Current problems of studying history of Russian populism in “RUDN journal of Russian history" in 2008-2017

The researchers of Russian populism know V.F. Antonov's school very well. Its representatives (doctors of historical sciences R.A. Arslanov, V.V. Blokhin, V.V. Zverev, V.A. Isakov, N.A. Tyukachev, etc.) made a significant contribution to the establishment of the modern populism studies. Thanks to their efforts, the journal, which has been published since 2002 at the Department of Russian History of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), has become one of the leading centres for studying history and historiography of Russian populism. The purpose of the article is to highlight the contribution of RUDN University historians and their colleagues from Bryansk, Voronezh and Petrozavodsk to the research of the topical problems of the modern populism studies. The author has analyzed twenty articles published in the “RUDN Journal of Russian History” in 2008-2017. In addition, there are considered the generalizing works on the history of Russian populism, which characterize the present state of its historiography. All the publications are divided according to three topics: domestic and foreign historiography of populism; history of the right wing of populism and the ideological evolution of late populism. The articles of N.A. Tyukachev, V.V. Zverev, G.N. Mokshin, N.A. Zhukova and M.N. Moseykina are devoted to populism historiography. There is emphasized the modern authors' special interest in the pre-revolutionary studies of populism, which previously received little attention, as well as interest in the phenomenon of Marxist historiography - the so-called "liberal populism". The ideology and practice of the right (non-revolutionary) populism was considered in the articles of V.V. Zverev, V.V. Blokhin, G.N. Mokshin, A.M. Pashkov, R.A. Arslanov and A.L. Klimashin. Most authors are focused on the controversy between the populists-politicians and the populists-culturalists over the tactics of transforming the country, as the disagreements on this issue are the key to the typology of the trends and the periodization of the history of the right populism. Another important topic studied in the journal is the analysis of the specifics of the populists' reform democracy and its influence on other models of the social reorganization of Russia (liberals, Marxists, etc.). In the articles on this topic written by R.A. Arslanov, V.V. Blokhin and M.N. Moseykina, there is highlighted the idea that in the 1880-1890s populism was gradually being freed from the idealization of the people and was evolving along the path of recognizing the impossibility of building a genuinely democratic society in the country without ensuring personal freedom. In conclusion, there is given an overall assessment of the efforts of the authors of the “RUDN Journal of Russian History” to develop a new approach to the understanding of Russian populism as the ideology of Russia's original modernization. Particular attention is paid to shifting the emphasis in the study of populism from the revolutionary wing to the legally reformatory wing, thanks to which populists were perceived not as "superfluous people" and "renegades", but as a creative social force aimed at overcoming the socio -cultural split between the educated society and the people. Another important topic studied in the journal is the analysis of the specifics of the populists' reform democracy and its influence on other models of the social reorganization of Russia (liberals, Marxists, etc.). In the articles on this topic written by R.A. Arslanov, V.V. Blokhin and M.N. Moseykina, there is highlighted the idea that in the 1880-1890s populism was gradually being freed from the idealization of the people and was evolving along the path of recognizing the impossibility of building a genuinely democratic society in the country without ensuring personal freedom. In conclusion, there is given an overall assessment of the efforts of the authors of the “RUDN Journal of Russian History” to develop a new approach to the understanding of Russian populism as the ideology of Russia's original modernization. Particular attention is paid to shifting the emphasis in the study of populism from the revolutionary wing to the legally reformatory wing, thanks to which populists were perceived not as "superfluous people" and "renegades", but as a creative social force aimed at overcoming the socio-cultural split between the educated society and the people.

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