M. N. Katkov. Life, work, worldview

The article investigates the creative career and religious and philosophical views of Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (1818-1887), a prominent public figure, thinker, publisher and journalist, whose 200th anniversary is celebrated this year. A critical assessment of Katkov's personality by Vladimir Lenin resulted in that after 1917 his name was practically obliterated from the history of national thought and culture. The Soviet scientific school treated Mikhail Katkov only as “the behind-the-scenes inspirer of the reactionary policy of the government”, and his works were not reprinted for more than 80 years. It is only in the last decades, from the 1990s onwards, that a scientific study of the thinker's large heritage has begun. The article shows that Katkov's life and work exerted a huge impact on the political and cultural development of Russia and were regarded by his contemporaries as an outstanding example of successful activities aimed at strengthening the traditional Russian principles of state policy. The author provides detailed evidence to prove the statement that the Moscow journalist was a central figure both in the political life of the Russian Empire from the 1860s to 1880s and in the development of the ideas of Russian Conservatism, being, as Konstantin Leontyev put it, “the guardian of the Church and Kingdom”.