IDEAS OF V.A. MAKLAKOV ON THE RUSSIAN AUTOCRACY IN THE LATE IMPERIAL PERIOD
Authors: Saraeva Elena L. 
Published: October 2023

The study of the role played by the autocracy of the late Imperial period in the history of Russia is relevant because it enables to understand the factors of its viability and its loss. Of considerable interest for the study of this topic are the judgments of contemporaries who knew the main political characters of that time, the goals and motives of their activities, domestic political circumstances. The novelty of the work lies in analysing the ideas of a liberal, a member of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party V.A. Maklakov, he gave a characteristics for the potential and weaknesses of the autocracy at the beginning of the XX century.

The purpose of the study is to interpret the representations of V.A. Maklakov about the autocracy’s responsibility for solving the problem of building relationships with the public, about the struggle of traditional and new forces in the Russian bureaucracy of the early XX century, the goals of their activities, their perception of autocracy, their attitude to the constitutional monarchy.

Materials and methods of the study. The sources on the topic are the texts of V.A. Maklakov: a recording of a lecture that he delivered in 1909 at Tinishevsky College, memoirs written in exile, legislative acts, and memoirs of contemporaries. The theoretical basis of the research is the theory of modernization, which characterizes the process of a traditional system’s transformation into a modern one; an axiological approach that focuses on the study of the value system; a civilizational concept that substantiates the idea of the people developing their cultural identity.

Study results. Maklakov characterized autocracy in the context of the ideas of legality and the right of the individual to freedom and self-determination. The Russian autocracy cared about the greatness of Russia, but the power of the monarch was not limited by laws. The idea of legality was present in the official ideology of the XIX – early XX century. Maklakov argued that the higher bureaucracy prevented the principle of legality from taking root in the country’s governance system. In the top leadership of the country, Maklakov singled out the “old” forces that defended the autocracy, and the “healthy elements” that solved promising national tasks of Russia’s development, they contributed to the transformation of an unlimited monarchy into a constitutional monarchy, defended the idea of interaction between the government and the society.

Conclusions. The autocracy proclaimed the principle of legality, but did not seek self-restraint by the constitution. The “historical power” was put on the path of constitutional development by statesmen who understood their duty to Russia. They sought to rely on liberal social forces, but the cadets did not support their program. According to Maklakov, after publishing the Manifest on October 17, 1905 and the Basic Laws of 1906, the Russian autocracy took the form of a “liberal autocracy”, since it was limited by the constitution, which created the mechanism for interaction between the government and the State Duma. Nicholas II made no further attempts to regain unlimited autocracy.