Political journalism of I.M. Grevs

The article attempts to consider the political journalism of the famous Russian medieval historian, professor of the Imperial St. Petersburg University, Ivan Grevs, as a form of legitimization of the academic discipline “general history” in the public space of the Russian Empire. Ivan Grevs’ political journalism, practically, has never before become the subject of special analysis either in works devoted to the history of Russian liberalism, or in works devoted directly to the historian himself. We managed to identify more than 30 Grevs’ articles on politics and published in the liberal periodicals “Rech”, “Pravo”, “Polyarnaya Zvezda”, “Svoboda i Cultura” from 1905 to 1918. These articles were used as the main source in our research. At the same time, two peaks of Grevs’ publication activity can be chronologically revealed. These are 1905-1906 (13 articles) and 1917-1918 (15 articles). Articles of these two periods differ thematically. Grevs criticized state policy in the field of higher education and tried to justify the political program of the Cadet Party in 1905-1906. In 1917-1918, the subjects of his articles were much more diverse, but at the same time, they clearly contain criticism of the Bolsheviks. During the study, we came to the conclusion that there is an “ideological” and discursive similarity between the political journalistic and professional, academic (scientific and popular science) works of Ivan Grevs. The historian analyzed contemporary processes in education, science, state, party life through the prism of humanism, historical idealism, the “genetic” principle, cultural and historical progress, and continuity. Universal human culture and values, personal freedom, individuality, progress, faith in unity, etc. - that all filled the space of Grevs’ journalistic texts no less than professional academic ones. At the same time, professional scientific texts, or rather symbolic capital that exists due to them, perform the function of implicit argumentation within the framework of the communication regime chosen by Grevs. The reader “must believe” the author, also because the author is a “professor”. If this turns out to be insufficient, the reader can check with the author’s scientific works and find in them a detailed substantiation of the position outlined in the journalistic articles. The communication strategy chosen by Grevs suggests that, on the one hand, the academic historian can position himself in public space as a competent expert in analyzing current political processes, and on the other hand, his journalistic activity is an effective way to legitimize professional academic activity.

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