Zavyalova O. O.

“The voice of a son of our fatherland”: P. A. Yurkevich-Litvinov and his letters to Alexander II in 1866  P. 16 –25.

UDC 94(47).081«1866»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2024.82.1.002

Abstract. The article introduces into scholarly circulation letters dated February 2 and 8 in 1866, addressed by a nobleman of the Raseiniai district of the Kovno Governorate, the publisher of the Narodny Golos newspaper Pyotr Antonovich Yurkevich-Litvinov, addressed to Russian Emperor Alexander II. The sources of the publication origin are currently stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Fund 109 (Third Department of His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery), in the file “Letters from the writer P. A. Yurkevich (Litvinov) to Alexander II and to the chief of gendarmes about the abuses of St. Petersburg officials, about his intention to publish the newspaper Voice of Truth of a Son of the Fatherland, about the need to open a People’s Theater in Kronstadt and information from the III Department about P. A. Yurkevich, with attached printed copy of the Project for the establishment of a permanent People’s Theater in Kronstadt.

These newly published letters draw attention to one of the most significant forms of objectification of social practices in the era of the Great Reforms — the desire of intellectuals to be heard by the top officials and to establish a direct dialogue with the autocratic government. With direct appeals to Emperor Alexander II, representatives of the Russian public hoped to overcome the distance between the authorities and educated society and get an opportunity to adjust certain aspects of government policy.

Yurkevich-Litvinov’s letters fitted the style of new civil discourse and testified to the “incredible relationship” established between the publicist and the monarch in 1866, as noted by many contemporaries. The views of the publicist, reflected in letters to the Emperor, corresponded to his ideological syncretism and adherence to the conservative-liberal value paradigm. The idea of monarchical power was a symbol of state unity, and national political traditions were combined with the recognition of need for further reform of the political and socio-economic foundations in the country.

 

Keywords: Russian Empire, Alexander II, Great Reforms, pro-Russian oriented public, P. A. Yurkevich-Litvinov, letters to authorities, public sphere.

 

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