K. P. POBEDONOSTSEV AND THE «JEWISH QUESTION» IN RUSSIA. ON THE FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of views of Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, the many-year Procurator General of the Holy Synod and the teacher of two Emperors, Alexander III and Nicolas II, concerning the so-called «Jewish question», the latter being most actual in Russia in late XIX century and after. As the epoch of the Great reforms passed by and the change of the Government’s political orientation took place (i. e. since 1880-ies), the topic of the Jewish role in the revolutionary movement, as well as that of Jewish influence upon the Russian population of the western regions of Russia, started to be widely discussed among Russian social and political figures against the background of Jewish pogroms. Under such circumstances, Pobedonostsev’s attitude towards the «Jewish question» had a major impact on corresponding governmental decisions. However, one should bear in mind that the Procurator General of the Holy Synod was primarily a political opponent of the Jewry and it would be incorrect to accuse him of «common» or «mundane» anti-Semitism. The article is an attempt to analyze Pobedonostsev’s «political anti-Semitism» together with its origins and aftermath..