The author focuses on history and time, perennial problems of the world science and philosophy. However these abstract theoretical problems should not be considered apart from the present and comparatively recent political context. The problem of history as time which has dense meaning content of it own is investigated in connection with historical experience of Russia which has come through temptations of the liberal epoch. This experience, however, is the legacy which allows understanding of the present day state of the society and to work out the tactics and trajectory of the further development. History and time are burning issues that require profound analytical activity of the society and representatives of its intellectual elite.

The author deals with peculiarities of Russia-Turkey relations at their present stage. The author considers all aspects of these relations stability in a wide context and draws analogies with form and content of relations over the extended period of history. A particular emphasis is made on geopolitical rivalry of powers and issues of interest balance. The article is intended for international relations and global politics specialists as well as for general readers.

Since 1991 states of Latin America, Spain and Portugal hold meetings of heads of states, Ibero-American conferences. Spain, one of the principal sponsors of these conferences notes their importance in its Ibero-American policy and in formation of Spain’s relations with the EU. However such important issues as composition of summit participants, regulations of summits and their agenda are unresolved heretofore. Meanwhile new problems arise. For instance states of Bolivarian bloc as well as Argentine, Brazil, and Mexico are loosing interest in the Ibero-American cooperation. Greater efforts are required from the Spanish diplomacy for development of relations with states of the region and for alignment of Ibero-American and European vectors in Spanish foreign policy. So far hopes pinned at the Spanish Socialist Worker Party government headed by J.L.Rodriguez Zapatero have not proved true.

The article invites to revisit an extremely elaborate and fascinating history of the mid-18th century Ossetian diplomatic mission to St. Petersburg. Up to nowadays it has remained customary for some scholars to make this subject one of those to illustrate that Russian policy in the Caucasus was an onward march with no ebbs or twists. The author claims to give a broader picture to include both impartial «laws of history» and imperfect human beings doomed to create this very history in their own way.

The author analyzes the role of Darwinism in the present day spiritual culture and demonstrates the logic of Darwinism emergence, regular and inevitable character of its emergence and subsequent development. It is emphasized that the theory of evolution is the product of ‘systemic way of thinking'. Such way of thinking combines poorly with the ‘object-centered' thinking which is peculiar for ordinary conscience. The author investigates processes that take place in the contemporary Russian ordinary conscience.

The author considers V.N.Toporov’s works dedicated to study of the ancient Russian hagiography and demonstrates continuity of Toporov’s approach in respect of G.P.Fedotov’s approach and fundamental differences of Toporov’s approach from investigation of hagiography practiced in historical and literary studies. V.N.Toporov’s method is seen as an example of original philosophical (historiosophical) discourse, as an experience in the sphere of ideal text reconstruction, reconstruction of the ‘super-myth’ created by the world and about the world. In a more narrow way it is an attempt to re-create and reconstruct the psychological image, spiritual and internal personality of a saint. In its core assumption and in many specific interpretations that do not imply the strict verification this approach is fundamentally different from methodology of so called Tartu-Moscow school to which V.N.Toporov is usually assigned.

The paper deals with the political background of S.M.Budenny's essay «The Babism of Babel». Based on archival documents it establishes the fact of major political campaign against A.K.Voronsky, the Chief Editor of «Krasnaya Nov» journal being prepared in the autumn 1924. That campaign was only a part of the wider campaign aimed against L.D.Trotsky, the member of Political Bureau of Central Committee of Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). K.Ye.Voroshilov, the closest Stalin’s supporter in his struggle for power, initiated Budenny’s essay as well as the number of yet unpublished works against Babel’s «Red Cavalry». S.N.Orlovsky, a military prosecutor and A.I.Tarasov-Rodionov, a writer were Voroshilov’s assistants and actual authors of the article.

Events occurring in North Africa make it rightful to speak about serious mutations that are indications of the process which was described by the author long ago. The question is a gradual and painful conclusion of the Modern epoch and project and their replacing with conception of the managed chaos. Leaders of superpowers consider this concept as a possible model of control over the world and regions that are interesting in economic and political respects. Religious fundamentalism and its concomitant bringing the humankind to archaic conditions are two most important tools of this global systemic agenda. Finally, the author offers his analysis of balance of forces, of big political game plans, of situation evolving around Egypt and Libya and demonstrates propriety of his explanation.

Antichrist is the key figure of the apocalyptical prophecies, the last and the main enemy of the Church. In the East and the West of Christian world the sinister «son of devil» drew attention of many authors and painters. Since the first centuries A.D. there have appeared different ideas about the nature and appearance of the Enemy. The iconography of Antichrist has embodied an array of variable interpretations. He was depicted as a seven-headed monster, dappled Beast, seductive young man, imperious ruler. His visual images include gestures of sorrow, triumph, fury, desperation or fear. In Russian icons, frescos and miniatures multiple figures of Antichrist spread rather late, starting from the second half of the XVIth century. The article is focused on the semiotics of these diverse images. In the first part, which is published in this issue, the author reviews Muscovite Rus' eschatological tradition and early Christian texts that have influenced Russian iconography of the Enemy.

The last part of the article deals with the crucial point of the history of the Ossetian embassy in St. Petersburg (1751−1752). The negotiations centered around the perspectives of establishing closer relationships between Russia and Ossetia to eventually usher in the era of incorporation of the pivotal North Caucasus region into Russian imperial mould.

Analysis of historical sources demonstrates that in the Decembrists' time the square where they staged their uprising was called in three different ways: it was referred to as the Senate square, St. Isaac’s square and Petrovskaya square. Name ‘the Senate square' has never been the official name. However the historical facts are irrelevant for those who live with and by a myth of historical memory. The struggle for historical memory is a way of the struggle for power. The recent renaming of Decembrists' square in Saint-Petersburg is a vivid episode of this struggle. «Restoration» of historical name is a terminological special operation aimed at discrediting of the Decembrists' metaphor of uprising which the intransigent opposition tries on itself. The Confucian «correction of names» has brought about only emphasizing of the rebellious symbolism ingrained in the memorial place around the Copper Horseman. For a long time the Senate square is not just an urban place-name. It is one of the most important cross-points of national historical time and space. The time is stopped there. The Senate square mentioning within any context revitalizes the glorious day of 14 December 1825, in the Russian people’s memory.

The article is devoted to the new European paradigm of «statehood» in that its peculiar form in which it was assimilated by prominent Russian historians. In this respect the author examines works of S.M.Soloviev, K.D.Kavelin and B.N.Chicherin. Thus the concept of «statehood» is being developed and defined within proper theoretical context and has to facilitate understanding of the Russian history all over its continuity. However the author emphasizes that theoretical assumptions of historians should be analyzed very attentively and require a profound understanding. For experience of new European interpretation of the «state» and «statehood» concepts are very different from what one can find in the Russian sources of the pre-Peter I times.

The author deals with emergence of Stalinism as a phenomenon and elaboration of its principal, universal concepts. The new socio-political and legal doctrine was discussed and put into turnover by members of the Marxists-supporters of the statehood Society. Until recently virtually nothing has been known about activities of this entity. Due to use of unique archive materials (retrieved from the Academy of sciences archive and its Saint-Petersburg branch) the author succeeded in tracing genesis of principal ideological constructs of Stalinism. The author focuses on minutes and verbatim of presentations delivered by the Society’s members at the First All-Union congress of Marxists supporters of the statehood and at the First All-Union plenum of the Societies of Marxists-supporters of statehood societies.

Words about inadmissibility of «personality cult» for the first time were pronounced on the second day after burial of I.V.Stalin. These words were pronounced by G.M.Malenkov. Yet these words were not directly referred to Stalin. If one proceeds from the primary intention of the CC of CPSU secretary P.N.Pospelov's memorandum where the CC of CPSU Presidium meeting held on March 10, 1953, was mentioned then it is obvious that this meeting was in no way connected with Stalin’s name. The key idea of the speech G.M.Malenkov delivered to journalists was simple. To none of three top leaders of the Soviet Union, members of the CC of CPSU Presidium G.M.Malenkov, L.P.Beria, and V.M.Molotov, should not be given any preponderance. The leadership should be collective. However even after the July Plenum of the CC of CPSU Presidium (at this forum G.M.Malenkov for the first time made the direct statement that there had been «the cult of Stalin’s personality») no public exposure of Stalin’s activities followed. Such campaign was impossible due to the only reason: criticism of Stalin expressed at the CC Plenum was allowed only to the top Party officials and only at the closed Party events. For all the rest and for the Soviet society as a whole the topical campaign of «the harmful cult of personality» exposure was reserved. This campaign of veneration of the great personality despite the fact that the true creator of history is the people ran on until N.S.Khruschev's secret report to the 20th Congress of the CPSU.

Materials of six commissions (on general political issues, foreign policy, elaboration of legislative drafts, agrarian issues, national economy and labor regulation issues, and national issues) of the Social Democrat fraction of the Constituent Assembly are stored in the Russian State archive of social-political history. Though these documents were for the first time published more than 10 years ago, they still are not duly involved in the scientific turnover. Meanwhile these documents illustrate how the principal points of the Russian Social Democratic Workers (unified) Party’s Declaration were elaborated and discussed. I.G.Tsereteli's speech and the Declaration he read off were the brightest event of that extraordinary short but shattering day which predetermined the future of Russia. Having dispersed the Constituent Assembly the Bolsheviks transgressed the point of no return. The first step towards establishment of the single party system was made.

The author deals with what he considers one of the main causes of the present day decline of Russia — substitution of imitation of activity for activity. Nowadays this practice is common but goes practically unnoticed because it is used by all strata of the Russian society and is pretty convenient for everybody. However the further advancement of this practice is utterly detrimental not only for the Russian state but for Russian society itself and eventually may ruin it.

The author considers topical transformations of the world civilization. Presently this civilization is moving away from the Modern project which experiences the phase of acute crisis to the new Dark Ages. However this epoch will not be inspired by the ascent of human mind. It will not contribute to creation of new type of spirituality. These Dark Ages will bring archaization, breakdown of states' territorial integrity and connections among human beings, social anomie. Only the Super-Modern (or the Fourth project) can fend off and defeat the Counter-Modern. The final part of the article is devoted to possibilities to implement the Fourth project and to preconditions and premises of the Super-Modern formation.

Antichrist is the key figure of the apocalyptical prophecies, the last and the main enemy of the Church. In the East and the West of Christian world the sinister «son of devil» drew attention of many authors and painters. Since the first centuries A.D. there have appeared different ideas about the nature and appearance of the Enemy. The iconography of Antichrist has embodied an array of variable interpretations. He was depicted as a seven-headed monster, dappled Beast, seductive young man, imperious ruler. His visual images include gestures of sorrow, triumph, fury, desperation or fear. In Russian icons, frescos and miniatures multiple figures of Antichrist appeared rather late, starting from the second half of the XVIth century. The second part of the article, which is published in this issue, is focused on the semiotics of these images. The author reviews European visual tradition of the Enemy and compares it to Russian iconography and «textual portraits» of Antichrist.

The paper highlights the problem of multi-variance of estimates of gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is the basic indicator of the size of the economy, the level of development and country’s position in the geoeconomic structure of the modern world. GDP data (derived from purchasing power parities of national currencies) for European, Asian, African and American countries sometimes differ by tens of percent or even several times. In the paper is given the description of the International Comparison Program (ICP) that is the main source of the PPP data. Particular attention is paid to ICP 2005 results that caused serious controversy among experts in the field of international comparisons.

The article is devoted to description and estimates of the situation why and how N.S.Khrushchev had made the decision to begin nuclear disarmament starting wit the nuclear test ban. Simultaneously the author analyses the reaction of Washington on this Soviet decision. Mutual suspicions were very high at that time but nevertheless the first negotiations had started in Geneva where not only diplomats but famous nuclear scientists were participated. This was the first step to nuclear disarmament. The author who was the witness of these events writing in details and making a systematic and holistic analysis why and how it had happened.

From the ending of the Second World War in 1945 and his first close contacts with Democratic party leadership circles in the early 1950s through his years of participation in the Stevenson campaigns and Kennedy administration and up until his very last days in the beginning of 2000's the famous American historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was always at the vital center of American politics and public life. For more than half a century the world known author of many fundamental books on American history and politics recorded his everyday experiences and reflections in journals that together form an intimate chronicle of life and events in the USA and outside world. The unique volume contains his candid impressions of events both in American domestic life and foreign affairs from the Berlin crisis and the Bay of Pigs to the fall of the Soviet Union and the contest of Bush vs. Gore during the election of 2000. The author of the article focuses on selected points of Schlesinger’s Journals which important for understanding the politics of the last decades.

The author deals with a wide rage of issues: development of «the march on East» plans by Hitler; secret preparations to aggression against the USSR; disinformation campaign carried on by the Nazi propaganda, Moscow’s attitude to information about the forthcoming German aggression; aspiration to procrastinate the war due to the USSR’s unwillingness to military collision; British and American statesmen’s reaction to Germany’s next aggression; mixed attitudes of the British and American public; E. Benes' perception of German aggression against the USSR and his hopes on the defeat of Germany and restoration of Czechoslovakia. The author also examines appraisal of June 22 by Colonel Pika, the head of Czechoslovakian military mission in Moscow, and his suggestions to start Soviet-Czechoslovakian cooperation in military and political spheres; moods of Czechoslovakian legionaries in Suzdal camp for military internees; impact of struggle on the Eastern front on the domestic situation in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; perception of the Soviet-German war beginning by the Slovakian ruling circles; Slovakia’s break of diplomatic relations with the USSR; dispatch of the Slovakian troops to the Soviet-German front. The article is based on the published documents, memoirs, archival materials, scientific literature.

The publication indicates the mood of the part of Russian emigration when Hitler attacked the USSR and the efforts of pro-German emigration leaders to put everything in order by clarifying the German position towards refugees from Russia. It is shown that the former Russian empire citizens, who had left their country after the establishment of the Soviet government, were going to «save Fatherland from the oppression of Communism» using the German help and to take part in the Russia’s «revival». Despite this, Foreign Russia did not find its place in the Hitler’s plans. «The Russian question» was considered by German ruling group only with a view to widening their own living space. Emigration activity was considered as disorganizing factor.

The article is devoted to problems of development beyond the Modern’s limits. What does it mean? In the first place it is necessary to change symbolic notions, to cease putting high hopes on «modernization» and to ponder over strategies of Russia’s development in the contemporary world. Our country has to say some new word which would allow building the whole system of social relationships differently, in Russia as well as beyond its frontiers. It is necessary to deliver the strategy of development beyond the Modern’s limit at the world level. Are prerequisites for that available? Yes, such prerequisites are contained in the Russian history and the cultural heritage of Russia. However, so far we have to investigate the background and purposes of «de-Sovietization» that invite the destruction of the Russian mentality’s imperial core. So far it should be admitted that «de-Sovietization» project is tantamount to the total destruction of everything, tantamount to destruction of our future.

The paper focuses on multivariate and controversial estimates of economic size and development level of China in the late 20th — early 21st centuries. The correlations of the economic potentials of China, Russia and the United States at the beginning of the 20th and early 21st centuries are considered. The reliability of International comparison program 2005 results for defining the countries' positions in the geoeconomic structure of the modern world is discussed. In conclusion, authors attempt to summarize the economic development of the «rich» and «poor» regions of the Earth over the past 2,000 years.

The article is devoted to the attitude of the Russian officials to the mountain Jews in the second half of 19th — the beginning of 20th centuries. Many laws, restricted rights of the Jews appeared in the 1880-s. One of them was the law 18th June 1892 against the Jews of the Terek and Kuban Cossacks areas. This territory was not included in the pale of Jewish settlement, but before the law of 1892 it was opened for some categories of Jews who had rights to live temporary out of the pale of settlement. When this law was issued, the Russian officials did not pay attention to the fact, that besides the European Jews this territory was also native land of the mountain Jews. Therefore as the Russian officials as local one had problems connected with realization of this law.

Paraphrasing Napoleon’s well-known statement that «politics is destiny», one could assert that economy became destiny of Volga Germans. The adoption of backward farming methods made disappear specific features of this population group, causing its factual «economic assimilation» or, so to speak, «economic acculturation» until early 20th century. As a result, the Volga German peasantry faced, during the 1905 Russian’s revolution and the years of the Stolypin agrarian reform, the very same problems and conflicts as their Russian counterparts. If they opted to evade the challenge of modernisation (e.g. by emigration) instead of meeting it in the same radical way, it was solely due to their status as a non-Russian-speaking national minority.

The author examines two great epics of the Ancient world: the Epic of Gilgamesh and Iliad. Though both compositions were created on the mythological basis they differ from each other substantially by their pathos. Iliad is a hymn to war. Its battle scenes are replete with pictures of atrocities, mutilated corpses, streams of blood. The epic praises deeds of valor performed by kings whose meaning of the life was reduced to looting and protection of spoils of war. On the contrary the Epic of the Person, Who has seen everything, places friendship and cooperation on the high pedestal because friendship and cooperation are the guarantee of the humankind’s triumph over hostile elements. Sumerians' outlook and religious beliefs were in many ways alien to individualism. Hence a great difference between Sumerians' mentality and that of the Western civilization people. The Sumerians' world was wide and embraced natural being. It places nature and its vastness above the kindred, self-centered interest. That world balances the material and spiritual and raises the sensual above the rational which is usually brought in by act of an empowered individual’s will or by his striving but such persons are self-interested.

The author deals with perception of N. V. Gogol’s creative works by inhabitants of Galicia (Rusyns of Galicia). The author succeeded in searching out and introducing into the scientific turnover historical material which nowadays is virtually unknown. N. M. Pashaeva exposes one of the least studied aspect of the national and public movement in Galicia (nowadays West Ukraine) from the mid-19th century to the present day through history of the Galician readers' familiarity with creative works of the great Russian writer and his personality.

The author focuses on a new situation which is emerging around so called «unrecognized states» on the post-Soviet expanse by the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. After 2008 when Russia recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia two states remained to be unrecognized: Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Transnistrian Moldavian Republic. The fact that these two states are still unrecognized makes prospects of their recognition even more uncertain. Meanwhile the public opinion in Karabakh and Transnistria perceived acts of Russia as a coarse selection which was deprived of any legal ground. That could not but have impact on the people’s self-perception. The author emphasizes that due to peculiar historical circumstances that relates predominantly to Transnistrian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) and concentrates attention on situation in this state. The author notes the contrast between changes in conscience of the Transnistrian people and the RF leadership slow response to the «Transnistrian settlement» which over the past year has moved to the center of Western states' foreign policy attention. In conclusion the author emphasizes that such inertia on the part of Russia taken together with indifference of the preponderant part of the Russian public to developments on the Dniester in future may turn back to Russia by loss of considerable part of Russia’s influence in the South-Western direction.

The article is a review of «Dreams of Uncle El», the book by American writer Oliver Yurgen. The American fairy detective story provides not only a pretext for critical review but causes serious thought about the place fiction book in the contemporary cultural context. First of all, the author wonders whether O. Yurgen’s book may have its own reader in Russia or not. The book is not just a story for adolescents. It is also a peculiar message addressed to the Russian book market and contemporary Russian culture. Will such book be required in present-day Russia? What will be its Russian readers? Is the humanistic literary tradition (one of contemporary representatives of the tradition is Oliver Yurgen, the American writer and thinker) still possible in Russia?

The text published is the conceptual document which defines the nature and character of Russia’s development in the post-capitalist epoch. Sure, the question is not only the analysis of the current situation; rather it is the question of the analysis of the future. The author clearly defines the paradigmatic characteristics that the new Russia has to comply with as it has chosen its own historical path of development. The USSR’s collapse is the global historical drama played out «with no war» and no ultimate defeat. The contemporary Russia as the legal successor to the USSR has a chance to perform a gigantic historical spurt at whatever cost, has strengths including intellectual and social ones for such movement to the future. Now it is important to understand why Russia did not fully accept the western Modern’s path, which was successfully employed and still employs Asia. The point is that the Modern remains to be the paradigm of the West. Asia accepts the paradigm unconditionally since, despite all Asia’s uniqueness and distinctive character, in this instance Asia does not pretend to invention of its own peculiar path. In the early new history Russia clearly saw its assignment. The barbarian pseudo-capitalism did not naturalized in Russia and the counter-Modern facilitates its complete destruction. The only way to rescue Russia is to emerge in a new capacity, mobilize efforts for the path of Russia’s own project establishment.

The author tracks the development of conceptual basis of the Russian empire’s political parties study. Over the past 15 years an impressive progress in study of the Russian political parties has been achieved: full scale serial publication is going on, monographs dedicated to individual parties have been written, and several general works that allow characterize the system of political parties have been published. However understanding of enormous volume of accumulated material is impeded by an inadequate attention to methodological issues. On one hand, historians and specialists in history of parties perform their studies in insulation from each other. Interdisciplinary studies are the pressing need. On the other hand, conceptual results produced by the Russian scientists and political figures of the early 20th century are left behind though these results deserve attention and scrutiny.

The article is devoted to one of the Bolshevik leaders, prominent economist, theorist of the Left opposition within the All-Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks in the 1920s Evgeni Alekseevich Preobrazhenski (1886−1937). Virtually forgotten in the present day Russia Preobrazhenski is widely known in the West as the person who co-authored «The ABC of Communism» with N.I.Bukharin, creator of «the original Socialist accumulation» concept and of a number of innovative works («The New Economics», «The theory of the falling currency», «The sunset of the capitalism» and others). E.A.Preobrazhenski is considered as the «ideal type» of the Russian revolutionary of the clerical ancestry (according to L. Heimson's typology). The author investigates reasons, motives, and main stages of an Orthodox priest’s son conversion in a revolutionary Bolshevik and some aspects of the Orthodox Christianity and Marxism problem. The article is a magazine variant of the preface and the first chapter of the monograph on E.A.Preobrazhenski's social and political activities and proceedings (at the present time the author is still working on the monograph, which is dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Preobrazhenski' birth).

The paper explores attempts to instrumentalize such factors as ethnicity and faith within the framework of russian captivity in 1914−1919. Captivity realities, as the author demonstrates, were such that manipulations with national and religious sentiments of foreign captives realized through various practices produced — besides sought-for results — a lot of side effects which altered the scenarios of events that their creators deemed the only possible. In large measure this reflected the fact that policy and economy, the generals and civil officialdom, the centre and the periphery affected the captivity patterns according to their interests and aims which conventionality could hardly be taken for granted.

The article analyzes the monograph ‘The Russian Paradigm' by Professor Dula Svak. The authors examine the originality of his research and the peculiarities of the Russian studies undertaken by Dula Svak within the broad theoretical and methodological framework of the search for formulae of Russian history in contemporary foreign historiography of the Russian history.

On the basis of broad archive materials the author examines one of the Stalinism history particular episodes — the conflict of an Yaroslavl enterprise workers and the top party chiefs of the city. The author focuses his attention on the figure of V.I.Lyulin, the popular leader who dared to challenge the party chiefs. The workers rallied and supported him. The conflict provides the vivid example of the workers' confrontation with the authorities on the eve of «the great break» and the Stalinist repressions of the 1930s. The study is carried on along the lines of so widely known approach as micro-history. The essence of this scientific method consists in demonstration how an epoch’s trends, its universal, systemic principles are reflected in minor, particular collisions. The approach enables the author to come to a hypothesis that Stalinism was not so much the expression of the barbarian Asiatic mode of governance over the masses as one of manifestations of the all-European crisis which started in the 20th century, in the epoch when the Modern society entered the period of decisive trials.

After a brief survey of certain achievements the author examines the process of difficulties built-up and subsequent crisis which hit the Communist movement in the 2nd half of the 20th century. As the author demonstrates, the crisis wad caused by the external, objective factors that bore on the movement (abrupt change of the situation in the world and within countries, the diverse anti-Communism (as well as subjective reasons related to the major errors in the parties' activities and activities of the Communist movement as a whole. Among causes of the crisis one has to mention inadequate attention of the parties to changes of the situation, wavering between dogmatism and denial of principles, inability or unwillingness to overcome theoretical and political disagreements that arose among parties etc. The author offers a concise characterization of the Communist movement at the beginning of the 21st century and possible perspectives of the Left movements' development are outlined.

The article discusses the prospects of Russia’s development in the modern world. In the post-Soviet era Russia crossed the border separating the Modern as the project born by the modern European history from the postmodernist chaos. The present Russia’s existence depends on whether it is able to launch a new project, rather than restore the Modern project. What is required to accomplish this task is metaphysics, the scope of which during the reign of the Soviet culture was still limited. That has led to the crisis and, eventually, the destruction of what was once the mighty state. We don’t need metaphysics all by itself, not as refined amusement in an ivory tower. We need it as a means of restoration of the distructed semantic integrity and language, as a means of communication. No other logic can exist. Any culture devoid of metaphysics is totally vulnerable. It is just metaphysics, which creates a barrier between human relations and meanings, on the one hand, and death, which makes life senseless, on the other. It is now, that Russia finds itself at the bottom of the abyss, it may become the savior of humanity, as exactly at this point arose a world-historical task of development beyond Modern.

The tragic consequences of the Soviet Union disintegration that occurred 20 years ago are still not realized to the full. Those who in duty bound guarded the state interests (diplomats, the military, lawyers) suffered the most terrible blow. The author in his memoirs reconstitutes a picture of controversial emotions that the staff of the embassy in Berlin experienced in those years. The Soviet embassy in Berlin was one of the central points the drooping Soviet foreign policy activity. The Soviet concessions did not lead to reciprocal steps of the new-spring «winners» of the Cold War. Our hopes for a new place in the emerging post-confrontation world order proved to be mere illusions that burst as balloons. Creation of the Greater Europe promised to Gorbachev was moved to the misty future. The declaration of the state of siege imposed in Moscow by the State Committee for the state of emergency sounded as the trump of the forthcoming disaster.

The article is devoted to the problem of Russian reforms at the turn of the 19th and the early 20th centuries. The reform of naval officers' promotion to higher ranks (its principal points were presented in the «Regulation on naval qualification requirement for the Naval officers» of 1885) is in focus of the author. The author reveals mechanisms that distort innovative ideas and integrate them into the existing system losing their novelty and efficiency in result of such adaptation. The author demonstrates peculiarities of the Russian Navy officers' service during the period of the Regulation operation, analyzing the documents of the Ministry of the Navy (1885−1907)

The author deals with views of E.A.Preobrazhensky, one of the Bolsheviks' leaders, on the genesis of the Soviet bureaucratic ways and styles, red-tape, and measures needed for the overcoming of the red-tape, and on reasons of the Soviet power’s bureaucratic degeneration. The author notes that, according to Preobrazhensky’s conception, the bureaucracy dominance was a regular result of the state (non-commodity) Socialism, the effect of the centralized economy and not a result of cultural and historical backwardness of Russia as, for instance, V.I.Lenin supposed. According to Preobrazhensky, the basic character of the red-tape required unprecedented efforts the Russian Communist Party had to employ in order to neutralize this phenomenon. Preobrazhensky called for the following measures: membership in the Party had to bring no economic advantages, penalties for misdeeds committed by the Party members should be more though than penalties for similar misdeeds committed by other citizens etc.

The article deals with official performance of Prince Trubetskoy, a prominent figure in the secret societies of the 1820s. Analyzed is his trip to England in 1819, his service as aid-de-camp in the General Staff of the Russian army, as well as execution of military-police duties in his capacity of on-duty staff officer of the 4th Infantry Corps quartered in Kiev (1825). The conclusion is reached that his official activities were often associated with performance of special missions for the government. The experience gained in the service, Trubetskoy used to organize an anti-government plot, as well as to neutralize the enemies of this conspiracy.

The political rhetoric in Russia relies on two ‘principal' myths, myth of power and myth of opposition. In the myth of power the first person of the state is presented as an embodiment of Saint George crushing the serpent of the external enemies and their internal agents. In the opposition myth fighters against the establishment are presented as knights-Decembrists who took the unequal fight against the dragon of autocracy. When the myth of power is attached to the Decembrist rebels it transmutes into the counter-myth. The criticism is carried on from two standpoints that are hardly compatible. The first standpoint is the standpoint of pragmatists in power. Technologists of power understand that transfer of the Decembrists to the ranks of «bad» heroes of the black-and white historical memory is tantamount to elimination of extremely important symbolic foothold of all dissidents. So they, with no excessive enthusiasm, are engaged in re-writing of history within limits set out in the office circular. Political writers clustering around the various Orthodox organizations of national-patriotic orientation act in a quite different way. The Orthodox monarchists are disinterested romanticists of the isolationist authoritarian regime. They believe that the Russian people will begin in accordance with notions of Orthodoxy, autocracy and national spirit if the Decembrists are erased from the historical memory.

The article highlights the work of the provincial (primarily the party) leadership, as well as relevant government departments and agencies to tackle corruption, has received a «second wind» during the transition to the NEP. Analyze the structure of the offenses had corrupt orientation and the factors that hampered the fight against this social evil.