POLITICAL AND LEGAL VIEWS OF M. E. SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN: VISION IN MODERN RUSSIA

Abstract

The article analyzes an opinion of the writer M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin regarding the attitude of society and individuals to state power – through the prism of distortions of public service and public administration (in the realities of the 19th century). The author of the article sets himself the appropriate tasks: to trace features of the state administrative biography of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin; to understand Shchedrin’s philosophy of history; to pay attention to the cardinal problems of the social structure of the state, autocratic bureaucratic power – which are posed and solved by the writer; to investigate the grotesque-symbolic image of the social and state-administrative pyramids and the legal basis of this process by Saltykov-Shchedrin; to follow the artistic satirical analysis of the images of public administrators with the help of such a comprehensive tool, which is literature. The article reflects the focus and specificity of his works: it is shown that modern Russian researchers, analyzing problems of state power, write what should be done in order to avoid distortions in public administration, analyzed M.E. Saltikov-Shchedrin too. The genre peculiarity of the “History of one city” is characterized, the main idea of which is in the depiction of the state system, in which society agrees with its constantly depressed state and believes that it should be so. It is shown that Saltykov-Shchedrin believes that only if there is a free and critical vision of the authorities, changes for the better will be possible. If a society lives in blind submission, then nothing good should be expected. The author does not directly call for uprisings and revolutions, but emphasizes that without people’s awareness of their role and responsibility, no changes can take place. Saltykov-Shchedrin aims to instill in people freedom of thought and speech, to improve their own lives, and not to wait for mercy or alms from the authorities. The author tries to instill in the reader an active civic position.