The author presents the analysis of «David and Goliath», the article by H.A.Noukhaev, former chief of intelligence under General Dudaev and, at the present time, the head of the Caucasian common market. Mr.Noukhaev blatantly rejects such values as the national state and asserts that the civilization and the city as the child of the civilization are the abomination which must be fought while barbarism and tribal relations are praised and glorified. The author presents convincing arguments against Noukhaev’s propositions and emphasizes that these propositions are particulary dangerous because they neatly find their place in G. Bush new administration’s global policy. Nazi ideas, principles of «Annanarbe» SS institute, though in a very strongly transformed form, which does not make them less venomous, exist within the present day American establishment. The «new world order» of this type propagates de-industrialization, archaization, substitute religiosity etc. for everyone except the elite core of the humankind. The most brutal epoch we are coming in, the post-modernity is an instrument of governing the world and its transformation into anti-humanity, even more abominable than the fascism. The only possible way to resist this trend is to achieve a greater understanding of statehood and to implement this greater understanding.

For more than forty years the Soviet – American nuclear arms race broken out of the confrontation of the two superpowers of the postwar world dominated the world politics. However the atomic aspects of the Soviet domestic and foreign policy was shrouded in secrecy. Now after the disclosure of secret files it is possible to answer many questions that have intrigued scholars and the public for years and which are fundamentally important for the understanding of moving factors of the Soviet foreign policy in the first years of the Cold War, its motives and peculiarities. The main question is: what was the decisive factor in Stalin’s behaviour and what steps he took to counter U.S. atomic diplomacy. Based on a vast array of russian and american sources this original and formidable work of history discloses how and why the Kremlin proved to be able to mobilize the human factor and built the atomic bomb in a very short time.

The author considers some tendencies of the Russian political conscience and the Russian public politics degradation. The author thinks that these trends have brought about emergence of peculiar though not unique form of democracy, the will eruption democracy (or democracy of ecstasy, the ecstatic democracy). This type of democracy is so much different from the traditional, Western democracy that one cannot describe it as a deviation from the Western standard. Making of the ecstatic democracy is going on with no resistance. Moreover, this democracy has already spilled beyond the Russian boundaries and begun its triumphal march all over the world. Since the West and the USA in particular still cling to the archaic traditional democracy (though they contribute to making of ecstatic democracy elsewhere, in such countries as Russia and Serbia) Russia is far ahead of the whole world again.

The author presents the political portrait of Otto von Bismark, one of the most influential and famous European statesmen of the 19th century. She makes an attempt to look at Bismark through the prism of his youth when the basic professional qualities as a politician and diplomat and his character were taking their peculiar shape. The author refutes, step by step, some stable stereotypes including myths produced by the Soviet historical science, unravels intricacy and contradictory nature of Bismark's personality and policies. As the author points out, as the unification of Germany was completed Bismark set forth, as the target of his foreign policy, preservation of the peace in Europe, not initiation of the war. However Bismark succeeded in prevention of the all-European war at the expense of growth of militarism and enhancement of animosity among the European states. That finally brought about the World War I. Bismark led the empire successfully but when he departed from the scene he left the nation deprived of the political education and the political will. Having achieved the unification of Germany Bismark made a genuine historical breakthrough but later he had to leave the political scene because of his futile attempts to construct obstacles on the way of the powerful tide of novelties.

The essay is devoted to comparison of the Christian spiritual doctrine and R.Steiner's doctrine. The author investigates the fundamental discrepancies of the two creeds. In the first place, it relates to the Gospel's religious essence as Steiner understood it. S.Bulgakov concludes that Steiner's doctrine has nothing in common with the «deepening of Christianity». In fact, Steiner's doctrine becomes the substitute for Christianity, the anthroposophic distortion of the traditional dogmatics. R.Steiner's cult based on ideas of non-Christian Oriental mysticism proves to be a «religious fake». Within Steiner's doctrine there is no place for any of the most sacred for Christianity «treasures of the faith». The peculiarity of the doctrine S.Bulgakov subjects to criticism consists of the fact that Steiner makes a system of the occultism. However, the appearance of scientific approach and understanding in this case conceals one of the most dangerous delusions, «the superstition of our days»

The author focuses the attention on the Russians' inability to define their attitude to the «Soviet heritage». The author points out that this inability is quite typical for the political self-conscience of contemporary Russia. Having begun its own development with the avalanche-like, ideologically motivated rout of the Soviet heritage (the greatest rage was brought down on results of the World War II) nowadays the contemporary political conscience faces grave problems of both the social and political (the destruction of the national-historical identity) and the state and legal nature. This array of problems includes, in particular the problem of definition of the territory Russia imposes its sovereignty. This problem, in its most acute form, arises in respect of the territories the Russian Federation owns only as the successor to the USSR, the power which won the victory in the World War II. Obviously, the Russian Federation's titles to such territories are justified only to the extent to which the Russian Federation embraces the idea of the succession as an element of the basis of its new statehood being.

Considering conflict of the state authority and NTV the author exposes the general trend of political process in Russia. Contrary to what some people suspect, the content of the game around of NTV is not the nationalization but the transition of this comprador yet national TV company to the international domain. In fact, the TV heritage is being divided among international entities that are going to control the population. Self-conscious and active part of the national community cannot perform within the environment created in the country. All fragments connected to the elite reproduction structure act as parasites that get their nourishment from the remnants of the Soviet heritage. The coercive shutdown of NTV nudges these parts of society to establish direct connections with the West since if the country is a part of the megasystem then it is apparently much better to serve the megasystem directly, with no intermediary. NTV connected to the West and quasi civic society are getting to be very dangerous. Of all liberal theories the one chosen in Russia is the theory which implies and encourages atomization, i.e., the utter fragmentation of the society into a sum of separate individuals. However the society can exist only if it elite is not atomized but consolidated. If the elite as well as the society is permeated with the gangsters' spirit, if secret services people who are deprived of the idea of service but still possess the super professional skills become arrant bandits then the state is transforming itself into an analog of medieval pirates' states. And if at the same time the image of the state which somehow rules the gangsters' nation is being created then other states are prompted to raise calls for genocide of gangsters' nation. Thus, the principal task for today is to demonstrate a different way and type of life.

The crisis of 1990s attracted the attention of many Russian economists to the problems of economic security. Now we have a vast body of literature on this topic. However, there remain important problems of a conceptual nature: alternative definitions of the economic security are often contradictory, analytical instruments are quite vague, whereas the range of phenomena considered as belonging to the sphere of economic security tends to expand ad infinitum (from the questions of the planetary scope to the personnel management practices at the enterprise level). In the recent article, we survey competing approaches to the economic security based on its understanding in terms of national or public interest, economic stability, and economic independence. It is argued that the definition in terms of stability of national and international economic systems allows one to evade various conceptual difficulties peculiar to the alternative definitions, at the same time providing an opportunity to analyze important practical issues. We interpret threats to the national economic security as endogenous and exogenous shocks of economic and political origin leading to the destabilization of the national economy, and use this approach to describe major problems facing the economy of post-communist Russia.

After the manifesto on the gentry’s liberties was issued in 1762 the Russian society was vigorously developing notions of «freedom» and «liberty». The official state ideology offered a quite limited understanding of these notions as the «negative freedom», i.e., «freedom from…», emancipation from responsibilities to the society and the authorities. The notion of liberty as the unbridled debauch, absolute license and behavior offensive to the dominant public morals and manners gained popularity among the metropolitan gentry, officials and officers. After accession of Paul I (who reigned from 1796 to 1801) reforms aimed at restriction of the gentry’s liberties understood as the «freedom of morals» were launched in the Russian empire. Paul made an attempt to carry out «preventive counterrevolution» of a sort. Paul assumed that the gentry’s liberties uncontrolled by the state would inevitably bring about revolutionary convulsions. Thus he was going to destroy the system of privileges which emerged under Catherine II and which he considered to be the principal source of the «liberal threat». The gentry reacted to Paul’s innovations with protest which found manifestations in semiotic forms and later with the overt rebellion which came to the end with assassination of the emperor and repudiation of his policies.

The author deals with the phenomenon of the 19th century Russian raznochinetz intelligentsia, i. e., intellectuals who did not belong to the gentry. The author examines the very term «intelligentsia», analyses the emergence of this peculiar social and spiritual community and emphasizes the stubborn unwillingness to accept the realities of the Russian life as the peculiar and rigid propensity of the intelligentsia. According to the author, permanent «apostasy», alienation of the intelligentsia from the Russian reality was the principal cause for its confrontation with the authorities. The author focuses on the most vivid manifestation of this confrontation in the 19th century: the revolutionary narodniks' uncompromising struggle which led to assassination of Alexander II. The author considers a possible alternative (so called «small deeds») and concludes that peaceful positive activities were incompatible with mentality of the intelligentsia which was doomed to «the eternal fight».

The author considers the Russians' attitudes to the notorious myth about the world conspiracy made by Jews and masons. The myth emerged at the end of the 19th century within the stream of the Russian conservatism evolution and proved to be the result of the deliberate myth-making. Prior to the revolution of February, 1917, the rightist monarchist organizations tried to use the myth as an instrument which helped them to enhance their influence on the ruling groups. Later the myth acquired the anti-Communist trend and became an explanation of the old regime collapse. In the USSR the myth’s revival occurred in the years when Stalinism reached its climax. However, nowadays the myth is disseminated by and finds its adherents among those who returned to the initial, pseudo patriotic version of the myth. Tracing back peculiarities of each phase of the myth existence and considering the environment in which the myth was perceived the author relates and collates mythologems to the real history of the Russian masonry, the significance and role of which in the events of the early 20th century are obviously exaggerated.

In the commemoration tribute to Irakli G. Tsereteli who was born 120 years ago the author points out that Tsereteli, the Social Democrat, a prominent public activist and statesman of Russia, a founding father and a leader of the first independent Democratic Republic of Georgia, is one of those figures whose deeds and achievements are still judged in terms of the previous epoch official historiography stereotypes and myths. Because of the current political needs not insignificant part of the present day political scientists and historians prefer rather to rely upon these stereotypes and myths than to repudiate them. Tsereteli’s fate is amazing. He was adamant in his belief that all «alive forces of the nation» might consolidate at the moment of a social revolution and made this belief the guiding principle of his activities from the time when he formulated his position as the leader of the Social-Democrats fraction in the Second State Duma to his consistent attempts to implement the politics of consolidation after the February revolution, 1917. Tsereteli appealed to reason even at moments when passions were reigning supreme around him. Though everything Tsereteli strove to build proved to be a «a construction based on sands» his own experience of revolutionary activities let him as early as in 1946 proclaim «the protection of personal rights and the free development of personality» as the principal value of Socialism.

If one gets understanding of the objective laws that govern social processes one gains an ability to predict the character of some macrosocial trend. The author deals with the gloom tendency which manifests itself in the outrageous disregard of the historical memory whether it is related to the Great Patriotic War of 1941−1945 or to the Battle on Kulikovo field which recently has become the favorite target of those who attacks the historical memory with particular vehemence. The author indicates that this deplorable tendency is connected, first and foremost, to activities of the Eurasians: Doughin, Hukhaev, Yakhimchik et al. Activities of these persons is aimed at destruction of Russia and correspond to ideas of Brzezinski. «Eurasia» movement presided by Doughin is, in fact, the horse of Troy which some forces are going to employ in order to make a loose conglomeration of the centralized Russian state. That is why President Putin’s state-consolidating activities are so important for the country. At the same time the author argues that the support of the patriotic electorate is the most important for Putin.

The crisis of 1990s attracted the attention of many Russian economists to the problems of economic security. Now we have a vast body of literature on this topic. However, there remain important problems of a conceptual nature: alternative definitions of the economic security are often contradictory, analytical instruments are quite vague, whereas the range of phenomena considered as belonging to the sphere of economic security tends to expand ad infinitum (from the questions of the planetary scope to the personnel management practices at the enterprise level). In the recent article, we survey competing approaches to the economic security based on its understanding in terms of national or public interest, economic stability, and economic independence. It is argued that the definition in terms of stability of national and international economic systems allows one to evade various conceptual difficulties peculiar to the alternative definitions, at the same time providing an opportunity to analyze important practical issues. We interpret threats to the national economic security as endogenous and exogenous shocks of economic and political origin leading to the destabilization of the national economy, and use this approach to describe major problems facing the economy of post-communist Russia.

The author doubts whether the persons who define economic policies of the Russian cabinets since early 1990s up to now are monetarists. The real economic policies of these cabinets (and their monetary policies in particular) obviously contradict the basic tenets of monetarism and logic of the doctrine, in fact negate them. From this fact one should not come to a conclusion that policies of the Russian «monetarists» are void of any meaning. On the contrary, these policies have quite definite meaning and are consistent. The essence and the intention of these policies are the irreversible destruction of Russia. And inflation serves as an instrument (and quite effective one) to achieve the goal.

The author investigates the version about the «preventive» nature of German attack on the USSR in 1941. Recently the version has gained a considerable popularity in historical literature and in mass media. On the basis of numerous facts and documents the author demonstrates that the Kremlin had no intention to attack Germany and in the case of war the combat capabilities of the Red Army did not allow to achieve a success in a massive strategic offensive against the Wehrmacht which was the world’s strongest army at the time. The author argues that the Soviet failures at the beginning of the war were due to the inadequate appraisal of the international situation by the Soviet political leaders, miscalculations of the Red Army high commanders, their misjudgments about the nature of the forthcoming war and the foe’s strength. Underdevelopment of the USSR which just recently had taken the path of industrialization and still lagged behind the developed capitalist states also had its negative impact on the preparation of the USSR.

On the basis of the German documents the author examines the special operation of the Hitlerite secret services aimed at misinformation of the USSR political leadership and military high command in regard of Germany’s military and political intentions on 1941 and possible terms of the German attack against the USSR. The author investigates various options of misinformation and methods of misleading and offers an answer to the question why did the Soviet leaders were so slow with giving the order to the along the border military districts' troops to get ready for combat.

Contacts of the Soviet and Czechoslovakian intelligence services in 1940−41 constitute an absolutely unknown to the Russian readers chapter of the Soviet intelligence services and the Soviet-Czechoslovakian relations history. The cooperation of thew Soviet and Czechoslovakian intelligence services began to develop quite successfully after Czechoslovakian recognized the USSR de-jure in 1935. This cooperation was interrupted after occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany in March, 1939, and conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact in August, 1939. However, restoration of this cooperation began since summer of 1940. Secret negotiations were held in Prague, London, Bucharest, Istanbul and then in Moscow. The negotiations were held when no official Soviet-Czechoslovakian relations existed and were kept in secret from London and Berlin. The negotiations' significance lies in the fact that they, undoubtedly, helped to restore and mend the Soviet-Czechoslovakian cooperation after beginning of Nazi Germany aggression against the USSR and paved the way for Czechoslovakian-Soviet agreement signing on July 18, 1941, and for formation of the Czechoslovakian military unit on the territory of the USSR.

The author analyzes reasons for popularity of the theory advanced by L. Goumiliov who suggested that every ethnic group at some early stage of its development is motivated by and is driven by an ability to suppress the instinct of self-preservation in order to achieve some aim which sometimes may be a quite illusionary one. Besides analysis of reasons for the theory’s popularity the author provides a survey of possible theoretical sources which the theory may have in the humanitarian thought. The author also discusses the mutually single-valued correspondence between the «passion-like» movement of a society and an individual who has psychological inclination and striving for such movement. Thus, Goumiliov provided a straight answer to the question put by the best minds of the humankind. Among the Western spiritual predecessors of Gumiliov the author points out Hume, Schweizer, Bergson and Nitsche while Tolstoi, Dostoevski, Rozanov and Veresaev are mentioned among Goumiliov’s Russian predecessors. Goumiliov’s theory is meticulously compared to M. Weber's theory of charizma. The author comes to the principal conclusion: Goumiliov’s theory is irrefutable for it belongs to historiosophy and it can be applied when appropriate or it can be ignored altogether.

The authors offer analysis of the situation related to a possibility of the dollar’s devaluation and provide a detailed examination of «natural-objective» and subjective-active factors that have impact on the process. The authors also deal with games played by other centers of economic power and try to overcome their dependence from the USA. Various scenarios of «the dollar’s crash» and consequences such event may have for Russia are examined. The authors analyze the current conditions of the American economy and factors that impede and cushion a crash. At the same time it is emphasized that at the present time there are no conceptual models, no theories, no theoretical paradigms that allow a strategic forecasting. Theoretical framework for such efforts does not exist. Moreover, there is an obvious lack of reliable data for such forecasting. The authors' own position is that no serious war or attack against the dollar or the USA economic supremacy will happen because weakening of the dollar and the USA will inevitably bring about a global crisis. No country or party will profit from such crisis. If it erupts, it will pose a particular danger for Russia.

For many decades Rumania successfully employed methods of maneuvering in its foreign policy and, due to this success, gained the maximum advantages from discord between the world centers of power. Preconditions of the «peculiar line» emerged in the late 1950s and manifested themselves in Rumania’s departure from the position common for the WTO countries and in attempt to get rid of the petty, narrow-minded supervision of the USSR. Ideologically the «peculiar line» was based upon the theses that the «superpowers» performed negative role and the national interests had priority over the class ones. The «peculiar line» policy consisted of gaining specific economic and political advantages and benefits by means of traditional maneuvering between the centers of power involved in confrontation. Bucharest succeeded in achieving principal aims of this policy though many political dividends were left unutilized.

On the verge of the 19th and 20th centuries a modernization project was in progress in Russia. This project was aimed at Russia’s approximation to the Western industrial nations. Thus the project caused the rapid development of the most modern industries. The trade unions, workers' organizations modeled along the lines of similar organizations that existed in the West were in making. However, since forms of industrialism different from the European forms continued to develop the industrial plants' committees (workers' organizations based upon the peculiar domestic traditions) began to appear. Tension between modernist and traditionalist trends in the revolutionary movement found their manifestation in the rivalry between trade unions and industrial plants' committees. The struggle among the political parties also added fuel to the rivalry: originally trade unions followed the moderate Socialists while the industrial plants' committees underwent Bolshevization. Finally the trade unions' bureaucracy imposed itself on the industrial plants' committees and that meant the workers' self-government system was subjugated by the State and integrated within it.

The author deals with a questionable direction in the contemporary historical science, i.e., theory of the lost alternatives and virtual role-games. The author investigates epistemologic problems (problems of the humanitarian disciplines' method) as well as the specific content of the alternative studies. The attention is focused on the problem of the modern historical science’s ethos (its moral standards). What is the social responsibility of a historian, how far are we to go in our search of the truth, what is the ethics of an interpretator who reconstructs a non-existent historical reality — the author offers his answers to these and other questions.

Sergei Witte has been described variously as statesman, industrializer, bureaucrat, careerist. Yet, like so many other Russians in the late 19th century, Witte was a dreamer. He lived in the European Age of Empire - a time before the chaos of twentieth-century war and revolution, when instead global expanses, new technologies, powerful national states, and evolving cultures seemingly made all things possible. This article examines three intertwined dreams that entranced Witte in these years. The first was a dream of a powerful Russian Empire, its vast Eurasian space subjugated by transcontinental railroad, global commerce, and Russian civilization. The second, especially apparent when he remembered the reign of Emperor Alexander III, was a dream of a Russian autocracy whose monarchical authority was legitimate because it guaranteed imperial power, social order, and popular welfare. The third, necessary if the first two were to be sustained, imagined the unity of an imperial nation, created by a powerful commercial-industrial economy out of the disparate ethnic communities that constituted the Russian Empire. The article speculates that these dreams motivated much of Witte's action in end-of-the-century Russia.

The publisher resolutely reject some researchers' allegations about rapprochement of the Eurasianism and the Nazis. The Eurasianism which emerged among the Russian emigrants of the first wave was created not by politicians but by the prominent, outstanding representatives of the Russian culture and was absolutely incompatible with the Nazism. The political ideas of the Eurasian movement cannot be understood if they are considered not within their proper culture-centered and religious context. The letters which are published here demonstrate beyond any doubt that all attempts of Meller-Zakomelski who took pains to attract Eurasians to the Nazis' side failed because they were definitely rejected by N.S.Trubezkoi, one of the Eurasianism’s founding father.

Since reactions of the society to the terrorist acts committed in the USA on September 11, 2001, revealed a lack of intellectual and methodological ability to comprehend the quality of the new world reality which is emerging right before our eyes the author tries somehow to make up this deficiency of understanding. The terrorist attacks are considered as a secret operation of a new kind, as injection of specific «activities clusters» into our world. These activities are carried on in another world and are governed with other laws. To analyze these activities the author introduces the notion of «parallel terrorist civilizations» (PTC). In doing so the author does not mean anything paranormal or «alien», exported from other worlds. The author argues that the PTC is the terrorist mega-structure. Nowadays a person can adequately react to the current of events and make sense of it only if he/she grasps this mega-structure logic and technology. Having done the systemic analysis of the terrorist operation of September 11 and having evaluated its scale, duration, quality and degree of conspiracy closeness the author comes to conclusion the PTC is the most probable organizer of the attack.

The author investigates the profound social and economic shifts that have occurred in the Central Asian countries 1990s, i.e., in the course of transition from the centrally planned economy to the market economy. The author notes a partial agrarization, de-industralization and de-urbanization, the drastic curtailment of investment process, the relative and even absolute decrease of educational, medical, scientific and technological potentials of these countries. All these trends are evidence of the increasing predominance of traditionalization and sometimes even primitivization and archaization of the Central Asian countries' economies and social structures. At the same time these trends co-existed with development of structures and institutions of the new, modern market nature. Such co-existence could be only contradictory, for new structures and institutions are typical for societies that undergo modernization, for small and big social groups as well as for individuals. As the Central Asian countries are gradually integrating into the world economic relations system dynamics and content of which are determined by the developed countries the modernization elements are becoming more active. As a result of that all aspects of the everyday life of people who live in Central Asia, whether they live in the countryside or are city dwellers, are characterized by exceptionally difficult interaction, co-existence and «struggle» of utterly contradictory trends: the traditional v. the modern, the chaotic v. the disciplining, the regressive v. the progressive. In the future transition to the accelerated economic growth along the lines of the «catching-up» development will inevitably and quite soon require a comprehensive support of public education and health systems, preservation and development of the real scientific potential and, finally, a reasonable policy of industrialization and services development which will help to increase performance of all branches of national economies.

This article asks whether the Old Regime in Russia was capable of bridging the cultural and legal gaps between the estates. It argues that the agricultural cooperative movement — which was meant to create an integrated society — was an example of the deep crisis affecting Russian society on the eve of the Revolution, since even the most «progressive» thinkers and activists in rural affairs (the generation of agronomists typified by Aleksandr Chaianov) shared with their employers in local and central government grave doubts about the capacity of peasants to integrate into Russian society as legitimate actors.

Given article is devoted to the consideration of one from principal problems in the history of the Russian science. This problem is relations between the science and autocracy in the beginning XX century. The author draw a conclusion, that in this time as the scientific association was a part of the tsarist bureaucracy, such the tsarist bureaucracy, through the bureaucratic elite, was a part of the scientific association. The social ground of this situation is the dissolution of the bureaucratic elite in the Russian intelligentsia, the institutional ground — the fact, nearly all scientists was the officials. Within the bureaucratic elite the representative of the humane sciences had a majority as compared with the representative of the technical sciences. Therefore, in point of view of the author, the autocracy of the beginning XX century was a form of the political supremacy of the humane scientific subculture. The author thinks that a conflict between the science and autocracy had inside-system character.

The author deals with one of the most intriguing episodes in the «Holy troop» activities: the attempt P.P.Shuvalov, a leader of this organization which was created as the elite’s response to the murder of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, to subject a part of the Russian emigration to his influence by virtue of false, fake newsapapers, liberal «Vol'noie slovo» and ultra-revolutionary «Pravda». The author analyzes the complicated relationshps of Shuvalov and his agents with their «clients» abroad, in particular, with M.P.Dragomanov, and tells the story of the conflict between Shuvalov and his opponents in the highest circles, particularly with G.P.Sudeikin, the «genius of criminal investigation», who succeeded in taking personal advantage of Shuvalov’s enterprise.

The article is devoted to analysis of the peculiar phenomenon, i.e., interests groups as subjects of politics and emergence of them in this peculiar capacity in Russia. Investigating approaches to the problem that exist in the scientific literature author comes to conclusion that scholars have to pay the greatest attention to those interests groups that exert influence on power structures in order to realize their interests without direct claims for the political power. Such groups deserve the appellation of «pressure groups». Retrospective analysis of political role played by pressure groups created in big business stratum prior the October revolution allows isolate two stages in history of the state and big business relationships development in Russia: the period of Alexander II reforms and the period of industrial upsurge at the end of 19th and early 20th centuries. As the author demonstrates, there were two main obstacles to realization of the Russian bourgeoisie pretensions to power: lack of capital among the Russian businessmen and the political weakness of the Russian bourgeoisie.

Contemplating on what the 20th century gave to the humankind the author comes to the conclusion that there is no reason to praise the century. Russia has particular and very strong reasons to be restrained in this respect. The problem is not just that the great state has disintegrated. The single legal, economic and socio-cultural space has disappeared. All bridges that had connected the past and the present have been burned. The unrestrained, boundless liberalization for Russia is even a greater absurdity than socialism building in a single isolated country. No reforms from above will transform Russia into the civil society where everyone will find conditions of self-expression. Politicians must offer the program in which the majority will see reflection of their own interests and aspiration.

Given article is devoted to the consideration of one from principal problems in the history of the Russian science. This problem is relations between the science and autocracy in the beginning XX century. The author draw a conclusion, that in this time as the scientific association was a part of the tsarist bureaucracy, such the tsarist bureaucracy, through the bureaucratic elite, was a part of the scientific association. The social ground of this situation is the dissolution of the bureaucratic elite in the Russian intelligentsia, the institutional ground — the fact, nearly all scientists was the officials. Within the bureaucratic elite the representative of the humane sciences had a majority as compared with the representative of the technical sciences. Therefore, in point of view of the author, the autocracy of the beginning XX century was a form of the political supremacy of the humane scientific subculture. The author thinks that a conflict between the science and autocracy had inside-system character.

The author presents analysis of proceedings and thoughts of Fernando Savater, the Spanish post-modernist philosopher and man of letters who is practically unknown in Russia but gained a renounce in the second half of the 20th century. The author examines origins of scandalous tint of Savater’s fame and tries to reconstruct the principal features of his concept of a man of society on the basis of the most important works written by Savater in 1980s and early 1990s. The author detects the origins of Savater’s scandalous fame in Savater’s attempts to reanimate the Derridan utopia and the ideal of «superman» inherent to this utopia. Both concepts rise and decline simultaneously. The problem of Derridan philosophy reanimation is treated as an attempt of orthodox post-modernism to enforce its Messianic and missionary positions in response to development of neo-Romanticism which was transforming ethics and aesthetics of post-modernism and emergence of other competitive ideological paradigms, neo-Catholicism in particular. According to the author, tendencies so vividly manifested in Savater’s works serve to be a vehicle for formation of not only «elitist» conscience but the «mass» conscience too.

The Ukrainian question was of great importance for the multi-ethnic Russian empire for, besides the threat of considerable deterioration of Russia' geopolitical situation in case of Ukraine’s secession, it undermined the ideological pillars of the «trialistic Russian nation», i.e., it was a factor which prompted the crisis of the Russian self-identification in the beginning of the 20th century. The authors note the inertness and amorphism that were specific characteristics of the Group of Ukrainian members of the 1st and the 2nd State Dumas. Members of the group normally were members of other factions, i.e., factions of Social Democrats, Labor, Constitutional Democrats and even the Union of October, 17. In the 3rd and the 4th State Dumas Ukrainophils did not establish a group of their own but tried to act through factions of the Labourists and the Constitutional Democrats. The Ukrainian question came to the fore and acquired the extreme acuteness in the 4th State Duma, especially during the World War I. Being unaware that their tactics potentially led to the fundamentals of the Russian statehood undermining the Constitutional Democrats and the Socialists used it as a minor card in their struggle against the government.

The article is devoted to the 100-year anniversary of the first Religious-philosophical assembly held on November 29 (December 12), 1901, in Saint-Petersbourg. The author traces the Assemblies' pre-history and notes that these gathering marked a shift in the intelligentsia’s moods from positivism, materialism and atheism to idealism and religion. The «new religious conscience» phenomenon is described and movements in poetry, musical art, politics that evolved in parallel to the «new religious conscience» are mentioned. The Religious-philosophical assemblies were meetings of God-seeking Russian intelligentsia and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Assemblies were presided by Serghi (Stargorodski, then a bishop and would-be Patriarch). The Church was represented by so bright personalities as archimandrite Antonin (Granovski), Bishop Innokenti (Usov), protopresbyter I.L.Yanyshev, hieromonk Mikhail (Semenov), righteous M.A.Novoselov, V.A.Ternavtsev, professor A.I.Brilliantov, A.A.Kireev, V.M.Skvortsov et al. On behalf of the intelligentsia «The Merezhkovskis' circle» (D.S.Merezhkovski, Z.N.Ghippius, D.V.Filosofov, N.M.Minski, A.V.Kartashev, V.V.Rosanov) proved to be influential at the Assemblies. Discussions arouse around such themes as «Excimmunication of Leo Tolstoi», «The Church and the authority», «Freedom of conscience», «The Christian marriage», «Christianity and violence», «Is the dogmatic movement possible?», «N.Gogol and Father Matthew». The Assemblies made a tremendous contribution to improvement of apologetics samples of which were given by many «Church people» who took floor at these meetings. Bishop Serghi’s appeal for unity of the Church and the intelligentsia remains to be important even a hundred years later.

The memory about the Great Patriotic war of 1941−45 and its heroes was sacred in our country. So much the worse that in the course of 'reform' history of this war has been subject to desecration, abuse, and defamation. Publications have appeared where it is argued that the well known examples of heroism and courage of the Soviet people are mere fictions produced by the Stalinist propaganda. Therefore, it is important to examine the total mass of information on the war and to avoid suppression of some secondary details of the heroes' biographies. For authors of the abusive books mentioned above use these minor facts are as their principal data for their distortions of the history. Familiarization with archive data on Natasha Kovshova and Masha Polivanova who names are not so widely known as Zoya Kosmodem’yanskay and Aleksandr Matrosov cannot leave anybody unimpressed. Their heroic deed is but one example of heroism manifested by the Soviet people on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War.

The publication of some documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation offers much fascinating material testifying to the deep sympathy between the outstanding representatives of the cultural elites and artistic communities of the USSR and USA during the World War II. This sympathy has arose from the identical understanding of the common danger — the world fashism, which brought the horrors and tremors of War to the peoples of both countries. These understanding and spiritual closeness found their embodiment in the short correspondence between the great soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich and the world famous conductor of the New York philharmonic orchestra Arturo Toscanini emerged from the genuine historical occasion in the history of the antifashist Resistance during WWII — the first performance of the Shostakovich’s symphony № 7 in the USA on 19 July 1942. It was a passionate call for solidarity of the two great nations in their struggle against the brown plague and for a better world.