The worldview foundations of the Russian protest of the first half of the XIXth century

The article is concerned with the worldview foundations of political protests in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. Two social groups of different social strata characteristic of Russia, the Decembrist noblemen and the rioting peasants, are considered. The choice is based on the fact that these two groups were united by a high level of protest moods. The analysis of the worldview foundation of the Russian protests revealed the presence of two fundamentally different protest moods inherent to Decembrist noblemen and rioting peasants. In one case, an active subject transformed surrounding political reality. This subject in his actions was guided by a well-considered program of the New European type. The other group consisted of the politically passive group of people whose views were based on religious beliefs. They looked forward to the coming of the “new world”. These two systems of views were diametrically antipodal. One of these poles, based on the ideas of the Enlightenment, could be called rationally modern. The other pole, based on the traditional ideas dating back to the Middle Ages, could be called irrational. However, these two types of protest moods had a common worldview foundation. This foundation consisted of the views expressed through the concept of truth. The world view of both the Decembrist noblemen and peasants reveals their dependence on the idea of the coming of divine order on the Earth. The truth was the ideal that both defined the criterion for the existing social reality assessment and determined the ultimate goal of actions.