In the Struggle against “Tactless Liberalism”: A.K. Kirkor and the Newspaper Novoe Vremya on the Consequences of the Great Reforms in the Late 1860s – Early 1870s

Abstract

The article presents the analysis of socio-economic and political ideas reflected in the pages of the newspaper Novoe Vremya in the late 1860s – early 1870s, when A.K. Kirkor, a Vilna intellectual, representative of the pro-Russian-oriented public of Northwestern Krai, was its publisher and editor. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of Kirkor’s political views on the problems of governing the region in the critical era of the Great Reforms in the 1860s–70s, as well as to the assessment of the main governmental transformations in the editorials of Novoe Vremya and the newspaper’s attempts to influence the public opinion on that issue in the period between 1868 and 1871. The position of the editorial board of the newspaper and its publisher and editor Kirkor in characterizing the socio-economic transformations of the post-reform period could be characterized by ideological syncretism, which was based on a combination of liberal and class conservative values and was mainly determined by the political and socio-cultural situation in Northwestern Krai in the second half of the 1860s. It is concluded that within the framework of the newspaper’s work, Kirkor provided his recommendations of a local expert and thus sought to adjust the national policy in the region, pointing to more flexible methods of its Russification, which would take into account the needs and requirements of both the local social elite and the non-dominant ethnic groups of the region.

Keywords

• russian empire
• northwestern krai
• great reforms
• a.k. kirkor
• novoe vremya
• national policy
• pro-russian public
• public sphere