En
Ru
Russian political writer, poet and public figure Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov was born
Russian political writer, poet and public figure Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov was born to the family of the writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov in the village of Nadyozhino (Kuroedovo), Belebey district, Orenburg province (today Ufa province) on September 26 (October 8) 1823.
In Moscow Aksakov received home education, then entered the St. Petersburg School of Jurisprudence, and after the graduation in 1842 he took the position in Moscow 6th (criminal) department of Senate. Right then he launched his writing career.
Despite the connections of his father, which promised good chances to move up the ladder and build a successful career in Moscow, in 1843 Aksakov moved to the province and continued his career firstly in the Astrakhan and then in the Kaluga Criminal Chambers. However looking for a more lively and practical work, Ivan Sergeevich soon left judging and in 1848 became an official for special assignments at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In this position he handled cases of dissidents in Bessarabia, directed introduction of common faith and studied the sects of refugees and wanderers in Yaroslavl province.
In 1852 Ivan Sergeevich resigned in the rank of court counselor, moved to Moscow and devoted himself to journalism. Under his editorship came out the first volume of “Moskovskiy sbornik” (“Moscow collected articles”), which covered the ideas of Slavophiles. However in March 1853 the second volume as well as the edition itself were banned, and Aksakhov was put under police surveillance and deprived of the right to engage in editorship.
On the proposal of the Russian Geographic Society Aksakov set off to Malorossiya (Little Russia) to study trading of this region. The travel resulted into publication of the “Research on trading in Ukrainian fairs”, which came out on the society’s means, while its author was awarded with the Constantine Medal and half of Demidov prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
During the Crimean War Ivan Sergeevich served in Moscow home guard, and in 1857 he went on a trip to Europe, where he became acquainted with A.I. Herzen, for five years becoming one of his secret correspondents. At that time he resumed his journalistic work in the position of a secret editor of Slavophiles’ “Russkaya beseda” (“Russian conversation”).
From 1861 Aksakov was the leading political writer of Slavophiles and the editor of “Den’” (“The Day”) and “Moskva” (“Moscow”) newspapers. In 1872-1874 he became the chairman of the Society of Russian Literature Amateurs, while in 1875-1878 he headed the Moscow Slavic Committee. However he was removed from this position and sent from Moscow for the speech in support of national-liberation struggle of Slavic peoples, which condemned resolutions of the Berlin Congress.
During the last years of his life Aksakov continued to promote the ideas of Slavophilia and Pan-Slavism on pages of the “Rus’” (“Russia”) newspaper, which had been coming out since 1880.
Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov passed away on January 27 (February 8) 1886 and was buried in Sergiev Posad near Moscow.
Lit.: Аксаков Иван Сергеевич [Электронный ресурс] // Lib.ru : библиотека Максима Мошкова. 2004. URL: http://az.lib.ru/a/aksakow_i_s/.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Аксаков К. С. Полное собрание сочинений Константина Сергеевича Аксакова. М., 1889;
Аксаков К. С. Полное собрание сочинений Константина Сергеевича Аксакова. М., 1880. Т. 3. Ч. 2;
Аксаков К. С. Сочинения И. С. Аксакова. СПб, 1891. Т. 2;
Аксаков К. С. Сочинения И. С. Аксакова. СПб., 1900. Т. 3;
Аксаков К. С. Сочинения И. С. Аксакова. СПб., 1903. Т. 4: Общественные вопросы по церковным делам;