The Russian conservative thought on problem of the bureaucratization in the second half of 19th - early 20th century

The article focuses on the Russian conservatives' attitudes towards the problem of bureaucratization of the state apparatus in the second half of nineteenth - early twentieth century. Right-wing thinkers and politicians were deeply worried by the danger of degradation of the Russian autocracy, its transformation into an apparatus of power detached from the ordinary people and guided by formal norms and rules. Many well-known public figures, such as V. P. Meshchersky, R. A. Fadeev, I. S. Aksakov, K. P. Pobedonostsev, paid tribute to the anti-bureaucratic rhetoric in their articles and speeches. Trying to preserve an authentic, non-bureaucratic character of the autocracy, its “living”, “popular” character, they put forward various projects proposing the strengthening of the role of the local nobility as a counterbalance to the state officials, convening of the Zemsky Sobor, enhancing the personal role of the Tsar and his trusted advisor in the system of state governing. Despite the fact that the ideological searches of the Russian conservatives ended in failure, an analysis of their activities is of great interest for our understanding the complexity and ambiguity of the ideological and socio-political life of the post-reform era.