Suvorin, Aleksei Sergeevich

Born Sept. 11 (23), 1834, in the village of Korshevo, now in Bobrov Raion, Voronezh Oblast; died Aug. 11 (24), 1912, in St. Petersburg. Russian publisher and journalist.

Suvorin began publishing in 1858, first in the provincial press and later in the St. Petersburg press, writing mainly theater reviews and topical satires. Until 1875 his writings were liberal and democratic in orientation. In 1876 he acquired the newspaper Novoe vremia and became a major entrepreneur; in V. I. Lenin’s words, Suvorin turned abruptly “to nationalism, to chauvinism, to shameless fawning upon the powers that be” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 22, p. 44). In a satire, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin nicknamed Suvorin’s newspaper At Your Service, Sir.

Suvorin began his book-publishing career in St. Petersburg in 1872 with the publication of the Russian Calendar. In the 1880’s he undertook the large-scale publication of works by Russian and foreign writers in the series The Inexpensive Library. He also published scholarly and scientific literature (mainly on history), books on art, and directories.

Suvorin owned many bookstores and obtained a monopoly on the sale of printed materials at railroad stations. In 1911 he founded the joint-stock company New Times, which was controlled by the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank.