«Man is free in everything from birth»: A.N. Radishchev as a thinker and citizen of his time

This year marks 235 years since the publication of the famous book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", the author of which A.N. Radishchev was subjected to criminal repression by the supreme power for its publication (on the orders of Catherine II) due to the negative aspects of Russian life contained in the book, which cast a strong shadow on the empress as the head of state, and in essence it was a challenge to both society and the authorities. The article presents an analysis of this work by Radishchev from the point of view of their socio-political significance, since his thoughts are expressed most vividly here; thoughts in other works by Radishchev are also cited. It is noted that Radishchev was an active high-level civil servant, and such an act characterizes the extraordinary personality of Radishchev. After the exile assigned to Radishchev for "Journey", he continued his creative work, reflecting on the current problems of Russian society and basing himself on the ideas of love of freedom and democracy. His judgments were controversial for their time, and received critical comments, including from A.S. Pushkin. Be that as it may, even now, more than two centuries later, already in post-Soviet Russia, that is, after the fall of the Russian Empire (1917) and the collapse of the Soviet state (1991), in which many of Radishchev's works officially had different assessments, they continue to arouse interest, and not only among historians, but also among ordinary citizens, as evidenced by blogger discussions on various social networks, and in general his ideological heritage on many issues remains relevant for modern Russia.