The Origins of Conservative Ideology in Russia

Abstract

The review is devoted to the analysis of the book “Romantics, Reformers, Reactionaries. Russian Conservative Thought and Politics in the Reign of Alexander I” by the famous American historian Alexander Martin dedicated to the history of Russian conservatism in the first quarter of the 19th century. The author explores the process of formation of conservative ideology in politics, Russian social thought, culture, and also reveals its origins, defines features that are distinctive from the liberal doctrine. Against the broad background of the political and cultural life of Russia at that time, the complex relationship of various systems of conservative ideology is shown. It is demonstrated that the religious conservatism of such prominent defenders of Catholicism and Orthodoxy as Mestre and Sturdza, the clash of their opposite positions, disputes about the historical fate and civilizational purpose of Christianity, as well as the romantic nationalism of A. S. Shishkov and S. N. Glinka and the noble conservatism of N. M. Karamzin and F. V. Rostopchin reflected the search for new forms of anti-revolutionary conservative worldview. The position of Alexander Martin is especially noteworthy in relation to the significant contribution of conservative thinkers of Alexander’s reign to the formation of state policy in the interests of Russia, the formation of the foundations of civil society, the development of national identity, Russian culture and language. The author comes to a reasonable conceptual conclusion that although the early conservatives did not develop a single ideology, they laid the foundation for various forms of Russian conservatism in the second quarter of the 19th — early 20th century.