Between constitutionalism and revolutionism: Russian society at the beginning of the reign of Alexander III

The article shows that the plans to create an elected consultative representation, which were repeatedly discussed in the ruling circles of Russia in the era of Great Reforms of the 1860s and 1870s, turned out to be obviously unacceptable both for influential high-ranking conservatives and for consistent constitutionalists. At the same time, the revolutionary alternative was sometimes presented by both as although undesirable, but an inevitable and possible way of the future development of the country.