical (post-Soviet). In the studies of each period, there are gaps caused by the lack of integrity of the object of study: the first two stages, as a rule, highlight prominent political figures among the domestic professors with an active civic position, while ignoring the politically passive part of this class and the professors supporting the current regime. This significantly distorts the reality of that era, since the political apathy of some and the active participation of other professors in the political life of the country make up the general historical portrait of the intelligentsia of that time.

1. Andreyev A.Yu. (2000) Moscow University in the Social and Cultural Life of Russia at the Beginning of the 19th Century. Moscow: Yazyki russkoy kul’tury.

2. Andreyev A.Yu. (2021) A Statistical Study on the University Professoriate in the Russian Empire. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Istoriya. Vol. 66. No. 1. P. 19–43. DOI:10.21638/11701/spbu02.2021.102

3. Antonov V.F. (1965) Revolyutsionnoye narodnichestvo [Revolutionary narodism]. Moscow: Prosveshcheniye.

4. Bezobrazov P.V. (1894) Sergey Solov’yev. Ego zhizn’ i nauchno-literaturnaya deyatel’nost’ [Sergey Solovyov. His life and scientific and literary activity]. Saint Petersburg: tip. E. Evdokimova.

5. Billington J. H. (1956) Mikhailovsky and Russian Populism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

6. Bushueva L.A. (2012) Povsednevnost’ universitetskogo professora Kazani. 1863–1917 gg. [The everyday life of a university professor in Kazan. 1863–1917]. Kazan’: Tsentr innovatsionnykh tekhnologiy.

7. Confino M. (1972) On Intellectuals and Intellectual Traditions in Eighteenth - and Nineteenth-Century Russia. Daedalus. Vol. 101. Is. 2. P. 117–149.

8. Ger’ye V.I. (1880) Sergey Mikhaylovich Solov’yev [Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov]. Ottiski iz zhurnala “Istoricheskiy vestnik”. Saint Petersburg: tip. A.S. Suvorina.

9. Gribovskiy M.V. (2011) Political Surveillance under Professors of Russian Universities in end XIX – Beginning XX Centuries. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. No. 1(13). P. 25– 30.

10. Gribovskiy M.V. (2015) “Left” University Professors’ Political Activity in Russia in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries. Novyy istoricheskiy vestnik. P. 54– 71.

11. Ivanov A.E. (1991) Vysshaya shkola Rossii v kontse 19 – nachale 20 veka [Russian higher school in the late 19th – early 20th century]. Moscow: Institut rossiyskoy istorii RAN.

12. Kulikov Yu. (1961) Spodvizhniki Chernyshevskogo [Companions of Chernyshevsky]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya.

13. Lavrov (Mirtov) P.L. (1884) Istoricheskiye pis’ma [Historical letters]. Moscow: Obshchestudencheskiy soyuz.

14. Lavrov P.L. (1891) Russkaya razvitaya zhenshchina. V pamyat’ Sof’i Vasil’yevny Kovalevskoy: (Prochit.na sobr. 6 apr. 1891 g. v Parizhe) [Russian developed woman: In memory of Sophia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Read at the Meeting on April 6, 1891 in Paris)]. Zheneva: Vol’naya russkaya tipografiya. Scanlan J.P. (1967) Peter Lavrov: Historical Letters. Berkeley: University of California Press.

15. Malinin V.A. (1972) Filosofiya revolyutsionnogo narodnichestva [Philosophy of revolutionary narodism]. Moscow: Nauka.

16. Malis Yu.G. (1893) Nikolay Pirogov. Ego zhizn’, nauchnaya i obshchestvennaya deyatel’nost’ [Nikolai Pirogov. His life, scientific and public activities]. Saint Petersburg: tipogr. P.P. Soikina.

17. Niks N.N. (2008) Moskovskaya professura vo vtoroy polovine XIX – nachale XX vv.: sotsiokul’turnyy aspect [Moscow professorship in the second half of 19th – early 20th centuries: Socio-cultural aspect]. M.: Novyy khronograf.

18. Pomper P. (1972) Peter Lavrov and the Russian Revolutionary Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

19. Posokhov S.I. (2018). The Universities of the Russian Empire in the Soviet Historiography. Vestnik SanktPeterburgskogo universiteta. Vol. 63. No. 4. P. 1238–1256. DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu02.2018.414

20. Rostovtsev E.A., Bodnarchuk D.V. (2020) Historians of St. Petersburg Theological Academy (1869–1917): An Attempt of a Collective Portrait. Vestnik PSTGU. No. 95. P. 70–93. DOI: 10.15382/sturII202095.70-93

21. Shmelev A.A. (2019) Criteria for Lecturers Assessment by Students of Law Faculties in Russian Universities in the XIX – Early XX Century. Manuskript. Vol. 12. No. 3. P. 52–55. DOI: 10.30853/manuscript.2019.3.9

22. Toropov M.V. (2009) Professorskaya korporatsiya 60–70-kh gg. XIX stoletiya i eye vklad v formirovaniye pravovoy kul’tury obshchestva [Professorial corporation during 60–70s of the 19th century and its contribution to formation of legal culture of society]. Tambovskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet im. G.R. Derzhavina. No. 12. P. 564–567.

23. Vishlenkova E.A. (2005) Terra Universitatis: dva veka universitetskoy kul’tury v Kazani [Terra Universitatis: Two centuries of university culture in Kazan]. Kazan’: Kazanskiy (Privolzhskiy) federal’nyy universitet.

24. Wortman R. (1967) The Crisis of Russian Populism. London: Cambridge University Press.