Public events as a form of interaction between the government and the Russian public in the second half of the 1850s

Introduction. In this article, the public events that took place in Russia during the earlyyears of the reign of Alexander II are considered as one of the forms of interaction between the government and the public. Methods and materials. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the concept of modernization and the theory of the public sphere of J. Habermas, which made it possible to analyze the relationship between the government and the public in Russia as an outwardly expressed and situationally determined social interaction in the context of preparing modernization transformations. The basis of the research is made by memoirs and correspondence of statesmen and public figures. Analysis. It is noted that dinners on the occasion of anniversaries and celebrations in honour of the Sevastopol Defense heroes, as well as other celebrations in the context of the socio-political upsurge of the 1850s, turned into government-public channels, through which representatives of the Russian educated society tried to convey the transformative ideas generated in the public environment to the autocratic power. Results. In the first years of the reign of Alexander II, under the influence of a complex of factors, there was a qualitative change in the public sphere in Russia as an interaction zone between the government and educated society towards the formation of a subject-subject government-public relations model, characterized by the desire of both the public and the government to take into account the interests and needs of each other friend to achieve a common goal - the preparation and implementation of a set of reforms.