“Vestnik Evropy” in 1870s: the program of Russia’s modernization

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Galina S. Lapshina

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Chair of History of Russian Journalism and Literature, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: gslapshina@gmail.com

Section: History of Journalism

The article is devoted to the ways of correlating the actual problem of Russia’s modernization with the past experience of Alexander's II reforms carried out in 1870-s when the press actively participated in public discussion of the reforms. Materials of liberal magazine “The Herald of Europe” are the valuable historical source reflecting the essence of transformations, the character of modernization and the connection between the process and progressive intellectuals who supported the reformist way of country’s development. According to modern terminology it is possible to assert that, publicists of magazine tried to promote development of organic modernization as they lived in the country that followed a catching up type modernization and estimated the revolutionary option as a successful experience of the past that was possible in their times.

Keywords: modernization, Alexander’s II reforms, constitutional monarchy, parliamentarianism, European civilization