Alexander Radishchev - Biography

Biography

Radishchev was born into a minor noble family on an estate just outside of Moscow. His father, Nicholas Afanasevich Radischev, was a prominent landowner in Moscow who was known for humanely treating his 3000 plus serfs. Young Radischev spent his early childhood in the country with a nurse and tutor, then was sent to live with a relative in Moscow, where he was allowed to spend time at the newly established Moscow University. In 1765, his family connections provided him with an opportunity to serve as a page in Catherine's court, which he nonetheless regarded with suspicion for its ‘contempt for the Orthodox faith, and a desire to deliver the homeland into foreign (German) hands'. Because of his exceptional academic promise, Radishchev was chosen of one of a dozen young students to be sent abroad to acquire Western learning. For several years he studied at the University of Leipzig. His foreign education influenced his approach to Russian society, and upon his return he hoped to incorporate Enlightenment philosophies such as natural law and the social contract to Russian conditions. Even as he served as a Titular Councillor, drafting legal protocols, in Catherine’s Civil Service, he lauded revolutionaries like George Washington and praised the early stages of the French Revolution, and found himself enamored of the Russian Freemason, Nicholas Ivanovich Novikov, whose publication “The Drone” offered the first public critiques of the government, particularly with regards to serfdom. His sharp satire and indignation inspired Radischev's most famous work - A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow - in which he emulates Novikov’s harsh and passionate style. He too was especially critical of serfdom and the limits to personal freedom imposed by the autocracy.

Catherine the Great read the work, viewed Radishchev's calls for reform as evidence of Jacobin-style radicalism, and ordered copies of the text confiscated and destroyed. Out of the 650 copies originally printed, only 17 survived to be reprinted in England fifty years later. In 1790, Radischev was arrested and condemned to death. He humbly begged forgiveness of Catherine, publicly disowning his book and his sentence was commuted to exile to Ilimsk in Siberia. En route, the writer was treated like a common convict, shackled at the ankles and forced to endure the Russian cold from which he eventually fell ill. His friend, Count Alexander Vorontzov, who held sway with Catherine, interceded and managed to secure Radischev more appropriate accommodations, allowing him to return to Moscow to recover and restart his journey with dignity and comfort. Beginning in October, 1790, Radischev’s two-year trip through Siberia took him through Siberia, stopping the towns of Ekaterinberg, Tobolsk, and Irkutsk before reaching the small town of Ilimsk in 1792. Along the way, he began writing a biography of Yermak, the Cossack conqueror of Siberia, and pursuing an interest in geology and nature. Settling in Ilimsk for five years with his second wife, Elizabeth Vasilievna Rubanovsky, and his two children, Radischev, as the only educated man in the area, became the local doctor and saved several lives. He also wrote a long treatise, On Man, His Mortality, His Immortality, revered as one of the few great philosophical works of Russia. In it, he addresses man’s belief in the afterlife, the corporality of the soul, and the faults of Materialism.

Radishchev was freed by Catherine's successor Tsar Paul, and attempted again to push for reforms in Russia's government. Under the reign of Alexander I, Radishchev was briefly employed to help revise Russian law, a realization of his lifelong dream. Unfortunately, his tenure in this administrative body was short and unsuccessful. In 1802 a despondent Radishchev - possibly threatened with another Siberian exile - committed suicide by drinking poison.