The article considers the first Soviet Marxist historian Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky’s views on the history of “the peasant issue” in internal policy and legislation of the Russian Empire in 18th – first half of 19th century, the pre-reform period. It outlines some tendencies which are reflected in modern historiography, though Pokrovsky relied too much on “economic materialism” and exaggerated the role of trading capital in Russian history. This theme seems to be quite acute, as special literature devoted to Pokrovsky is focused mostly on methodological aspects of his activities as a historian and neglecting his concrete achievements. In this case methodological approach to the activity of this historian is justified. The given article proves that though most works written by him represent a publicistic genre, his books, in particular the book “Brief History of Russia” contains objective conclusions about changes in policy and legislation, relted to “ the peasant issue” in Russia in the period under study.
Keywords: peasant issue; M. N. Pokrovsky; Peter I; Catherine II; Paul I; Alexander I.
Долгих-ПокровскийCitation link: Dolgih A.N. About M.N. Pokrovsky’s views on the “The peasant issue” in politics and the legislation of the Russian autocracy in the pre-reform time // Humanities researches of the Central Russia. – 2018. – № 4 (9). – P. 18-29.
DOI: 10.24411/2541-9056-2018-00017