Vasilchikov, Aleksandr

Vasil’chikov, Aleksandr Illarionovich

 

Born Oct. 28 (Nov. 9), 1818, in St. Petersburg; died Oct. 2 (14), 1881, in the village of Trubetchina, Lebedian’ District, Tambov Province. Prince, Russian economist, zemstvo (elected district or provincial assembly) figure of the liberal landlord orientation.

In his works on problems of agrarian relations, credit, local self-government, and public education, Vasil’chikov favored the preservation of the obshchina (peasant land commune), which he saw as the means for saving Russia from class struggle and revolution. He criticized Western European capitalism and put forth the notion of the non-capitalist development of Russia. V. I. Lenin characterized Vasil’chikov as a Narodnik-minded (Populist-minded) landlord, criticizing capitalism from a reactionary standpoint (see Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 3, p. 197, note).

WORKS

O samoupravlenii, vols. 1-3. St. Petersburg, 1869-71.
Zemlevladenie i zemledelie v Rossii i drugikh evropeiskikh stranakh, vols. 1-2. St. Petersburg, 1876.

REFERENCES

Lenin, V. I. “Chto takoe ’druz’ia naroda’ i kak oni voiuiut protiv sotsial-demokratov?” Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 1, pp. 243,377,470, 471.
Lenin, V. I. “Razvitie kapitalizma v Rossii.” Ibid., vol. 3, p. 166. Istoriia russkoi ekonomicheskoi mysli, vol. 2, part 1. Moscow, 1959. Chapter 3, pp. 72-88.