L. N. Tolstoy as the economist (to the 190th anniversary of his birthday)

Introduction. The modern era is the time of the domination of the market “one-dimensional universe”, for which the nature of consumer psychology, when the ideas of pragmatism, selfishness and hedonism essentially pushed the absolute values and ideals of human existence in the public and personal consciousness of people. Therefore, the appeal to the moral aspects of the modern economy and the historical experience of its spiritual comprehension by our predecessors is an urgent task of the time. Materials and methods. The research uses methods of analysis, synthesis, generalizations and axiology, as well as historical and retrospective and hermeneutic methods of studying primary sources. The research is based on primary sources: diary entries, letters and various articles on socio-economic issues belonging to Leo Tolstoy. Results. The article is devoted to the analysis of the socio-economic views of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. The author reveals the humanistic nature of Leo Tolstoy’s economic ideas as one of the founders of a special direction in the history of Russian economic science - economic humanism. His attitude to the issues of land ownership and land use, judgments on “peasant” and “working” issues, economic policy of the state are shown. The attitude of Leo Tolstoy to the most relevant economic concepts of his time is disclosed: George George’s land property theory, P. Proudhon’s property theory, F. Lassalle’s “iron wage law”, K. Rodbertus’s theory of social division of labor. Discussion and Conclusions. Estimates of Leo Tolstoy’s views by his contemporaries are given as well as studies of recent years on various aspects of Tolstoy in Russian literature are noted. A conclusion is drawn about the growing relevance of Leo Tolstoy’s social and economic ideas in modern conditions.