Empire in search of a common good. Property in pre -revolutionary Russia. Rrue E.

It is believed that in pre -revolutionary Russia private property was not sufficiently protected and that Russian liberalism could not substantiate the ideals of individualism and freedom of property. However, the book by E. R and Presova offers a completely new view of this problem. She shows that, contrary to the general opinion, the autocratic state was guarding the interests of the owners, while liberal thinkers, politicians and experts advocated the restriction of hypertrophied private rights in favor of society. E. R and Presva analyzes the emergence and development of the ideas and institutions of “public property” in several areas - environmental protection, the development of hydropower and use of natural resources, the protection of artistic and archaeological monuments, as well as literary property. At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, the fate of Russian forests and Orthodox icons, architectural masterpieces and works of great writers were associated with the revision of the property system.

Lawyers and architects, art historians and foresters, engineers and literary critics advocated that society became a full owner of “common things”. As the author shows, Russian pre -revolutionary liberalism was not individualistic - he developed the ideas of civil society, built on public possession of national wealth.

Ekaterina R and Presch - historian, professor of Princeton University (USA).