Biography of Radishchev. Alexander Radishchev biography briefly. How Radishchev got abroad

Origin

He was the first-born in the family of Nikolai Afanasyevich, the son of the Starodub colonel and large landowner Afanasy Prokopyevich. The first years of the writer’s life were spent in Nemtsov (near Maloyaroslavets, Kaluga province).

Education

Apparently, his father, a devout man who was fluent in Latin, Polish, French and German, took a direct part in Radishchev’s initial education. As was customary at that time, the child was taught Russian literacy using the Book of Hours and the Psalter. When he was 6 years old, a French teacher was assigned to him, but the choice turned out to be unsuccessful: the teacher, as they later learned, was a fugitive soldier. Soon after the opening of Moscow University, around 1756, Alexander's father took Alexander to Moscow, to his uncle's house (Radishchev's mother, nee Argamakova, was related to the director of the university, Alexei Mikhailovich Argamakov). Here Radishchev was entrusted to the care of a good French governor, a former adviser to the Rouen parliament, who fled from persecution by the government of Louis XV. The Argamakov children had the opportunity to study at home with professors and teachers of the university gymnasium, so it cannot be ruled out that Alexander Radishchev prepared here under their guidance and completed, at least in part, the gymnasium course program.

In 1762, Radishchev was granted a page and went to St. Petersburg to study in the page corps. The page corps trained not scientists, but courtiers, and pages were obliged to serve the empress at balls, in the theater, and at state dinners. Four years later, among a group of students, he was sent to Leipzig to study law. Of Radishchev’s comrades, Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov is especially remarkable for the enormous influence he had on Radishchev, who wrote his “Life” and published some of Ushakov’s works.

Service

In 1771, Radishchev returned to St. Petersburg and soon entered service in the Senate, as a protocol clerk, with the rank of titular councilor. He did not serve long in the Senate: poor knowledge of the Russian language hampered him, he was burdened by the camaraderie of clerks, and the rude treatment of his superiors. Radishchev entered the headquarters of Chief General Bruce, who commanded in St. Petersburg, as chief auditor and stood out for his conscientious and courageous attitude to his duties. In 1775 he retired, and in 1778 he again entered service in the Commerce Collegium, subsequently (in 1788) moving to the St. Petersburg customs office.

Literary activity

Russian language classes and reading led Radishchev to his own literary experiments. First, he published a translation of Mably’s work “Reflections on Greek History” (1773), then he began to compile a history of the Russian Senate, but destroyed what he had written.

Radishchev’s literary activity began only in 1789, when he published “The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov with the introduction of some of his works.” Taking advantage of Catherine II’s decree on free printing houses, Radishchev opened his own printing house at home and in 1790 published in it his “Letter to a friend living in Tobolsk, as a matter of duty of his rank.” Following him, Radishchev released his main work, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” The book begins with a dedication to Radishchev’s comrade, A. M. Kutuzov, in which the author writes: “I looked around me - my soul became wounded by human suffering”. He realized that man himself is to blame for this suffering, because “ he does not look directly at the objects around him" To achieve bliss, one must remove the veil that covers the natural senses. Anyone can become a participant in the bliss of his own kind by resisting error. “This is the thought that prompted me to write what you will read”.

The book began to sell out quickly. Her bold thoughts about serfdom and other sad phenomena of the then social and state life attracted the attention of the empress herself, to whom someone delivered “The Journey.” Although the book was published with the permission of the established censorship, prosecution was brought against the author. Radishchev was arrested, his case was “entrusted” to S.I. Sheshkovsky. Imprisoned in a fortress, during interrogations Radishchev declared his repentance, renounced his book, but at the same time, in his testimony he often expressed the same views as given in “The Journey.” The Criminal Chamber applied to Radishchev the articles of the Code on “ attack on the sovereign's health”, about “conspiracies and treason” and sentenced him to death. The verdict, transmitted to the Senate and then to the Council, was approved in both instances and presented to Catherine.

On September 4, 1790, a personal decree was passed, which found Radishchev guilty of violating the oath and office of a subject by publishing a book, “filled with the most harmful speculations, destroying public peace, belittling the respect due to the authorities, striving to create indignation among the people against the leaders and authorities, and finally, insulting and violent expressions against the dignity and power of the king.”; Radishchev’s guilt is such that he fully deserves the death penalty, to which he was sentenced by the court, but “out of mercy and for everyone’s joy,” the execution was replaced by a ten-year exile for him in Siberia, in the Ilimsky prison. Emperor Paul I, soon after his accession to the throne (1796), returned Radishchev from Siberia. Radishchev was ordered to live on his estate in the Kaluga province, the village of Nemtsov.

Return and death

After the accession of Alexander I, Radishchev received complete freedom; he was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed a member of the commission to draw up laws. There is a legend about the circumstances of Radishchev’s suicide: called to the commission to draw up laws, Radishchev drew up a “Draft of a Liberal Code”, in which he spoke about the equality of everyone before the law, freedom of the press, etc. The chairman of the commission, Count P. V. Zavadovsky, gave him a strict reprimand for his way of thinking, sternly reminding him of his previous hobbies and even mentioning Siberia. Radishchev, a man with very poor health, was so shocked by Zavadovsky’s reprimand and threats that he decided to commit suicide, drank poison and died in terrible agony.

Nevertheless, in the book “Radishchev” by D. S. Babkin, published in 1966, we find a comprehensive explanation of the circumstances of Radishchev’s death. The sons who were present at his death testified to the severe physical illness that struck Alexander Nikolaevich already during his Siberian exile. The immediate cause of death was an accident: Radishchev drank a glass with “strong vodka prepared in it to burn out the old officer’s epaulettes of his eldest son” (royal vodka). The burial documents indicate a natural death. In the church register of the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg on September 13, 1802, among those buried, “ colleague advisor Alexander Radishchev; fifty-three years old, died of consumption", priest Vasily Nalimov was present at the removal. A.P. Bogolyubov, of course, knew these circumstances, and he gives the name of his grandfather for Orthodox commemoration.

In Moscow there are Verkhnyaya and Nizhnyaya Radishchevskaya streets, on Verkhnyaya there is a monument to the writer and poet. Radishcheva Street is in the Central District of St. Petersburg. Also, streets in Petrozavodsk, Irkutsk, Murmansk, Tula, Tobolsk, Yekaterinburg, Saratov, and a boulevard in Tver were named in honor of Radishchev.

Descendants

Daughters - Anna and Fyokla. The latter married Pyotr Gavrilovich Bogolyubov and became the mother of the famous Russian marine painter Alexei Petrovich Bogolyubov.

Son - Afanasy, governor of the Podolsk province in 1842, Vitebsk province in 1847-1848, in 1851 he was the governor of Kovno.

Address in St. Petersburg

Pushkin about Radishchev

A special page in the perception of Radishchev’s personality and creativity by Russian society was the attitude towards him of A.S. Pushkin. Having become acquainted with “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” in his youth, Pushkin clearly focuses on Radishchev’s ode “Liberty” in his ode of the same name (1817 or 1819), and also takes into account in “Ruslan and Lyudmila” the experience of “heroic songwriting” of Radishchev’s son, Nikolai Alexandrovich , “Alyosha Popovich” (Pushkin mistakenly considered Radishchev the father to be the author of this poem). “The Journey” turned out to be in tune with the tyrant-fighting and anti-serfdom sentiments of young Pushkin. Despite the change in political positions, Pushkin remained interested in Radishchev in the 1830s, acquired a copy of “Travel”, which was in the Secret Chancellery, and sketched “Travel from Moscow to St. Petersburg” (conceived as a commentary on Radishchev’s chapters in reverse order). In 1836, Pushkin tried to publish fragments from Radishchev’s “Travel” in his Sovremennik, accompanying them with the article “Alexander Radishchev” - his most extensive statement about. In addition to a bold attempt to acquaint the Russian reader with a forbidden book for the first time since 1790, here Pushkin also gives a very detailed criticism of the work and its author.

“A petty official, a man without any power, without any support, dares to arm himself against the general order, against the autocracy, against Catherine! ... He has neither comrades nor accomplices. In case of failure - and what success can he expect? - he alone answers for everything, he alone seems to be a victim of the law. We never considered Radishchev a great man. His act always seemed to us a crime, unexcusable, and “Journey to Moscow” was a very mediocre book; but with all that, we cannot help but recognize him as a criminal with an extraordinary spirit; a political fanatic, mistaken of course, but acting with amazing selflessness and with a kind of knightly conscience...

“Journey to Moscow,” the reason for his misfortune and glory, is, as we have already said, a very mediocre work, not to mention its barbaric style. Complaints about the unhappy state of the people, about the violence of nobles, etc. exaggerated and vulgar. Outbursts of sensitivity, affected and puffed up, are sometimes extremely funny. We could confirm our judgment with many extracts. But the reader should open his book at random to verify the truth of what we have said...

What was Radishchev’s goal? What exactly did he want? It is unlikely that he himself could answer these questions satisfactorily. His influence was negligible. Everyone read his book and forgot it, despite the fact that it contains several prudent thoughts, several well-intentioned assumptions, which had no need to be clothed in abusive and pompous expressions and illegally embossed in the presses of a secret printing house, with an admixture of vulgar and criminal idle talk. . They would be of true benefit if they were presented with more sincerity and favor; for there is no conviction in reproach, and there is no truth where there is no love." .

Criticism of Pushkin, in addition to autocensorship reasons (however, the publication was still not allowed by censorship), reflects the “enlightened conservatism” of the last years of the poet’s life. In the drafts of “Monument” in the same 1836, Pushkin wrote: “Following Radishchev, I glorified freedom”.

Perception of Radishchev in the 19th-20th centuries.

The idea that Radishchev was not a writer, but a public figure, distinguished by amazing spiritual qualities, began to take shape immediately after his death and, in fact, determined his further posthumous fate. I. M. Born, in a speech to the Society of Lovers of the Fine, delivered in September 1802 and dedicated to the death of Radishchev, says about him:

« He loved truth and virtue. His fiery love for mankind longed to illuminate all his fellow men with this unflickering ray of eternity.».

N. M. Karamzin characterized Radishchev as an “honest man” (“honnête homme”) (this oral testimony was given by Pushkin as an epigraph to the article “Alexander Radishchev”). The idea of ​​the superiority of Radishchev’s human qualities over his writing talent is especially succinctly expressed by P. A. Vyazemsky, explaining in a letter to A. F. Voeikov his desire to study Radishchev’s biography:

« With us, the person is usually invisible behind the writer. In Radishchev, on the contrary: the writer is on the shoulder, and the man is head above him».

Of course, the article by A. S. Pushkin should be correlated with such a perception. And the assessment given in 1858 by A. I. Herzen during the publication of “Travel” in London (he puts Radishchev among “our saints, our prophets, our first sowers, first fighters”), which resulted in 1918 in the characterization of A.V. Lunacharsky: “ prophet and forerunner of the revolution”, goes back, undoubtedly, to this assessment, which developed in the first decades of the 19th century, of “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” not as a work of art, but as a human feat. G.V. Plekhanov noted that under the influence of Radishchev’s ideas “ the most significant social movements of the late 18th - first third of the 19th centuries took place". It should be noted that during the interrogations of the Decembrists, when the Investigative Committee, appointed by Emperor Nicholas I and led by him, raised the question “ from when and where did they borrow the first free-thinking thoughts“, wanted to show the random nature of the Decembrists’ speech, which allegedly arose under the influence of borrowed ideas - the Decembrists actually named the names of the great French educators, English economists, German philosophers, gave examples from the works of the greatest thinkers of the ancient world, but the vast majority of them named, first of all, the name of Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev - Radishchev’s freedom-loving, anti-serfdom ideas penetrated so deeply into the consciousness of advanced Russian society.

Until the 1970s, opportunities for the general reader to become familiar with The Journey were extremely limited. After almost the entire circulation of “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” was destroyed by the author before his arrest in 1790, until 1905, when the censorship ban was lifted from this work, the total circulation of several of his publications hardly exceeded one and a half thousand copies. Several editions were published in 1905-1907, but after that “Journey” was not published in Russia for 30 years. In subsequent years it was published several times, but mainly for the needs of the school, with denominations and scanty circulation by Soviet standards. Back in the 1960s, Soviet readers were known to complain that it was impossible to get “Journey” in a store or district library. It was only in the 1970s that The Journey began to be truly mass produced. In 1930-1950, under the editorship of Gr. Gukovsky published the three-volume “Complete Works of Radishchev”, where many new texts, including philosophical and legal ones, were published or attributed to the writer for the first time.

In the 1950-1960s, romantic hypotheses arose, not confirmed by sources, about the “hidden Radishchev” (G.P. Shtrom and others) - that Radishchev allegedly continued after exile to finalize “The Journey” and distribute the text in a narrow circle of like-minded people. At the same time, there is a plan to abandon the straightforward propaganda approach to Radishchev, emphasizing the complexity of his views and the great humanistic significance of the personality (N. I. Eidelman and others). Modern literature examines Radishchev's philosophical and journalistic sources - Masonic, moralizing, educational and others, emphasizing the multifaceted issues of his main book, which cannot be reduced to the fight against serfdom.

Philosophical views

“Radishchev’s philosophical views bear traces of the influence of various trends in European thought of his time. He was guided by the principle of reality and materiality (corporality) of the world, arguing that “the existence of things is independent of the power of knowledge about them and exists in itself.” According to his epistemological views, “the basis of all natural knowledge is experience.” At the same time, sensory experience, being the main source of knowledge, is in unity with “reasonable experience.” In a world in which there is nothing “other than corporeality,” man, a being as corporeal as all of nature, takes his place. Man has a special role; according to Radishchev, he represents the highest manifestation of physicality, but at the same time is inextricably linked with the animal and plant world. “We do not humiliate a person,” Radishchev argued, “by finding similarities in his constitution with other creatures, showing that he essentially follows the same laws as him. How could it be otherwise? Isn’t it real?”

The fundamental difference between a person and other living beings is the presence of a mind, thanks to which he “has the power to know about things.” But an even more important difference lies in the human capacity for moral action and evaluation. “Man is the only creature on earth who knows the bad, the evil,” “a special property of man is the unlimited ability to both improve and become corrupted.” As a moralist, Radishchev did not accept the moral concept of “reasonable egoism,” believing that “self-love” is by no means the source of moral feeling: “man is a sympathetic being.” Being a supporter of the idea of ​​“natural law” and always defending ideas about the natural nature of man (“the rights of nature never dry up in man”), Radishchev at the same time did not share the opposition outlined by Rousseau between society and nature, the cultural and natural principles in man. For him, human social existence is as natural as natural existence. In essence, there is no fundamental boundary between them: “Nature, people and things are the educators of man; climate, local situation, government, circumstances are the educators of nations.” Criticizing the social vices of Russian reality, Radishchev defended the ideal of a normal “natural” way of life, seeing the injustice reigning in society as literally a social disease. He found this kind of “disease” not only in Russia. Thus, assessing the state of affairs in the slave-holding United States of America, he wrote that “one hundred proud citizens are drowning in luxury, and thousands do not have reliable food, nor their own shelter from the heat and filth (frost). In the treatise “On Man, on His Mortality and Immortality,” Radishchev, considering metaphysical problems, remained true to his naturalistic humanism, recognizing the inextricability of the connection between the natural and spiritual principles in man, the unity of body and soul: “Doesn’t the soul grow with the body, not with it?” does he mature and grow stronger, or does he wither and grow dull? At the same time, not without sympathy, he quoted thinkers who recognized the immortality of the soul (Johann Herder, Moses Mendelssohn and others). Radishchev’s position is not that of an atheist, but rather of an agnostic, which fully corresponded to the general principles of his worldview, which was already quite secularized, focused on the “naturalness” of the world order, but alien to godlessness and nihilism.”

Essays

1. Radishchev A. N. Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow - St. Petersburg: b. i., 1790. - 453 p.
2. Radishchev A. N. Prince M. M. Shcherbatov, “On the damage to morals in Russia”; A. N. Radishchev, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” With a foreword by Iskander (A.I. Herzen). - London, Trübner, 1858.
3. Radishchev A. N. Essays. In two volumes./Ed. P. A. Efremova. - St. Petersburg, 1872. (edition destroyed by censorship)
4. Radishchev A. N. Complete works of A. Radishchev / Ed., intro. Art. and approx. V. V. Kallash. T. 1. - M.: V. M. Sablin, 1907. - 486 p.: p., The same T. 2. - 632 p.: ill.
5. Radishchev A. N. Full composition of writings. T. 1 - M.; L.: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1938. - 501 p.: p. The same T. 2 - M.; L.: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1941. - 429 p.
6. Radishchev A. N. Poems / Intro. art., ed. and note. G. A. Gukovsky. Ed. board: I.A. Gruzdev, V.P. Druzin, A.M. Egolin [and others]. - L.: Sov. writer, 1947. - 210 p.: p.
7. Radishchev A. N. Selected works / Intro. Art. G. P. Makogonenko. - M.; L.: Goslitizdat, 1949. - 855 pp.: P, k.
8. Radishchev A. N. Selected philosophical works / Under the general editorship. and with a preface. I. Ya. Shchipanova. - L.: Gospolitizdat, 1949. - 558 p.: p.
9. Radishchev A. N. Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow. 1749-1949 / Enter. article by D. D. Blagoy. - M.; L.: Goslitizdat, 1950. - 251 p.: ill.
10. Radishchev A. N. Selected philosophical and socio-political works. To the 150th anniversary of his death. 1802-1952 / Under the general ed. and will join in. article by I. Ya. Shchipanov. - M.: Gospolitizdat, 1952. - 676 ​​p.: p.
11. Radishchev A. N. Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow / Enter. article by D. Blagoy. - M.: Det. lit., 1970. - 239 p. The same - M.: Det. lit., 1971. - 239 p.

Literature

1. Shemetov A. I. Breakthrough: The Tale of Alexander Radishchev. - M.: Politizdat, 1974 (Fiery revolutionaries) - 400 pp., ill. Same. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - 1978. - 511 p., ill.

RADISHCHEV, ALEXANDER NIKOLAEVICH(1749–1802) writer, philosopher. Born in Moscow into a noble family on August 20 (31), 1749. He studied in Germany, at the University of Leipzig (1766–1770). During these years, Radishchev's passion for philosophy began. He studied the works of representatives of the European Enlightenment, rationalist and empirical philosophy. After returning to Russia, he entered service in the Senate, and later in the Commerce Collegium. Radishchev actively participated in literary life: he published a translation of G. Mably’s book Reflections on Greek History(1773), own literary works A word about Lomonosov (1780), Letters to a friend living in Tobolsk(1782), ode Liberty(1783), etc. Everything changed after publication in 1790 Traveling from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Radishchev was arrested and declared a state criminal for his “ungodly writings.” The court sentenced him to death, which was replaced by exile “to Siberia, to the Ilimsk prison for a ten-year hopeless stay.” In exile, Radishchev was engaged in scientific research, wrote An abridged narrative of the acquisition of Siberia, Letter about the Chinese trade, philosophical treatise (1790–1792). In 1796, Emperor Paul I allowed Radishchev to return from Siberia and settle on his Kaluga estate. In 1801, Emperor Alexander I allowed him to move to the capital. In the last year of his life, Radishchev prepared a number of projects ( About the law, Civil Code Project etc.), in which he substantiated the need to eliminate serfdom and civil reforms. Radishchev died in St. Petersburg on September 12 (24), 1802.

Radishchev's philosophical views bear traces of the influence of various trends in European thought of his time. He was guided by the principle of reality and materiality (corporality) of the world, arguing that “the existence of things, regardless of the power of knowledge about them, exists in itself.” According to his epistemological views, “the basis of all natural knowledge is experience.” At the same time, sensory experience, being the main source of knowledge, is in unity with “reasonable experience.” In a world in which there is nothing “beyond corporeality,” man, a being as corporeal as all of nature, takes his place. Man has a special role; according to Radishchev, he represents the highest manifestation of physicality, but at the same time is inextricably linked with the animal and plant world. “We do not humiliate a person,” Radishchev argued, “by finding similarities in his constitution with other creatures, showing that he essentially follows the same laws as him. How could it be otherwise? Isn’t it real?”

The fundamental difference between a person and other living beings is the presence of a mind, thanks to which he “has the power to know about things.” But an even more important difference lies in the human capacity for moral action and evaluation. “Man is the only creature on earth who knows the bad, the evil,” “a special property of man is the unlimited possibility of both improving and being corrupted.” As a moralist, Radishchev did not accept the moral concept of “reasonable egoism,” believing that “self-love” is by no means the source of moral feeling: “man is a sympathetic being.” Being a supporter of the idea of ​​“natural law” and always defending ideas about the natural nature of man (“the rights of nature never dry up in man”), Radishchev at the same time did not share the opposition outlined by Rousseau between society and nature, the cultural and natural principles in man. For him, human social existence is as natural as natural existence. In fact, there is no fundamental boundary between them: “Nature, people and things are the educators of man; climate, local situation, government, circumstances are the educators of nations.” Criticizing the social evils of Russian reality, Radishchev defended the ideal of a normal “natural” way of life, seeing the injustice reigning in society as literally a social disease. He found this kind of “disease” not only in Russia. Thus, assessing the state of affairs in the slaveholding United States, he wrote that “one hundred proud citizens are drowning in luxury, and thousands do not have reliable food, nor their own shelter from the heat and darkness.”

In the treatise About man, about his mortality and immortality Radishchev, considering metaphysical problems, remained true to his naturalistic humanism, recognizing the inextricability of the connection between the natural and spiritual principles in man, the unity of body and soul: “Isn’t it with the body that the soul grows, isn’t it with it that it matures and strengthens, isn’t it wither and dull? ?. At the same time, not without sympathy, he quoted thinkers who recognized the immortality of the soul (I. Herder, M. Mendelssohn, etc.). Radishchev’s position is not that of an atheist, but rather of an agnostic, which fully corresponded to the general principles of his worldview, which was already quite secularized, focused on the “naturalness” of the world order, but alien to godlessness and nihilism.

Biography, life story of Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich

Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich - Russian prose writer, philosopher, public figure.

Childhood, youth, education

Alexander Radishchev was born on August 31, 1749 (according to the old style - August 20 of the same year) in a small village called Verkhnee Ablyazovo (Saratov Province). Alexander was lucky to be born into a wealthy family - his father, Nikolai Afanasyevich Radishchev, inherited a noble title and large territories from his father, Alexander’s grandfather. So in childhood, the future luminary of Russian literature did not know any hardships.

Alexander Radishchev spent the first years of his life in the village of Nemtsovo (Kaluga province), where his father had an estate. A caring but strict father tried to give his son an excellent education - he taught him several languages ​​at once (Polish, French, German and even Latin), and taught him Russian literacy, although mainly from the psalter (Nikolai Afanasyevich was a very devout person). When Alexander was six years old, a French teacher was hired for him, but the teacher did not stay in their family for long - it soon became clear that he was a fugitive soldier.

At the age of seven, Alexander moved to Moscow, to the house of his great-uncle. There he was able to gain good knowledge and skills (the children in his relative’s house had the opportunity to study only with the best professors).

In 1762, Radishchev entered the Corps of Pages (St. Petersburg). After studying there for four whole years, he was redirected to the University of Leipzig (Germany, Leipzig). In a foreign land, Alexander had to study law. And, it should be noted, he achieved good results - in addition to the fact that he diligently completed the teachers’ assignments, he also showed considerable activity in studying other subjects. In a word, at that time his horizons expanded greatly, which undoubtedly played into his hands in the future.

Service

At the age of twenty-two, Alexander Nikolaevich returned to St. Petersburg. He soon became a recorder in the Senate. A little later, he left this post and was hired as chief auditor at the headquarters of the St. Petersburg chief general. The authorities noted Radishchev’s hard work, his diligence and responsible attitude to work.

CONTINUED BELOW

In 1780, Alexander Radishchev began working at the St. Petersburg customs. In 1790 he was already its boss.

Literary activity

Radishchev took up his pen in 1771, when he returned to St. Petersburg. At that time, she sent a couple of chapters from her future book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” to the editor of the then respected magazine “Painter”. The excerpt was published anonymously - as the author himself wished.

In 1773, Alexander Radishchev translated and published the book “Reflections on Greek History” (author – Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, French writer and philosopher). At the same time, he gave the world his other works - “Diary of One Week”, “Officer Exercises”...

From the beginning of the 1780s, Alexander Nikolaevich began to work hard on “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” The book talked about the difficult situation of serfs, about cruel landowners, about the uselessness of autocracy... For that time, the book was more than scandalous. In May 1790, Radishchev independently printed copies of his book in his own printing house, which he created at home the year before. Radishchev did not sign his creation.

People began to quickly buy up the book. The commotion she caused among ordinary residents excited the empress and she demanded that one copy be delivered to her immediately. After reading the book and finding out who wrote it, the empress became furious. The writer was arrested.

After his arrest, Radishchev was put in a fortress. A series of interrogations began. Alexander Nikolaevich, being a man of honor, did not betray any of those who in any way helped him in publishing the book. The Criminal Chamber, after listening to Radishchev, sentenced him to death. In the fall of 1790, Radishchev’s case was revised - the execution was replaced by a ten-year exile in Siberia. Fortunately, in 1796 the emperor took pity on the talented thinker. The writer returned to his native place. He settled in the village of Nemtsovo, where he spent his childhood.

Personal life

Alexander Radishchev first married in 1775 to Anna Vasilievna Rubanovskaya, the daughter of an official of the Main Palace Chancellery. Anna gave birth to six children to Alexander - three daughters and three sons. Unfortunately, two girls died at an early age. But the other children - Vasily (born in 1776), Nikolai (born in 1779), Ekaterina (born in 1782) and Pavel (born in 1783) - turned out to be stronger. Anna Vasilievna herself died giving birth to her youngest son, Pavel.

When Radishchev was exiled to Siberia, his younger sister Anna Elizaveta came to him. She took Catherine and Pavel with her. It so happened that Elizabeth remained in Siberia. Soon Alexander began to experience very warm feelings for her. Elizabeth reciprocated his feelings. They started living together. The new lover gave birth to Radishchev three children - daughters Anna (born in 1792) and Fekla (born in 1795) and son Afanasy (born in 1796).

When the emperor ordered Radishchev to return home, the happiness of both the writer himself and his beloved woman knew no bounds. No one knew that leaving boring Siberia would bring so much pain to their family... On the way, Elizaveta Vasilievna caught a bad cold. The woman was unable to cope with the disease. She died in 1979.

Death

Alexander Nikolaevich spent the last years of his life being a free and respected person. He was even specially invited to St. Petersburg to join the Commission to draw up laws. Once in St. Petersburg, Radishchev wanted to introduce a bill that would equalize all people before the law, giving everyone the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Upon learning of this, the Chairman of the Commission gave the writer a very severe reprimand. After the chairman’s threats, some historians say, Alexander Nikolaevich decided to take his own life. Radishchev committed suicide by drinking a huge dose of poison on September 24, 1802 (old style - September 12).

According to another version, Alexander Nikolaevich died after accidentally drinking alcohol instead of medicine. Officially (according to documents) it is believed that Radishchev died of natural causes.

Russian thinker, writer. Ode "Liberty" (1783), story "Life of F.V. Ushakov" (1789), philosophical works. Radishchev’s main work, “Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790), contains a wide range of ideas of the Russian Enlightenment, a truthful, compassionate portrayal of the life of the people, and a sharp denunciation of autocracy and serfdom. The book was confiscated and until 1905 it was distributed in lists. In 1790 Radishchev was exiled to Siberia. Upon his return (1797), in his projects of legal reforms (1801 02), he again advocated the abolition of serfdom; the threat of new repressions led him to suicide.

Biography

Born on August 20 (31 NS) in Moscow into a wealthy noble family. His childhood years were spent on his father’s estate near Moscow, the village of Nemtsov, and then in Verkhniy Ablyazov.

From the age of seven, the boy lived in Moscow, in the family of a relative of Argamakov, with whose children he studied at home with professors from the newly opened university.

In 1762 1766 he studied at the St. Petersburg Page Corps, then for five years he continued his education at the Faculty of Law of the University of Leipzig, and also studied literature, natural sciences, medicine, and mastered several foreign languages. A major role in the formation of Radishchev’s worldview was played by his acquaintance with the works of French enlighteners - Voltaire, D. Diderot, J. J. Rousseau, by reading which he “learned to think.”

Upon returning to Russia in 1771, he was appointed recorder to the Senate, then in 1773 1775 (the years of the peasant uprising of E. Pugachev) he served as chief auditor (divisional prosecutor) at the headquarters of the Finnish division. Military service provided the opportunity to become acquainted with the affairs of fugitive recruits, the abuses of landowners, Pugachev's manifestos, and read the orders of the military board - all this became decisive in Radishchev's ideological development. In the year of the reprisal against Pugachev, he resigned and married A. Rubanovskaya.

In 1777, Radishchev entered the Commerce Collegium, the head of which was the liberal nobleman A. Vorontsov, who was in opposition to Catherine II, who brought Radishchev closer to him and in 1780 recommended him for work in the capital's customs (from 1790 he was director).

In the 1780s, Radishchev supported the rapidly developing activities of Russian educators: Novikov, Fonvizin, Krechetov. He followed with interest the events of the War of Independence in North America (1775 83), during which the new republic United States of America was formed.

During these years, Radishchev was actively engaged in literary work. Wrote “A Lay on Lomonosov”, “Letter to a Friend...”, finished the ode “Liberty”.

In 1784, the “Society of Friends of Verbal Sciences” was created in St. Petersburg from former students of the university, which Radishchev also joined, dreaming of subordinating his journal “The Conversing Citizen” to the goals of revolutionary propaganda. Radishchev’s article “Conversation about the existence of a son of the Fatherland” (17897) was published here.

In the mid-1780s, he began work on “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” which was published in 1790 in 650 copies. After the famous words of Catherine II (“he is a rebel, worse than Pugachev”), the book was confiscated, Radishchev was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Catherine II replaced the death penalty with 10 years of exile in the Siberian prison of Ilimsk.

While in exile, Radishchev studied Siberian crafts, the economy of the region, and the life of peasants on behalf of Count A. Vorontsov. In letters to him, he shared his thoughts on organizing an expedition along the Northern Sea Route. In Ilimsk he wrote “Letter on the Chinese Trade” (1792), the philosophical work “About Man, His Mortality and Immortality” (1792㭜), “Abridged Narrative of the Acquisition of Siberia” (1791 96), “Description of the Tobolsk Viceroyalty”, etc. .

In 1796, Paul I allowed Radishchev to settle in his homeland in Nemtsov under the strictest police supervision. He received complete freedom in March 1801 under Alexander I.

Involved in the Commission for the Compilation of a Code of Laws, he was involved in the development of draft legislative reforms. Radishchev's legislative works included the demand for the abolition of serfdom and class privileges, and the arbitrariness of the authorities. The Chairman of the Commission, Count P. Zavadovsky, threatened Radishchev with a new exile to Siberia. Driven to despair, Radishchev committed suicide on September 12 (24 n.s.) 1802 by taking poison.

Writer; genus. August 20th, 1749. The noble family of the Radishchevs, according to family legend, descends from the Tatar prince Kunai, who voluntarily surrendered to Russia during the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Murza Kunai was baptized, was named Konstantin at baptism and received from Ivan the Terrible 45 thousand quarters of land in the current Maloyaroslavets and Borisoglebsk districts. Whether these lands were crushed during the divisions, or whether the Radishchevs’ ancestors loved to live widely is unknown, but we find the writer’s grandfather, Afanasy Prokofievich, a poor Kaluga nobleman, who served first in the “amusement”, and then as an orderly for Peter the Great. He married the daughter of the Saratov landowner Oblyazov, a very ugly girl, but with a large dowry, and had the opportunity to give his son Nikolai, the writer’s father, a good, for that time, upbringing and education. Nikolai Afanasyevich knew several foreign languages, theology, history and devoted a lot of time to the study of agriculture. Despite his hot-tempered character, he was distinguished by his kindness and unusually gentle treatment of the peasants, who, in gratitude for his cordial attitude towards them, hid him with his family, during the invasion of Pugachev, in the forest adjacent to the estate and thereby saved him from the death that befell all landowners, where Pugachev's hordes were just passing by. He was married to Fekla Savvishna Argamakova and had seven sons and three daughters. He owned two thousand souls of peasants. Alexander Radishchev - writer - was his eldest son. He received his initial education, like all nobles of that time, in the book of hours and psalms. For six years, his upbringing was entrusted to a Frenchman, who later turned out to be a fugitive soldier. This failure forced the parents of young Radishchev to send him to Moscow to his maternal uncle, Mikhail Fedorovich Argamakov, a very enlightened man who had connections with Moscow University, where his brother was a curator. It is true that here, too, Radishchev’s education was entrusted to a Frenchman, some fugitive adviser to the Rouen Parliament, but one must think that Argamakov, being himself an educated man, was able to choose an appropriate educator for both his children and his nephew. It is possible that this Frenchman first gave birth to those educational ideas in Radishchev, of which he later became a representative in Russia. There is no doubt that the young Radishchev’s teachers were the best Moscow professors. He lived in Moscow until 1762, when, after the coronation of Catherine II, he was enrolled in the Corps of Pages and sent to St. Petersburg. The Corps of Pages was considered one of the best educational institutions at that time. It was organized during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna according to the plan of the French scientist, Colonel Baron Shudi. In 1765, the system of teaching and educating youth was entrusted to Academician Miller, who put moral education at the head of the plan he developed. Like all our educational institutions of that time, the Corps of Pages was distinguished by its amazing multi-subject nature, but the students who graduated from it took nothing from it except secular gloss. Among the twenty-two academic subjects were “natural and national law” and along with it “ceremonials,” and in the Russian language, for example, it was required at the end of the study to be able to compose “short compliments to suit the courtier’s taste.” The pages had to constantly be at the Court as servants at the table, and this circumstance gave Radishchev the opportunity to become familiar with the morals and customs of Catherine’s Court.

The lack of educated and knowledgeable people in Russia forced the government of the 18th century, in order to satisfy special state needs, to send young nobles to Western European universities to study mainly legal sciences. And so, in 1766, among the twelve young nobles sent to the University of Leipzig to study jurisprudence, there was Radishchev, who by this time was 17 years old. Major Bokum was appointed inspector, or chamberlain, to these young people. The instructions for supervising the young men and for training sessions were compiled by Ekaterina herself. The instructions consisted of twenty-three points. It, by the way, indicated subjects that were obligatory for everyone to study, and in addition, each young man was allowed to study any subject of his own choice. Among the required subjects was “national and natural law,” to which Catherine recommended paying especially serious attention. This circumstance deserves special attention because already in 1790 Radishchev paid for the same ideas of “national and natural law” with exile to Siberia. Each young man was assigned a government allowance of 800 rubles per year, subsequently increased to 1000 rubles. Despite such a large monetary release from the treasury, the living conditions of Radishchev and other young men were bad, since Bokum used most of the money released for his own needs, and kept the pupils from hand to mouth, in damp apartments and even without educational aids. The pupils bought all this with their own money received from their parents. Bokum was picky, petty, cruel, and, contrary to the instructions, he punished the pupils with a punishment cell, rods, whippings, and even subjected them to tortures especially invented by him. Despite repeated complaints from both the students themselves and from outsiders, the empress limited herself to remarks and reprimands, and replaced Bokum only after Radishchev returned from Leipzig, i.e. in 1771.

The lack of serious entertainment, poor supervision and the oppression of Bokum were undoubtedly the reasons that Radishchev and his comrades led a rather dissolute lifestyle, although this did not prevent them from studying a lot and diligently. One of Radishchev’s comrades, Fyodor Ushakov, a very talented and hardworking young man, died in Leipzig from an illness he received as a result of an intemperate lifestyle. Radishchev was considered the most capable of all his comrades. Many years later, professor of philosophy Plattner recalled him, when meeting Karamzin, as a richly gifted young man. In addition to the mandatory course, Radishchev studied Helvetius, Mably, Rousseau, Holbach, Mendelssohn and acquired great knowledge of chemistry and medicine. He had to use his medical knowledge later, during his stay in the Ilimsk prison.

In November 1771, Radishchev returned from abroad to St. Petersburg and entered the service of the Senate as a protocol officer, but did not serve here for long due to the difficult conditions of this service and moved as a captain to the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Count Bruce, to the position of chief auditor. At the same time, he had to study the Russian language, which was completely forgotten by him and his comrades in Leipzig. In 1775, he retired and married the daughter of a member of the Court Office, Anna Vasilievna Rubanovskaya, and in 1776 he again entered service as an assessor at the Commerce Collegium, whose president was Count Alexander Romanovich Vorontsov. At the very first stages of his new career, Radishchev gained the favor of his boss for the directness and honesty of his convictions and great knowledge of business. He took advantage of this favor from Vorontsov all his life, and in the disgrace that befell him it played a huge role for him. In 1780, Radishchev was appointed assistant to the manager of the St. Petersburg customs - Dahl. He did all the work of managing the customs, and Dahl only made monthly reports to the Empress (his official title in 1781 was: “supervisor, assisting advisor for customs affairs in the St. Petersburg Chamber of State Affairs”). Constant business relations with the British forced Radishchev to study English, which gave him the opportunity to read the best English writers in the original. While serving at customs, he developed a new customs tariff, for which he was awarded a diamond ring. There are many indications of Radishchev's honesty, integrity and integrity throughout his career.

His wife died in 1783, leaving him with three sons and a daughter. On September 22, 1785, Radishchev received the Order of Vladimir, 4th degree, and the rank of court councilor, and in 1790 he was promoted to collegiate councilor and appointed manager of the St. Petersburg Customs. In June of the same year, his essay “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” was published, which immortalized him in posterity, but caused the author a lot of moral and physical suffering. It was printed in 650 copies, of which no more than a hundred were sold (7 books were distributed by Radishchev to his friends, 25 were given to Zotov’s bookstore for sale at 2 rubles per copy, and after Radishchev’s arrest, the same Zotov managed to find another 50 books ; the authorities had to confiscate only ten books). In this essay, Catherine saw a call to revolt among the peasants, an insult to the Majesty, and Radishchev, on June 30, was arrested and put on trial by the Criminal Chamber. The investigation was conducted in the casemates of the Peter and Paul Fortress under the leadership of Sheshkovsky, who did not apply the usual torture to Radishchev only because he was bribed by the latter’s sister-in-law, Elizaveta Vasilievna Rubanovskaya. On July 8, 9 and 10, Radishchev gave a deposition on 29 questions, where he (it is unknown whether out of fear of the formidable Sheshkovsky, or out of fear for his fate and the fate of his children) repented of that he wrote and published his “Journey”, but did not abandon the views on serfdom he expressed in the book. On July 15, the Chamber demanded that he answer five questions (what was his goal, whether he had accomplices, whether he repented, how many copies were printed and information about his previous service) and on July 24 sentenced him to death. His trial was only a mere formality, since his indictment was already a foregone conclusion. The extent to which his accusation was unfounded is proven by the fact that the verdict had to indicate articles not only from the Criminal Code, but even from the Military Regulations and the Maritime Regulations. On July 26th the case was referred to the Senate, and on August 8th the House verdict was confirmed by the Senate. Supposedly for complete impartiality, Catherine referred the matter to the Council, and on August 10, the Council adopted a resolution that it agreed with the opinions of the Chamber and Senate. On September 4, the Empress pardoned Radishchev and replaced his death penalty with exile to 10 years in the Irkutsk province, in the Ilimsk prison. On the same day, a special censorship ban was imposed on the book “Journey,” which was finally lifted only on March 22, 1867.

Without warm clothes, shackled, Radishchev was sent into exile on September 8, 1790. Thanks to the efforts and intercession of Count Vorontsov, his shackles were removed, and in all cities on the way to Irkutsk he received a warm welcome from the provincial authorities. On January 4, 1792, Radishchev arrived in Ilimsk. From November 11, 1790 to December 20, 1791, he kept a diary. His sister-in-law E.V. Rubanovskaya (who became his wife in exile) went with him with Radishchev’s two young children. All expenses on the way to exile and his stay in prison were borne by Count Vorontsov. Thanks to him, Radishchev’s life in exile was more or less bearable: magazines and books were sent to him; In the summer he hunted, and in the winter he read, studied literature, chemistry, taught children and treated peasants in nearby villages for illnesses. In Ilimsk he wrote a philosophical treatise “about man.” On November 6, 1796, Empress Catherine died, and on November 23, an amnesty decree was signed, according to which Radishchev was allowed to return to his estate (the village of Nemtsovo, Maloyaroslavsky district), where he would live permanently under police supervision. At the beginning of 1797, Paul's command reached Ilimsk, and on February 10, Radishchev left for Russia, where he arrived in July of the same year. On the way, in Tobolsk, his second wife died. In 1798, Radishchev, with the permission of Emperor Paul, went to visit his parents in the Saratov province, and in 1799 he returned to Nemtsovo, where he lived continuously until the accession of Alexander I to the throne, who returned Radishchev’s rights on March 15, 1801 , ranks and order, allowed entry into the capital and on August 6 appointed him to the “Commission for Drafting Laws”, with a salary of 1,500 rubles per year. While working on the Commission, Radishchev presented it with a project for state reorganization based on the principles of civil freedom of the individual, equality of all before the law and independence of the court. The Chairman of the Commission, Count Zavadovsky, did not like this project; he even hinted to Radishchev that for such a project he could travel to Siberia a second time; this had such an effect on Radishchev that he drank nitric acid and died on September 11, 1802 in terrible agony. His body was buried in the Smolensk cemetery, but his grave has long been lost. After his death, over 40 thousand debt remained, of which 4 thousand were paid by the treasury, and the rest was offered to be paid by the English trading post, but for some reason this offer was rejected. From 1774 to 1775 Radishchev was a member of the English Assembly in St. Petersburg.

Radishchev entered the literary field for the first time in 1773 with a translation of Mably’s work: “Reflections on Greek History,” made on behalf of a society founded in 1770 with Catherine’s personal funds, “for the translation of remarkable works of foreign literature into Russian.” This translation has its own notes from the translator, where, among other things, the idea is expressed that “the injustice of the sovereign gives the people, their judges, the same, and more, right over them that the law gives them over criminals.” There are indications that Radishchev collaborated in Novikov’s “Painter” and in Krylov’s “Mail of Spirits”. In 1789, his essay “The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov” was published. In this book, the author gives a description of the life of students in Leipzig, where the main character is F. Ushakov, the oldest of all Russian students, the leader of the circle, who died in Leipzig before the end of the course. From “The Life of Ushakov” we learn how Radishchev’s crude religious idea of ​​God is replaced by deism. In it, the author gives a humorous description of the good-natured and mediocre hieromonk Paul, their Leipzig mentor in the truths of the Orthodox faith, speaks disapprovingly of duels and defends the human right to suicide. In 1790, a “Letter to a Friend Living in Tobolsk” was published, written on the occasion of the opening of a monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg. In the same year, Radishchev started his own printing house and began printing his famous “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” It should be noted that before printing, “The Journey” was presented to the Deanery Council and allowed by censorship, so the author was sentenced to death for publishing an essay allowed by censorship. The book was published in June 1790. Radishchev began writing his book, as he himself says, because “he saw that all human misfortunes come from man. Therefore, everyone must resist errors and be an accomplice in the well-being of their own kind.” The form of presentation of “The Journey” was undoubtedly influenced by the works of Stern and Raynal, familiar to Radishchev; As for its content, it was not borrowed from anywhere, but was taken entirely from actual Russian life at the end of the 18th century: it is like an encyclopedia of this life, in which all its evil is collected and the means to destroy it are indicated. In it, the author depicts the difficult situation of the serfs, appeals to the hearts of the landowners, to whom he proves that serfdom is equally harmful for both the peasants and the landowners, who are threatened by a second Pugachevism if they do not come to their senses in time. In his further presentation, he gives his own project for this liberation, and says that liberation should be carried out gradually, since a sharp change in economic relations cannot be accomplished without bloodshed, and he recognizes only a peaceful resolution of the issue. The liberation of the peasants, in his opinion, must necessarily be accomplished with the allocation of land, and he awaits this liberation from the supreme power, believing that the sovereigns themselves understand its necessity. In “The Journey” there are thoughts that have not lost their meaning to this day: the author rebels against trade deceptions, public debauchery and luxury, the greed of judges, the arbitrariness of bosses, who are the “mediastinum” separating power from the people. When publishing “Journey,” Radishchev did not imagine that such a cruel punishment would befall him, since the same thoughts are found in his earlier works; but he lost sight of one thing: the views of the Empress, after the events of 1789 in France, changed dramatically. In the Peter and Paul Fortress, Radishchev wrote “The Tale of the Merciful Philaret.”

Among the works of Radishchev written in exile, it is necessary to note the treatise “On Man, His Mortality and Immortality,” which testifies to the author’s great erudition. On the question of “mortality” and “immortality” the author does not come to a definite conclusion, but provides only evidence in favor of both positions, borrowed by him from Holbach (“Systeme de la nature”) and Mendelssohn (“Phaedo, or On Immortality” souls"). In the same treatise, one should note the author’s thoughts on raising children and his skepticism in relation to the factual side of the Old Testament, ecumenical councils, church traditions and the clergy. But along with this, he admires Orthodoxy, calling it the most excellent religion. In general, it must be said that all of Radishchev’s works are distinguished by their uncertainty and contradictions, and in literary terms he is not a great figure. The fluctuations in his thoughts are explained by the duality of his nature: he professed the educational ideas of the West, but instinctively, without realizing it, remained a Russian person. In this respect, he was the son of his century - a century that “sinned much because it loved much,” and in which the most inexplicable contradictions coexisted. Radishchev's merit as an ideological historical figure is enormous: he was the first Russian citizen to declare in the press the need to update our state and social system.

There are hints that Radishchev wrote the history of the Russian Senate, but it has not reached us and, as they say, was destroyed by the author himself. One song and the outline of a fairy tale have survived to this day: “Bova, a heroic tale in verse,” written by Radishchev between 1797 and 1800. All eleven songs were written, but they did not reach us. The story is written in white trochaic tetrameter. Its content is not borrowed from Russian fairy tales, since the noticeable cynicism in it is unusual for Russian folk art, or rather, it is an imitation of the fairy tales of French writers of the 18th century, and the author had a desire to put the Russian soul into it. In an artistic sense, the story is very weak. The beginning of another poem by Radishchev with an epigraph from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and “Historical Song - a review of ancient Greek and Roman history” has been preserved. In the Ilimsk fort, the “Letter on the Chinese Trade”, “The Narrative of the Acquisition in Siberia” were written, and the historical story “Ermak” was begun. The essay “Description of My Possession” dates, in all likelihood, to the end of the eighties. There are indications that Radishchev translated Montesquieu's Discourses on the Greatness and Decline of the Romans, but to date this translation has not been found. There are several poems by Radishchev, but all of them are unsatisfactory in the sense of poetic technique, and if they deserve attention, then for the originality and courage of their ideas. In the papers of the “Commission for Drafting Laws,” established in 1801, Radishchev’s handwritten note “On prices for murdered people” was found, where he proves that a person’s life cannot be valued with any money. Finally, from the time Radishchev left for exile, on the way to Ilimsk and back, he kept a diary in his own handwriting, which is now kept in the Historical Museum in Moscow. The first half of this diary - "Note of a trip to Siberia" - was first published in 1906 in the "News of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Imperial Academy of Sciences." The conditions under which Radishchev worked as a pen were not favorable for gaining any influence on the society of his time. The Journey, which he himself published in 1790, sold in a very limited number of copies (no more than a hundred), since he burned most of the publication when he found out what impression the book made on the Empress. For most of his contemporaries, “The Journey” aroused more curiosity and surprise at the very personality of Radishchev, who decided on such a bold undertaking, than at the content of the book. After the trial, many people paid a lot of money just to get the book to read. There is no doubt that the persecution of the book and its author contributed to the success of the work. In the manuscript it penetrated into province and even abroad, where excerpts from it were published in 1808. All this, of course, was the external success of the work, but there is evidence that there were people who appreciated the significance of Radishchev’s very ideas - but there were few such people.

“The Journey” was first published in 1858 in London, in the book “Prince Shcherbatov and A. Radishchev,” but this publication is replete with inaccuracies and omissions. In 1868 it was published in Russia, but also with large abbreviations. In 1872, it was printed under the editorship of P. A. Efremov, in the amount of 1985 copies, without any abbreviations, but it was not published and was destroyed by censorship. In 1876, "Journey" was published, almost exactly with the original, in Leipzig. In 1888, A. S. Suvorin’s edition was published, but there were only 99 copies. In 1901, in volume V of Burtsev’s “Bibliographic Description of Rare and Wonderful Books,” “The Journey” was printed in its entirety, in the amount of 150 copies. In 1903 it was published by Kartavov, but censorship destroyed it. Finally, in 1905, it was published in full, verified with the manuscript, edited by. N. P. Silvansky and P. E. Shchegolev. “Collected works left after the late A. N. Radishchev”, in 6 parts, without “Travel”, was published in Moscow, in 1806-1811. In 1872, the “Collected Works of A.H.P.”, in 2 volumes, ed., was published but destroyed by censorship (1985 copies). Efremova; in 1907, the 1st volume of collected works, published under the editorship of V. B. Kallash and 1st volume of the publication, ed. S. N. Troinitsky. A rich museum in Saratov is dedicated to Radishchev’s name, opened according to the thoughts of his grandson, the artist Bogolyubov, and with the consent of Emperor Alexander III.

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Shashkov, Collected Works, vol. II. St. Petersburg, 1898, pp. 290-291; Metropolitan Evgeniy, "Russian Dictionary. secular writers." M. 1845, vol. I, p. 139; "Izvestia of the department. Russian language and literature of the Imperial Ak. Sciences". 1906, vol. XI, book 4, pp. 379-399.

A. Lossky.

(Polovtsov)

Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich

A famous writer, one of our main representatives of “enlightenment philosophy”. His grandfather, Afanasy Prokofievich R., one of Peter the Great’s amusing figures, rose to the rank of brigadier and gave his son Nikolai a good upbringing for that time: Nikolai Afanasyevich knew several foreign languages, was familiar with history and theology, loved agriculture and read a lot. He was very loved by the peasants, so during the Pugachev rebellion, when he and his older children hid in the forest (he lived in Kuznetsky district, Saratov province), and gave the younger children into the hands of the peasants, no one gave him up. His eldest son, Alexander, his mother’s favorite, b. Aug 20 1749 He learned Russian literacy from the Book of Hours and the Psalter. When he was 6 years old, a French teacher was assigned to him, but the choice turned out to be unsuccessful: the teacher, as they later learned, was a fugitive soldier. Then the father decided to send the boy to Moscow. Here R. was placed with a relative of his mother, M.F. Argamakov, an intelligent and enlightened man. In Moscow, together with Argamakov's children, R. was entrusted to the care of a very good French tutor, a former adviser to the Rouen parliament, who fled from persecution by the government of Louis XV. Obviously, from him R. learned for the first time some provisions of the philosophy of education. Argamakov, through his connections with Moscow University (another Argamakov, A.M., was the first director of the university), gave R. the opportunity to take advantage of the professors’ lessons. From 1762 to 1766, R. studied in the Corps of Pages (in St. Petersburg) and, while visiting the palace, could observe the luxury and customs of Catherine’s court. When Catherine ordered twelve young nobles to be sent to Leipzig for scientific studies, including six pages of the most distinguished in behavior and success in learning, R. was among the latter. About R.’s stay abroad, in addition to R.’s own testimony (in his “Life F.V. Ushakov"), provides information on a number of official documents about the life of Russian students in Leipzig. These documents serve as proof that R. in “The Life of Ushakov” did not exaggerate anything, but rather even softened a lot; the same is confirmed by private letters from relatives that have reached us to one of R.’s comrades. When sending students abroad, instructions were given regarding their studies , written in Catherine II’s own hand. In this instruction we read: “I) learn all Latin, French, German and, if possible, Slavic languages, in which you should educate yourself by talking and reading books. 2) Everyone learn moral philosophy, history, and especially natural and popular law, and several and Roman history to law. Other sciences should be left to everyone to study at will." Significant funds were allocated for the maintenance of students - 800 rubles (from 1769 - 1000 rubles) per year for each). But assigned to the nobles as an educator ("chamber of chamberlain") Major Bokum withheld a significant part of the allocation in his own favor, so the students were in great need. They were placed in a damp, dirty apartment. R., according to the report of Yakovlev’s office courier, “was ill throughout (Yakovlev’s) stay in Leipzig, and even after leaving did not recover, and could not go to the table because of his illness, but food was given to him for his apartment. In considering his illness, he suffers direct hunger while eating bad food." Bokum was a rude, uneducated, unjust and cruel man, who allowed himself to use corporal punishment, sometimes very severe, on Russian students. In addition, he was an extremely boastful and intemperate person, which constantly put him in very awkward and comic situations. From the very moment he left St. Petersburg, Bokum began to clash with students; their displeasure against him constantly grew and finally expressed itself in a very big story. Bokum tried to make the students seem like rebels, turned to the assistance of the Leipzig authorities, demanded soldiers and put all the Russian students under strict guard. Only the prudent intervention of our ambassador, Prince Beloselsky, did not allow this story to end the way Bokum directed it. The ambassador freed the prisoners, stood up for them, and although Bokum remained with the students, he began to treat they were better off, and sharp clashes were no longer repeated.The election of a confessor for the students was also unsuccessful: Hieromonk Pavel, a cheerful man, but poorly educated, aroused ridicule from the students, was sent with them. Of R.'s comrades, Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov is especially remarkable for the enormous influence he had on R., who wrote his "Life" and published some of Ushakov's works. Gifted with an ardent mind and honest aspirations, Ushakov, before going abroad, served as secretary under State Secretary G.N. Teplov and worked hard to draw up the Riga trade charter. He enjoyed Teplov's favor and had influence on affairs; he was predicted to quickly ascend the administrative ladder; “many were taught to revere him in advance.” When Catherine II ordered the nobles to be sent to the University of Leipzig, Ushakov, wanting to educate himself, decided to neglect the opening career and pleasures and go abroad to sit on the student bench with the young men. Thanks to Teplov's petition, he managed to fulfill his wish. Ushakov was a more experienced and mature man than his other comrades, who immediately recognized his authority. He was worthy of the influence he acquired; “firmness of thoughts, their free expression” constituted his distinctive quality, and this especially attracted his young comrades to him. He served as an example for other students of serious study, guided their reading, and instilled in them strong moral convictions. He taught, for example, that he can overcome his passions, who tries to know the true definition of man, who adorns his mind with useful and pleasant knowledge, who finds the greatest pleasure in being useful to the fatherland and being known to the world. Ushakov's health was upset even before his trip abroad, and in Leipzig he further ruined it, partly by his lifestyle, partly by excessive activities, and fell dangerously ill. When the doctor, at his insistence, informed him that “tomorrow he will no longer be involved in life,” he firmly accepted the death sentence, although “as he descended beyond the coffin, he saw nothing beyond it.” He said goodbye to his friends, then, calling one R. to him, handed over all his papers to him and said to him: “remember that you need to have rules in life in order to be blessed.” Ushakov’s last words “were marked indelibly in the memory” of R. Before his death, suffering terribly, Ushakov asked to be given poison so that his torment would end as soon as possible. He was denied this, but it still sparked in R. the idea “that an unbearable life should be forcibly interrupted.” Ushakov died in 1770. - The activities of students in Leipzig were quite varied. They listened to philosophy from Platner, who, when Karamzin visited him in 1789, recalled with pleasure his Russian students, especially Kutuzov and R. The students also listened to Gellert’s lectures or, as R. puts it, “enjoyed his teaching in verbal sciences". Students listened to history from Boehm, and law from Hommel. According to one of the official reports of 1769, “everyone admits with surprise that in such a short time they (Russian students) have achieved remarkable success, and are not inferior in knowledge to those who have been studying there for a long time. They are especially praised and found to be excellently skilled : firstly, the senior Ushakov (there were two Ushakovs among the students), and after him Yanov and R., who exceeded the aspirations of their teachers." By his own “volition,” R. studied medicine and chemistry, not as an amateur, but seriously, so that he could pass the exam to become a doctor and then successfully practiced treatment. Chemistry classes also always remained one of his favorite things. In general, he acquired serious knowledge of the natural sciences in Leipzig. The instructions instructed students to study languages; We have no information about how this study went, but R. knew the languages ​​German, French and Latin well. Later he learned the language. English and Italian. After spending several years in Leipzig, he, like his comrades, greatly forgot the Russian language, so upon returning to Russia he studied it under the guidance of the famous Khrapovitsky, Catherine’s secretary. - The students read a lot, and mostly French. writers of the era of enlightenment; were fond of the works of Mably, Rousseau and especially Helvetius. In general, R. in Leipzig, where he stayed for five years, acquired diverse and serious scientific knowledge and became one of the most educated people of his time, not only in Russia. He did not stop studying and reading diligently throughout his life. His writings are imbued with the spirit of “enlightenment” of the 18th century. and ideas of French philosophy. In 1771, with some of his comrades, R. returned to St. Petersburg and soon entered service in the Senate, like his comrade and friend Kutuzov (see), a protocol clerk, with the rank of titular councilor. They did not serve long in the Senate: they were hampered by their poor knowledge of the Russian language, they were burdened by the camaraderie of clerks, and the rude treatment of their superiors. Kutuzov went into military service, and R. entered the headquarters of General-Chief Bruce, who commanded in St. Petersburg, as a chief auditor and stood out for his conscientious and courageous attitude to his duties. In 1775, R. retired with the rank of army second major. One of R.'s comrades in Leipzig, Rubanovsky, introduced him to the family of his older brother, whose daughter, Anna Vasilyevna, he married. In 1778, R. was again appointed to serve in the state commerce board, for an assessor's vacancy. He quickly and well mastered even the details of the trade affairs entrusted to the board. Soon he had to participate in the resolution of one case, where a whole group of employees, if accused, were subject to heavy punishment. All members of the board were in favor of the prosecution, but R., having studied the case, did not agree with this opinion and resolutely rose to the defense of the accused. He did not agree to sign the verdict and filed a dissenting opinion; in vain they persuaded him, frightened him with the disfavor of the president, Count A.R. Vorontsov - he did not yield; I had to report on his tenacity. Vorontsov. The latter was really angry at first, assuming some unclean motives in R., but still demanded the case, carefully reviewed it and agreed with R.’s opinion. : The accused were acquitted. From R.'s collegium in 1788 he was transferred to serve in the St. Petersburg customs office as an assistant manager, and then as a manager. While serving at customs, R. also managed to stand out for his selflessness, devotion to duty, and serious attitude to business. Russian language classes. and reading led R. to his own literary experiences. First, he published a translation of Mably’s work “Reflections on Greek History” (1773), then he began to compile a history of the Russian Senate, but destroyed what he had written. After the death of his beloved wife (1783), he began to seek solace in literary work. There is an unlikely legend about R.'s participation in Novikov's "Painter". It is more likely that R. participated in the publication of Krylov’s “Mail of the Spirits,” but this cannot be considered proven. Undoubtedly, R.'s literary activity began only in 1789, when he published “The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov with the introduction of some of his works” (“On the right of punishment and the death penalty,” “On love,” “Letters about the first book of Helvetius’s essay on mind"). Taking advantage of the decree of Catherine II on free printing houses, R. opened his own printing house in his home and in 1790 published in it his “Letter to a friend living in Tobolsk, as a matter of duty of his rank.” This short essay describes the opening of the monument to Peter the Great and, along the way, expresses some general thoughts about state life, about power, etc. The “letter” was only a kind of “test”; Following him, R. published his main work, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” with an epigraph from Telemachida: “The monster is loud, mischievous, huge, snarling and barking.” The book begins with a dedication to “A.M.K., dearest friend,” i.e., comrade R., Kutuzov. In this dedication, the author writes: “I looked around me - my soul became wounded by human suffering.” He realized that man himself is to blame for this suffering, because “he does not look directly at the objects around him.” To achieve bliss, one must remove the veil that covers the natural senses. Anyone can become a participant in the bliss of his own kind by resisting error. “This is the thought that prompted me to write what you will read.” “The Journey” is divided into chapters, of which the first is called “Departure”, and the subsequent ones bear the names of stations between St. Petersburg and Moscow; The book ends with the arrival and exclamation: “Moscow! Moscow!!” The book began to sell out quickly. Her bold thoughts about serfdom and other sad phenomena of the then social and state life attracted the attention of the empress herself, to whom someone delivered “The Journey.” Although the book was published “with the permission of the deanery,” that is, with the permission of the established censorship, prosecution was nevertheless brought against the author. At first they did not know who the author was, since his name was not on the book; but, having arrested the merchant Zotov, in whose shop “Journey” was sold, they soon learned that the book had been written and published by R. He was also arrested, his case was “entrusted” to the famous Sheshkovsky. Catherine forgot that R., both in the Corps of Pages and abroad, studied “natural law” by the highest command, and that she herself preached and allowed the preaching of principles similar to those that the “Journey” preached. She reacted to R.’s book with strong personal irritation, she herself composed R.’s question points, and through Bezborodka she supervised the entire matter. Imprisoned in a fortress and interrogated by the terrible Sheshkovsky, R. declared his repentance, renounced his book, but at the same time, in his testimony he often expressed the same views as those given in “The Journey.” By expressing repentance, R. hoped to soften the punishment that threatened him, but at the same time he was unable to hide his convictions. In addition to R., many people involved in the publication and sale of “Travel” were interrogated; investigators looked to see if R. had accomplices, but there were none. It is characteristic that the investigation carried out by Sheshkovsky was not reported to the chamber of the criminal court, where, by the highest decree, the case of “Journey” was transferred. R.'s fate was decided in advance: he was found guilty in the very decree to bring him to trial. The Criminal Chamber carried out a very brief investigation, the contents of which were determined in a letter from Bezborodok to the commander-in-chief in St. Petersburg, Count Bruce. The task of the chamber was only to give legal form to the predetermined condemnation of R., to find and draw up the laws under which he was to be convicted. This task was not easy, since it was difficult to blame the author for a book published with proper permission, and for views that had recently enjoyed patronage. The Criminal Chamber applied to R. the articles of the Code on an attempt on the sovereign's health, conspiracies and treason, and sentenced him to death. The verdict, transmitted to the Senate and then to the Council, was approved in both instances and presented to Catherine. 4th Sep. In 1790, a personal decree was passed, which found R. guilty of violating the oath and office of a subject by publishing a book “filled with the most harmful speculations that destroy public peace, belittle the respect due to the authorities, and strive to create indignation among the people against the bosses and authorities.” and finally, offensive and violent expressions against the dignity and power of the king"; wine R. is such that he fully deserves the death penalty to which he was sentenced by the court, but “out of mercy and for everyone’s joy” on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Sweden, the death penalty was replaced by exile to Siberia, to the Ilimsk prison, “for a ten-year hopeless stay.” The decree was then carried out. R.'s sad fate attracted everyone's attention: the sentence seemed incredible, rumors arose more than once in society that R. had been forgiven and was returning from exile - but these rumors were not justified, and R. stayed in Ilimsk until the end of Catherine's reign. His situation in Siberia was eased by the fact that Count A.R. Vorontsov continued to support the exiled writer all the time, provided him with patronage from his superiors in Siberia, sent him books, magazines, scientific instruments, etc. His sister came to see him in Siberia wife, E.V. Rubanovskaya, and brought her younger children (the older ones stayed with their relatives to get an education). In Ilimsk, R. married E.V. Rubanovskaya. During his exile, he studied Siberian life and Siberian nature, made meteorological observations, read and wrote a lot. He felt such a desire for literary work that even in the fortress during the trial he took advantage of permission to write and wrote a story about Philaret the Merciful. In Ilimsk, he also treated the sick, generally tried to help anyone in any way he could and became, according to a contemporary, “a benefactor of that country.” His caring activities extended 500 miles around Ilimsk. Emperor Paul, soon after his accession, returned R. from Siberia (High Command of November 23, 1796), and R. was ordered to live on his estate in Kaluga province, the village of Nemtsov, and the governor was ordered to monitor his behavior and correspondence. At the request of R., he was allowed by the sovereign to travel to Saratov province. visit elderly and sick parents. After the accession of Alexander I, R. received complete freedom; he was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed a member of the commission to draw up laws. Stories have been preserved (in articles by Pushkin and Pavel Radishchev) that R., who surprised everyone with his “gray-haired youth,” submitted a general project on the necessary legislative reforms - a project where the liberation of the peasants, etc., was again put forward. Since this project was not found in affairs of the commission, doubts were expressed about its very existence; however, in addition to the testimony of Pushkin and Pavel Radishchev, we have the undoubted testimony of a contemporary, Ilyinsky, who was also a member of the commission and should have known the matter well. There is no doubt, in any case, that this project, as transmitted by Radishchev’s son, completely coincides with the direction and nature of R.’s writings. The same Ilyinsky and another modern witness, Born, also certify the accuracy of another legend, about the death of R. This legend says that When R. submitted his liberal project of necessary reforms, the chairman of the commission, Count Zavadovsky, gave him a strict reprimand for his way of thinking, sternly reminding him of his previous hobbies and even mentioning Siberia. R., a man with severely disturbed health, with broken nerves, was so shocked by Zavadovsky’s reprimand and threats that he decided to commit suicide, drank poison and died in terrible agony. He seemed to remember the example of Ushakov, who taught him that “an unbearable life must be forcibly interrupted.” R. died on the night of September 12, 1802 and was buried in the Volkov cemetery. - R.’s main literary work is “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” This work is remarkable, on the one hand, as the most dramatic expression of the influence that it acquired among us in the 18th century. French philosophy of enlightenment, and on the other hand, as clear proof that the best representatives of this influence were able to apply the ideas of enlightenment to Russian life, to Russian conditions. R.'s journey seems to consist of two parts, theoretical and practical. In the first, we see the author’s constant borrowings from various European writers. R. himself explained that he wrote his book in imitation of Stern’s journey of Iorikov and was influenced by Raynal’s “History of India”; in the book itself there are references to different authors, and many unspecified borrowings are also easily identified. Along with this, we encounter in “Travel” a constant depiction of Russian life, Russian conditions and the consistent application of general principles of enlightenment to them. R. is a supporter of freedom; it gives not only an image of all the unsightly sides of serfdom, but speaks of the need and possibility of liberating the peasants. R. attacks serfdom not only in the name of an abstract concept of freedom and the dignity of the human person: his book shows that he carefully observed people's life in reality, that he had extensive knowledge of everyday life, on which his verdict on serfdom was based. The means that The Journey offers for the abolition of serfdom are also consistent with life and are not at all overly harsh. The “Project for the Future” proposed by R. indicates the following measures: first of all, servants are freed and it is forbidden to take peasants for household services - but if someone takes it, then the peasant becomes free; marriages of peasants are allowed without the consent of the landowner and without withdrawal money; peasants are recognized as the owners of movable estates and land plots cultivated by them; What is required, further, is a court of equals, full civil rights, a prohibition to punish without a trial; peasants are allowed to buy land; the amount for which the peasant can be redeemed is determined; Finally, the complete abolition of slavery comes. Of course, this is a literary plan that cannot be considered as a finished bill, but its general principles must be recognized as applicable for that time. Attacks on serfdom are the main theme of the Journey; No wonder Pushkin called R. “the enemy of slavery.” R.'s book touches, in addition, on a number of other issues of Russian life. R. is armed against such aspects of contemporary reality that have now long been condemned by history; such are his attacks on the enrollment of nobles in the service from childhood, on the injustice and greed of judges, on the complete arbitrariness of bosses, etc. “The Journey” also raises questions that are still of vital importance; Thus, it arms itself against censorship, against festive receptions by the bosses, against merchant deceptions, against debauchery and luxury. Attacking the contemporary system of education and upbringing, R. draws an ideal that has largely not been realized to this day. He says that the government exists for the people, and not vice versa, that the happiness and wealth of the people are measured by the well-being of the mass of the population, and not by the well-being of a few individuals, etc. The general nature of R.’s worldview is also reflected by his extremely sharp “Ode to Liberty,” placed in “ Travel" (largely reproduced in the first volume of "Russian Poetry" by S. A. Vengerov). Pushkin imitated R.'s poem "The Heroic Tale of Bova". R. is not a poet at all; his poetry is for the most part very weak. His prose, on the contrary, often has significant merits. Having forgotten the Russian language abroad and later learned from Lomonosov, R. often makes one feel both of these conditions: his speech can be difficult and artificial; but at the same time, in a number of places, he, captivated by the subject depicted, speaks simply, sometimes in a lively, colloquial language. Many scenes in "Journey" amaze with their vitality, showing the author's observation and humor. In 1807-11 in St. Petersburg. A collection of R.'s works was published in six parts, but without the "Travel" and with some omissions in the "Life of Ushakov". The first edition of "Travel" was destroyed partly by R. himself before his arrest, partly by the authorities; There are several dozen copies left. There was great demand for it; it was rewritten. Masson testifies that many paid considerable money to obtain the Voyage to read. Individual excerpts from “The Journey” were published in various publications: Martynov’s “Northern Bulletin” (in 1805), with an article by Pushkin, which appeared in print for the first time in 1857. , in the preface by M. A. Antonovich to the translation of Schlosser’s history of the 18th century. Such reprints were not always successful. When Sopikov included a dedication from “Travel” in his bibliography (1816), this page was cut out, reprinted and preserved in its entirety only in very few copies. In 1858, “The Journey” was published in London, in the same book with the work of Prince. Shcherbatov "On the corruption of morals in Russia", with a preface by Herzen. The text of the "Travel" is given here with some distortions, based on a damaged copy. From the same edition, “The Journey” was reprinted in Leipzig in 1876. In 1868, the highest order was issued, which allowed the publication of “The Journey” on the basis of general censorship rules. In the same year, a reprint of R.'s book appeared, made by Shigin, but with large omissions and, again, based on a distorted copy, and not on the original. In 1870, P. A. Efremov undertook the publication of the complete works of R. (with some additions to the manuscripts), including in it the full text of “Travel” according to the 1790 edition. The publication was printed, but was not published: it was detained and destroyed. In 1888, A. S. Suvorin published “Journey,” but in only 99 copies. In 1869, P. I. Bartenev reprinted it in the "Collection of the 18th century." "The Life of F.V. Ushakov"; in "Russian Antiquity" in 1871, the "Letter to a Friend Living in Tobolsk" was reprinted. Academician M.I. Sukhomlinov published in his study about R. R.’s story about Filaret. The chapter from “Travel” about Lomonosov has been published. in the first volume of “Russian Poetry” by S. A. Vengerov. All of R.’s poems are also reproduced there, not excluding “Ode to Liberty.” R.'s name was banned for a long time; it almost never appeared in print. Soon after his death, several articles about him appeared, but then his name almost disappears in the literature and is found very rarely; Only fragmentary and incomplete data are provided about it. Batyushkov included R. in the program of essays on Russian literature he compiled. Pushkin wrote to Bestuzhev: “How can one forget R. in an article about Russian literature? Who will we remember?” Later, Pushkin learned from experience that remembering the author of “Travel” is not so easy: his article about R. was not passed by the censors and appeared in print only twenty years after the poet’s death. Only in the second half of the fifties was the ban lifted from the name R.; Many articles and notes about him appear in the press, interesting materials are published. However, there is still no complete biography of R. In 1890, the centenary of the appearance of the Travels produced very few articles about R. In 1878, the highest permission was given for the opening of the “Radishchev Museum” in Saratov, founded by R.’s grandson, the artist Bogolyubov, and representing an important educational center for the Volga region. The grandson worthily honored the memory of his “eminent,” as the decree says, grandfather. The most important articles about R.: “On the death of R.”, poetry and prose by N. M. Born (“Scroll of the Muses”, 1803). Biographies: in Part IV of Bantysh-Kamensky’s “Dictionary of Memorable People of the Russian Land” and in the second part of “Dictionary of Secular Writers” by Metropolitan. Evgenia. Two articles by Pushkin in volume V of his works (explanation of their meaning in the article by V. Yakushkin - “Readings of General History and Ancient Russia,” 1886, book 1 and separately). Biographies of R., written by his sons - Nikolai ("Russian Antiquity", 1872, vol. VI) and Pavel ("Russian Messenger", 1858, No. 23, with notes by M. N. Longinov). Longinov's articles: "A. M. Kutuzov and A. N. Radishchev" ("Contemporary" 1856, No. 8), "Russian students at the University of Leipzig and about Radishchev's last project" ("Biblical Notes", 1859 , No. 17), "Catherine the Great and Radishchev" ("News", 1865, No. 28) and a note in the "Russian Archive", 1869, No. 8. "About Radishchev's Russian comrades at the University of Leipzig" - article by K. Grotto in 3rd issue. IX volume "Izvestia" II department. Akd. Sci. About R.'s participation in the "Painter" see the article by D. F. Kobeko in "Bibliographic Notes" 1861, No. 4, and the notes of P. A. Efremov to the edition of "The Painter" 1864. About R.'s participation in " Spiritual Mail" see articles by V. Andreev ("Russian Invalid", 1868, No. 31), A. N. Pypin ("Bulletin of Europe", 1868, No. 5) and J. K. Grot ("Literary life of Krylov", appendix to the XIV volume of "Notes" of the Academy of Sciences). "About Radishchev" - art. M. Shugurova, "Russian Archive" 1872, pp. 927 - 953. "The trial of a Russian writer in the 18th century" - article by V. Yakushkin, "Russian Antiquity" 1882, September; here are documents from the real case about Radishchev; new important documents about this case and about R. in general were given by M. I. Sukhomlinov in his monograph “A. N. Radishchev”; Volume XXXII of the "Collection of the Department of Russian Language and Literature. Academic Sciences" and separately (St. Petersburg, 1883), and then in Volume I of "Research and Articles" (St. Petersburg, 1889). Radishchev is mentioned in the manuals on the history of Russian literature by Koenig, Galakhov, Stoyunin, Karaulov, Porfiryev and others, as well as in the works of Longinov - “Novikov and the Moscow Martinists”, A. N. Pypin - “The Social Movement under Alexander I”, V I. Semevsky - “The Peasant Question in Russia”, Shchapova - “Socio-pedagogical conditions for the development of the Russian people”, A. P. Pyatkovsky - “From the history of our literary and social development”, L. N. Maykova - “Batyushkov, his life and works.” Materials relating to the biography of Radishchev were published in “Readings of O. and etc.,” 1862, book. 4, and 1865, book. 3, in V and XII volumes of the "Archive of Prince Vorontsov", in X volume of the Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society; the collected works of Catherine II contain her rescripts on the case of R.; Catherine's letters about this matter were also published in the "Russian Archive" (1863, No. 3, and in 1872, p. 572; the report of the Irkutsk viceroyal government about R. - in "Russian Antiquity" 1874, vol. VI , page 436. About R. in modern illustrated letters, see the article “Russian freethinkers during the reign of Catherine II” - “Russian Antiquity”, 1874, January - March. Letters from relatives to Zinoviev, one of Radishchev’s comrades - “Russian Archive” , 1870, Nos. 4 and 5. Part of the documents relating to the case of R.’s “Travel”, with corrections and additions from the manuscripts, was reprinted by P. A. Efremov during the collection of R.’s works in 1870. R. is mentioned in the notes Khrapovitsky, Princess Dashkova, Selivanovsky ("Biblical Notes", 1858, No. 17), Glinka, Ilyinsky ("Russian Archive", 1879, No. 12), in "Letters of a Russian Traveler" by Karamzin. Notes by P. A Efremov to his unappeared edition of R.'s works were placed in "Russian Poetry" by S. A. Vengerov. R.'s portrait was attached to the 1st part of his works of the 1807 edition (and not to the first edition of "Travel", as mistakenly shown by Rovinsky in the “Dictionary of Engraved Portraits”); the portrait is engraved by Vendramini. From the same engraving, an engraved portrait was made by R. Alekseev for the unpublished second volume of Beketov’s “Collected Portraits of Famous Russians.” A large lithograph was made from Beketov’s portrait for the “Bibliographic Notes” of 1861, No. 1. A photograph from the portrait of Vendramini is given in “Illustration” of 1861, 159, with an article by Zotov oR.; there is also a view of Ilimsk. Wolf's edition of "Russian People" (1866) contains a very unsuccessful engraved portrait of R. after Vendramini (without signature). A copy of the same Vendramini in a good engraving executed in Leipzig by Brockhaus is attached to the 1870 edition. In the "Historical Bulletin" 1883, April, under Art. Nezelenova placed a multi-page portrait of R. from Aleksevsky’s portrait; This polytype is repeated in Brickner’s “History of Catherine II” and in Schilder’s “Alexander I”. Rovinsky placed a photograph from the Vendraminievsky portrait in the “Dictionary of Engraved Portraits”, and a photograph from the Aleksevsky portrait in “Russian Iconography” under No. 112.

V. Yakushkin.

His son Nikolai Alexandrovich, He also studied literature; among other things, he translated almost all of Augustus La Fontaine. He was close to Zhukovsky, Merzlyakov, Voeikov, served as a leader in the Kuznetsk district of the Saratov province, left a biography of his father, published in “Russian Antiquity (1872, vol. VI). In 1801 he published “Alyosha Popovich and Churila Plenkovich , heroic songwriting" (M.), which had an undoubted influence on Pushkin's "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (see Prof. Vladimirov, in "Kiev. Univ. News", 1895, No. 6).

(Brockhaus)

Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich

(Polovtsov)

Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich

Revolutionary writer. Born into a poor noble family. He was brought up in the Corps of Pages. Then, along with other 12 young men, he was sent abroad by Catherine II (to Leipzig) to prepare “for political and civil service.” In Leipzig, R. studied French educational philosophy, as well as German (Leibniz). The “leader of his youth,” the talented F.V. Ushakov, had a great influence on the political development of R., whose life and activities R. subsequently, in 1789, described in “The Life of F.V. Ushakov.” Returning to Russia, R. in the late 70s. served as a customs official. In 1735 he began working on his main work, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” It was printed by R. in his own printing house in 1790 in an amount of about 650 copies. The book, which exposed the autocratic serfdom regime with extraordinary revolutionary courage for that time, attracted the attention of both “society” and Catherine. By order of the latter, on July 30 of the same year, R. was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On August 8, he was sentenced to death, which was replaced by a ten-year exile to Ilimsk (Siberia) by decree on October 4. R. was returned from exile in 1797 by Paul I, but his rights were restored only by Alexander I, who invited R. to participate in the commission for drafting laws. In this commission, as before, R. defended views that did not coincide with the official ideology. The chairman of the commission reminded R. about Siberia. Sick and exhausted, Radishchev responded to this threat with suicide, saying before his death: “posterity will avenge me.” However, the fact of suicide has not been definitely established.

The views expressed in the "Travel" were partially expressed in both the "Life" and the "Letter to a Friend" (written in 1782, published in 1789), and even earlier in the notes to the translation of Mably's work "Reflections on Greek History" . In addition, R. wrote “Letter about the Chinese trade”, “A shortened narrative about the acquisition of Siberia”, “Notes of a trip to Siberia”, “Diary of a trip to Siberia”, “Diary of one week”, “Description of my possession”, “Bova” , “Notes on the Regulations”, “Draft of the Civil Code”, etc. In the “Description of My Ownership”, written on the Kaluga estate upon returning from exile, the same anti-serfdom motifs are repeated as in the “Journey”. "Bova", which has come down to us only in a fragment, is an attempt to process a folk fairy tale. This poetic story bears the imprint of sentimentalism and, to a greater extent, classicism. The same features characterize both the “Historical Song” and “Songs of Vseglas”. Before his exile, R. wrote “The History of the Senate,” which he himself destroyed. Some historians, like Pypin, Lyashchenko and Plekhanov, point to R.’s participation in Krylov’s “Mail of the Spirits” and the ownership of notes signed by Sylpha Dalnovid, although this indication is taken into question in some works. Radishchev's most significant work is his "Journey". In contrast to the “smiling” satirical literature of Catherine’s times, which skimmed the surface of social phenomena and did not dare to go beyond criticism of hypocrisy, hypocrisy, superstition, ignorance, imitation of French morals, gossip and extravagance, “The Journey” sounded a revolutionary alarm bell. It was not for nothing that Catherine II was so alarmed, who wrote “comments” on R.’s book, which served as the basis for questions from the investigator, the famous “whip fighter” Sheshkovsky. In the order to bring R. to trial, Catherine characterizes the “Journey” as a work filled with “the most harmful speculations, belittling the respect due to the authorities, striving to create indignation among the people against the bosses and superiors, and finally, expressions against the dignity and power of the king.” ". Therefore, she could not believe that “The Journey” was approved by the censorship (“Deanery Board”). In fact, such permission was given by the then St. Petersburg police chief, the “naughty” Nikita Ryleev, who had not read the book. Although the ode “Liberty,” in which R.’s anti-monarchist tendencies are especially strong, was printed in “Journey” with significant denominations, Catherine still caught its real essence; This is evidenced by her postscript to the “Ode”: “The Ode is quite clearly rebellious, where the kings are threatened with the chopping block. Cromwell's example is given with praise." Catherine's fear will become especially understandable if we remember that "The Journey" was published when the memory of Pugachev was still fresh and just in the first years of the French Revolution, which greatly excited the "philosopher on the throne." At that time, persecution began against the "Martinists", against writers like Novikov and Knyazhnin. In every leading writer, Catherine saw a troublemaker. In relation to Radishchev, Catherine believed that "the French revolution decided to define itself as the first champion in Russia." In addition to the banning of "Travels", they were also selected "Life" and "Letter to a Friend" were burned.

R.'s speech was historically quite natural, as one of the earliest and most consistent expressions of the country's capitalization. “The Journey” contained a whole system of revolutionary-bourgeois worldview.

In his views on the political structure of the Russian state, R. was inclined towards popular rule. Radishchev uses the passage through Novgorod (chapter “Novgorod”) to remember the past, about democracy in Novgorod. In “The Journey” one can, however, find places when R. turns to the tsar with his projects and descriptions of social injustices. This brings him closer to some of the Western European enlighteners, who expected the implementation of their utopian systems from the assistance of “enlightened” monarchs. Kings, the enlighteners said, do evil because they do not know the truth, because they are surrounded by bad advisers. It is necessary to replace these latter with philosophers - and everything will go differently. In the chapter “Spasskaya Field” R. paints a picture of a dream, which is a pamphlet against Catherine II. In a dream he is a king. Everyone bows before him, lavishes praise and panegyrics, and only one old wanderer woman, symbolizing the “truth,” removes the thorn from his eyes, and then he sees that all the courtiers surrounding him were only deceiving him.

But despite the presence of such places, the statement of the cadet professor Miliukov cannot be considered correct that R. allegedly addressed Ch. arr. to the "philosopher on the throne". R. was the first Russian republican, fiercely opposing the autocracy, considering it “tyranny” and the basis of all the evils of society. Any fact and event in life is used by R. to criticize “autocracy,” which “is the most opposite state to human nature.” R. uses any pretext to contrast the people, the fatherland with the tsar. Catherine rightly remarked on this matter: “The writer does not like kings, and where he can reduce love and respect for them, here he greedily clings to them with sharp boldness.” R. acted as a particularly consistent fighter against monarchism in general and the Russian autocracy in particular in his ode “Liberty.” In the latter, R. depicted the trial of the people over the criminal, the “villain” king. The king’s crime lies in the fact that he, “crowned” by the people, having forgotten the “oath taken”, “revolted” against the people. R. ends this court scene like this: “One death is not enough... die, die a hundred times over!” The ode “Liberty,” written with great artistic force, formally depicts the execution of Charles Stuart I by the rebellious English people, but, of course, only Russian reality and the expectation of popular uprisings, and not the execution of the monarch, could have inspired R. and raised his muse to great heights. in distant England 150 years ago.

But R. was not so much concerned with the political system of the state as with the economic and legal position of the peasantry. At a time when serfdom intensified, R. fiercely, revolutionaryly boldly and consistently opposed it. R. understood that the “Saltychikha” case was not an accidental episode, but a legitimate phenomenon of serfdom. And he demanded the destruction of the latter. In this regard, R. went further not only than his contemporaries in Russia - Chelintsev, Novikov, Fonvizin and others - but also Western European enlighteners. At a time when Voltaire, in his response to the questionnaire of the Free Economic Society, believed that the liberation of the peasants was a matter of goodwill of the landowners; when de Labbé, who proposed to free the peasants, did so with the proviso that the peasants must first be prepared by education for this act; when Rousseau proposed to first “free the souls” of the peasants, and only then their bodies, R. raised the question of liberating the peasants without any reservations.

Already from the very beginning of the “Travel” - from Lyuban (Chapter IV) - records begin of impressions about the miserable life of the peasants, about how serf owners not only exploit the peasants on their farms, but rent them out like cattle. As a result of unbearable corvée labor, the financial situation of the peasants is terrible. Peasant baked bread consists of three-quarters chaff and one-quarter unsown flour (chap. “Pawns”). Peasants live worse than livestock. Peasant poverty evokes in R. words of indignation towards the landowners: “Greedy animals, insatiable drunkards, what do we leave for the peasant? What we cannot take away is air.” In the chapter “Copper” R. describes the sale of serfs at auction and the tragedy of a divided family as a result of the sale in parts. The chapter "Black Mud" describes a forced marriage. The horrors of recruiting (chapter "Gorodnya") evoke the comments of R., who views the recruits as "captives in their fatherland." In the chapter "Zaitsevo" R. tells how the serfs, driven to despair by their tyrant landowner, killed the latter. This murder of the landowner R. justifies: “the innocence of the murderer, for me at least, was mathematically clear. If I am coming, the villain attacks me, and having raised a dagger over my head, he wants to pierce me with it, am I considered a murderer if I warn him in his crime, and I will lay down the lifeless at my feet."

Considering serfdom as a crime, proving that serfdom is unproductive, R. in the chapter “Khotilov” outlines a “project for the future,” a project for the gradual but complete elimination of serfdom. First of all, according to the project, “domestic slavery” is abolished, it is prohibited to hire peasants for household services, and peasants are allowed to marry without the consent of the landowner. The land cultivated by the peasants, by virtue of “natural law,” should, according to the project, become the property of the peasants. Anticipating a delay in liberation, Radishchev threatens the landowners with “death and burning,” reminding them of the history of peasant uprisings. It is characteristic that nowhere in the “Travel” does R. speak about the ransom of the peasants: a ransom would be contrary to the “natural law” of which R. was an adherent.

R.'s revolutionary nature should, of course, be understood historically. R. was an idealist educator, although materialistic tendencies in a number of issues were quite strong in him (in statements against mysticism, which as a result of Masonic propaganda then began to spread intensively, in explaining love by egoism, etc.). Miliukov, trying to make R. look like a liberal, rejects R.'s materialism and considers him a complete Leibnizian. This is not true. He has Leibnizianism, especially in his philosophical treatise, but “The Journey” is ideologically connected not with Leibniz, but with Helvetius, Rousseau, Mably and other literature of the French Enlightenment.

R.'s "Journey" as a literary work is not completely free from imitation. But despite the presence of elements of foreign influences, it is fundamentally deeply original. The often noted similarity between R.'s "Journey" and Stern's "Sentimental Journey" is only in the composition. The similarity with Raynal's "Philosophical History of the Two Indies" can only be found in the power of pathos. In terms of content, Radishchev is quite original. Even less can be said about R.’s imitation of contemporary Russian literature. True, certain satirical moments of “The Journey” (ridiculing fashion, dandies, inviting foreign tutors, exposing the depraved life of high society circles, etc.) coincide with the satire of Novikov’s magazines, the works of Fonvizin, Knyazhnin, Kapnist. But while these writers, in their criticism of the feudal-serf system, generally did not go beyond minor denunciations, R. revealed its basis. In addition, if the overwhelming majority of satirical journalism, exposing and criticizing modern mores, called back to the “good” times and mores of the past, R. called forward with his criticism. So. arr. what is new that R. brought in both in comparison with his Western teachers and in relation to his closest Russian comrades from the Novikov camp is a much deeper truthfulness in the interpretation of Russian reality, these are clearly expressed realistic tendencies of creativity, this is his revolutionary nature.

Analysis of the language of "Travel" reveals its duality. The language of "Journey" is clear and simple when R. writes about real things, about what he directly saw and experienced. When he touches on abstract issues, his language becomes obscure, archaic, pompous, and falsely pathetic. But still, it would be a mistake to assert, like M. Sukhomlinov, that these two moments constitute two different streams: “one’s own” and “someone else’s,” between which there is supposedly no “internal organic connection.” Sukhomlinov, like other bourgeois historians, would like to “liberate” R. from everything alien, that is, from the influence of revolutionary France, and turn him into a “true Russian” liberal. Such statements do not stand up to criticism. The archaic nature of Radishchev's abstract reasoning is not only explained by R.'s insufficient knowledge of the Russian language, but also by the fact that the Russian language was then insufficiently prepared for many philosophical and political concepts.

Despite these shortcomings, "The Journey" is distinguished by great artistic strength. R. is not limited to a pitiful description of the miserable life of the Russian peasantry. His depiction of Russian reality is imbued with caustic, often crude irony, apt satire and great pathos of denunciation.

R.'s literary views are presented in the chapters "Tver" and "The Tale of Lomonosov" and in "Monument to the Dactylochorean Knight", dedicated to the study of Tredyakovsky's "Telemachida". Pushkin, who in his article about R. does not spare the latter, recognized R.’s comments on “Telemachis” as “remarkable.” R.'s comments follow the line of formal-sound analysis of Tredyakovsky's verse. Radishchev opposed the poetic canons established by the poetics of Lomonosov, which the poetry of his time tenaciously adhered to. “Parnassus is surrounded by iambics,” says R. ironically, “rhymes are on guard everywhere.” R. was a revolutionary in the field of poetry. He demanded that poets abandon obligatory rhyme, freely switch to blank verse and turn to folk poetry. In his poetry and prose, R. shows an example of a bold break with canonical forms.

If Radishchev himself learned little from his domestic contemporaries, his “Journey” had a huge influence on both his generation and those that followed. The demand for “The Journey” was so great that, due to its withdrawal from sale, 25 rubles were paid for each hour of reading. “The Journey” began to circulate in lists. R.'s influence is noticeable in "Travel to the North of Russia in 1791." his friend at the University of Leipzig I. Chelintsev, in Pnin’s “Essay on Enlightenment in Relation to Russia”, partly in the works of Krylov. In their testimony, the Decembrists refer to the influence of “Journey” on them. Father's advice to Molchalin in Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit" is reminiscent of the corresponding place in "Life", and even the early Pushkin in the play "Bova" dreamed of "equal" to R.

After R.'s death, critical literature kept silent about him. Not a single word was mentioned about him in literature textbooks. Pushkin, who “discovered” him with his articles about R., not without reason therefore reproached Bestuzhev: “How is it possible in an article about Russian literature,” Pushkin asked, “to forget Radishchev. Who will we remember?” But Pushkin’s attempt to “discover” R., as is known, was not successful. Although his article was directed against R., it was still not allowed through the Nikolaev censorship (it was published only 20 years later, in 1857). In Russia, a new edition of Travel could appear only in 1905. But R. was not only kept silent. Critics have tried to portray him as either a madman, a mediocre wannabe writer, an ordinary liberal, or a repentant bureaucrat. Meanwhile, it has been proven that R. did not renounce his convictions. The renunciation of the ideas of “Journey” and “repentance” during interrogations by Sheshkovsky were forced and insincere. In a letter from Siberia to his patron Vorontsov, R. wrote: “... I admit the vicissitudes of my thoughts willingly if I am convinced by arguments better than those that were used in that case.” He gives the example of Galileo, who, under pressure from the violence of the Inquisition, also renounced his views. While passing through Tobolsk to the Ilimsk prison, R. wrote poems that expressed his state of mind: “Do you want to know who I am? Where am I going? I am the same as I was, and will be all my life.” All subsequent activities of R. prove that he was and died a revolutionary.

The name of Radishchev occupies and will forever occupy an honorable place in the history of social thought in Russia.

Bibliography: I. From later editions of R.’s texts: Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. [Ed. and entry Art. N. P. Pavlov-Silvansky and P. E. Shchegolev], St. Petersburg, 1905; Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Photolithographic reproduction of the first edition. (St. Petersburg, 1790). ed. "Academia", M., 1935; Complete collection works., ed. S. N. Troinitsky, 3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1907; The same, ed. prof. A.K. Borozdina, prof. I. I. Lapshina and P. E. Shchegolev, 2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1907; The same, ed., entry. Art. in note Vl. Vl. Kallasha, 2 vols., M., 1907; On the provisions of the law, "The Voice of the Past", 1916, XII (reopened note with a foreword and notes by A. Pepelnitsky).

II Pushkin A. S., Alexander Radishchev, “Works”, vol. VII, ed. P. V. Annenkova, St. Petersburg, 1857 (reprinted in later editions of Pushkin’s works); Sukhomlinov M.I., A.N. Radishchev, "Sb. Department of Russian Language and Speech of the Imperial Academy of Sciences", vol. XXXII, No. 6, St. Petersburg, 1883 (reprinted in his "Research and Articles on Russian history", vol. I, St. Petersburg, 1889); Myakotin V.A., At the dawn of the Russian public, in collection. articles by the author "From the history of Russian society", St. Petersburg, 1902; Kallash V.V., "Slavery is the enemy", "Izvestia. Department of Russian Language and Slovakia of the Academy of Sciences", vol. VIII, book. IV, St. Petersburg, 1903; Tumanov M., A. N. Radishchev, "Bulletin of Europe" 1904, II; Pokrovsky V., Historical Reader, vol. XV, M., 1907 (reprint of many historical and literary articles about R.); Lunacharsky A.V., A.N. Radishchev, Rech, P., 1918 (reprinted in the author’s book “Literary Silhouettes”, M., 1923); Sakulin P.P., Pushkin, Historical and literary sketches. Pushkin and Radishchev. A new solution to a controversial issue, M., 1920; Semennikov V.P., Radishchev, Essays and Research, M., 1923; Plekhanov G.V., A.N. Radishchev (1749-1802), (Posthumous manuscript), "The Liberation of Labor Group", collection. No. 1, Guise, M., 1924 (cf. “Works” by G.V. Plekhanov, vol. XXII, M., 1925); Luppol I., The tragedy of Russian materialism of the 18th century. (To the 175th anniversary of the birth of Radishchev), "Under the banner of Marxism", 1924, VI ​​- VII; Bogoslovsky P.S., Siberian travel notes of Radishchev, their historical, cultural and literary significance, "Perm collection of local history", vol. I, Perm, 1924; Him, Radishchev in Siberia, “Siberian Lights”, 1926, III; Skaftymov A., On realism and sentimentalism in Radishchev’s “Travel”, “Scientific notes of the Saratov State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky University”, vol. VII, no. III, Saratov, 1929; Article, comments, notes. and indexes to the text of "Travels", photolithographically reproduced from the 1st ed., ed. "Academia", Moscow, 1935 (II volume of this edition).

III Mandelstam R.S., Bibliography of Radishchev, ed. N.K. Piksanova, "Bulletin of the Communist Academy", book. XIII (Moscow, 1925), XIV and XV (Moscow, 1926).

M. Bochacher.

(Lit. enc.)

Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich

Philosopher, writer. Genus. in Moscow, in a noble family. He received his primary education in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 1762-1766 he studied at the Corps of Pages, then at the University of Leipzig; studied jurisprudence, philosophy, natural sciences. science, medicine, languages. Returning to Russia, he served in the state. institutions, studied lit. creative In 1790 he published the book. “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” in which he sharply opposed the dew, serfdom and autocracy. It was printed by R. in his own printing house in the amount of about 650 copies. For this book. R. was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, sentenced to death, which was subsequently replaced by a ten-year exile to Ilimsk (Siberia). There R. wrote a philosopher. treatise “On Man, His Death and Immortality” (1792, published in 1809). After the death of Catherine II, he was returned from exile, and in the beginning. During the reign of Alexander I, his rights were completely restored. In 1801-1802 he worked in the State Commission. laws, but his projects were rejected as dangerous for the state. In response to the threat of a new exile, he committed suicide. On philosophy R. was noticeably influenced by the views of Leibniz, Herder, Locke, Priestley, Helvetius, Diderot, and Rousseau. Western European ideas. Enlightenment was very organically combined in R. with the fatherland. spirit. tradition. R. boldly asserted a new secular ideology, humanism, free-thinking, the values ​​of Reason, Personal Freedom, Progress, and the People's Welfare. R. accepted serving the truth, in which truth and justice are indissoluble, as his life calling and followed it ascetically. Berdyaev called R. the ancestor of Russian. intelligentsia. Characteristically, R. focuses on problems of man, morality, and society. devices. R.'s anthropology presupposes not only the integrative nature of humans. activity (its material and intellectual aspects), but also the deep, genetic community of matter and spirit, physical. and mental. R.'s unconditional recognition of the reality of the material, material is also associated with Orthodox Russian culture. God in his understanding is spirit. absolute, omnipotent and all-good organizer of the world. R. is close to the ideas of “natural religion”. Matter is thought of as living; organisms form a continuous ladder of beings, arranged according to the degree of perfection. People are akin to everything natural. Ch. human characteristics - rationality, discrimination between good and evil, limitless possibilities of elevation (as well as corruption), speech and sociability. In cognition, the sensory and rational are fused together. The purpose of life is the pursuit of perfection and bliss. God cannot allow this purpose to be false. This means that the soul must be immortal, constantly improving, receiving new incarnations. An individual person is formed in society under the influence of upbringing, nature, and things. "Educators of Nations" - geogr. conditions, "needs of life", methods of government and history. circumstances. Achieving Societies. benefits were associated with the realization of nature. rights, in which natural expressions are expressed. human aspirations. Society needs to be radically transformed so that nature will triumph. order. This is the way of progress. In search of a way to transform Russia in this way, R. pinned his hopes on both enlightened rulers and the people, when they, tired of the suppression of their nature, would rise up and win the freedom to exercise their natures. right The utopianism of expectations predetermined the drama of R.’s life and ideas.

Wikipedia - Russian writer, philosopher, revolutionary. The son of a wealthy landowner, R. received a general education in the Corps of Pages (1762–66); to study legal sciences he was sent to the University of Leipzig... ... - (1749 1802) Rus. writer, philosopher In 1766-1771 he studied at the Faculty of Law of the Leipzig University. In 1790 he published a book. “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (in a personal printing house, small edition). It critically described the “monster” socially... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich- (1749–1802) Russian writer, philosopher. R.'s system of psychological views is set out in the treatise “On Man, His Mortality and Immortality” (1792). In the first part of the work, a monistic interpretation of the mental as a property of the material was given... ... Great psychological encyclopedia

"Radishchev" request is redirected here; see also other meanings. Alexander Radishchev Date of birth ... Wikipedia

- (1749 1802), thinker, writer. Ode “Liberty” (1783), story “The Life of F.V. Ushakov” (1789), philosophical works. Radishchev’s main work, “Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790), contains a wide range of ideas of the Russian Enlightenment, truthful ... Encyclopedic Dictionary, Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich. A. N. Radishchev is the first Russian revolutionary from the nobility, a writer who proclaimed in his book the need for a revolution in Russia against the monarchy and serfdom. The first edition of his book...