12 August 1818 year
Passed away Nikolay Novikov. Journalist, critic, publisher. A major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Russia.
The prosperity of the state and the well-being of the people depend inexorably on good morals, and good morals depend inexorably on education.
Born in 1744. Expelled from the gymnasium at Moscow University at 16 "for laziness and not attending classes." At 18, he joined the Izmailovsky Regiment. On the day of the coup staged Catherine II, I stood guard at the Izmailovo barracks. I got promoted.
In 1767, he kept minutes during the commission's work on the draft of the "New Code." He gained insight into Russia's major social problems.
From 1769, he published the satirical magazine "Truten" (Drone). It criticized serfdom, injustice, and bribery. He used Sumarokov's epigraph:
They work, and you eat their labor.
He polemicized with Catherine II's "Vsyaka Vsyachina" (Miscellaneous). For example, in response to a report about a lady who stole jewelry from a shop and beat up a merchant who tried to settle the matter peacefully, "Vsyaka Vsyachina" responded by saying that we should be more lenient toward human weaknesses. Novikov responded:
He who corrects vices is more philanthropic than he who condescends to them.
The Drone was closed in 1770.
In 1772 he launched a new satirical project, "The Painter," one of the best periodicals of the 18th century.
In the 1770s, he published a number of historical publications, including the 10 volumes of "Ancient Russian Vivliofika"—the series became the first major publication of written sources on Russian history.
He joined a Masonic lodge. He leased the university printing house and the Moskovskiye Vedomosti newspaper. The newspaper's subscriber base increased sevenfold. But most importantly, the printing house printed thousands of books, saturating the country's book market with a wide variety of literature—ecclesiastical, philosophical, educational, and adventure.
In 1789, the printing press was confiscated. In 1792, Catherine signed a decree imprisoning Novikov for 15 years in the Shlisselburg Fortress. The educator was accused of Masonic activity (which was not prohibited) and of having connections with foreigners.
Four years later, Paul I, ill and aging, released him. He died at the age of 74.