The Concept of Nihilism of Russian Young Students in the Journalism of M. N. Katkov.

Chistyakov Sergei Vladimirovich Postgraduate student, Department of History Faculty, Department of History of Russia XIX - beginning. XX century, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1, taharalrik@gmail.com

Introduction. M. N. Katkov began his direct activity as a journalist back in 1838, that is, long before the mass spread of "sedition" in Russia.

However, the peak of his journalistic activity falls on the post–reform era - that is, on the period of rapid socio-economic and socio-political changes taking place in Russia, which in many ways created the prerequisites for the spread of left-wing radical ideas in Russia, including the ideas of nihilism. The analysis of all of the above somehow found its reflection on the pages of Katkov's publications: in the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti" and in the magazine "Russian Bulletin". In total, M. N. Katkov devoted several hundred articles to the coverage and analysis of events related to the spread of radical ideas in Russia, from the assassination of Karakozov and the murder of student Ivanov by Nechaev up to the tragedy of March 1, 1881. In these articles, Katkov directly formulates what exactly nihilism is in his opinion, analyzes the reasons for its origin and spread in Russia, and also suggests a number of measures that, in his opinion, could prevent its further development on Russian soil.

         The objective of this study is to reconstruct the concept of the socio-historical phenomenon of nihilism proposed by Katkov, by identifying and analyzing the main factors called by Katkov as the causes of the spread of ideas of nihilism and radicalism among young people, as well as highlighting and reviewing the methods proposed by Katkov to combat the spread of ideas of nihilism in Russia.  The subject of the study is the anti-nihilistic views of M. N. Katkov, set out on the pages of the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti" and the magazine "Russian Bulletin". The object of the study is the socio-political views of M. N. Katkov. The relevance of this research topic is due to both the insufficient degree of elaboration of this topic in historiography, and the topical nature of the problem of youth's fascination with destructive ideas, which is why M. N. Katkov's thoughts about the latter's fascination with radical ideas are partly relevant to this day. The novelty of the research lies in a more thorough and objective reconstruction of the anti-nihilistic views of M. N. Katkov, compared with its predecessors. 

Review of sources and historiography. The very topic of M. N. Katkov's perception of the nihilism of Russian students has not yet become the subject of separate consideration in historiography, however, M. N. Katkov's anti-nihilistic and anti-socialist views have been considered in pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern domestic historiography, as well as in foreign historiography, in the context of studying other topics related to the life and work of the editor of the "Moscow vedomosti", as well as in a number of works of a generalizing nature, considering the conservative thought of Russia in the second half of the XIX century ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49]}.

       Turning to the pre-revolutionary historiography of Katkov, first of all to the works of his contemporaries M. A. Lyubimov and R. I. Sementkovsky, who were the most important pre-revolutionary historians of M. N. Katkov, it should be noted the biographical and memoir character of their works based on a descriptive approach and, among other things, depicting the life and work of Mikhail Nikiforovich through the prism of his personal relationship to him. All of the above did not allow them to fully explore the concept of nihilism of Russian youth according to Katkov, while Katkov's anti-nihilistic views are given very little attention in these works, although the authors of these works recognize Katkov's role as one of the main fighters against nihilism in Russia.        

       Regarding Soviet historiography, in particular the works of V. A. Tvardovskaya and V. A. Kitaev, it should be noted both the insufficient degree of development of the topic of the concept of nihilism in Katkov's journalism, and largely unfounded criticism of Katkov's concept of nihilism, based on ignoring, according to Soviet historians, Katkov's socio-economic reasons for the spread of nihilism in Russia (which in many ways in many ways it did not correspond to reality).  In addition, it is necessary to highlight the tendentious attitude of Soviet historians to the personality of M. N. Katkov and to his activities in general, due to the general orientation of Soviet historiography on the Marxist-Leninist methodology, and the tradition of glorification of the participants of the revolutionary movement in Russia proceeding from this.

   In modern Russian historiography, as well as in foreign, there is an insufficient degree of research on this topic, which historians concern only in the context of developing other topics related to the life and work of the editor of the Moscow Vedomosti. All of the above determines the novelty of our research.

       As sources in this study, we used the articles by M. N. Katkov for the period 1863-1887, published in the journal "Russian Bulletin" and the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti", in which the author expresses his attitude to the ideology of nihilism in the framework of his coverage of the social reality of post–reform Russia. By means of narrative and logical-semantic analysis of these texts, we are supposed to perform research tasks.

The essence of the concept of nihilism in the journalism of M. N. Katkov.       

First of all, it is necessary to answer the question, and what exactly did M. N. Katkov mean by nihilism, how did he perceive this protest ideology that had spread among young people in the most general sense?

        It is generally accepted to believe that the inventor of the term "nihilism" was I. S. Turgenev, who wrote the famous novel "Fathers and Children" in 1860-1861, which became, in fact, one of the symbols of the post–reform Russia era. In turn, the main character of the novel Evgeny Bazarov appeared in the canonical image of a nihilist. Russian Russian society, although the term nihilism itself undoubtedly has an earlier origin (moreover, some historians believe that Katkov himself mentioned it for the first time in Russian literature back in the 30s of the XIX century) ^[40], a serious discussion of the problems associated with nihilism in Russian society began only after the publication of the epochal novel, as well as a whole series of resonant events, the main one of which was the assassination attempt of a member of the "Land and Will" D. V. Karakozov on Emperor Alexander II on April 4, 1866.

        One of the active participants in this discussion was M. N. Katkov, who gave his assessment of the above events on the pages of his publications.

In his article devoted to the analysis of Turgenev's novel, Katkov gave the following assessment of nihilism. According to Katkov, nihilism is first of all a kind of religion, which is based on the denial of universal values: "The negative direction is a kind of religion — an overturned religion, full of internal contradiction and nonsense, but nevertheless a religion that can have its own fanatical teachers. The interest of denial, prevailing over everything, attracts these fanatics to everything that is only imprinted by the nature of denial" ^{[27, p. 408]}.

        Analyzing the image of Bazarov and noting, in particular, his fascination with natural sciences, which is really characteristic of the radical part of the youth ^{[48, p. 61]}, Katkov notices the rather artificial nature of this phenomenon – Bazarov's (and his followers') fascination with sciences, as he believes, was completely superficial and had a goal of just to substantiate what the nihilists initially considered their "symbol of faith" - that only a negative answer to the question of the existence of "the first causes and essences of things" is possible, and, consequently, "a man and a frog are essentially the same" ^{[27, p. 406]}. With all the logical conclusions coming from this, of course. Based on this, Katkov concludes that the nihilists are unwilling to engage in genuine philosophy and science, their inability to doubt and criticize in the philosophical sense of the word, and, consequently, their strict dogmatism ^{[27, pp. 408-409, pp. 412-413]}. Katkov also notes another "symbol of faith" of nihilistic religion – utopias, in which: "Teachers of nihilism find ... on the one hand, justification for their cult, on the other —an auxiliary means of propaganda" ^{[27, p. 413]}. Utopias are understood as left-radical socialist ideology, under the banner of which the revolutionary movement of Russia of the second half of the XIX century operated. Katkov, analyzing the image of Bazarov and drawing to some extent a caricature, but still quite plausible image of a nihilist-raznochinets, directly hints at this already in 1862, noting Bazarov's fascination with the ideas of "universal insolvency, the need for wholesale withdrawal, non-recognition of authorities, denial of all the principles of life and thought" ^{[27, p. 422]}.

              According to Katkov, "a drop of true poison, real malice" gives special strength to these ideas in Bazarov's mind, as well as excessive pride and inability to even admit the thought of his own wrongness, inherent in Bazarov himself and, as Katkov wants to convince us of this, to other nihilists too ^{[27, pp. 423 - 424]}. There is the nihilists also have their own "holy Scripture", the role of which Katkov does not unreasonably put N. G. Chernyshevsky's novel "What to Do?", as well as their "paradise", the image of which Katkov sees unmistakably in the description of Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream from the aforementioned novel. Katkov gives a very critical assessment of this "paradise" from the standpoint of his idealistic philosophical views, reproaching the ideologists of nihilism in their desire to liken man to an animal and reduce the whole purpose and meaning of life to gross animal pleasures, rejecting all "metaphysics of conscience, duty, the benefits of another life and other inventions" ^{[13, pp. 297-298]}.

         Russian Russian nationalism, according to Katkov, is a serious threat to the very future of Russia, because along with everything else, nihilism is also a denial of "all positive and historical foundations, and above all the Russian state in any form... a complete denial of Russian patriotism... the poison that was poured into the poor Russian youth in order to her face will ruin the future of Russia" ^{[12, p. 614]}. With all this, most of the Russian nihilists, being obsessed with their illusions, according to Katkov, do not realize this in principle, being essentially only blind tools in the hands of the true enemies of Russia. So, according to Katkov, both Nechaev and Bakunin are only "a tool in the hands of our enemies" ^{[17, p. 17]}.   However, Katkov, speaking about the idols of radical youth (that is, the main ideologists of the revolutionary movement), does not put the latter on a par with the youth deceived by them, in his opinion, who, due to their unconsciousness, could not bear full responsibility for their actions.  Katkov compares the youth with the character of N. V. Gogol's novel "Dead Souls" by Manilov, a meaningless, but, in essence, harmless character, at the same time, he already likens "Colonel Lavrov" to "Sobakevich nihilism" [13 p. 298, p. 300]. The latter, according to Katkov, are ready to use the dirtiest means for the sake of realizing their goals, which he mentions in detail considering Nechaev's "Catechism of a Revolutionary" ^{[25, pp. 139-140]}.

           And the more time passes, the more aggressive the activity of the "nihilists" becomes. The editor of the "Russian Bulletin" (perhaps one of the first in historiography) identifies three main periods of the development of the revolutionary movement of post-reform Russia: the period of the 60s, when the spread of "sedition" was mainly in educational institutions, the period of the first half of the 70s was the era of "going to the people" and attempts to mass propagandize radical ideas already among peasants and workers, and the period that began in 1878, with the shot of Vera Zasulich, after which the revolutionaries They switched to open terror against the authorities, which eventually ended with the tragic death of Emperor Alexander II ^{[36, pp. 170-172]}. And throughout all these years, Katkov literally sounded the alarm from the pages of his publications, calling on the authorities and society to think about the threat posed to the country by the spread of ideas of nihilism and revolutionary socialism, and to fight the phenomena of Russian society that made such a thing possible in principle.

The reasons for the spread of the ideology of nihilism in Russia according to Katkov.          

So, what are the direct reasons for the spread of this ideology in Russia that M. N. Katkov sees? Katkov directly admits that nihilism, being a "religion of denial", would not have had a chance to arise and develop if there had been no prerequisites for its emergence in Russian society and the state of that time: "the strength of our nihilism lies not in the property of its content — it consists in have no substantial content, - but in the circumstances of the environment. The environment makes it a force, it determines its significance and development" ^{[27, p. 412]}.

          And one of the first reasons for the Skating Rink calls the low level of development of the modern Russian society. According to Katkov, "Education, science, political and industrial life, the development and competition of all kinds of"interests, freedom of conscience, the educational influence of the environment, the living power of tradition — these are the obstacles that this phenomenon meets in the educated societies of our time." However, "in our civilization, which has no independent force in itself, in our small mental world, where there is nothing standing firm, where there is not a single interest that would not be ashamed and embarrassed of itself and believe in its own spirit of nihilism could develop and acquire significance" ^{[27, p. 410]}. Thus, Katkov admits that the protest of some young people against the reality surrounding them was a natural process that arose in a society that has not solved many of its internal problems.

        But all of the above, according to Katkov, became only fertile ground on which Russian nihilism (and, accordingly, revolutionary socialism, as an integral part of it) grew.

        There were, as the editor of the Moscow Gazette believed, more specific reasons for the spread of radical ideas among young people.

        Firstly, one of the most obvious reasons for the spread of radical ideas among young students, Katkov calls directly the education system itself in the country, and, above all, the system of gymnasium education, because it is in adolescence that a person's personality, values and beliefs are largely formed, and, consequently, the elementary ability to critical thinking, as well as to scientific activity, the preparation of schoolchildren for which he considered the main task of the gymnasium ^{[37, p. 475]}. The gymnasium system in its state before the reform of 1871, he wrote, "makes them not so much capable as incapable of correct thinking and practical work; it relaxes them and artificially excites senseless and exhausting fermentation in them" ^{[16, p. 204]}.  The main claim of M. N. Katkov to the educational system of that time was the division of gymnasiums into real and classical ones and, in his opinion, an excessive increase in the number of hours devoted to the study of disciplines of the natural science cycle, coupled with an extremely small number of hours devoted to the study of ancient languages ^{[37, p. 477]}.  Katkov assigned a decisive role to the study of ancient languages at school in the development of a student's personality, believing that it is the study of Latin and Greek and, accordingly, familiarization with all the accompanying layer of historical and cultural heritage that can foster critical thinking in high school students ^{[37, p. 476]}.

         According to Katkov, the natural fruit of all the above was nihilism, as a consequence of the inability of former pupils of gymnasiums who entered the university to an objective, critical and systematized perception of information ^{[37, pp. 477-478; 39, p. 649]}.  And therefore, as Katkov believed, it was not surprising that young people so enthusiastically read the "wrong", in his opinion, the works of "Focht, Moleschott (for children) and our official nihilist high priest, Dobrolyubov", memorized "The Bell and the works of German thinkers in the genus Buchner, Max Stirner, Feuerbach" ^{[11, pp. 214-215]}. Katkov considers the very acquaintance of high school students with such literature not so much the reason for their subsequent fascination with radical ideas, as a consequence of the situation described above in high schools, when their pupils were not ready to critically, as he believed, comprehend the above compositions, and therefore a typical high school student, according to Katkov, "will easily believe everything and follow every leader". ^{[37, p. 649]}.

       Secondly, a significant factor in the spread of nihilism in Russia, according to Katkov, was the position of the liberal-minded part of the Russian intelligentsia, which, according to the editor of the Moscow Vedomosti, actually joined the cause of "sedition" with its cosmopolitan and anti-national position. As Katkov believed: "there is no significant difference between the legal guardians of "legality and legal order" and illegal terrorists, but there is a difference, as it were, only in temperament. Both of them, therefore, want the same thing, but some repair dynamite explosions, while others in the same forms stretch out their hands for charity in articles of Order and Voice" ^{[28, p. 181]}.

           Katkov reproaches the Russian intelligentsia, first of all, for its Westernistic views, for real idolatry before the Western socio-political system and culture, because he believes that: "Europe, as a political term, is a fiction that does not differ in any way from the ravings of socialism and all kinds of utopias" ^{[7, p. 189]}. Katkov believes that in order to please the illusory image of the West, which exists only in the minds of some intellectuals, the latter are ready to sacrifice the fundamental interests of Russia and the Russian people ^{[15, p. 185]}. Katkov calls this nothing but barbarism, which is committed to please the real enemies of the country ^{[7, p. 189]}.

         It is the intelligentsia, which is not worthy of its people, which despises its own people, that Katkov accuses of spreading nihilism among young people, and journalists and professors get the most reproaches ^{[33, p. 129]}. In particular, according to Katkov, since the forties of the XIX century, "most of the St. Petersburg press ... has been the organ of the very doctrines that constitute the essence of revolutionary propaganda in our fatherland" ^{[33, p. 129]}.  The corruption of youth, according to Katkov, is the result of both government mistakes and the "non-Russian spirit" in society, including in educational institutions, gymnasiums and theological seminaries, as well as universities ^{[33, p. 129]}.

      The loyal attitude of the professors in the latter to the radicalism of the students of the Skating Rinks, analyzing the trial of the Nechaevites, shows by the example of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy, where a number of members of the "People's Massacre" studied. So Katkov reproaches the academic staff of the educational institution for sympathizing with illegal elements of student self-organization, such as student mutual aid funds, and in the absence of any supervision over students, which eventually allowed the organization of Nechayevites to develop ^{[18, pp. 133-134]}.

       Thus, the editor of the Moscow Bulletin equally blames the spread of the ideas of nihilism and revolutionary socialism among young people both on the teachers of "a significant part of educational institutions" and on journalism, "which clearly spread the ideas of socialism and so-called nihilism with the arousal of public opinion against government power and public administration." And, of course, Katkov does not ignore the "foreign revolutionary press, which found means of distribution even among educational institutions" ^{[18, pp. 133-134]}.

        M. N. Katkov identifies a number of other reasons that contributed to the radicalization of the consciousness of students.

       First of all, it should be noted that M. N. Katkov accuses the state authorities of indecision, lack of a firm line, "a sense of insanity of the government, a sense of its inaction," the inability of the latter to resolutely resist the challenges of the time, which became the revolutionary movement ^{[28, p. 182]}. In a number of Katkov's articles, there are accusations against the current government about its indecision, lack of character and insufficient measures taken to combat sedition. Katkov reproaches the institutions of power for insufficiently strict control over officials and lack of discipline, which eventually led to confusion and vacillation ^{[30, pp. 108-109]}. According to Katkov: "Only discipline in the government ranks, so that everyone in them is afraid to evade their duty and deceive the highest authorities, patriotism in the educated spheres of society, that's what is required, and that's what needs to be taken care of..." in order for "all the healthy forces of society to revive and rise" ^{[30, p. 109]}. Even covering the trial of the assassins of the emperor, members of Narodnaya Volya, Katkov reproached the authorities and, in particular, members of the special presence of the Governing Senate for excessive softness and delicacy in terms of treatment of the defendants (and this despite the final verdict) ^{[21, pp. 158-159]}.        

         In his articles, Katkov also points out the shortcomings of certain elements of the country's state-political system, which made it possible to spread nihilism and revolutionary ideas. A significant share of criticism in this direction goes to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police. One of the reasons that "the so-called political crimes have become a custom among us," Katkov calls "the general nature of the attitude of government agents (author's note. police officers) to the matter of their duty" ^{[10, pp. 84-86]}.   In his opinion, the incompetence of some police officers often led to the fact that "politically unreliable persons placed under police supervision were hiding", "only the instruments of crime fell into the hands of justice, and not those by whom these instruments were directed" ^{[10, p. 84]}. Analyzing high-profile investigative and judicial processes related to the activities of revolutionary-populist organizations (for example, the attempted murder of L. G. Deich, N. E. Gorinovich, or the 193-x trial), Katkov notes the extreme slowness of police work leading to the fact that whole years pass from the beginning of investigative actions to court sessions, and this despite the fact that "we live in the age of railways and telegraphs" ^{[10, p. 84]}. Analyzing the attempts of the People's Will on the emperor, in particular the explosion in the Winter Palace organized by S. N. Khalturin or the explosion on the Kursk railway, Katkov in an article of 1880 notes that all participants in the above crimes acted under false passports, which, as a result, saved them from being caught by the police.  In contrast to these events, Katkov cites as an example the effectiveness of the French police in capturing the revolutionary L. N. Hartmann ^{[10, pp. 94-95]}. And, of course, it is impossible not to note Katkov's criticism of the judicial system, in particular, in the context of his coverage of the V. I. Zasulich case. Katkov criticizes the mechanism of the jury trial itself. He was so surprised and outraged by the result of the trial of Zasulich that he even publicly asked the question "does yesterday's state building exist?" ^{[8, p. 169]}. In Katkov's opinion, the trial of Zasulich became a de facto trial "over General Trepov himself regarding his order in office" ^{[14, p. 233]}.

         There was also another very good reason, according to Katkov, for the active spread of radical ideas among young people – this is "the anti-Russian national cause in Russia, which in its patriotism cannot act otherwise than by rebellion, secret undermining and deception, a case organized in a carbonarian way and has already exposed so many murderers from political fanatics, from bribed scoundrels, of the deluded madmen." And here Katkov means, first of all, Polish separatism, which he himself calls "Polish help." Anti-Polonism and the conviction that there is a global "Polish conspiracy" encompassing the entire empire run through Katkov's journalism almost throughout all the years of his activity, since 1863. As part of his concept of nihilism, Katkov considered most of the young people who were carried away by radical ideas to be just deceived victims of "puppeteers", the main of whom, as he believed, were the leaders of the "Polish sprava". The editor of the Moscow Gazette held this opinion in 1866, arguing that the whole point was "Polish patriotism in Russia, in the Polish case under the Russian power", ^{[9, p. 209]} until the publication of official information from the investigation, being sincerely convinced that only a Pole could have been the perpetrator of the April 4 assassination ^{[16, pp. 202-203]}.   So in 1881, Katkov did not change himself, seriously arguing about the connection between the executive committee of the People's Will and the "Polish spravy", claiming that "a half-educated Jelly ... was caught in his nets for a hundred rubles by a mysterious recruiter" ^{[34, p. 125]}.   And if Katkov's conviction about the connection between the Land and the Will of the 60s and the Polish nationalists really has quite good historical grounds, then in the case of the revolutionary populist movement of the 70s - 80s, he clearly overestimated the degree of involvement of Poles in the movement.

           As mentioned above, Katkov by no means ignored the social reasons for the spread of radical ideas among young people in Russia. And although he did not consider this factor decisive in this process, it cannot be said that Katkov completely excluded it. Here, the source of the spread of nihilism among young people, Katkov calls first of all the so-called "levitism" (from Bibl. the term "Levite", which denoted Jewish priests in the Old Testament), that is, the class-caste character of the Russian clergy in the XIX century, when the son of a priest had no opportunity to choose a professional path other than priestly ministry. As Katkov quite rightly believed, not every young man from the spiritual estate had the desire and inclination to serve at the throne of God, believing that "where there is caste, there can be no spirit of vocation, there can be no living interest." Therefore, it is not surprising, Katkov believes, that "our nihilism cannot but find profit in the offspring of the spiritual estate" ^{[27, p. 418]}.

         In general, this is how Katkov imagines the spread of nihilism and radicalism among young people, highlighting a number of factors here. The question of how this picture correlated with historical reality, as we believe, is truly monumental, and therefore goes beyond the scope of this study.

M. N. Katkov on ways to combat the nihilism of Russian youth.        

So, as we found out, nihilism, according to Katkov, is the brainchild of its time, a product of the era of post-reform Russia with a number of its features. But how did he imagine the fight against this phenomenon, which, undoubtedly, he considered one of the most terrible threats to the country?

         Considering nihilism to be one of the consequences of the low level of development of Russian society in all spheres, Katkov directly stated that one of the main means of combating the nihilism of youth is the development of society itself. "The richer life develops in all its normal interests ... religious, intellectual, political, economic, the less room there will be for negative forces in public life" ^{[27, p. 426]}. However, the issue of the development of society is a progressive process and, as a rule, rather slow, and meanwhile, at the time of Katkov's writing articles, young people were reading Chernyshevsky and making plans to assassinate the emperor.     What measures were proposed by Katkov specifically for the malice of the day?

        However, Katkov considered the most important of these measures to be the reform of the educational system and, above all, the reorganization of the gymnasium system in the style of classicism – that is, a return to a state largely similar to the situation of gymnasiums before 1849, and the return of classical languages to the role of the basis of education. Without setting ourselves the large-scale task of fully covering the gymnasium reform of 1871, carried out largely under the authorship of M. N. Katkov, we will focus only on how this reform, in Katkov's opinion, could become a cure for nihilism. So, one of the functions of the reform and its natural consequence, Katkov calls the moral improvement of the student youth, some of whom, in his opinion, were ill with a real mental illness, the manifestations of which were her protest moods ^{[32, pp. 791-792]}. Considering the lack of critical thinking of pupils of gymnasiums, their unpreparedness for science, their tendency to superficial perception of information as one of the main reasons for nihilism, Katkov suggests "to reward the lost time, to take care of the proper education of our youth, to elevate the cause of mind and science in our environment", to give young people education "in the spirit of serious science", which "will confuse the tops of our virgin people have this foam..." ^{[32, pp. 791 - 792]}. And the latter, as he believed, could be carried out exclusively within the framework of the classical education system, with its concentration on the study of ancient languages ^{[29, pp. 313-314]}.

           M. N. Katkov, covering the main points of the modern history of the revolutionary movement, constantly compares the current situation with the events of 1863. Analyzing the reasons for Russia's successful passage of such a formidable test as the Polish uprising of 1863, Katkov discusses the possibility of applying the experience of successfully suppressing this uprising to combat nihilism and radicalization of youth. Since the situation of 1866, 1879-81 in Katkov's mind was identical to the situation of 1863, he offers similar methods of combating the threat.

         As one of the measures, he calls the comprehensive patriotic mobilization of society and the unity of the people around the personality of the emperor, as well as the government. Considering that since it was "the patriotic spirit that declared the country from huts to palaces, the great popular movement that amazed both Europe and Poles deceived by the rot of the surface" that the Russians were able to overcome the "Polish help", then the implementation of the same in the heyday of the revolutionary movement is the key to the victory of the state and society over "sedition" ^{[26, p. 164]}. Drawing comparisons between the political system of the United States and contemporary Russia, Katkov believes that there are also two "parties" in the latter. The first of them is the Russian people, which is a "state party", a party that holds "the patriotic spirit and national unity". The second party is the intelligentsia, which, like the Democratic Party of the USA, "represents a centrifugal movement", a movement of "dissolution and decomposition" that attracts people to "treason and rebellion" ^{[19, pp. 135-136]}. And only the decisive victory of the first "party", as well as the patriotic unity of the whole people "from huts to palaces" are able to finally "awaken the Russian national spirit in all its might" and make the second "party" disappear, thereby extorting "sedition" ^{[19, pp. 155-156]}.        

         But all of the above was not enough for Katkov. It was also necessary to eliminate confusion and vacillation in the ranks of the state apparatus. Calling the lack of will of the authorities the reason for the latter, Katkov suggests "to knock out a wedge with a wedge", that is, to make sure that "the pernicious fear of dark forces" was "defeated ... by the saving fear of legitimate authority" ^{[23, p. 162]}.   Citing as an example the actions of the authorities in 1863, when "a statesman armed with authority was sent to Vilna," namely Count M. N. Muravyov, who dealt a crushing blow to Polish separatism, Katkov suggests repeating a similar experience. We need an "elected figure" who, "bearing undivided responsibility, can successfully act ... with full confidence in him, only with full freedom of his actions" ^{[26, p. 165]}. Katkov speaks directly about the need to provide such a person with "dictatorial power to fight evil", transfer to him the full responsibility for the work of the state apparatus, and the full management of the state apparatus, from governors-general to the smallest departments, "he should be given control and verification, and no formalities of the procedure should be valid before his authority" ^{[22, p. 77]}.

        Katkov's voice was heard – his aspirations came true in the personality of Count M. T. Loris – Melikov and the establishment of the "Supreme Administrative Commission". However, even she could not protect the throne and prevent the tragedy of March 1, 1881. And only after even more stringent measures in the form of a complete reorganization of the political police system and the creation of a Police Department, the state managed to cope with the "sedition". For a while…

Conclusions.

           Thus, during the 60 – 80s, during the analysis of the socio-political situation in Russia, M. N. Katkov creates in his mind a holistic picture of the spread of nihilism and revolutionary radicalism among the students of post-reform Russia. In order to convey to the public consciousness his understanding of the situation, Katkov publishes hundreds of articles on this topic on the pages of his publications throughout the 60s - 80s of the XIX century. Noting the religious nature of the ideology of nihilism, Katkov calls from the pages of his publications to take seriously the threat of the spread of this ideology. The editor of Moskovskiye Vedomosti identifies a number of key factors that cause the spread of nihilism, such as the crisis of the education system, and the resulting tendency of young people to get carried away with radical ideas without any critical reflection on them, liberal-Westernizing sentiments of the Russian intelligentsia, going hand in hand with a disdainful attitude towards ordinary people. At the same time, Katkov notes as the reasons for the spread of nihilism the socio-economic, scientific, technical, cultural backwardness of Russia, as well as the impossibility of professional self-realization of some young people, especially from the families of priests. According to Katkov, the insufficient strength of the government's opposition to the activities of revolutionary organizations, the incompetence of both individuals and entire departments in protecting the state system, as well as the presence of an anti-government and anti-national conspiracy against the Russian Empire, of which Polish separatism was an integral part, adds fuel to the fire.  As measures to counter the spread of nihilism and revolutionary radicalism, Katkov proposes a reform of the gymnasium education system in the country in the spirit of classicism, a comprehensive patriotic mobilization of society around the personality of the emperor and the government, as well as the introduction of a state of emergency and military dictatorship to overcome the acute political crisis caused by the actions of terrorists of revolutionary organizations such as Narodnaya Volya, and the subsequent confrontation with forces hostile to Russia. At the same time, Katkov understands that all of the above cannot eliminate the underlying cause of the spread of radical ideology in Russia, and therefore only the comprehensive development of the country and further social progress can put an end to nihilism.