''Vestnik Evropy'' (russian: Вестник Европы) (''Herald of Europe'' or ''Messenger of Europe'') was the major
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
magazine of late-nineteenth-century Russia. It was published from 1866 to 1918.
The magazine (named for an earlier publication edited by
Nikolay Karamzin
Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (russian: Николай Михайлович Карамзин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kərɐmˈzʲin; ) was a Russian Imperial historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for ...
) was founded by
Mikhail Matveevich Stasyulevich, a former professor of history, who remained the publisher-editor until 1909; its editorial office "was located in Stasyulevich's flat at 20 Galernaya Street and was one of the centres of St. Petersburg's cultural and political life (the journal's major contributors as well as their friends and associates used to get together on Wednesdays)."
[Saint Petersburg Encyclopedia entry](_blank)
The first issue appeared in March 1866; for the first two years it was a historical quarterly, but from 1868 it covered history, politics, and literature and came out each month. "The journal always had a serious, objective, professorial character; even in the most heated polemics, for example, it shunned harsh invective and often even avoided naming its adversary." It consistently supported the
zemstvo
A ''zemstvo'' ( rus, земство, p=ˈzʲɛmstvə, plural ''zemstva'' – rus, земства) was an institution of local government set up during the great emancipation reform of 1861 carried out in Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexander ...
s,
judicial reforms, and other reforms of the 1860s, publishing frequent articles on foreign countries and on Russian history that served to promote its own views on contemporary society and politics. It "placed its dark red monthly booklet, 'like a little brick, on the slowly and arduously erected structure of social rights and consciousness.'"
During the heated ideological struggles of the 1870s and 1880s, the magazine tried to steer a course between moderate reformism and the kind of revolutionary socialism it consistently opposed; Leonid-Lyudvig Slonimsky, a frequent contributor on economic and political topics, wrote a regular "Foreign Survey" which he used "to sketch the outlines of an ideal relationship between liberals and socialists in Russia’s not-too-distant parliamentary future, which involved one group supplementing its program with demands for social reforms and the other abandoning its calls for revolution." In the 1880s, it repudiated state socialism "as a matter of principle, while continuing to build on the arguments in favor of state interference, which it saw
as guaranteeing the people’s welfare"; it also "rejected both the absolutization of the right to private ownership of land and the idea that the land should be nationalized."
[Kitaev, "The Unique Liberalism of ''Vestnik Evropy''," p. 58.]
Following the
1905 Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, many of its members joined the
Constitutional Democratic Party
)
, newspaper = ''Rech''
, ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism
, position = Centre to centre-left
, international =
, colours ...
,
which separated the journal more and more from the radical movement, and in the spring of 1918 its publication was suppressed by the Soviet authorities (the last issue was March 1918).
Among its contributors over the years were the scientists
Kliment Timiryazev
Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev (russian: Климент Аркадьевич Тимирязев, surname sometimes transliterated as Timiriazev; – 28 April 1920) was a Russian Imperial botanist and physiologist and a major proponent of the ...
,
Ivan Sechenov
Doctor Ivan Mikhaylovich Sechenov (russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Се́ченов; , Tyoply Stan (now Sechenovo) near Simbirsk, Russia – , Moscow), was a Russian psychologist, physiologist, and medical scientist.
The very fa ...
, and
Ilya Mechnikov
Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́, Il'ja, , or russian: Илия́, Ilija, ; uk, Ілля́, Illia, ; be, Ілья́, Iĺja ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/Jah." ...
; the historians
Sergey Solovyov,
Konstantin Kavelin
Konstantin Dmitrievich Kavelin (russian: Константи́н Дми́триевич Каве́лин; November 4, 1818 – May 5, 1885) was a Russian historian, jurist, and sociologist, sometimes called the chief architect of early Russian libe ...
, and
Tadeusz Zielinski; the literary scholars
Alexander Veselovsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Veselovsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Весело́вский) ( in Moscow – in St. Petersburg) was a leading Russian literary theorist who laid the groundwork for comparative literary studi ...
and
Alexander Pypin; and the writers
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...
,
Ivan Goncharov
Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (, also ; rus, Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в, r=Iván Aleksándrovich Goncharóv, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡənʲtɕɪˈrof; – ) was a Russian novelist best known for his ...
,
Aleksandr Ostrovsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Остро́вский; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 origina ...
,
Grigory Danilevsky
Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky (russian: Григо́рий Петро́вич Даниле́вский; – ) was a Russian historical novelist, and Privy Councillor of Russia. Danilevsky is well known as the author of the novel ''Beglye v Nov ...
, and
Vladimir Solovyov, among many others.
References
Sources
* Fedyashin, Anton A. ''
Liberals under Autocracy: Modernization and Civil Society in Russia, 1866-1904'' (2012), full scale scholarly history
excerptSaint Petersburg Encyclopedia entry* Effie Ambler, ''Russian Journalism and Politics: The Career of Aleksei S. Suvorin, 1861-1881'', Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1972 ({{ISBN, 0814314619).
* V. A. Kitaev,
The Unique Liberalism of ''Vestnik Evropy'' (1870-1890)" ''Russian Studies in History'' 46 (2007):43-61.
1866 establishments in the Russian Empire
1918 disestablishments in Russia
Defunct literary magazines published in Europe
Defunct magazines published in Russia
Liberalism in Russia
Magazines established in 1866
Magazines disestablished in 1918
Magazines published in Saint Petersburg
Literary magazines published in Russia
Russian-language magazines
Monthly magazines published in Russia