What educational institutions graduated and n radishchev. Short biography of Alexander Radishchev: life story, creativity and books

Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev(August 20, 1749, the village of Verkhnee Ablyazovo, Saratov province - September 12, 1802, St. Petersburg) - Russian writer, philosopher, poet, de facto head of the St. Petersburg customs, member of the Commission for drafting laws under Alexander I.

He became best known for his main work, Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, which he published anonymously in 1790.

Biography

Alexander Radishchev was the first-born in the family of Nikolai Afanasyevich Radishchev (1728-1806), the son of the Starodub colonel and large landowner Afanasy Prokopievich.

Apparently, his father, a pious man who was fluent in Latin, Polish, French and German. As was customary at that time, the child was taught Russian literacy according to the hour book and the psalter. By the time he was six 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 runaway soldier. Shortly after the opening of Moscow University, around 1756, his father took Alexander to Moscow, to the house of his maternal uncle ( brother whom, A. M. Argamakov, was the director of the university in 1755-1757). Here Radishchev was entrusted with the cares of a very a good French tutor, a former adviser to the Rouen parliament, who fled from the persecution of 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 trained here under their guidance and passed, at least in part, the program of the gymnasium course.

In 1762, after the coronation of Catherine II, Radishchev was granted a page and sent to St. Petersburg to study in the page corps. The page corps did not train scientists, but courtiers, and the pages were obliged to serve the empress at balls, in the theater, at ceremonial dinners. Four years later, among twelve young nobles, he was sent to Germany, to the University of Leipzig to study law. Of Radishchev's comrades, Fyodor Ushakov is especially remarkable because huge influence which he had on Radishchev, who wrote his "Life" and published some of Ushakov's works.

Service in St. Petersburg

In 1771, Radishchev returned to St. Petersburg and soon entered the service of the Senate, as a recorder, with the rank of titular adviser. He did not serve long in the Senate: poor knowledge of the Russian language interfered, the partnership of clerks was a burden, rough treatment bosses. Radishchev entered the headquarters of General-in-Chief 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 the service of the Commerce Collegium, later (in 1788) moving to the St. Petersburg customs. Studying the Russian language and reading led Radishchev to his own literary experiments. He first published a translation of Mably's Meditations on Greek history"(1773), then began to compile the history of the Russian Senate, but destroyed the written one.

Literary and publishing activities

Undoubtedly literary activity Radishchev begins only in 1789, when he published "The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov with the addition of some of his writings." Taking advantage of the decree of Catherine II on free printing houses, Radishchev set up his own printing house at his home and in 1790 printed his “Letter to a friend living in Tobolsk, on duty of his rank” in it.

Following him, Radishchev released his main work, "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow." The book begins with a dedication to comrade Radishchev, A. M. Kutuzov, in which the author writes: “I looked around me - my soul became wounded by human suffering.” He realized that the person himself is to blame for these sufferings, because "he does not look directly at the objects surrounding him." To achieve bliss, one must take away the veil that closes natural feelings. Everyone can become a partner in the bliss of his own kind, resisting delusions. “This is the thought that prompted me to draw what you will read.”

The book sold out quickly. Her bold reflections on serfdom and other sad phenomena of the then social and public 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, persecution was raised against the author. Radishchev was arrested, his case was "entrusted" to S. I. Sheshkovsky. Imprisoned in a fortress, during interrogations, Radishchev declared his repentance, refused his book, but at the same time, in his testimony, he often expressed the same views that were cited in Journey. The Criminal Chamber applied to Radishchev the articles of the Code on "assault on the sovereign's health", on "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 issued, which found Radishchev guilty of a crime of oath and the position of a subject by publishing a book “filled with the most harmful philosophies, destroying public peace, detracting from the respect due to the authorities, striving to produce indignation among the people against the bosses and bosses and finally, insulting and frantic expressions against the rank 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 “by mercy and for everyone’s joy” the execution was replaced by a ten-year exile to Siberia, to the Ilimsk prison. Soon after his accession (1796), Emperor Paul I returned Radishchev from Siberia. Radishchev was ordered to live in his estate in the Kaluga province, the village of Nemtsov.

Last years. Death

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

In the book "Radishchev" by D.S. Babkin, published in 1966, a different version of the death of Radishchev is proposed. The sons who were present at his death testified to a severe physical illness that struck Alexander Nikolayevich already during his Siberian exile. According to Babkin, the immediate cause of death was an accident: Radishchev drank a glass with “strong vodka prepared in it to burn out the old officer epaulettes of his eldest son” (aqua regia). Burial documents mention natural death. On September 13, 1802, the register of the church of the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg listed among the buried “colleague adviser Alexander Radishchev; fifty three years, died of consumption, ”priest Vasily Nalimov was at the removal.

Perception of Radishchev in the XIX-XX centuries

The idea that Radishchev is not a writer, but public figure, with 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 Fine Arts, delivered in September 1802 and consecrated death Radishcheva, says about him: “He loved truth and virtue. His ardent philanthropy longed to illuminate all his fellows with this unflickering ray of eternity. How " an honest man” (“honnête homme”) characterized Radishchev N. M. Karamzin (this oral testimony is given by Pushkin as an epigraph to the article “Alexander Radishchev”). Thought of Advantage human qualities Radishchev, P. A. Vyazemsky especially succinctly expresses his talent as a writer, explaining in a letter to A. F. Voeikov the desire to study Radishchev’s biography: “Usually, a person is invisible behind a writer. In Radishchev, it’s the other way around: the writer is on the shoulder, and the man is head and shoulders above him.”

During interrogations of the Decembrists, to the question “since when and from where did they borrow the first free-thinking thoughts,” many Decembrists called the name of Radishchev.

The influence of Radishchev on the work of another freethinker writer, A.S. Griboyedov (presumably, both were connected by blood relationship), who, being a career diplomat, often traveled around the country and therefore actively tried his hand at the genre of literary “travel”, is obvious.

A special page in the perception of the personality and creativity of Radishchev by Russian society was the attitude of A.S. Pushkin towards him. Acquainted with "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" in his youth, Pushkin is clearly guided by 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” by Radishchev’s son, Nikolai Alexandrovich, “Alyosha Popovich” (Pushkin mistakenly considered the author of this poem to be Radishchev the father all his life). The Journey turned out to be in tune with the tyrannical and anti-serfdom moods of the young Pushkin. Despite the change political positions, Pushkin and in the 1830s retained an interest in Radishchev, acquired a copy of the Journey, which was in the Secret Chancellery, sketched out Journey 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 Journey in his Sovremennik, accompanying them with the article "Alexander Radishchev" - his most detailed statement about Radishchev. In addition to a bold attempt for the first time since 1790 to acquaint the Russian reader with a banned book, here Pushkin also gives a very detailed criticism of the work and its author: “We never considered Radishchev a great man. His act always seemed to us a crime, in no way excusable, and "Journey to Moscow" a very mediocre book; but with all that, we cannot but recognize in him a criminal with an extraordinary spirit; political fanatic, mistaken, of course, but acting with amazing selflessness and with some kind of chivalrous conscience.

Criticism of Pushkin, in addition to auto-censorship reasons (however, the publication was still not allowed by censorship) reflects "enlightened conservatism" recent years the life of the poet. In the drafts of the "Monument" in the same 1836, Pushkin wrote: "Following Radishchev, I glorified freedom."

In the 1830s-1850s, interest in Radishchev decreased significantly, and the number of travel lists decreased. A new revival of interest is associated with the publication of the Journey in London by A. I. Herzen in 1858 (he puts Radishchev among "our saints, our prophets, our first sowers, the first fighters").

Assessment of Radishchev as a forerunner revolutionary movement was adopted by the social democrats of the early 20th century. In 1918, A. V. Lunacharsky called Radishchev "the prophet and forerunner of the revolution." G. V. Plekhanov believed that under the influence of Radishchev’s ideas, “the most significant social movements late XVIII- first third 19th century". V. I. Lenin called him "the first Russian revolutionary."

Until the 1970s, the opportunities for the general reader to get acquainted with the Journey were extremely limited. After in 1790 almost the entire edition of Journey from Petersburg to Moscow was destroyed by the author before his arrest, until 1905, when the censorship was lifted from this work, total circulation several of his publications hardly exceeded one and a half thousand copies. The foreign edition of Herzen was carried out according to a faulty list, where the language of the 18th century was artificially “modernized” and numerous errors were encountered. In 1905-1907, several editions were published, 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 cuts and scanty circulations by Soviet standards. Back in the 1960s, there were complaints from Soviet readers about getting The Journey in a store or district library impossible. It wasn't until the 1970s that Journey began to be produced on a truly massive scale.

The scientific study of Radishchev, in fact, began only in the 20th century. In 1930-1950, under the editorship of Gr. Gukovsky carried out a three-volume " complete collection works of Radishchev”, where for the first time many new texts, including philosophical and legal ones, were published or attributed to the writer. In the 1950s-1960s, romantic hypotheses about the “hidden Radishchev” (G.P. Shtorm and others) arose, which were not confirmed by sources - that Radishchev continued, allegedly after the exile, to refine the Journey and distribute the text in a narrow circle of like-minded people. At the same time, it is planned to abandon the straightforward propaganda approach to Radishchev, emphasizing the complexity of his views and the great humanistic significance of the individual (N. Ya. Eidelman and others). AT contemporary literature Radishchev's philosophical and journalistic sources - Masonic, moralizing and educational and others - are studied, the multilateral problems of his main book, which cannot be reduced to the struggle against serfdom, are emphasized.

Philosophical views

“The philosophical views of Radishchev 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 on its own." 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 “besides corporality”, man also takes his place, a being as corporeal as all nature. A person has a special role, he, according to Radishchev, is the highest manifestation of corporality, but at the same time is inextricably linked with the animal and flora. “We do not humiliate man,” Radishchev asserted, “by finding similarities in his composition with other creatures, showing that he essentially follows the same laws as him. And how else can it be? Isn't he real?'

The fundamental difference between man and other living beings is the presence of his mind, thanks to which he "has the power of things known." But an even more important difference lies in the ability of a person to moral actions and assessments. “Man is the only creature on earth who knows the evil, evil”, “a special property of man is an unlimited opportunity to both improve and corrupt.” As a moralist, Radishchev did not accept the moral concept of " reasonable selfishness“, believing that it is by no means “selfishness” that is the source of the moral feeling: “man is a sympathetic being”. Being a supporter of the idea of ​​“natural law” and always defending the idea of ​​the natural nature of man (“the rights of nature never dry up in man”), Radishchev at the same time did not share the opposition of society and nature, cultural and natural principles in man, outlined by Rousseau. For him, the social being of man is as natural as natural. According to the meaning of the case, there is no fundamental boundary between them: “Nature, people and things are the educators of man; climate, local position, government, circumstances are the educators of peoples. Criticizing the social vices of Russian reality, Radishchev defended the ideal of a normal “natural” way of life, seeing in the injustice reigning in society, in the literal sense, a social disease. He found such “diseases” not only in Russia. Thus, assessing the state of affairs in the slave-owning United States of America, he wrote that "a hundred proud citizens are drowning in luxury, and thousands do not have reliable food, nor their own shelter from the heat and scum (frost)". In the treatise “On Man, on His Mortality and Immortality”, Radishchev, considering metaphysical problems, remained true to his naturalistic humanism, recognizing the inseparability of the connection between natural and spiritual beginnings in man, the unity of body and soul: “Doesn’t the soul grow with the body, doesn’t it mature and grow strong with it, doesn’t it wither and grow dull with it?” At the same time, not without sympathy, he quoted thinkers who recognized the immortality of the soul (Johann Herder, Moses Mendelssohn and others). The position of Radishchev is not the position of an atheist, but rather an agnostic, which fully corresponded general principles his worldview, already quite secularized, focused on the “naturalness” of the world order, but alien to theomachism and nihilism.

The first years of the writer's life were spent in Nemtsov, then the family moved to their largest estate - the village of Verkhnee Ablyazovo in the Saratov viceroy. His first teachers were yard servants. From his first teacher, a serf uncle, the boy heard legends about the avenger for the people - the ataman of the Cossack freemen Stepan Razin. From serf servants the child learned about cruel morals neighboring landowners, about their bullying of the peasants. These stories gave birth in the boy's soul to hatred for the oppressors of the people. 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 runaway soldier. At the age of seven, his father took Alexander to Moscow, to the house of his uncle, the director of Moscow University, Alexei Mikhailovich Argamakov. Here Radishchev was entrusted to the care of a very good French tutor, a former adviser to the Rouen parliament, who had fled from the persecution of the government of Louis XV. Obviously, from him Radishchev learned for the first time some of the principles of the philosophy of education.

The Argamakovs' children had the opportunity to study at home with professors and teachers of the university gymnasium. Alexander Radishchev also became a pupil of this gymnasium: from 8 to 13 years old, he studied at his uncle's house according to the program of the gymnasium course, attended exams, gymnasium and student disputes.

The book begins with a dedication to Comrade Radishchev, A. M. Kutuzov, in which the author writes: “I looked around me - my soul became wounded by human suffering”. He realized that the person himself is to blame for these sufferings, because "he does not look directly at the objects surrounding him." To achieve bliss, one must take away the veil that closes natural feelings. Everyone can become a partner in the bliss of his own kind, resisting delusions. “This is the thought that prompted me to draw what you will read”.

Monument to A. I. Radishchev in Moscow on the street. V. Radishchevskaya

The book sold out quickly. Her bold discussions about serfdom and other sad phenomena of the then public 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, persecution was raised against the author. Radishchev was arrested, his case was "entrusted" to the well-known 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 that were cited in Journey.

The Criminal Chamber applied to Radishchev the articles of the Code on the attempt on the sovereign's health, on conspiracies and treason, and sentenced him to death. The verdict, passed to the Senate and then to the Council, was approved in both instances and presented to Catherine.

Criticism of Pushkin, in addition to auto-censorship reasons (however, the publication was still not allowed by censorship) reflects the "enlightened conservatism" of the last years of the poet's life. At the same time, Pushkin sees in Radishchev, although a “criminal”, but, paradoxically, an “honest person” (honnête homme), “acting with amazing selflessness and with some kind of chivalrous conscience”, and in the drafts of the “Monument” in the same 1836 Pushkin wrote: “After Radishchev, I glorified freedom.”

Perception of Radishchev in the XIX-XX centuries.

The perception of Radishchev as the “first Russian revolutionary” (Lenin), the forerunner of the revolutionary struggle in Russia, was already reflected in the remarks of Catherine II on the margins of the Journey and was canonized in radical democratic discourse after the publication of the Journey in the London Free Russian Printing House A.I. Herzen (1858; before that, in the 1830s-1850s, the name of Radishchev was practically forgotten). After the revolution of 1917, such an idea of ​​​​Radishchev became official, he was seen primarily as a fighter against serfdom.

In the 1930s-1940s, under the editorship of Gr. Gukovsky, a three-volume Complete Works of Radishchev was carried out, where for the first time many new texts, including philosophical and legal ones, were published or attributed to the writer.

In the 1950s and 1960s, romantic hypotheses about the “hidden Radishchev” (G.P. Shtrom and others) arose, which were not confirmed by sources - that Radishchev continued, allegedly after the exile, to finalize the Journey and distribute the text in a narrow circle of like-minded people . At the same time, it is planned to abandon the straightforward propaganda approach to Radishchev, emphasizing the complexity of his views and the great humanistic significance of the individual (N. I. Eidelman and others).

In modern literature, the philosophical and journalistic sources of Radishchev - Masonic, moralizing and educational, etc. are studied, the multifaceted problems of his main book, which cannot be reduced to the struggle against serfdom, are emphasized.

Addresses in St. Petersburg

1775 - 06/30/1790 - Dirty street, 14.

Notes

Bibliography

• Radishchev A. N. Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. - St. Petersburg: b. i., 1790. - 453 p.
• Radishchev A. N. Complete works of A. Radishchev / Ed., entry. Art. and approx. V. V. Kallash. T. 1. - M.: V. M. Sablin, 1907. - 486 p.: p., The same T. 2. - 632 p.: ill.
• 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.
• Radishchev A. N. Poems / Entry. Art., ed. and note. G. A. Gukovsky. Ed. board: I. A. Gruzdev, V. P. Druzin, A. M. Egolin [and others]. - L.: Owls. writer, 1947. - 210 p.: p.
• Radishchev A. N. Selected works / Intro. Art. G. P. Makogonenko. - M.; L.: Goslitizdat, 1949. - 855 p.: P, k.
• Radishchev A. N. Favorites philosophical writings/ Under the general editorship. and with preface. I. Ya. Schipanova. - L.: Gospolitizdat, 1949. - 558 p.: p.
• Radishchev A. N. Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. 1749-1949 / Enter. article by D. D. Blagogoy. - M.; Leningrad: Goslitizdat, 1950. - 251 p.: ill.
• Radishchev A. N. Selected philosophical and socio-political works. [To the 150th anniversary of his death. 1802-1952] / Under the general. ed. and with enter. article by I. Ya. Shchipanov. - M.: Gospolitizdat, 1952. - 676 ​​p.: p.
• Radishchev A. N. Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow / [Enter. article by D. Blagoy]. - M.: Det. lit., 1970. - 239 p. The same - M.: Det. lit., 1971. - 239 p.

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

Links

• Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich in the library of Maxim Moshkov
• Vilk E. A."The Monster of Stozevno" and Typhon: "Journey ..." by A. N. Radishchev in the context of mystical literature of the 18th century // New Literary Review. - 2002. - N 3 (55). - S. 151-173.
• Kantor V. Where did the traveler come from and where did he go? : "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by A. N. Radishchev // Questions of Literature. - 2006. - N 4. - S. 83-138.
• Life of A. N. Radishchev Works, heritage, musical aesthetics
• Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich - Philosophical and sociological views. Biography

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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, rationalistic and empirical philosophy. After returning to Russia, he entered the service in the Senate, and later - in the Commerce Collegium. Radishchev actively participated in literary life: published a translation of the book by G.Mably Reflections on Greek History(1773), own literary works Word about Lomonosov (1780), Letters to a friend living in Tobolsk(1782), an ode liberty(1783), etc. Everything changed after the publication in 1790 Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Radishchev was arrested and declared a state criminal for his "blameless writings." The court sentenced him to death, replaced by exile "to Siberia, to the Ilim prison for a ten-year hopeless stay." In exile, Radishchev worked scientific research, wrote An abbreviated narrative of the acquisition of Siberia, Letter on Chinese Trade, philosophical treatise (1790–1792). In 1796, Emperor Paul I allowed Radishchev to return from Siberia and settle in 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 statute, Draft civil code and others), in which he substantiated the need to eliminate serf relations and civil reforms. Radishchev died in St. Petersburg on September 12 (24), 1802.

The philosophical views of Radishchev 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 on its own." 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 “besides corporeality”, man also takes his place, a being as corporeal as all nature. A person has a special role, he, according to Radishchev, is the highest manifestation of corporality, but at the same time is inextricably linked with the animal and plant world. “We do not humiliate man,” Radishchev argued, “by finding similarities in his composition with other creatures, showing that he essentially follows the same laws as him. And how else can it be? Isn't he real?

The fundamental difference between man and other living beings is that he has a mind, thanks to which he "has the power of knowing things." But an even more important difference lies in the ability of a person to moral actions and assessments. “Man is the only creature on earth who knows what is bad, evil”, “a special property of man is an unlimited opportunity to both improve and corrupt.” As a moralist, Radishchev did not accept the moral concept of "reasonable egoism", believing that it was by no means "selfishness" that was the source of the moral feeling: "man is a sympathetic being." Being a supporter of the idea of ​​“natural law” and always defending the idea of ​​the natural nature of man (“the rights of nature never dry up in man”), Radishchev at the same time did not share the opposition of society and nature, cultural and natural beginnings in man, outlined by Rousseau. For him, the social being of man is as natural as natural. In fact, there is no fundamental boundary between them: “Nature, people and things are the educators of man; climate, local position, government, circumstances are the educators of peoples. Criticizing the social vices of Russian reality, Radishchev defended the ideal of a normal “natural” way of life, seeing in the injustice reigning in society, in the literal sense, a social disease. He found such "diseases" not only in Russia. Thus, assessing the state of affairs in the slave-owning United States, he wrote that "a hundred proud citizens are drowning in luxury, and thousands do not have reliable food, nor their own from the heat and darkness of ukrov."

In the treatise About man, about his mortality and immortality Radishchev, considering metaphysical problems, remained true to his naturalistic humanism, recognizing the inseparability of the connection between the natural and spiritual principles in man, the unity of the body and soul: ? 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, already quite secularized, oriented towards the "naturalness" of the world order, but alien to theomachism and nihilism.

Origin

Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev 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 direct part in Radishchev's initial education. As was customary at that time, the child was taught Russian literacy according to the hour book 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 runaway soldier. Shortly after the opening of Moscow University, around 1756, his 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 tutor, a former adviser to the Rouen parliament, who fled from the persecution of 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 trained here under their guidance and passed, at least in part, the program of the gymnasium course.

In 1762, Radishchev was granted a page and went to St. Petersburg to study in the page corps. The page corps did not train scientists, but courtiers, and the pages were obliged to serve the empress at balls, in the theater, at ceremonial 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 the service of the Senate, as a recorder, with the rank of titular adviser. He did not serve long in the Senate: his poor knowledge of the Russian language interfered, the camaraderie of the clerks, and the rude treatment of his superiors weighed him down. Radishchev entered the headquarters of General-in-Chief 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 the service of the Commerce Collegium, later (in 1788) moving to the St. Petersburg customs.

Literary activity

Studying the Russian language and reading led Radishchev to his own literary experiments. First, he published a translation of Mably's "Reflections on Greek History" (1773), then began to compile the history of the Russian Senate, but destroyed the written one.

Radishchev's literary activity begins only in 1789, when he published "The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov with the addition of some of his writings." Taking advantage of the decree of Catherine II on free printing houses, Radishchev set up his own printing house at his home and in 1790 printed his “Letter to a friend living in Tobolsk, on duty of his rank” in it. Following him, Radishchev released his main work, "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow." The book begins with a dedication to Comrade Radishchev, A. M. Kutuzov, in which the author writes: “I looked around me - my soul became wounded by human suffering”. He realized that the person himself is to blame for these sufferings, because " he does not look directly at the objects around him". To achieve bliss, one must take away the veil that closes natural feelings. Everyone can become a partner in the bliss of his own kind, resisting delusions. “This is the thought that prompted me to draw what you will read”.

The book sold out quickly. Her bold discussions about serfdom and other sad phenomena of the then public 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, persecution was raised against the author. Radishchev was arrested, his case was "entrusted" to S. I. Sheshkovsky. Imprisoned in a fortress, during interrogations, Radishchev declared his repentance, refused his book, but at the same time, in his testimony, he often expressed the same views that were cited in Journey. The Criminal Chamber applied to Radishchev the articles of the Code on “ an attack on public 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.

Link

On September 4, 1790, a personal decree was passed, which found Radishchev guilty of a crime of oath and the position of a subject of publishing a book, “filled with the most harmful mentalities, destroying public peace, detracting from due respect for the authorities, striving to produce indignation among the people against the chiefs and bosses, and finally with 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 “by mercy and for everyone’s joy” the execution was replaced by a ten-year exile to Siberia, to the Ilimsk prison. Soon after his accession (1796), Emperor Paul I returned Radishchev from Siberia. Radishchev was ordered to live in 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 Petersburg and appointed a member of the commission to draw up laws. There is a legend about the circumstances of Radishchev's suicide: summoned to the commission to draw up laws, Radishchev drew up the "Draft Liberal Code", in which he spoke about the equality of all before the law, freedom of the press, etc. The chairman of the commission, Count P. V. Zavadovsky, made him a strict suggestion for his way of thinking, sternly reminding him of his former hobbies and even mentioning Siberia. Radishchev, a man with severely disturbed 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 an exhaustive explanation of the circumstances of Radishchev's death. The sons who were present at his death testified to a severe physical illness that struck Alexander Nikolayevich 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 epaulettes of his eldest son” (aqua regia). Burial documents speak of natural death. In the statement of the church of the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg on September 13, 1802, among the buried is indicated " collegiate adviser Alexander Radishchev; fifty-three years old, died of consumption”, during the removal was the priest Vasily Nalimov. A.P. Bogolyubov, of course, was aware of these circumstances, and he gives the name of his grandfather for Orthodox commemoration.

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

Address in St. Petersburg

perpetuation of memory

In Moscow there are Upper and Lower Radishchevskaya streets, on the Upper one 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 are named after Radishchev.

Pushkin on Radishchev

A special page in the perception of the personality and creativity of Radishchev by Russian society was the attitude of A.S. Pushkin. Acquainted with the "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 the author of this poem to be Radishchev the father). The Journey turned out to be in tune with the tyrannical and anti-serfdom moods of the young Pushkin. Despite the change in political positions, Pushkin remained interested in Radishchev in the 1830s, acquired a copy of the Journey, which was in the Secret Chancellery, sketched out Journey 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 Journey in his Sovremennik, accompanying them with the article Alexander Radishchev, his most detailed statement about. In addition to a bold attempt for the first time since 1790 to acquaint the Russian reader with a forbidden book, 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 general order, against autocracy, against Catherine! ... He has neither comrades nor accomplices. In case of failure - and what success can he expect? - he alone is responsible for everything, he alone appears to be a victim of the law. We never considered Radishchev a great man. His act always seemed to us a crime, in no way excusable, and "Journey to Moscow" a very mediocre book; but with all that, we cannot but recognize in him a criminal with an extraordinary spirit; a political fanatic, mistaken, of course, but acting with amazing selflessness and with some kind of chivalrous conscience....

"Journey to Moscow", the cause of his misfortune and fame, is, as we have already said, a very mediocre work, not to mention the barbaric style. Complaining about the unfortunate state of the people, about the violence of the nobles, etc. exaggerated and vulgar. The outbursts of sensibility, cutesy and puffed up, are sometimes extremely funny. We could confirm our judgment with many extracts. But the reader should open his book at random in order to ascertain the truth of what we have said.…

What was the purpose of Radishchev? What exactly did he want? It is unlikely that he himself could have answered these questions satisfactorily. His influence was negligible. Everyone has read his book and forgotten it, despite the fact that there are a few prudent thoughts in it, a few well-intentioned assumptions that had no need to be clothed in quarrelsome and pompous expressions and illegally stamped in secret printing presses, with an admixture of vulgar and criminal idle talk. . They would be of real benefit if presented with more sincerity and favor; for there is no persuasiveness in reproach, and there is no truth where there is no love" .

Criticism of Pushkin, in addition to auto-censorship 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 the "Monument" in the same 1836, Pushkin wrote: “Following Radishchev, I glorified freedom”.

Perception of Radishchev in the XIX-XX 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 Fine Arts Lovers, delivered in September 1802 and dedicated to the death of Radishchev, says about him:

« He loved truth and virtue. His fiery philanthropy longed to illuminate all his fellows with this unfading ray of eternity.».

N. M. Karamzin characterized Radishchev as an “honest person” (“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 the desire to study Radishchev's biography:

« With us, as a rule, a person is invisible behind the writer. In Radishchev, on the contrary: the writer is on the shoulder, and the man is his head higher».

With such a perception, of course, the article by A. S. Pushkin should also be correlated. And the assessment given in 1858 by A. I. Herzen when publishing his “Journey” in London (he puts Radishchev among “our saints, our prophets, our first sowers, the 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 of “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”, which was formed in the first decades of the 19 artwork but as a human feat. G. V. Plekhanov noticed that under the influence of Radishchev’s ideas “ the most significant social movements of the late XVIII - first third of XIX centuries» . It should be noted that during interrogations of the Decembrists, when the Investigative Committee, appointed by Emperor Nicholas I and led by him, raising the question " from what time and from where did they borrow the first free-thinking thoughts", I wanted to show the random nature of the Decembrists' speech, which allegedly arose under the influence of borrowed ideas - the Decembrists really called the names of the great French enlighteners, English economists, German philosophers, gave examples from the works the greatest thinkers ancient world, but the vast majority of them called, first of all, the name of Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev - so deeply into the consciousness of progressive Russian society did the freedom-loving, anti-serfdom ideas of Radishchev penetrate.

Until the 1970s, the opportunities for the general reader to get acquainted with the Journey were extremely limited. After in 1790 almost the entire circulation of Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow was destroyed by the author before his arrest, until 1905, when the censorship was lifted from this work, the total circulation of several of his publications hardly exceeded one and a half thousand copies. In 1905-1907, several editions were published, 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 cuts and scanty circulations by Soviet standards. Back in the 1960s, complaints from Soviet readers were known that it was impossible to get The Journey in a store or a district library. It wasn't until the 1970s that Journey began to be produced on a truly massive scale. In 1930-1950, under the editorship of Gr. Gukovsky, a three-volume "Complete Works of Radishchev" was carried out, where for the first time many new texts, including philosophical and legal ones, were published or attributed to the writer.

In the 1950s-1960s, romantic hypotheses about the “hidden Radishchev” (G.P. Shtrom and others) arose, which were not confirmed by the sources - that Radishchev continued, allegedly after the exile, to refine the Journey and distribute the text in a narrow circle of like-minded people. At the same time, it is planned to abandon the straightforward propaganda approach to Radishchev, emphasizing the complexity of his views and the great humanistic significance of the individual (N. I. Eidelman and others). In modern literature, the philosophical and journalistic sources of Radishchev are explored - Masonic, moralizing and educational, and others, the multilateral problems of his main book, which cannot be reduced to the struggle against serfdom, are emphasized.

Philosophical views

“The philosophical views of Radishchev 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 on its own." 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 “besides corporality”, man also takes his place, a being as corporeal as all nature. A person has a special role, he, according to Radishchev, is the highest manifestation of corporality, but at the same time is inextricably linked with the animal and plant world. “We do not humiliate man,” Radishchev asserted, “by finding similarities in his composition with other creatures, showing that he essentially follows the same laws as him. And how else can it be? Isn't he real?

The fundamental difference between man and other living beings is the presence of his mind, thanks to which he "has the power of things known." But an even more important difference lies in the ability of a person to moral actions and assessments. “Man is the only creature on earth who knows the evil, evil”, “a special property of man is an unlimited opportunity to both improve and corrupt.” As a moralist, Radishchev did not accept the moral concept of "reasonable egoism", believing that it is by no means "selfishness" that is the source of moral feeling: "man is a sympathetic being." Being a supporter of the idea of ​​“natural law” and always defending the idea of ​​the natural nature of man (“the rights of nature never dry up in man”), Radishchev at the same time did not share the opposition of society and nature, cultural and natural principles in man, outlined by Rousseau. For him, the social being of man is as natural as natural. According to the meaning of the case, there is no fundamental boundary between them: “Nature, people and things are the educators of man; climate, local position, government, circumstances are the educators of peoples. Criticizing the social vices of Russian reality, Radishchev defended the ideal of a normal “natural” way of life, seeing in the injustice reigning in society, in the literal sense, a social disease. He found such “diseases” not only in Russia. Thus, assessing the state of affairs in the slave-owning United States of America, he wrote that "a hundred proud citizens are drowning in luxury, and thousands do not have reliable food, nor their own shelter from the heat and scum (frost)". In the treatise “On Man, on His Mortality and Immortality”, Radishchev, considering metaphysical problems, remained true to his naturalistic humanism, recognizing the inseparability of the connection between the natural and spiritual principles in man, the unity of body and soul: “Does the soul grow with the body, not with it? does it grow manly and strong, does it wither and grow dull with it? 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 an atheist's position, but rather an agnostic, which fully corresponded to the general principles of his worldview, already quite secularized, oriented towards the "naturalness" of the world order, but alien to theomachism and nihilism.

Compositions

1. Radishchev A. N. Journey 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 preface by Iskander (A. I. Herzen). - London, Trubner, 1858.
3. Radishchev A. N. Works. In two volumes./Ed. P. A. Efremova. - SPb., 1872. (edition destroyed by censorship)
4. Radishchev A. N. Complete works of A. Radishchev / Ed., entry. 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 / Entry. Art., ed. and note. G. A. Gukovsky. Ed. collegium: I.A. Gruzdev, V.P. Druzin, A.M. Egolin [i dr.]. - L.: Owls. writer, 1947. - 210 p.: p.
7. Radishchev A. N. Selected works / Intro. Art. G. P. Makogonenko. - M.; L.: Goslitizdat, 1949. - 855 p.: P, k.
8. Radishchev A. N. Selected Philosophical Works / Ed. and with preface. I. Ya. Schipanova. - L.: Gospolitizdat, 1949. - 558 p.: p.
9. Radishchev A. N. Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. 1749-1949 / Enter. article by D. D. Blagogoy. - M.; Leningrad: 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 with enter. article by I. Ya. Shchipanov. - M.: Gospolitizdat, 1952. - 676 ​​p.: p.
11. Radishchev A. N. Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow / Enter. article by D. Blagogo. - 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 s, ill. Same. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - 1978. - 511 p., ill.

Notes

Date of birth: August 31, 1749
Date of death: September 24, 1802
Place of birth: Verkhnee Ablyazovo village, Saratov province

Alexander Radishchev- famous Russian writer, Radishchev A.N.- poet, lawmaker, lawyer and one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg customs. Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev was born on August 31, 1749 in the small village of Verkhnee Ablyazovo in the Saratov Province.

Childhood:

Nikolai Afanasyevich Radishchev, the writer's father, was a very wealthy landowner. The writer's mother, Thekla Savvichna Argamakova, was also of very high birth. Alexander himself was the oldest child in a large family, in which, besides him, there were 6 more boys and 4 girls. The Radishchevs were known for their very mild, almost liberal attitude towards their serfs. Alexander himself was brought up by the serf Pyotr Mamontov.

Education:

At the age of 7, Alexander was taken to Moscow, where he was home education in the house of relatives of the mother. Big house hosted the most different people among which were professors. The boy's tutor was a French Republican. As a teenager, he became a page under Empress Catherine II. The Arkamakovs assigned him to this position.

Although the page corps itself could not be called an excellent educational institution, it was there that Radishchev first got acquainted with the royal life and received a court education. His efforts in the new place did not go unnoticed and at the age of 17 he was sent to the University of Leipzig, where he received an excellent humanitarian and legal education, which became an excellent help in his subsequent work for the benefit of the state.

In 1771 he returned to the capital Russian Empire to take their place in the state apparatus of the country.

Service to the State:

Immediately upon his return from Germany, he received the rank of titular councilor and became an ordinary recorder in the Senate. This position did not at all correspond to his requirements, and therefore he left the service shortly after his appointment. Ya.A. took him under his wing. Bruce, appointing the governor-general of St. Petersburg to the headquarters.

Here Radishchev again faced the horrors of serfdom and resigned after only a few years. In 1778, Radishchev returned to the civil service, but now to the College of Commerce, ten years later he became the head of customs and successfully managed the department for several years.

Creation:

Throughout his life, Radishchev writes a lot, but his first success was "The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov", which he dedicated to his close friend who shared housing with him in Leipzig during his studies. After the release of the imperial decree on the permission of free printing houses, Radishchev opened his own printing house at home. It was from here that "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" was published, in which much was said about what serf Russia really is and how this affects the state.

This book has become very important point in the writer's life. It was not only a resounding success, but also the beginning of lengthy proceedings with the authorities. The Empress, of course, did not like the work of Radishchev. He was soon arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The trial itself was very short and ended with an unambiguous verdict: the death penalty. The Empress nevertheless did not put the imperial seal on the verdict, it was decided to send a successful state official and freethinker to Siberia, exile for ten years.

Personal life:

In 1775, Radishchev married Anna Vasilievna Rubanovskaya, who was the niece of friends from the University of Leipzig. She also became the reason for leaving public service. His wife gave him 4 children, but died during the next birth. The death of his beloved wife caused a long depression. For a long time, he and his family were carefully cared for by Native sister his wife, Elizaveta Vasilievna. Having become his support in difficult years, she was an excellent replacement for his wife and a reliable friend.

It was she who followed him to hard labor when Radishchev was exiled to Siberia. secular society was strongly against such an act, and Elizaveta Vasilievna was criticized by friends and relatives. However, this did not become an obstacle to an early marriage and the birth of three more children. Unfortunately, upon returning back to the Nemtsovo estate after the end of exile under Emperor Paul I, she died due to poor health.

Last years:

Radishchev was returned from exile by decree of Paul I. His correspondence was under control, but he could live in peace on the Nemtsovo estate. Under Alexander I and the beginning of a slightly more liberal policy of the state, he received complete freedom. Given his extensive experience in the field of jurisprudence and state structure, they invited him to the commission on lawmaking. The commission's career was short. He drew up a draft on equality before the law, looking back at liberal European views, for which he received the strictest reprimand from the authorities.

Death:

After leaving the commission, Radishchev died. The circumstances of his death are still being discussed by researchers. Some of his friends spoke of poor mental health after the loss of two wives and the difficult exile. Official version states that his death was the result of suicide. It is believed that the writer drank a glass of poison and died long and painfully. Documents of the Volokolamsk cemetery claim that the writer died of consumption.

An important achievement Radishchev was precisely "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow." The work opened the eyes of many contemporaries to how disgusting and stagnant the serfdom system itself is and how terrible Russia looks from the point of view of contemporary morality. In many ways, it was this work that brought the uprising closer to Senate Square.

Important milestones life of Nikolai Radishchev:

Born in 1749
- Moving to St. Petersburg to the Argamakovs in 1756
- Appointment to the pages of the Empress in 1762
- Trip to study at the University of Leipzig 1766-1771
- Appointment to the Senate as recorder in 1771
- Appointment to the headquarters of the St. Petersburg Governor-General in 1773
- Marriage to Anna Rubanovskaya in 1775 and leaving the civil service
- Appointment to the College of Commerce in 1778
- Death of his wife Anna Rubanovskaya in 1783
- Appointment to the post of head of the St. Petersburg customs in 1788
- Publication of "The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov" in 1789
- Publication of "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" in the home printing house, arrest, exile to Siberia in 1790
- Return from Siberia in 1796
- Restoration of all rights in 1801 and invitation to the legislative commission

Interesting facts from the biography of Nikolai Radishchev:

Catherine II wrote on the margins of "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow": "Rebel, worse than Pugachev."
- The book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" was sentenced to public burning; many foresaw this, handwritten copies were made, some of the books were secretly exported abroad
- Pushkin proposed to his cousin Radishchev's niece, but was refused.