The special features of conservatism origin and development in Russia (the end of the eighteenth - beginning of twentieth century)

The purpose of this study is a comprehensively integrated study of the specific features of Russian conservatism at the stages of its emergence and development in Russia from the end of the eighteenth to beginning of twentieth century. The subject of this article is the reasons for the conservatism formation in Russia. In this regard, the special attention is paid to development of the Russian state in the end of the end of the eighteenth to beginning of nineteenth century. The cause-and-effect rela- tion is found out between the invasion of the Freemasonry into Russia in the end the end of the eighteenth century and the necessity to fight this organization, which might be dangerous for the Russian absolute monarchy, by developing and rolling out conservative ideology that might efficiently resist the growing popularity of the Freemasonry among the Russian ruling elite. The research also covers the influence of revolutions in Western Europe in the seventeenth - eighteenth centuries over the Russian political and legal affairs. Specifics of the Russian conservatism are distinguished. The article lists the stages of development of the conservative political and legal ideology in Russia and their specific features. The author has carried out a detailed study of conservative political and legal trends of different epochs and has made their classification. The article contains opinions of the leading modern researchers of the Russian conservatism. Disclosing the stated issues, the authors are used the following research methods:the application of the dialectical method of cognition allowed to study the evolution of conservative ideas, to reveal the reasons that influenced the emergence of a conservative ideology in the Russian state. Using the methods of analysis and synthesis, such political and legal phenomenon as Freemasonry, which posed a threat to the Russian autocracy, was investigated. Also, when studying the development of conservative political and legal thought in Russia during this period, systematic methods of studying were used, which makes it possible to distinguish the distinctive features of Russian conservatism.