Revolution - highest expression creative potential of the people. That is why in Gorodnya the traveler makes a direct appeal to the serfs to revolt. This call to rebellion is full of great joyful faith in the victory of the people, in the creation by their own forces of a new statehood, new culture, “decent people’s government.” These are the inspired words of the traveler: “Oh! If only the slaves, burdened with heavy bonds, furious in their despair, would smash with iron, preventing their liberties, our heads, the heads of their inhuman masters, and stain their fields with our blood! What would the state lose? Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe; but they would have other thoughts about themselves and would be deprived of the right of oppression.” In “Journey” and the ode “Liberty,” Radishchev soulfully revealed his dream about the future of the fatherland. He inspiredly painted before the reader a picture of the future life of a free people.
...The years of revolution will die down, and the people will create their own government. “Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe.” The interests of the people, concern for their welfare - that is what will be the subject of their attention. In this state the entire population will be free and everyone will work. The land will belong to those who work. Triumphant great spirit freedom, “creative like God,” transforms all aspects of life. Labor, a curse under corvée, will become joyful and creative. In the state of workers, says Radishchev, “labor is joy, sweat is sweat, which with its vitality produces meadows, fields, forests.” Poverty and misery will become an irrevocable past: free labor is the basis of economic wealth.
Believing in the revolution, Radishchev, based on studying the real conditions of contemporary Russia, firmly knew that the necessary circumstances did not yet exist, that the time had not yet come for a glorious victory. That is why, truly prophetically, he wrote in “Journey”: “This is not a dream, but the gaze penetrates the thick veil of time, hiding the future from our eyes; I see through a whole century.” Pushkin, who knew “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” well, rightly called it “a satirical appeal to indignation.” In his rebellious book, Radishchev ideologically comprehended the colossal experience of the people in their tireless centuries-old struggle for their freedom, and expressed faith in the inevitable victory of the Russian revolution. The writer's revolutionary beliefs determined his artistic innovation in depicting Russian life and the Russian people. That's why this book was needed by Russian people and freedom fighters and writers. By transforming the “travel” genre into a kind of educational novel, Radishchev accomplished artistic discovery. That is why many writers, and above all Pushkin and Gogol, appreciated and perceived Radishchev’s experience in their own way. In the novel "Eugene Onegin" a chapter "Onegin's Travels" appeared, which was supposed to play important role in the ideological revival of the main character of the novel. Plot " Dead souls"develops taking into account the experience of the "travel" genre.
Exiling Radishchev to the distant Siberian prison of Ilimsk, Catherine II was sure that he, unable to withstand the difficult journey, would die along the way. This would have happened if not for the intervention of Radishchev’s friend Count A.R. Vorontsov. He got the empress to order that the shackles be removed from the condemned man, and then sent his messenger along the route with letters to the governors asking them to create tolerable conditions for Radishchev’s movement and life at the place of exile, promising them their protection in return. In November 1796, Catherine II died, and her son Paul began to reign. He changed Radishchev's place of exile - from Ilimsk he was transferred near Moscow, to his father's village of Nemtsovo, where he lived until 1801. The new emperor, Alexander I, upon ascending the throne, promised society the creation of new laws. He declared a political amnesty, released Radishchev, summoned him to St. Petersburg and appointed him, on the recommendation of A.R. Vorontsov, who came into force, to the Commission for drawing up new laws. Returning to the capital, Radishchev set to work with renewed energy. But he soon saw that Alexander's promises were lies. For trying to defend his opinion in the commission, he was threatened with a new exile. But neither threats nor persecution broke the sick Radishchev. Not wanting to come to terms, he decided to commit suicide. At 9 o'clock in the morning on September 11, 1802, he drank a glass of strong poison - nitric acid. On the night of September 13, Radishchev died in severe agony.
The autocracy imposed a ban on the name of Radishchev and on his revolutionary works - the ode “Liberty” and “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” But despite this, they were widely published in lists and were known to many readers. Already in the 1790s, handwritten copies of the Travels began to appear. New lists were created and distributed especially intensively in the first half of the 19th century. Apparently there were several hundred such lists in circulation. More than 60 “Travel” lists have reached us.
Advanced public figures and writers have repeatedly tried to republish the Journey or reprint some chapters. In 1805, the chapter “Wedge” was reprinted in the journal Severny Vestnik. In 1806-1811, Radishchev’s sons published the Collected Works of their father in six volumes, but without “Liberty” and “Travel,” which were banned by censorship. Pushkin knew Radishchev’s works very well and had his own copy of “Travel.” In 1817, following Radishchev’s ode “Liberty,” he wrote his ode “Liberty.” In 1833-35 he wrote “A Journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg,” including large excerpts from Radishchev’s “Journey” in his book. In 1836, in the poem “Monument,” he included a stanza that openly stated that he was following the path paved by Radishchev:
* And for a long time I will be so kind to the people,
* That I have found new sounds for songs,
* That, following Radishchev, I glorified freedom
* And he sang mercy.
The Russian revolutionary public did not achieve the right to publish Oadishchev’s work in Russia. Then Herzen published “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” in London (1858). During the second half of the 19th century centuries in Russia, attempts were made again and again to publish the forbidden book. Finally, in 1868, the ban on its publication was formally lifted. But practically the situation has not changed. In the same 1868, the merchant Shigin published “Journey,” but it was allowed to be released only because it was hideously distorted - the weight of the page was removed from the book, where autocratic power and serfdom were denounced, all the revolutionary judgments of the author. In 1888, Suvorin published “Journey” in 100 copies. Permission was given only due to the insignificant circulation. A year later, also in a small print run, “The Journey” was published as part of Volume V of A. E. Burtsev’s publication “Additional Description of Bibliographically Rare, Artistically Remarkable Books and Precious Manuscripts.”
Only the revolution of 1905 finally lifted the ban on the rebellious book. In the same year, the complete edition of Radishchev’s “Travel” was published. Since then, it has been published many times - both separately and as part of the Collected Works of Radishchev.
...The time when Radishchev lived became distant history. But the memory of him is alive - a courageous man and thinker, a prophet and martyr of the revolution. The memory of the heart of a free and grateful people is alive and immortal.
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A book is a whole world for one person, but for another it is just a useless thing lying on a shelf. Since childhood, our mothers have read fairy tales to us, showing pictures and pronouncing each word. Then we grow up and begin to read ourselves, syllable by syllable, stuttering. Each book lives its own life, each with its own main characters and plot, and perhaps educational information. How are books useful? - A rhetorical question that may not be answered, but we will try. How would they know about Ivan the Fool and you?
MITROFANUSHKA - the hero of the comedy D.I. Fonvizin “Nedorosl” (1781), a sixteen-year-old teenager (minor), the only son of Mrs. Prostakova, his mother’s darling and the favorite of the servants. M. how literary type was not Fonvizin's discovery. Russian literature of the late 18th century. knew and portrayed such teenagers, living freely in rich parental homes and barely able to read and write at the age of sixteen. Fonvizin endowed this traditional figure of noble life (especially provincial) with the generic traits of a simpleton
M. Yu. Lermontov is a poet of the generation of the 30s of the 19th century. “It is obvious,” Belinsky wrote, “that Lermontov is a poet of a completely different era and that his poetry is a completely new link in the chain historical development our society." The era of timelessness, political reaction after the Decembrist uprising in 1825, disappointment in previous ideals gave birth to such a poet as M. Yu. Lermontov, a poet who, with his main theme I chose the theme of loneliness. And this theme runs through all of Lermontov’s work: with extraordinary
Probably no one can refute the thesis that the young are the future. Moreover, such a statement will be important for any era or political system. Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky understood well that it was young people who would be able to preserve all the gains of his time, which means they needed the right, ideologically verified words. Guided, among other things, by this idea, as well as on the occasion of the tenth anniversary October Revolution, Mayakovsky writes his poem “To Our Youth”, and
However, what is new in Radishchev’s views is not the theory of progress, but the theory of revolution; what is new is that history for him is no longer just a collection of illustrations and examples, as it was for the enlighteners. He is trying to establish a connection between historical events, find the reasons for their occurrence in the conditions of people’s material life.
Radishchev's interest in history and attempts to comprehend the laws of historical development were determined by the desire to prove the inevitability of revolutionary upheavals, which alone bring humanity the triumph of freedom and justice. Hence the desire to abandon general, abstract reasoning and get closer to real facts historical reality. “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” first of all set the task of clarifying the political, economic and legal situation of the Russian state and people in order to prove, using concrete material of modern Russian life, the crime of autocracy and serfdom, the inevitable onset of a revolutionary coup. It was this concreteness of thinking that made it possible to raise the question of scientific foresight. Based on the study of Russian life, Radishchev concluded that it was the “severity of enslavement” that would push the peasantry to revolt, that this revolution would bring freedom to the people, establish a republic of workers, and sweep away autocracy and oppression from the face of the earth.
In “Travel” and the ode “Liberty,” Radishchev outlined a heartfelt and dear dream about the future of the Russian people, carried in his heart for for many years struggle. He inspiredly painted before the reader a picture of the future life of a free people.
The years of revolution will pass, and the people will create their government from among the free. “Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe.” The interests of the people, concern for their welfare - this is what will be the subject of their attention in their daily work. In this state the population will be free. All citizens will be required to work. The land will be distributed to the people for their possession. New laws adopted by the people's government will operate in society, which are designed to regulate not only the economic relations of workers, but also to educate them, pursuing the benefit and interest of millions.
The great spirit of freedom, “creative like God,” which has triumphed in the society of workers, will transform all aspects of the lives of workers. Labor, which was a curse under corvée, becomes joyful and creative. In the state of workers, says Radishchev, “work-fun, sweat-dew, which produces meadows, fields, forests with its vitality.” The final liberation from poverty and destitution - free labor, the basis of growing economic wealth - will become a real possibility. If under serfdom “the land is like a stepmother”, “it gives meager bribes to slaves”, then in the state of free workers
The spirit of freedom warms the field,
Tearslessly the field instantly becomes fat,
Everyone sows to himself and reaps to himself.
The old humiliation will end. The worker will be able to live freely and in contentment. No one will dare to encroach on his work, his family, his independence; his people’s government will be his faithful defense. Living in contentment, the people will pay much attention to education and the arts, and then the sciences, arts and “handicrafts raised to the highest degree of perfection” will flourish. The basis of public education will be the principle of comprehensive education of the mind, feelings and body, but the main attention will be paid to instilling in every free worker a sense of love for the fatherland and civic virtue, love of work and freedom.
Devotion popular interests, the expression of the will and spirit of the people, Radishchev’s genius allowed him to dream so boldly and confidently under the conditions of the serfdom regime about the advent of this happy future. Radishchev at the same time, based on a study of real conditions modern Russia knew something else too. “It is not this dream, not the gaze that pierces the thick veil of time, hiding the future from our eyes; I see through a whole century.” The possibility of this kind of guesswork can only be possible for a person trying to think historically and explain the phenomena of reality.
According to Belinsky, it was in the 18th century, in the very its beginning, in the era of Peter the Great, Russia became one of the those states, together with which she began to “hold the fate of the world on the scales of her power.”
The following decades further strengthened this place and position of Russia in the system of states of the world; not a single major event of the century, no matter how far from Russia the geographical location of its occurrence, took place outside the direct or indirect participation of Russia, outside the influence of Russian politics. This, in turn, could not help but determine the peculiarity of the development of Russian culture.
Leading Russian figures who took upon themselves the function of leading the cause of education treated the culture of the world in a businesslike manner. Getting acquainted with the ideological wealth of the past and present of the advanced countries of Europe, they knew how to pay tribute to the results achieved and reject, condemn sharply and categorically what could harm the Russian liberation movement, the cause of the struggle against the feudal-autocratic state.
The time when the historical experience of other peoples and, above all, the experience of the socio-political, liberation struggle, came to Russia in an indirect form, that is, in the form of ready-made political, sociological and philosophical teachings, has irrevocably ended. A new era was dawning—the Russian people put forward a thinker of such caliber as Radishchev, who independently studied, comprehended, and theoretically formulated this experience. At the same time, the revolutionary struggle of the peoples of the world was always and invariably formulated and generalized from the standpoint of the practical needs of the Russian liberation movement, from the heights of the achievements and experience of the Russian historical process. Thus, Russian democratic culture, Russian revolutionary thought acquired a world-historical character.
Radishchev, an encyclopedic educated, independent and inquisitive thinker who showed extraordinary political sensitivity to the greatest events of the century, was closely connected with the intellectual and social life world, which was certainly facilitated by Russia’s position in international affairs, turned out to be precisely the person who made a new contribution, entered new page in the history of advanced philosophical and political thought of the era of enlightenment of the 18th century, laying the foundation for the Russian revolutionary movement, he became the first Russian revolutionary.
Facts indicate that Radishchev worked in Russia in an environment of exceptional political activity of society, that the flow of events put him forward with his “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” as an ideological leader and leader, as an exponent of the revolutionary aspirations of the people. His rebellious book is therefore not only a wonderful monument to personal courage and heroism. This is a document that testifies to the formation of an independent, advanced philosophical and political worldview in Russian society.
IN literary activity Radishchev’s attention is drawn to one extraordinary circumstance. Working long and hard for nine years, creating one work after another, he does not publish them. He began publishing long-completed works only in 1789. Consecutively, one after another, “Conversation about what is the son of the fatherland?”, “Life of F.V. Ushakov”, “Letter to a friend living in Tobolsk”, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” are published. At first glance, this seems incomprehensible: the person sought
Revolution is the highest expression of the creative potential of the people. That is why in Gorodnya the traveler makes a direct appeal to the serfs to revolt. This call to rebellion is full of great joyful faith in the victory of the people, in the creation by their own efforts of a new statehood, a new culture, “decent people’s rule.” These are the inspired words of the traveler: “Oh! If only the slaves, burdened with heavy bonds, furious in their despair, would break our heads, the heads of their inhuman masters, and stain their fields with our blood! What would the state lose? Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe; but they would have other thoughts about themselves and would be deprived of the right of oppression.” In “Journey” and the ode “Liberty,” Radishchev soulfully revealed his dream about the future of the fatherland. He inspiredly painted before the reader a picture of the future life of a free people. ...The years of revolution will die down, and the people will create their own government. “Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe.” The interests of the people, concern for their welfare - that is what will be the subject of their attention. In this state the entire population will be free and everyone will work. The land will belong to those who work. The triumphant great spirit of freedom, “creative like God,” transforms all aspects of life. Labor, a curse under corvée, will become joyful and creative. In the state of workers, says Radishchev, “labor is joy, sweat is sweat, which with its vitality produces meadows, fields, forests.” Poverty and misery will become an irrevocable past: free labor is the basis of economic wealth. Believing in the revolution, Radishchev, based on studying the real conditions of contemporary Russia, firmly knew that the necessary circumstances did not yet exist, that the time had not yet come for a glorious victory. That is why, truly prophetically, he wrote in “Journey”: “This is not a dream, but the gaze penetrates the thick veil of time, hiding the future from our eyes; I see through a whole century.” Pushkin, who knew “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” well, rightly called it “a satirical appeal to indignation.” In his rebellious book, Radishchev ideologically comprehended the colossal experience of the people in their tireless centuries-old struggle for their freedom, and expressed faith in the inevitable victory of the Russian revolution. The writer's revolutionary beliefs determined his artistic innovation in depicting Russian life and the Russian people. That's why this book was needed by Russian people and freedom fighters and writers. By transforming the “travel” genre into a kind of educational novel, Radishchev made an artistic discovery. That is why many writers, and above all Pushkin and Gogol, appreciated and perceived Radishchev’s experience in their own way. In the novel “Eugene Onegin” a chapter “Onegin’s Travels” appeared, which was supposed to play an important role in the ideological revival of the main character of the novel. The plot of “Dead Souls” develops taking into account the experience of the “travel” genre. Exiling Radishchev to the distant Siberian prison of Ilimsk, Catherine II was sure that he, unable to withstand the difficult journey, would die along the way. This would have happened if not for the intervention of Radishchev’s friend Count A.R. Vorontsov. He got the empress to order that the shackles be removed from the condemned man, and then sent his messenger along the route with letters to the governors asking them to create tolerable conditions for Radishchev’s movement and life at the place of exile, promising them their protection in return. In November 1796, Catherine II died, and her son Paul began to reign. He changed Radishchev's place of exile - from Ilimsk he was transferred near Moscow, to his father's village of Nemtsovo, where he lived until 1801. The new emperor, Alexander I, upon ascending the throne, promised society the creation of new laws. He declared a political amnesty, released Radishchev, summoned him to St. Petersburg and appointed him, on the recommendation of A.R. Vorontsov, who came into force, to the Commission for drawing up new laws. Returning to the capital, Radishchev set to work with renewed energy. But he soon saw that Alexander's promises were lies. For trying to defend his opinion in the commission, he was threatened with a new exile. But neither threats nor persecution broke the sick Radishchev. Not wanting to come to terms, he decided to commit suicide. At 9 o'clock in the morning on September 11, 1802, he drank a glass of strong poison - nitric acid. On the night of September 13, Radishchev died in severe agony. The autocracy imposed a ban on the name of Radishchev and on his revolutionary works - the ode “Liberty” and “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” But despite this, they were widely used in lists and were known to many readers. Already in the 1790s, handwritten copies of the Travels began to appear. New lists were created and distributed especially intensively in the first half of the 19th century. Apparently there were several hundred such lists in circulation. More than 60 “Travel” lists have reached us. Progressive public figures and writers have repeatedly tried to republish “The Journey” or reprint some chapters. In 1805, the chapter “Wedge” was reprinted in the Severny Vestnik magazine. In 1806-1811, Radishchev’s sons published the Collected Works of their father in six volumes, but without “Liberty” and “Travel,” which were banned by censorship. Pushkin knew Radishchev’s works very well and had his own copy of “Travel.” In 1817, following Radishchev’s ode “Liberty,” he wrote his ode “Liberty.” In 1833-35 he wrote “A Journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg,” including large excerpts from Radishchev’s “Journey” in his book. In 1836, in the poem “Monument” he included a stanza in which it was openly stated that he was following the path paved by Radishchev: * And for a long time I will be so kind to the people, * That I have found new sounds for songs, * That following Radishchev I glorified freedom * And I sang mercy. The Russian revolutionary public did not achieve the right to publish Oadishchev’s work in Russia. Then Herzen published “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” in London (1858). During the second half of the 19th century, attempts were made again and again in Russia to publish the forbidden book. Finally, in 1868, the ban on its publication was formally lifted. But practically the situation has not changed. In the same 1868, the merchant Shigin published “Journey,” but it was allowed to be released only because it was hideously distorted - the weight of the page was removed from the book, where autocratic power and serfdom were exposed, all the revolutionary judgments of the author. In 1888, Suvorin published “Travel” in 100 copies. Permission was given only due to the insignificant circulation. A year later, also in a small print run, “The Journey” was published as part of Volume V of A. E. Burtsev’s publication “Additional Description of Bibliographically Rare, Artistically Remarkable Books and Precious Manuscripts.” Only the revolution of 1905 finally lifted the ban on the rebellious book. In the same year, the complete edition of Radishchev’s “Travel” was published. Since then, it has been published many times - both separately and as part of the Collected Works of Radishchev. ...The time when Radishchev lived became distant history. But the memory of him is alive - a courageous man and thinker, a prophet and martyr of the revolution. The memory of the heart of a free and grateful people is alive and immortal.
Firmness in enterprises and tirelessness in execution are the essence of the qualities that distinguish the Russian people. O people, born to greatness and glory! If they are turned to you, they will be used to gain everything that public bliss can accomplish!
From the “Abridged Narrative of the Acquisition of Siberia”
ABOUT! if, burdened with heavy bonds, wrathful in their despair, they would break with iron, preventing their liberties, our heads, the heads of their inhuman masters, and stain their fields with our blood! What would the state lose? Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe; but they would be deprived of other thoughts about themselves and the right of oppression. But this dream, but the gaze pierces the thick veil of time, hiding the future from our eyes; I see through a whole century.
From “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” 1789
From the depths of a huge ruin,
Among the lights of bloody rivers,
In the midst of famine, atrocities, dark plagues,
That the fierce spirit of the authorities kindled-
Small luminaries will appear;
Their feeders are unshakable
Decorate friendship with a crown
The boat will be directed for the benefit of everyone
And the predatory wolf will be crushed,
What the blind man honored as his father.
From the ODE “Liberty”, 1781 -1783
Additional essays
Revolution- the highest expression of the creative potential of the people. That is why in Gorodnya the traveler makes a direct appeal to the serfs to revolt. This call to rebellion is full of great joyful faith in the victory of the people, in the creation by their own efforts of a new statehood, a new culture, “decent people’s rule.” These are the inspired words of the traveler: “Oh! If only the slaves, burdened with heavy bonds, furious in their despair, would smash with iron, preventing their liberties, our heads, the heads of their inhuman masters, and stain their fields with our blood! What would the state lose? Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe; but they would have other thoughts about themselves and would be deprived of the right of oppression.” In “Journey” and the ode “Liberty,” Radishchev soulfully revealed his dream about the future of the fatherland. He inspiredly painted before the reader a picture of the future life of a free people.
...The years of revolution will fade away, and the people will create their own government. “Soon great men would be torn from their midst to defend the beaten tribe.” The interests of the people, concern for their welfare - that is what will be the subject of their attention. In this state the entire population will be free and everyone will work. The land will belong to those who work. The triumphant great spirit of freedom, “creative like God,” transforms all aspects of life. Labor, a curse under corvée, will become joyful and creative. In the state of workers, says Radishchev, “labor is joy, sweat is sweat, which with its vitality produces meadows, fields, forests.” Poverty and misery will become an irrevocable past: free labor is the basis of economic wealth.
Believing in revolution, Radishchev, based on studying the real conditions of contemporary Russia, firmly knew that the necessary circumstances did not yet exist, that the time had not yet come for a glorious victory. That is why, truly prophetically, he wrote in “Journey”: “This is not a dream, but the gaze penetrates the thick veil of time, hiding the future from our eyes; I see through a whole century.” Pushkin, who knew “” well, rightly called it “a satirical appeal to indignation.” In his rebellious book, Radishchev ideologically comprehended the colossal experience of the people in their tireless centuries-old struggle for their freedom, and expressed faith in the inevitable victory of the Russian revolution. The writer's revolutionary beliefs determined his artistic innovation in depicting Russian life and the Russian people. That's why the Russian people and freedom fighters and writers needed this one. By transforming the “travel” genre into a kind of educational novel, Radishchev made an artistic discovery. That is why many, and above all Pushkin and Gogol, appreciated and accepted Radishchev’s experience in their own way. In the novel “Eugene Onegin” a chapter “Onegin’s Travels” appeared, which was supposed to play an important role in the ideological revival of the main character of the novel. The plot of “Dead Souls” develops taking into account the experience of the “travel” genre.
Exiling Radishchev to the distant Siberian fort of Ilimsk, Catherine II was sure that he, unable to withstand the difficult journey, would die on the way. This would have happened if not for the intervention of Radishchev’s friend Count A.R. Vorontsov. He got the empress to order that the shackles be removed from the condemned man, and then sent his messenger along the route with letters to the governors asking them to create tolerable conditions for Radishchev’s movement and life at the place of exile, promising them their protection in return. In November 1796, Catherine II died, and her son Paul began to reign. He changed Radishchev's place of exile - from Ilimsk he was transferred near Moscow, to his father's village of Nemtsovo, where he lived until 1801. The new emperor, Alexander I, upon ascending the throne, promised society the creation of new laws. He declared a political amnesty, released Radishchev, summoned him to St. Petersburg and appointed him, on the recommendation of A.R. Vorontsov, who came into force, to the Commission for drawing up new laws. Returning to the capital, Radishchev set to work with renewed energy. But he soon saw that Alexander's promises were lies. For trying to defend his opinion in the commission, he was threatened with a new exile. But neither threats nor persecution broke the sick Radishchev. Not wanting to come to terms, he decided to commit suicide. At 9 o'clock in the morning on September 11, 1802, he drank a glass of strong poison - nitric acid. On the night of September 13, Radishchev died in severe agony.
Autocracy imposed a ban on the name of Radishchev and on his revolutionary odes “Liberty” and “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” But despite this, they were widely used in lists and were known to many readers. Already in the 1790s, handwritten copies of the Travels began to appear. New lists were created and distributed especially intensively in the first half of the 19th century. Apparently there were several hundred such lists in circulation. More than 60 “Travel” lists have reached us.
Advanced public figures and writers have repeatedly tried to republish “The Journey” or reprint some chapters. In 1805, the chapter “Wedge” was reprinted in the journal Severny Vestnik. In 1806-1811, Radishchev’s sons published the Collected Works of their father in six volumes, but without “Liberty” and “Travel,” which were banned by censorship. Pushkin knew Radishchev’s works very well and had his own copy of “Travel.” In 1817, following Radishchev’s ode “Liberty,” he wrote his ode “Liberty.” In 1833-35 he wrote “A Journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg,” including large excerpts from Radishchev’s “Journey” in his book. In 1836, in “Monument” he included a stanza in which it was openly stated that he was following the path paved by Radishchev:
- And for a long time I will be so kind to the people,
- That I have found new sounds for songs,
- That, following Radishchev, I glorified freedom
- And he sang.
The Russian revolutionary public did not achieve the right to publish Oadishchev’s work in Russia. Then Herzen published “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” in London (1858). During the second half of the 19th century, attempts were made again and again in Russia to publish the forbidden book. Finally, in 1868, the ban on its publication was formally lifted. But practically the situation has not changed. In the same 1868, the merchant Shigin published “Journey,” but it was allowed to be released only because it was hideously distorted - the weight of the page was removed from the book, where autocratic power and serfdom were exposed, all the revolutionary judgments of the author. In 1888, Suvorin published “Travel” in 100 copies. Permission was given only due to the insignificant circulation. A year later, also in a small print run, “The Journey” was published as part of Volume V of A. E. Burtsev’s publication “Additional Description of Bibliographically Rare, Artistically Remarkable Books and Precious Manuscripts.”
Only revolution 1905 finally lifted the ban on the rebellious book. In the same year, the complete edition of Radishchev’s “Travel” was published. Since then, it has been published many times - both separately and as part of the Collected Works of Radishchev.
...distant history came the time when Radishchev lived. But the memory of him is alive - a courageous man and thinker, a prophet and martyr of the revolution. The memory of the heart of a free and grateful people is alive and immortal.
