The Presidential Library’s materials illustrate Alexander Radishchev’s life and career

August 31, 2020 marks the 271th anniversary of the birth of this Russian writer. The extensive collection on the Presidential Library’s portal is dedicated to Alexander Radishchev, including scientific research, numerous documents of that era, his own prose and poetic works, for example, a photolithographic reproduction of the first lifetime edition of Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1790, The Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov... (1789) and other works.

Alexander Radishchev was born in the village of Verkhny Ablyazov (now the village of Radishchevo, Kuznetsk district of Penza region). He was the first of 11 children of a wealthy nobleman, the son of the orderly Peter I, a brilliantly educated man who knew Latin, German, French, and Polish, and by the end of his life he had collected an extensive library. Mother came from an old noble family that belonged to the advanced Russian intelligentsia.

Blagoy tells about Alexander's education: “The boy Radishchev was taught to read the same by his uncle Peter Suma. When the boy was six years old, a French governor was hired for him, who later turned out to be a fugitive soldier. To continue his education, the parents sent their son to Moscow to his uncle M. F. Argamakov, who was related to the director of the newly opened Moscow University. Radishchev was brought up and studied with the children of the Argamakovs. Their governor was a Frenchman, a staunch republican... Lessons were given by the best professors of the university. Soon after the palace coup of 1762, which elevated Catherine II to the throne, Radishchev was enrolled in a privileged noble educational institution - the St. Petersburg Corps of Pages. Here they taught not science, but court etiquette and dancing, but Alexander Radishchev was lucky - in 1766 he was among the 12 best graduates sent to study at the University of Leipzig. "... Russian students had to study in Leipzig "Latin, German, French and, if possible, Slavic languages ​... moral philosophy, history, and especially natural and national law... Other sciences are to be taught to everyone to their own devices", - writes Blagoy.

In 1771 Radishchev returned to St. Petersburg and began his career as a transcript in the Senate with the rank of titular councilor. Soon he met Nikolai Novikov, the publisher of the satirical magazine "Painter", and began his literary career. In the same year, the magazine published excerpts from "Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow" (without attribution), in 1773 - Radishchev's translation of the book "Reflections on Greek history" by the French philosopher Mably. At the same time, he wrote the autobiographical story "Diary of a Week".

In 1775, Radishchev retired and married the sister of his university friend Anna Rubanovskaya, and two years later began serving as an assessor in the Commerce Collegium, quickly moving up the career ladder and by 1790 becoming the head of the Petersburg customs.

The service did not interfere with Radishchev's work. In 1781-1783 he created the ode "Liberty" - a response to the victory of the American Revolution. "... It is a glorification of liberty and a hymn to the rebellion against tyrants, the preaching of the future form of the structure of the Russian state", - the journalist Nikolai Asheshov described the work of the poet in vol. 3 Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (1906) of the weekly "Themes of Life".

"The social and literary activity of Radishchev especially intensified towards the end of the 80s in connection with the approach and growth of a revolutionary thunderstorm in France, which could not but be felt reflected in Russia, raising the hopes and aspirations of the advanced, democratically-minded part of Russian society ..." – wrote Dmitry Blagoy. In 1789, Radishchev joined the Society of Friends of Verbal Sciences, in whose journal "The Talking Citizen" his socio-political and philosophical articles appeared, in the same year the Life of Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov was published anonymously, dedicated to the memory of a friend of his youth with whom Radishchev studied at the University of Leipzig.

Alexander Radishchev completed his famous Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1788. The publishers refused to print the "dangerous" book, and the author, having bought a printing press on credit, opened his own printing house in his home in St. Petersburg at  Gryaznaya Street, 14 (now Marata Street). Permission to print "Travels ..." was given by the acting chief of police Nikita Ryleev, who read only the table of contents and decided that it was a guide to the metropolitan area.

650 copies of the book were printed at the end of May 1790 and by the beginning of the summer a small part of the edition had arrived at Zotov's bookstore. Soon all Petersburg was talking about the book.

The reaction of Empress Catherine II, who read the book, followed immediately. On June 30, 1790, "a rebel worse than Pugachev" as the Empress called Radishchev, was arrested and, after a month of painful interrogations, on July 24, was sentenced to death. Only at the beginning of September, the empress commuted the death sentence to the writer's ten-year exile to Siberia, to the Ilimsky prison (Irkutsk province).

“In Siberia, A. N. Radishchev did not lose heart; studied its nature, read a lot, wrote several works, ...was very interested in the events of the French revolution. Under Emperor Paul, he was allowed to return to his homeland and live in the village, under the supervision of the governor. In 1797 he settled on his estate, in Nemtsevo, Kaluga province”б - Eichenwald told about this time.

When Alexander I came to power, Radishchev was freed and was able to return to St. Petersburg, where he enthusiastically took up work in the Commission for Drafting Laws, having developed a draft of the liberal Civil Code. However, the authorities were dissatisfied with his way of thinking, Radishchev was unambiguously reminded of his previous interests that ended in Siberia, and even hinted at the possibility of re-exile.

Alexander Radishchev died on September 24, 1802. The writer was buried near the Resurrection Church at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg. His grave has not survived, but a memorial plaque is installed on the wall of the church: "Here, on the territory of the Volkov cemetery, in 1802, a revolutionary writer Alexander Radishchev was buried".