- Boris Chicherin
Boris Nikolayevich Chicherin ( _ru. Борис Николаевич Чичерин,
May 26 ,1828 -February 3 ,1904 ) was aRussia n jurist and political philosopher, who worked out a theory that Russia needed a strong, authoritative government to persevere with liberal reforms. By the time of the Russian Revolution, Chicherin was probably the most reputable historian and philosopher in Russia. The Communists, however, did their best to obliterate his memory.Biography
Chicherin was born in
Tambov , where his noble ancestors had been residing for many centuries. In 1849, he matriculated from the law department of theMoscow University . On insisitence of Dr.Timofey Granovsky , he continued to work in the university as a professor of Russian law. Together with his friendKonstantin Kavelin , he penned a comprehensive program of Russianliberalism which was published byAlexander Herzen inLondon .Chicherin was a great champion of Alexander II's reforms of the 1860s, hailing them as "the best monument of Russian legislation". He published the "Regional Administration of 17th-century Russia" in 1856, followed by the treatise "On Popular Representation" 10 years later. Chicherin's mature works, imbued with
Hegel 's thought as they were, advocated theconstitutional monarchy as an ideal form of government forRussia .In 1868, Chicherin resigned his position at the university as a protest against government repressions and settled in his estate near
Tambov . It was here that he wrote several volumes of his bulky "History of Political Theories". Its magnificent literary style was acclaimed by such masters asIvan Turgenev andLeo Tolstoy .Later, Chicherin returned to
Moscow , where he was elected the citymayor in 1882. At that period, he supported Alexander's harsh measures inPoland and the tsar's struggle against radical revolutionaries. His speech at Alexander III's coronation in theKremlin was interpreted as too liberal, however, and he was forced to resign. He spent his last years writing 4 volumes of memoirs and some books onchemistry ,zoology , andgeometry .External links and references
*Hamburg, G. M. Boris Chicherin and Early Russian Liberalism, 1828-1866 (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1992). ISBN 0-8047-2053-3
* [http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/007/114/114015.htm Extensive entry in the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopaedia] (in Russian)
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