THE IMAGE OF LOBASTOV IN B. AKUNIN’S NOVEL “THE STATE COUNSELLOR”

Abstract

In this article, on the image of T.G. Lobastov from B. Akunin’s novel “State Councilor,” the writer’s attitude to problems relating to the cooperation of capitalist factory owners with the revolutionary underground in the Russian Empire is revealed. Parallels are drawn between the biographies, political views and reasons for cooperation with the revolutionary underground of Lobastov and his historical prototype, Savva Morozov. Common features are noted between these figures: the desire to improve the living and working conditions of workers, strict penalties for consuming alcohol in factories, as well as close cooperation with the revolutionary party. As a result, it is revealed that, starting from a real historical figure, the writer, in creating the image of the Lobastov, focuses on the problem of the “Horde regime”, which prevented the emergence of a legal mechanism for “lobbying” their interests by capitalists in the late Russian Empire.