Who is n and novikov. Novikov, Nikolai Ivanovich

Novikov Nikolai Ivanovich is a famous figure of Russian education. His contribution to educational activities is enormous. Autocracy, serfdom and all its products were disgusting to Novikov. But he saw the way out of arbitrariness and despotism in enlightenment. The main means for solving social issues and human misconceptions lies in knowledge, Nikolai Novikov was sure.

Biography

Journalist and educator Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov (1744-1818) was born on a family estate near the village of Bronnitsy. He studied for some time at the gymnasium at Moscow University, from where he was soon expelled for laziness and absenteeism. Together with him, the future favorite of the Empress, Grigory Potemkin, was expelled from the gymnasium with the same wording.

Leaving his studies, Novikov went to military service in the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment. The same one with whose support Catherine II came to power. The Empress did not forget the merits of the faithful regiment and generously distributed awards and ranks. Novikov receives his first promotion and immediately retires with the rank of lieutenant. Novikov no longer goes into public service.

Journalistic activity

Novikov's main occupation is journalism. Novikov publishes satirical magazines in which he passionately denounces bribery and abuse of landowner power. But the criticism does not concern the actions of the empress. The magazines were an unprecedented success. They seemed like a breath of freedom and the height of courage.

“Drone”, “Wallet”, “Painter”, “Pustomelya” - publications were published one after another, replacing each other. The curator and editor was Nikolai Novikov (biography and photo above). But he refused authorship due to his lack of education, which he was not embarrassed to openly admit. He said that he was not capable of writing and could only be useful by publishing other people’s works.

Novikov's magazine business flourished; they boldly mocked lack of education and ridiculed the mores of society and panache. The payment for bold criticism was generous compliments addressed to Catherine. The success of satirical magazines disappeared with the end of the war. Catherine, having lost all interest in wits, immediately closed all satirical magazines.

Historical documents

After the ban on the publication of satirical magazines, Nikolai Novikov publishes the first literary Russian encyclopedia - “The Experience of a Historical Dictionary about Russian Writers.” This book caused a lot of noise. It was perceived as literary criticism and an attempt to rank writers. Many felt left out.

At the same time, Novikov published historical materials. His experience was noticed by the Empress, and she ordered that all government agencies provide him with historical documents without hindrance. His enterprise acquired official status. As a result of this project, the “Ancient Russian Viflyofika” (library) appeared.

Thus, Novikov laid the foundation for three areas of publishing - encyclopedic dictionaries, publications of historical sources and satirical periodicals.

University printing house

In 1777, Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov (photo above) began publishing the monthly magazine “Morning Light”, the proceeds of which go to support schools for orphans and children from poor families. At the same time, Novikov became close to the Freemasons, they were the founders of the Alexander and Catherine schools.

The magazine published detailed reports on donations, which it itself promoted. One of the issues contains an article about how children voluntarily gave up breakfast and dinner for a month in order to transfer the savings to those more in need. Masonic connections helped Novikov combine charity and journalism.

Nikolai Novikov moved to Moscow in 1779. He rents the university printing house, and at the same time the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper. Making a profit was not Novikov’s goal in itself; the education of active and educated people was important to him. It was for this purpose that Novikov founded the “scientific community” and began publishing books. They translated foreign publications and paid for university education for talented young people.

Nikolai Novikov distributed his publications in huge quantities and created a reading public. Their publications were very diverse - from German grammar to Christian literature. Through the efforts of the Novikov circle, the works of the Church Fathers in Russian came to light.

By 1784, the “scientific community” led by Novikov opened two more printing houses in Moscow. The goal of these people was to raise a generation of people who could transform the country in the future. Nikolai Novikov gathered like-minded people and sponsors around him, and an informal friendly community was quietly formed.

Punishment for enlightenment

The activities launched by Novikov attracted many envious people. From time to time complaints were made to the Empress about one or another incident in relation to the printing house. She began to view this project with growing suspicion. First of all, Catherine despised the Freemasons. Secondly, she began to be annoyed by some new social life, which was clearly different from what it was before.

The first public organization seemed suspicious to Catherine. The Empress lost her peace and complained to the mayor that she knew how to deal with the Swedes or Turks, but she didn’t know what to do with the lieutenant. And although there was no political background to Novikov’s activities, his educational activities and Freemasonry brought upon him suspicions of freethinking.

In 1792, a judicial investigation was carried out against him and his friends, which revealed nothing. However, Novikov was sentenced to fifteen years and imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress. His contemporaries were horrified by the massacre committed against the book publisher; no one believed in his conspiratorial activities.

Novikov was released by Paul I, who replaced Catherine. Nikolai Novikov emerged from prison completely defeated; the biography of this noble man developed in such a way that he was no longer involved in public activities. He spent twenty-two years on his estate and avoided contact with government officials.

Novikov paid a lot of attention to the problems of education. He believed that education should be conducted in such a way that the resulting children are happy, educated and useful. He emphasized the importance of all-round development of the child. Not limiting himself to book printing, Novikov opened a free library and two schools.

In his article on raising children, Novikov draws attention to the fact that one should not stifle a child’s curiosity. It is necessary to pass on only proven, well-proven knowledge to children. Select subjects according to the child’s age, only those that he can understand.

To summarize, without exaggeration we can say that the activities of Nikolai Novikov played an important role in the development of Russian pedagogy, in education and publishing.

Premiere show. ORT channel

They say that Stalin was very fond of the song “Suliko”. At the end of the last century, before the time when there was still the Soviet Union, this song performed by a children's choir could often be heard on radio and television. Probably by inertia. Today in post-Soviet Russia the song “Suliko” can only be heard in a Georgian restaurant. However, how much Stalin loved this particular song is not known for certain. There are simply certain cliches in the characteristics of this or that historical figure or people. For example, it is believed that the Vietnamese are small, yellow-skinned and love rice.

In the same way, it is generally accepted that Stalin loved the Khvanchkara wine, tobacco from Herzegovina Flor cigarettes and the song Suliko. In the process of working on films dedicated to Stalin and his immediate circle, we realized that not everything is so simple, or rather, that everything is not at all simple.

In the history of our country, which, by the way, has been rewritten many times, there are other dogmas concerning the figure of the leader. During his lifetime, court writers, film directors, journalists, and ideologists propagated the image of a tall, almost monument-sized, kind, wise, child-loving, fearless and tireless leader of the world's first state of workers and peasants. After his death, with the light hand of Nikita Khrushchev, this image was replaced with the image of a small, evil, insidious, pockmarked, bloodthirsty tyrant, only thinking about who else to destroy because they want to destroy him.

We tried to figure out what kind of man Joseph Stalin was.

At first, it seemed that the task that our creative group set for itself - to re-understand the events of the last year of the life of the communist leader - was difficult to accomplish. Firstly, for the reason that the topic of Stalin's departure is too cumbersome to consider from all sides in an hour and a half - the timing of two episodes of the film; and secondly, because recently various researchers seemed to be dissecting every millimeter of his biography.

And yet we managed to choose our own, unexpected version - with the help of eyewitness accounts. But let's talk about everything in order.

Working on a film usually consists of several components: interviews with participants in the events, processing of documents, searching for newsreel materials in film and television archives. Each direction contained surprises and mysteries. Looking at the chronicle, we were surprised: we had never seen such a Stalin. The owner of one sixth of the world, Joseph Stalin, it turns out, could pose for the camera. He could straighten the chairs himself before the meeting, and in general, judging by the chronicle footage, he was a lively person, not without a sense of humor.

For decades we have been shown a different Stalin: here he slowly walks through his famous Kremlin office and in a quiet, confident voice says something to the frozen marshals and generals.

This is how his famous line can be heard:

And you, Comrade Zhyukov...

We decided to once again delve into the character and habits of the man Joseph Stalin for three reasons.

First: Our goal was to restore the entire chain of events.

Second: we wanted to understand what was happening around Stalin shortly before his departure. When behind his back a life-and-death struggle for the place of the future leader was already in full swing.

Third: because we had a unique opportunity to present to a wide range of television viewers the testimonies of people who were direct participants in the events of the distant 1952-1953.

When developing a plan for working on the film, we divided it into two parts. In the second we will talk directly about the struggle for power in the last year of Stalin’s life, and in the first, with the help of rare chronicles and unique evidence, we decided to show viewers and tell how he lived, who he was surrounded by, how an elderly seventy-three-year-old man felt in the last year of his life - Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

And although everyone who knew even a little about the Supreme Commander-in-Chief argues that Stalin had no life outside of politics, intrigue and governing the country, we will still try to do this.

To get to know a person better, you definitely need to see his home. Stalin didn’t seem to have a home. At first he lived in the Kremlin, then at various dachas, and only when the architect Miron Merzhanov built a dacha in Kuntsevo did it become his home. It was to the Near Dacha that we went from the very beginning. Here he lived in recent years, from here in March 1953 the body of the one who was the great Stalin was taken away in an ambulance.

Since the end of the forties, the routine of life in this particular house more and more determined the order of things in the vast country. Night dinners with Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev, Voroshilov took place here, and throughout the country, from the Baltic states to the Far East, regional committee secretaries were awake by the phones. What if the owner calls?

This dacha cannot help but become one of the heroines of our film also because the decrepit leader spent more and more time here at the end of his life.

“Now there is a gloomy empty house not far from Kuntsev, where my father lived for the last twenty years, after the death of my mother,” writes Svetlana Alliluyeva, the leader’s only daughter, his favorite, in her “Twenty Letters to a Friend.” And then she adds: “This house, in any case, is somehow similar to the life of these last twenty years. I have nothing connected with him, I never loved him.”

To our group, the Near Dacha did not seem like one, although the keeper of the dacha soon told us the place of our arrival, describing its features:

Do you know that flowers don’t grow in the house?

We didn’t know, but it’s a fact: for some reason, flowers don’t grow where Stalin lived in recent years. We also didn’t know that there was a bunker at the dacha, which Stalin never went down to. During the bombing, he sat on the second floor, in the solarium, and looked at Moscow. And to General Vlasik, who begged him to go down, he said:

Calm down, our bomb will find us...

Or something like that.

The fact that this place is connected with the modern history of Russia is immediately felt by your skin. You feel it exactly the second you enter an area fenced off by a high, solid fence.

Initially, the house was one-story, it stood among a garden and flowers. Upstairs, a solarium was built across the entire roof. Then the house was rebuilt many times according to the plans of its owner. In 1948, a second floor was added, and later, in 1949, there was a huge reception in honor of the Chinese delegation. This was the only time the second floor was used.

It was here, at the Near Dacha, that we brought a man who had been silent until recently - Nikolai Petrovich Novik. Nikolai Petrovich served as head of Stalin’s security from July 1952 to March 1953. In this post he replaced the legendary General Vlasik. The way this no longer young man looked amazed us. The suit, tie, and woolen pullover were carefully chosen in color, the shirt looked like it had just come from a store, dazzling white, with a stiff collar. We often had to talk with veterans of the special services, but this man stood out from the crowd. Probably, the years spent in Austria, where Nikolai Petrovich Novik was a resident of our intelligence service, had an effect.

It was a frosty February day. Nikolai Petrovich entered the hallway of the Stalin dacha, where he had not been for forty-seven years. He began to remember right from the doorway - he was so overwhelmed by emotions. We filmed in reportage mode, without special lighting, and recorded sound using a microphone built into the camera. His emotions were captured on film.

The territory has changed. I looked - something was built here... - it’s not clear to whom, to us or to himself, Novik said.

In the years when Nikolai Novik began his duties protecting the first person of the state, it would have been nice to assign a personal doctor to Stalin.

From the visitors' log it followed that from 1950 to 1953 the number of people who attended the reception of the Boss in the Kremlin office sharply decreased. If in pre-war 1940 more than two thousand visits were registered, then in 1950 there were about seven hundred, in 1952 and 1953 - less than five hundred. No more than ten people per day. The breaks in appointments also became longer. In 1950, such a break was about five months. From the first of August until the twenty-second of December, Stalin did not receive anyone in the Kremlin.

The next break lasted about six months - from August 9, 1951 to February 12, 1952. There was only one reason behind this sharp decline in activity - health. On this topic, Stalin could no longer allow himself to joke the way he did in 1936, when he responded to an Associated Press correspondent in Moscow who suddenly reported Stalin’s death:

"Your Majesty!

As far as I know from reports in the foreign press, I have long since left this sinful world and moved to the next world. Since the reports of the foreign press cannot be ignored, if you do not want to be erased from the list of civilized people, then I ask you to believe these reports and not disturb my peace in the silence of the other world.

(With respect I. Stalin.)

He was such a joker.

We held in our hands the medical history of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, born in 1879. But it was written in March 1953, when a council of doctors diagnosed the already unconscious leader. Until this time, Stalin almost never consulted doctors. This is amazing, but there was no medical unit on the territory of the dacha, and there was no doctor on duty there. Why is this discussed below, but now we can only state: all this had a detrimental effect precisely in March 1953, when he needed emergency medical care. And so every day his immediate circle noted a large number of colds - Stalin was constantly tormented by a sore throat. There were other ailments as well; he clearly had high blood pressure - at times his face was unnaturally red. There were also rumors that he often suffered from indigestion, and Svetlana, his daughter, also noted this. And all this against the background of general senile weakening of the body.

So, here in 1952 lived an elderly and very unhealthy man. He understood this himself. His closest circle understood this too.

Senile infirmity and fatigue inexorably made themselves felt, although Stalin carefully hid it from those around him.

There was a case when he - the guards told me - was unable to step over a ditch, so he had to jump a little and grabbed a birch tree; If I hadn't grabbed it, I would have fallen. The guard cannot be close enough to catch it even in such cases. He could have fallen, and he said: “This is damned old age!” Commented: “Damn old age!”

This episode was narrated by Nikolai Petrovich Novik.

We dwelled in such detail on the topic of Stalin’s health, because it was precisely this that served as the impetus for the beginning of intrigues in his immediate circle. They destroyed each other for a long time, but they seriously thought about who would be the first after the death of the Master right then, in the early fifties. Moreover, they had good reason to be very scared.

“You have all grown old! I will replace you! - Stalin shouted to his dinner companions late at night at dinner at the end of 1951.

His party comrades knew him too well not to think about their very near future. Was it not that night that served as the impetus for the strange chain of events that accompanied the last year of Stalin’s life? From surveillance of Stalin’s family to intrigues at the 19th Party Congress, from the arrest of the most devoted Vlasik to the strange behavior of Beria, Khrushchev and Malenkov who rushed to the dacha and never provided assistance to the Master who fell to the floor on March 1, 1953. However, we will talk about all this in detail below, but for now it makes sense to study the life of the Near Dacha - the main place of events in the last year of Stalin’s life.

And yet - Dohm

When you arrive at the dacha for the first time, you immediately feel the invisible presence of the Owner. Almost everything here is as it was during his lifetime.

Moreover, the service staff claims that the spirit of the Owner lives in this dacha. We repeatedly had to film at night, and we were convinced of the veracity of these statements the hard way.

Stalin, as a rule, lived in a room that everyone called the “small dining room.” He slept on the couch, where they made his bed. And the large desk was usually littered with papers. He often had a snack at the same table. Covered at the edge. They moved papers, laid out a tablecloth, brought some sandwiches and tea. On the table there were and are still standing today several telephones through which Stalin could contact the outside world: one was an ordinary landline telephone, and the other was a direct dial machine. It does not have a dial disk. Another telephone is government switching. The cupboard contained dishes and medicines, which Stalin, according to his daughter’s recollections, chose himself. Medicines... We will return to them when we describe the events taking place in the country. It was in 1952, when the “Doctors’ Plot” began, that this common word was equated, as the poet said, “with a bayonet.” Or any other murder weapon. But that's not what we're talking about for now. We just want to say that in this closet there was an ordinary first aid kit of an extraordinary person.

What else was in this small dining room? The fireplace and carpet are luxury items, as the owner of this house understood them. So it turns out that the study, dining room, recreation room and bedroom were one and the same room - all, as they would say today, in one bottle - and changed their name depending on what Stalin was doing: working or having lunch, rested or received visitors.

Here it is worth mentioning the amazing Stalinist contradiction. On the one hand, numerous dachas in the Moscow region and in the south, where he had not been for years, but at the same time there was a full staff of servants, on the other hand, amazing personal unpretentiousness. On the one hand, Arkhangelsk herring delivered by plane and the luxurious lifestyle of Vasily’s son, on the other...

November 7, 1952 marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the October Revolution. About two weeks before the holidays, business executives discovered that Stalin's bekesha (this is an overcoat lined with fur) had fallen into disrepair.

Nikolay Novik:

Of course, the lining there has already worn out. There is some kind of inexpensive fur there, I don’t even know what kind of animal; He really wiped himself off very well on his sides and arms. And they tell me that I need to order exactly the same one in the same size, the same color. All this, well, it seems like this - to replace and deceive Stalin a little, or something. Here. They ask me: “How should I do this?” I say: “No, I can’t do that.”

To make it clear, “they” are security officers at Stalin’s dacha.

Then “they” discussed the options for a long time: to order - not to order, to do it secretly or to inform the protected person? We found Solomon's solution: we finally decided to order a new bekesha, and went to the Owner for permission. For a minute and a half, Stalin carefully examined the item, pointed out where it needed to be repaired, and made it clear that there would be no discussion of a new purchase.

“He didn’t pay any attention to his wardrobe,” Nikolai Petrovich continued the story. - And in this case, he only said that I only wear this bekesha a couple of times a year, and why sew? I hinted there that maybe it would be better to sew it, but he rejected it.

When, after Stalin’s death, the property was being described at the Nizhny dacha, one of the first to see the leader’s personal wardrobe was the head of the department of the Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security, at that time a colonel, Nikolai Zakharov. We also recorded his interview when we were preparing this film for release.

This is what he told us. We leave the speech of our heroes exactly the same as it was recorded by the television camera.

Still, an interesting touch: when I opened the wardrobe, I looked and thought: “Who the hell can I do!” Although I was still a small boss then, I didn’t have time, but I think I’m richer. Ha!

In Stalin's wardrobe hung two jackets and an overcoat. What else did Zakharov remember?

This means that the shoes are standing alone, apparently in the place where he put on his shoes. So... so what?.. yes... felt boots, two felt boots. Some are brand new, white, brand new; the second ones are hemmed. The new ones are not dressed even once. All!..

This alone constituted Stalin’s personal property.

It was in the small dining room on the evening of March 1 that Stalin would be found lying on the floor. From the small dining room you can exit into the hallway. From the hallway you can see the large hall. Guests were received there, and here the owner dined with members of the Politburo, simultaneously deciding the fate of the country. Or maybe they decided the fate of the country while having lunch along the way. Whoever likes it.

“In the spacious, undecorated, but tastefully decorated dining room, on the front half of the long table, a variety of dishes were placed in heavy silver bowls heated and covered with lids, as well as drinks and other utensils,” wrote Milovan Djilas, Tito’s comrade-in-arms, the second person in the Yugoslav hierarchy . - Everyone served themselves and sat where they wanted, around the free half of the table. Stalin never sat at the head, but always sat on the same chair: the first one to the left of the head of the table.”

We were shown the very chair on which the Master always sat. But, knowing the customs of those in power, let us doubt that the members of the Politburo did not have permanent positions. Surely everyone knew how close to the Secretary General he could sit and who could sit directly next to him.

But let's return to the description of dinner...

“The choice of food and drinks was huge - meat dishes and different types of vodka predominated. Such a dinner usually lasted six hours or more - from ten in the evening to four or five in the morning. They ate and drank slowly, accompanied by a casual conversation that moved from jokes and anecdotes to the most serious political and even philosophical topics.

Stalin consumed quantities of food that were enormous even for a larger man. Most often these were meat dishes - one could feel his mountain origin here,” Djilas further reports.

The head of the 6th department of the 9th security directorate, KGB Colonel Gennady Nikolaevich Kolomentsev, does not agree with this description of Djilas. For a long time he headed the service that ensures food security for party and government leaders. All of Stalin’s food, when he was at work and at home, was provided by his sixth department. He knows exactly what Joseph Vissarionovich ate and drank.

Some people say that Stalin was a Georgian by nationality, which means he loved Georgian cuisine. It is not true. Essentially, he grew up among Russian people, he got used to Russian cuisine. He loved simple Russian food: pancakes and the simplest jacket potatoes baked in the oven.

And one more small detail about his Georgian roots. This is what Svetlana Alliluyeva writes in her book, describing her childhood years:

“My brother Vasily once told me in those days: “You know, our father used to be a Georgian.” I was six years old and I didn’t know what it was to “be Georgian.” He explained: “They walked around in Circassian coats and cut everyone with daggers.”

And now we will return again to the dinner described by Djilas, which, in fairness, we note, took place in the mid-forties. But such dinners or lunches, as they are commonly called in Europe, continued until the death of the leader. It was after such a dinner, in March 1953, that Stalin did not wake up in the morning as usual. But more on that later, but now we read what Djilas writes:

“He drank rather moderately, most often mixing red wine and vodka in small glasses.”

This is where Djilas is wrong. In his memoirs, Army General Shtemenko described the incident of how at such a dinner he decided to taste the vodka that Stalin drank, pouring it from a decanter. As a truly Russian person who believes that everything is better with his neighbor (especially this one!), the former chief of staff of the Soviet Army decided to try this special vodka. Here's what he writes in his memoirs:

“When Stalin stood up to change the plate, I quickly grabbed the treasured decanter and poured a full glass. To keep up appearances, I waited for the next toast and drank... Water!

Exclamation mark.

And the same Kolomentsev says that:

Stalin was a very sober person in this regard. He loved these homemade light wines. There were two peasants in Abkhazia from whom we always bought wine. They sent a plane and brought it back. For whom, no one knew.

We present this fact to once again emphasize how subjective everything is. The same Djilas writes that Stalin ate a lot, but Henri Barbusse wrote that Stalin pinched off small pieces; By the way, Svetlana also confirms this. We quote verbatim:

“...He ate very little, picked something and pinched off crumbs.”

“...But the table had to be laden with food. That was the rule."

The long table and chairs froze in anticipation of the next night dinner, but after the death of the Master, this table was no longer set in this house.

From the large hall you can enter the office combined with the bedroom. Single bed for an ascetic bachelor. Brown-red tones are everywhere. These are all the rooms in which Stalin lived. And from the large hall you can go out onto a glassed-in veranda, which was added in recent years. Stalin loved her, but spent most of his time on the small western terrace. In summer, the sun was visible here for the longest time. The Owner also liked to have gazebos in the forest with or without roofs, or simply to have a table on a wooden deck and a wicker bed or chaise lounge next to it. He always loved to walk in the park.

“The garden, flowers and forest around - this was my father’s favorite pastime, his relaxation and interest,” writes the daughter. - He himself never dug the ground, did not pick up shovels, as true lovers of gardening do. But he loved for everything to be cultivated, harvested, so that everything would bloom...”

From the hallway you can see the forest, in which, in fact, the dacha is located. Stalin loved to walk in the forest. When houses were being built, he himself showed where to make clearings, what bushes to plant, what trees to cut down. While walking, he could stop near the guard and ask some tricky question.

From the hallway to the right there is a long corridor. No one has photographed this part of the Near Dacha before us. Servants and security were located in this part of the house. In one of the rooms there was a remote control, through which, using sensors mounted in the doors, the security could track the movements of the Owner inside the house. But the kitchen then, in fifty-two, was considered a strategic object. And it is no coincidence that Stalin was afraid of poisoning. And the easiest way to send a person to the next world with the help of poison in all centuries was poisoning food.

All products were sent from a special base, which at that time was still located in Varsonofyevsky Lane, - again testifies the head of the 6th department of the 9th directorate Gennady Nikolaevich Kolomentsev - the department that was responsible for the food safety of the country's top leadership. - All products that arrived for the leaders of the party and government underwent a very thorough check. We had a big system. - Here we remind you once again that we are reproducing the speech of our heroes exactly as it was recorded on film. - Well, I can’t talk about this system, since it is still considered secret. But we gave a full guarantee that the products that we send to the protected people, the food that is prepared in a special kitchen, are completely safe. That is, the question of poisoning through this... This was completely ruled out.

Gennady Nikolaevich Kolomentsev is a tall, thin, bald man. During his service, he was always near scarce foods, drinks, and cigarettes. His department, for example, prepared special “Novost” cigarettes for L.I. Brezhnev with a reduced nicotine content, and later thirty-degree Armenian cognac for the same General Secretary. Evil tongues said about Kolomentsev himself that he always had two packs of cigarettes in his pockets: “Marlboro” for himself and “Java” for those who like to shoot and smoke. But let's return to the dacha - to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's fear of being poisoned.

When Stalin was at work in the Kremlin, he received food from a special kitchen,” continues Kolomentsev. - Everything was brought there in sealed thermoses, there was a buffet, there was a waitress who took these thermoses, heated them when necessary, and served them to Stalin.

Stalin, according to Khrushchev’s memoirs, had his own methods for checking the quality and suitability of food. Having examined the proposed repertoire of dishes, he hinted to those around him which of them he liked most. And then Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan or the memoirist himself were the first to try the specified dish, and then confirmed that XOThe husband, as always, was not mistaken in his choice.

So, the food disappeared, all that remained were medicines, bullets and aerosols. The history of special services knows that in this way unwanted persons have been repeatedly eliminated. However, I placedeThe container in which the leader was located was too large, which meant that large containers would have been required, which the numerous guards could not fail to notice. A dOlet the thought go that the guards came into such a situationAtions as a united front with the hypotheticaleChinese conspirators is almost impossible.

Living almost constantly in his dacha, surrounded by a dozen guards, StalinlI didn’t feel any safety. Especially after, as a result of a complex behind-the-scenes struggle, he was forced to remove his long-term security chief, General Vlasik. You will learn later about what was behind Vlasik’s removal, but for now there is one more evidence of how restless the owner of the country in general and the owner of the Kuntsevo dacha in particular felt this year.

Stalin had a small hobby - his own wine. At the Nizhny dacha they kept threeXliter bottles of Georgian wine (note in passing, not at all with “Khvanchkara”), into which business executives, on Stalin’s instructions, added certain berries. After which the bottles were sealed and left for some time. True, at the same timewrote down the number. After some time, the bottles were unsealed, the wine was filtered and closed again.sget rid of the bottles. And then one day an order came from the Master, which was quite unexpected for the security officers. We again turn to the transcript of the interview with geneeRala Novik:

This was the case. The business manager reported to me that Stalin had called him and told him to destroy all the bottles stored there. I said that I would wait with the implementation, I would delay. What will this look like? I say, well, then we can somehow justify ourselves. Here. Destroy is one minute. Hit the bottle with a hammer and that's it. Then, about eight days later, he calls the business manager and says: “Have you destroyed everything?” He says: “Comrade Stalin, we haven’t had time yet.” - “Leave it!”

“Leave it!” - Stalin said this. For some reason he suddenly changed his mind.

So - and we can say this for sure - Stalin was afraid. He was far from a stupid man and knew his surroundings very well. For the time being, he held his dear comrades in a stranglehold. But as he grew weaker, so did his grip. They couldn't help but feel it. That is why they began to prepare for his departure ahead of time. The stake in this game was absolute, unlimited power. Stalin could not help but feel this and understood everything clearly. It seems that this is why it will explode in the fall of '52 at the famous Plenum of the Central Committee.

For example, a security guard found a bullet on the path, on one of the paths,” General Novik says again, “which was stuck about half a centimeter into the asphalt, into the asphalt path, which generally heats up and becomes softer in the summer.

This was a major emergency. The bullet was immediately sent for ballistic examination, and within two hours it became known that the shot was fired from a rifle from the direction of Vorobyovy Gory. There, prisoners worked on the construction of the university. They were watched by guards armed with rifles. According to the findings of the examination, the shot was accidental. And although the head of Stalin’s personal security recommended that the guard be given a suspended sentence, this had no effect. The soldier who shot him received three years .

“I don’t know, but I didn’t keep track of how long he sat,” General Novik finished the story of the episode.

This is a slightly strange, but very characteristic episode. It once again proves how much attention was paid both at this dacha and outside its territory to Stalin’s security. Superbly adjusted by Vlasik, especially during the war years, the system did not fail. Considering how many enemies Stalin had at home and abroad, one can only be surprised that, except for the accidental shelling of a boat during a boat trip in the thirties, not a single attempt on the life of the Father of Nations is known.

And here is one more touch to the portrait of the leader against the background of the fifty-second year, in the seventy-third year of his life. We would really like to understand what was behind the almost inadequate reaction of the decrepit leader - fear, arrogance or an elementary male desire not to give in to “damned old age”? Stalin never allowed himself to help. Although, it would seem, what’s wrong with straightening an elderly person’s wrinkled galoshes or a rolled-up collar?

“His lapel somehow turned up,” Nikolai Petrovich Novik began to tell the next episode. - He didn’t pay attention, but it really spoiled the view. And Voroshilov tried to straighten this lapel. He hits him on the hand: “I myself!” In a word, he did not like anyone to participate in this part.

In recent years, Stalin lived in constant anxiety. He was alarmed by completely harmless things, and something very depressing. Even frequent half-joking morning appeals to security always had a double bottom. He did not let the people around him relax for a second. Almost every morning, Stalin went out to the park and asked the guard he met what the current temperature was. Then, while walking, he turned to three or four more officers with the same question, as if checking their vigilance. It must be said that Stalin always determined the air temperature more accurately than his guards. As a result, the security management decided to hang thermometers on almost every tree.

Nikolay Novik.

Here are the distances, this also took place. He could ask the guard: how do you think it is from here to that tree over there, to that birch tree, how many meters? Well, one says, such, there, such a distance. He says, but I think so much. Let's measure. We started looking for a tape measure - no one had it. Of course, they found a tape measure, but after that each guard had a tape measure in his pocket. So. This already looks like some kind of prank, so to speak. But in reality... Sometimes he had such a release.

Family

To say that Stalin was unhappy in his personal life is to say nothing. He could never forget his wife's suicide.

At a festive banquet in honor of the fifteenth anniversary of the Great October Revolution, a prominent Soviet functionary, a Georgian by nationality, said to his wife:

Hey, drink!

To which the wife, a student at the Industrial Academy, Faculty of Artificial Fiber, with unclear national roots (her family included Russians, Ukrainians, Gypsies, Germans and Georgians, by the way, too) answered her husband:

I don't tell you Hey!..

After which she stood up and left the table in front of everyone.

Early the next morning she was found in a pool of blood near her bed. In her hand was a ladies' Walter revolver. This revolver was once brought to her by her brother from Berlin. This student's name was Nadezhda Alliluyeva. She was twenty-two years younger than her husband.

Nadezhda Sergeevna was the second and last wife of Joseph Stalin. He will never marry again.

By the beginning of '52, Stalin had two children. Daughter Svetlana and son Vasily. Once upon a time, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief had another son - Yakov. At the very beginning of the war, Yakov was captured, where he died in 1943. Or rather, it was thought so until recently.

Svetlana writes that Stalin learned about the death of his eldest son in 1945. He told his daughter :

“Yasha was shot by the Germans. I received a letter from a Belgian officer, the prince, or something, with condolences - he was an eyewitness ... "

“It was hard for my father; he didn’t want to dwell on this topic for long.”

One can only guess what was going on in his soul when the message came about the death of his eldest son Yakov in a German camp, and only guess what Generalissimo Stalin felt when Aviation General Vasily Stalin flew downhill, drinking more and more. Well, as for the youngest, Svetlana, Joseph Stalin did not fully accept any of her novels, much less her marriage.

It was a very strange and, by and large, very unhappy family. For example, this is how a father congratulated his son Vasily on his first marriage. The telegram arrived on government letterhead and contained the following:

“Why are you asking my permission? Got married - to hell with you! I feel sorry for her that she married such a fool.”

Or this memory of Svetlana:

“It’s strange, my father knew and saw only three of his eight grandchildren - my children and Yasha’s daughter.”

It was a very strange family, which, according to the members of this family, seemed to never exist.

But the family archive has reached us. And not just a simple one, but photo and film documents. In our film, footage from this archive was seen for the first time by millions of television viewers. The photojournalist and cameraman were the same person - the head of Stalin's personal security, General Vlasik. By the way, he edited the footage, added music, that is, he created a “home movie.” Having worked with the Owner for over 20 years, Nikolai Vlasik was almost a member of the family. In any case, Vlasik’s family and Stalin’s children often communicated.

Having seen these images, we decided to find the daughter of the head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security, Lieutenant General Vlasik.

Nadezhda Nikolaevna Vlasik-Mikhailova is a quiet, intelligent woman who lives in a standard two-room apartment not far from Tishinskaya Square. She remembers both Vasily Stalin and Svetlana well. He remembers Vasily very well.

Vasily was a very open, kind, sincere person. I don’t know - I loved him very much. Since childhood. Vasily was an open person. I remember once he even came to my birthday. I was 16 years old, I remember it well. And he was so drunk, to put it mildly, that he even felt sick. They had to put him there and call a doctor. Well, what to do, it was already a disease.

Stalin's daughter, according to Nadezhda Vlasik, Svetlana, had a different character. Closed, silent, she had little inclination for friendly communication even with such close people.

So, the same Vlasik, whom Stalin would initially remove from business and then allow to be arrested in December 1952, was very fond of filming. First with a camera, and then with a movie camera.

Here Vasily and Svetlana are leaving the plane. Svetlana is relaxed, she is among her own people, she even sticks her tongue out at Vlasik. But Vasily and Svetlana are on the seashore. Vasily, as always, is gallant. Especially in relation to my sister. Other shots show Vasily on a sea hunt, in a boat. He is not in a robe or tunic, he is in night pajamas. Let's not guess what he did before getting on the boat.

Now on the dacha alley Svetlana is with her children, the same grandchildren of Joseph Stalin, of whom the Father of Nations saw, as it turned out, only three. These shots are unique in that no one has ever shown young Svetlana Alliluyeva. TV viewers were able to see for the first time what she was like at that time.

The only staged shots filmed clearly for history: Vasily Stalin at the shooting range. Characteristic music, serious Vasily. Noteworthy are the way he holds the weapon and the frame inserted in the edit with a mark on the target in the bull's-eye area. True, the freeze frame shows that there is no bullet hole on the target.

But at that time they did not yet know about freeze-frame.

Let us take the liberty of saying once again that Stalin did not have a family, in the usual sense of the word, after the death of his wife. Even on his last birthday, December 21, 1952, having arrived at his father’s Near Dacha, the son was still unable to properly congratulate his father.

On this day, Vasily brought Stalin a beautiful gift set of tools. Everyone knew that Joseph Vissarionovich was not interested in any crafts - he simply had no time. Therefore, the gift turned out to be unnecessary in advance, on duty. Stalin asked his drunken son to leave the dacha.

And when his son left, Stalin stood with his hands folded in front of him, and so he bowed his head to the side and shook his head. With such a sad look. This son was drunk, to put it mildly, already in the morning. Well... He threw this gift on the table. Stalin did not accept him.

This was their last meeting.

In fifty-two, Stalin's second son, Vasily, turned thirty-one. By this time, he had managed to rise to the rank of general and become commander of the aviation of the Moscow Military District. Vasily was obsessed with sports, was known as a philanthropist, personally supervised the Air Force football team and oversaw the training of the first Soviet Olympians. In addition, Vasily Stalin personally commanded the air parades, which were so popular in Moscow.

During the war, against the will of his father, Vasily managed to be sent to the front and honestly earned his first military Order of the Red Banner.

Stalin always considered Vasily a blockhead; he loved Svetlana more. They just saw each other infrequently lately - the consequences of a quarrel during their first marriage were taking their toll. The nature of their relationship at that time is evidenced by the fact that Svetlana could never see her father just like that. I could never come to my father’s dacha without warning. She couldn't even call Stalin directly. That is why she writes a letter to her father asking for a meeting. When we talk about Svetlana, we will dwell on their relationship in more detail, but now we note that, according to Svetlana, at the beginning of March 1953, she felt that something was wrong with her father, but she came to the Near Dacha only then when they sent a car to pick her up. Svetlana saw her father only on March 2 - on his deathbed...

She later wrote about one of the last meetings in her book:

“This was the penultimate time I saw him before his death - four months before it...

Why do I suddenly remember this particular evening? Because that was the only time I was with my father and my two children. It was nice: he treated the children to wine (a Caucasian habit) - they did not refuse, did not be capricious...

Did he want us to be together? Did he enjoy being with us? Probably. But he got tired in the end. He was used to free solitude. We were already so separated from him by life that it would have been impossible to unite us into some kind of common existence, into some kind of semblance of a family...”

However, there were still people next to Stalin who communicated with him as with an ordinary person. Not because of his work in the Politburo, but because of his duty of service. For the Generalissimo, these people, in a sense, were a family that Joseph Dzhugashvili actually did not have.

Valentina Istomina, the sister-owner of the Near Dacha, was one of those who communicated with the Owner quite often and quite closely. This is what Molotov said to the writer Felix Chuev:

“In different periods there were different people. There was only one old Georgian woman. Then Valentina Istomina... This is already at the dacha. She brought the dishes. And if she was a wife, who cares?”

« In recent years, Valechka knew much more about him and saw more than I, who lived far away and aloof,” states daughter Svetlana.

Valya Istomina allowed herself to express ordinary human feelings when it became clear that the man Joseph Stalin was no longer alive. She mourned him as a dear and close person. She sobbed loudly and wailed like an ordinary village woman.

Of course, this man, who took the pseudonym Stalin, was not cast from this metal, although quite often he wanted to make it clear to his circle that this was the case.

The sister-hostess, the commandant of the dacha, the security - that’s who the Owner communicated with every day for no reason.

Without anything to do.

“No business”... The Boss had no one to talk to, and there was nothing to talk about with those with whom Stalin spoke “no business.” Well, really, how many times can you ask what is the distance from one birch tree to another and what is the air temperature? And what was the point of this if each guard had a tape measure in his pocket, and a thermometer hung on each birch tree?

The year 1952 was ending and 1953 was beginning. Stalin had only two months to live. On the first of March, in a small canteen, reaching for a bottle of Borjomi, he falls unconscious and never gets up again. Despite the huge security staff, help will come to him with a colossal delay. At the most important moment in his life, Stalin would find himself a hostage to his own system of relations with his inner circle. He built it himself for more than one year. This incident was tragic, but it was not the first.

In the bathhouse, that is, there was really such a difficult, I would say, story. Stalin didn’t take a steam bath very often, but he still had the custom of taking a bath on Saturday,” said General Novik.

Usually this procedure took him no more than an hour - an hour and ten minutes. But one day he was delayed for 15 minutes...

Well, the whole thing went completely differently than before,” Novik continued. - But it’s not 20 minutes, 30 minutes...

There was silence in the bathhouse. The duty officer reported to the head of Stalin's personal security, Novik, when the delay reached 35 minutes. Novik reported to Minister of State Security Ignatiev.

Ignatiev immediately reported to Malenkov. He called in front of me. And he sent me there and said that I would contact him, Ignatiev, right on the spot.

Only after 46 minutes the decision was made to break the door.

Here I am, still attached - the first one should be attached. Together. Well, you have to crack it, because there's a hook there.

When the head of security and the duty officer with a crowbar in their hands approached the door, it unexpectedly swung open... A sleepy Stalin stood on the threshold...

He looks like that, with rather sleepy eyes. We pulled ourselves together, as officers should. “I wish you good health!” - they said. He shook his head like that. Well, of course, he didn’t see our guns. The weapon was, essentially, a crowbar. But I’ll tell you this: it cost me more than one year of my life! I’m telling you without showing off... Because right there, in front of your eyes, what could happen? As I remember now, I get goosebumps...

The incident in the bathhouse is only one of a series of previously unknown events and details of the last months of Joseph Stalin’s life, which, after 47 years of silence, were first told in our film by USSR KGB Major General Nikolai Novik.

This time it worked out, but how similar it is to what happened next on March 1, 1953. However, about the political intrigues around Stalin, about the tragic fate of Vlasik, about what stood behind the famous “Doctors' Plot” and what fate the outgoing Stalin prepared for his immediate circle - in the next episode of our film.

These are the words that ended the first episode of the film about the last year of Stalin’s life.

NOVIKOV NIKOLAY IVANOVICH - Russian public figure, enlightener, publicist, publisher.

Nobleman. He studied at the nobility's gymnasium at Moscow University (1756-1759, in 1760 he was discharged for long-term self-free work) . He served in the regiments of the Life Guards of Iz-maylovsky (1762-1768; co-man-di-ro-van for work in the Ulo-zhen-noy commission 1767-1768/1769, pro-to-ko-list) and the Murom Infantry (1768-1769), retired in rank in Russian chi-ka. In 1770-1773, he was a re-vo-dchik in the College of Foreign Affairs. Until 1779 he lived in St. Petersburg.

He performed in ka-che-st-ve from-da-te-la epi-zo-di-che-ski since 1766. The first major enterprise of N.I. Novikova - the satirical weekly magazine "Tru-Shadow" (1769-1770), in which he conducted a le-mi-ku with the magazine "Every-ever-all-chi-na" and her silent re-dak-tor - by Empress Eka-te-ri-na II, from the flock of ne-ho-di-most like an evil-day sa-ti- ry on “faces”, and ra-zo-bla-che-niya of “general-st-ven-nyh po-ro-kov” (chi-new-no-one’s pro-of -la, pro-provincial not-ve-s-st-va, not-so-ver-shen-st-va for-ko-nov, etc.). Other sa-ti-ric zhur-na-ly N.I. Novikov was also turned to the so-ci-al-but-sharp pro-ble-ma-ti-ke - “Pus-to-me-la” (1770); “Zhi-vo-pi-sets” (1772-1773), where, in part, for the first time, the question of -ra-sche-nii on-schi-kov with the cross-on-mi.

In the magazine “Ko-she-lek” (1774) N.I. Novikov published ma-te-ria-ly, dedicated to gal-lo-mania in Russian society and defense -those of the national sa-mo-life-no-sti of Russian culture. A significant part of the ma-te-ria-lovs in these zhur-na-lahs at-above-le-zha-la N.I. Novikov, one of his authors in a number of cases, os-pa-ri-va-et-sya is-traced-to-va-te-la-mi (for example ., “Let’s write to Fa-la-lei” and an-ti-kre-po-st-no-che-skogo “Tear-off the pu-te-she-st-viya in *** I*** T***"). At one time N.I. Novikov published the first in Russia bio-bib-lio-graphic reference book “Experience of is-to-ri-che-sko-go” words about Russian writings" (1772, included information about 315 Russian writings from the 11th to the 18th centuries).

In 1773 N.I. Novikov together with the book-seller K.V. Mil-le-rom uch-re-dil "Society, old-paradise about the printing of books"; it released the ch. arr. re-given to the “Society-st-vu...” by Empress Eka-te-ri-noy II re-re-vo-dy, of which you were not half-members -na-mi “So-b-ra-niya, old-paradise about the re-reading of foreign books.” With the aim of gaining knowledge about Russian history N.I. Novikov with the financial support of Empress Eka-te-ri-na II and with the participation of N.N. Ban-tysh-Ka-men-sko-go, V.V. Kre-sti-ni-na, G.F. Mil-le-ra, book. MM. Shcher-ba-to-va and others published “Ancient Russian Viv-lyo-fi-ku” (parts 1-10, 1773-1775; 2nd, dis-shi- Ren-noye, ed.: parts 1-20, 1788-1791). For the same purpose, he began publishing in the magazine “On-ve-st-vo-va-tel of Russian ancients” (1776, one issue was published) measures), for the first time he gave valuable historical memorials (“A word of praise to the great go-su-da-ryu Bo- ri-su Fe-do-ro-vi-chu Go-du-no-wu..." K. Fid-le-ra, "The Book of Bol-sho-mu cher-te-zhu", both 1773 ; “Is-to-ria about not-guilty-for-near-battle-ri-na A.S. Mat-vee-va”, 1776, “Bar-hat-naya book", 1787, etc.). He published historical works - “A short story about the former self-invited people in Russia”, Prince. MM. Shcher-ba-to-va (1774), “Scythian history” by A.I. Lyz-lo-va (1776), etc.

Since the mid-1770s, the activities of N.I. Novikova was to a significant degree connected with ma-son-st. Member of several lodges. From the Ma-son journals, including “Morning Light” (1777-1780, published in St. Petersburg) , since May 1779 in Moscow; its continuation is the magazine “Mo-s-monthly publication”, 1781). In them, the dek-la-ri-ro-val renounced sa-ti-ry in favor of phil-lo-sof-st-vo-va-niya and moral-in-learning, pro-pa- gan-di-ro-val “ancient knowledge hidden under the Gye-rog-li-fi-che-language”, placed so-chi-ne-nii, on-the-right versus without-God and “free-thought.” Part of the funds from the sale of the journals issued to them was allocated for the maintenance of two elementary schools for girls and boys from poor families (opened in 1777-1778 in St. Petersburg). In 1779, at the suggestion of M.M. He-rasko-va rented the typ-po-graphy of Moscow University for 10 years and received the right to publish the newspaper “Mo-s-kov-skie-ve-do- most" (in fact, the editors of S.B. Sy-ray-schi-kov and P .V. Ivanov; N.I. Novikov himself re-dak-ti-ro-val only “Add-on to the Moscow News” ", 1783-1784). In the same year N.V. Novikov knows I.G. Shwar-tsem, who attracted N.I. within the framework of the Masonic activity. Novikov ch. arr. to the organization of the re-creation of youth and the collection of sacrifices for this purpose (since 1780 N.I. Novikov has been a member of the Gar-mo-niya lodge).

N.I. Novikov taught in the organization of the Teacher (Pe-da-go-gi-che-skaya) (1779-1786) and Per-re-vo-dche -skoy (Phi-lo-lo-gi-che-skoy) (1782-1786) se-mi-na-riy, So-b-ra-niya of university pi-tom-tsev (1781-1789) and the “Friendly Academic Society” (1782-1786) at Moscow University. Published textbooks and textbooks on foreign languages, arithmetic, geography, etc. In the quality of -logo-tion to the newspaper "Mo-s-kov-skie-ve-do-mo-sti" from the first magazine in Russia for children "Children's reading" for the heart and mind" (1785-1789). In the early 1780s, he joined the lodge of the “theo-re-ti-che-gra-du-sa,” which was subordinated to the Berlin-based organization. de-well ro-zen-kre-tse-row, which ideo-lo-gi-che-ski about-ti-vo-stood about-light-tel-sko-mu-r-tio -na-liz-mu. You are so small in the Masonic hierarchy. In 1784, after the death of Schwartz, together with Prince. N.N. Tru-bets-kim and P.A. Ta-ti-sche-vym N.I. Novikov became a member-os-no-va-te-lem of the Di-rek-to-rii of the “theo-re-ti-che-gra-du-sa” of the Moscow Ro-zen-krey-ts-rov . In the same year, the creation of a Ti-graphic company was initiated in Moscow. In my opinion, a number of researchers, including other Moscow ma-sonovs, tried to establish connections with the leader. book Paul Pet-ro-vi-chem (the future Emperor Paul I). Per-rio-di-che-ski osu-sche-st-v-lyal fi-lan-tro-pich. shares that have been called upon by the authorities for dosage in the intention of attracting ma-so-novs to themselves and just-on-ro -dieu (the largest one - buying up grain for the funds of G.M. Po-ho-dya-shi-na and others, and I distribute it baptized us in 1787). Co-operated the opening in Moscow of schools for rank-and-file workers, hospitals for typographical workers -sneeze and ap-te-ki for the poor. In the village Av-dot-i-no built stone houses for his peasants; in honor of the icon of God Ma-te-ri “Quiet-vin-skaya”.

Conflict with the authorities N.I. Novikov began in 1784, when it was announced that he had published two textbooks, the right to publish then-above-le-zha-lo one of the St. Petersburg typ-po-graphs. They were con-fi-sko-va-ny, and the money for the sold ek-lands was collected from N.I. Novikovm. In 1786, by order of the Emperor. Eka-te-ri-ny II compiled an inventory of all books given by N.I. Novikov (6 books on the Masonic te-ma-ti-ku for-pre-s-s-to-sell), and Mi-tro-po-lit Mo-s-kov-sky Pla-ton ( Lev-shin) tested N.I. Novikov “in our cause” (right-in-glory). Ho-cha N.I. Novikov was recognized as a good Christian, he remained under dosage with the im-perat-ri-tsy . In 1788, Eka-te-ri-na II for-pre-ti-la to continue N.I. Novikov rental period for the university television station. Since 1790 N.I. Novikov walked under the hundred-year-old Lyceum on the blue-de-ny. In the spring of 1792, he arrived and arrived in St. Petersburg. Involved in a number of ma-so-novs for the purpose of personal enrichment, at a distance from -ve from the right-of-glory, from-men-no-che-ties with Prussia through the order of ro-zen-kre-tse-rov, or-ga-ni -for-tions for-go-ra-against im-per-ra-t-ri-tsy and in-attempts to attract to him the next-pres-sto-la. The additional information is also about obtaining gold with the help of a philosophical stone.

By decree of August 1 (12), 1792, Eka-te-ri-na II, convinced that N.I. Novikov act-st-vi-tel-but is the head of the secret ma-son-of-the-world in Russia, recognized him guilty on all counts and worthy of the death penalty, who was imprisoned in Shlis-sel for 15 years Bur-kre-sti. In November 1796, after Emperor Paul I ascended the throne, N. os-vo-bo-zh-den, all about-vi-ne-niya with not- go off. The last years of N.I.’s life. Novikov led to Av-dot-i-ne. Tried to set up su-con-production, and also, according to some information, in 1805 to rent again -according to the graphics of Moscow University. For-no-small-studying mystical co-chi-ne-nies with his co-worker in Masonic activity no-sti S.I. Ga-ma-le-ey. After the death of N.I. Novikov, his ra-zo-riv-she-mu-xia, according to the disposition of Emperor Alec-san-Dr. I, was ok-for-for-help .

By the beginning of the 1790s, N.I. Novikov produced over 900 books - about 1/4 of the printed output of Russia at that time -me-ni (pre-region-da-la ori-gi-nal-naya and per-re-water-white-let-ri-sti-ka, a significant part of the so-sta-la-li-bo- governmental and masonic societies, as well as historical, educational, reference, philosophical, legal , pe-da-go-gichekaya, eco-no-micheskaya li-te-ra-tu-ra). Under the leadership of N.I. Novikov there was an established book trade in many cities of Russia, in Moscow from roof-ta bib-lio-te-ka-chi-tal-nya. N.I. Novikov was given a bust in the city of Bronnitsy (2003; sculptor M.G. Salman).

Essays:

Selected so-chi-ne-niya / Preparation of text, entry. Art. and comm-men-ta-rii G.P. Ma-ko-go-nen-ko. M.; L., 1951;

Sa-ti-ri-che-skie zhur-na-ly N.I. No-vi-ko-va / Intro. Art. and commentator P. N. Ber-ko-va. M.; L., 1951;

Out-of-branch. M., 1983;

Laughing De-mok-rit. M., 1985;

Letters from N.I. No-vi-ko-va. M., 1994.

Additional literature:

Lon-gi-nov M.N. No-vi-kov and Moscow mar-ti-ni-sty. M., 1867. St. Petersburg, 2000;

Ne-ze-le-nov A.I. N.I. No-vi-kov, from-da-tel zhur-na-lov 1769-1785. St. Petersburg, 1875;

Bo-go-love-bov V.N. N.I. No-vi-kov and his time. M., 1916;

Ver-nad-sky G.V. No-vi-kov. P., 1918; Se-men-ni-kov V. P. Book-making activity N. I. No-vi-ko-va and Ti-graphic-fi-che-skaya company. P., 1921;

Ma-ko-go-nen-ko G.P.N. No-vi-kov and Russian enlightenment of the 18th century. M.; L., 1952;

Budyak L.M. No-vi-kov in Mo-sk-ve and Pod-mos-ko-vie. M., 1970;

Li-hot-kin G.A. Ok-le-ve-tan-ny Ko-lo-vi-on. L., 1972;

Der-bov L.A. General-st-ven-but-po-li-ti-che-skie and is-to-ri-che-skie views of N.I. No-vi-ko-va. Sa-ra-tov, 1974;

N.I. No-vi-kov and the general-st-ven-but-li-te-ra-tour-movement of his time. L., 1976;

Mar-ty-nov I.F. Kni-go-iz-da-tel N. No-vi-kov. M., 1981;

Ne-kra-sov S.M. Apo-table of do-b-ra: Information about N.I. No-vi-ko-ve. M., 1994;

No-vi-kov and Russian ma-son-st-vo. M., 1996.

Russian journalist, publisher and public figure, Freemason, one of the largest figures of the Russian Enlightenment

Nikolay Novikov

short biography

Russian journalist, publisher, educator, philosopher - born on May 8 (April 27, old style) 1744 in the Moscow province, the family estate of Tikhvinskoye-Avdotino, located near the village. Bronnitsy, in the family of a middle-class nobleman. In his childhood, he was trained by a local clerk, during 1755-1760. received his education at the Moscow University Noble Gymnasium at the university, but he was expelled from there for lack of zeal for study.

Having entered service in the Izmailovsky regiment at the beginning of 1762, Novikov soon became a non-commissioned officer. Even then, an inclination towards book publishing and a passion for literature appeared: Novikov published two stories and a sonnet translated from French.

In 1767, a young man was elected to a commission of deputies who were supposed to draft the imperial “New Code”. Having passed hundreds of documents through his hands, he acquired a lot of knowledge about Russian realities, which significantly influenced the formation of his views as an educator.

After resigning, in 1769 Novikov began publishing the satirical magazine “Truten”, publishing accusatory materials and entering into polemics with the magazine “Everything and Everything”, which was published by Catherine II herself. As a result, he was forced to close Drone in April 1770. But already in 1772, under his leadership, the satirical magazine “Painter” was published, which was awarded the title of the best periodical of the 18th century.

Another important area of ​​Novikov’s activity was defending the national foundations of culture, opposing the blind worship of the nobles before everything foreign. Therefore, in parallel with magazines, he published historical publications. Thus, in 1772, his “Experience of a Historical Dictionary on Russian Writers” was published; during 1773-1775. – 10-volume collection of historical documents “Ancient Russian Vivliofika”. Throughout 1777, Novikov published 22 issues of the weekly St. Petersburg Scientific Gazette, which is considered the first Russian journal of critical bibliography. After its closure in September 1777, Novikov began publishing the country's first philosophical journal, Morning Light. The publication was charitable, the profits from it went to the creation and maintenance of the initial public schools in St. Petersburg.

In 1779, a new stage began in Novikov’s biography, associated with his move to Moscow. Here, the curator of Moscow University, Kheraskov, offered him to rent a printing house (this was facilitated by the fact that both of them were members of the Masonic Order). Under Novikov, the printing house increased noticeably; in less than three years it printed more publications than in the entire 24 years of its existence. Nikolai Ivanovich published magazines and books, textbooks, works by Lessing and other authors in translation. Using his profits in Moscow, he opened a reading room, two schools, and a pharmacy; he provided great assistance to the poorest townspeople and peasants.

At the very height of his publishing activity, Novikov had to cut it off. Clouds began to gather over him back in 1784, when he was confronted with claims for reprinting a number of textbooks, which he undertook on the orders of the Moscow Commander-in-Chief to replenish the reserve of inexpensive educational literature. In 1785, Novikov’s publications were included in the inventory; they were examined for reliability by the archbishop.

Prince Prozorovsky, who was appointed commander-in-chief of Moscow in 1790, wrote many denunciations against Novikov, and on his order the publisher was arrested. The investigation had not yet been completed when, on May 10, 1792, Catherine II issued a decree to send N.I. Novikov to the Shlisselburg fortress, and in August she signed a decree on his imprisonment there for 15 years. The charges brought against Novikov could just as easily have been brought against many people, so in fact, most likely, he suffered for being too zealous and independent in his social activities.

Nikolai Ivanovich had to spend 4.5 years in the fortress, enduring enormous hardships. On the very first day of his accession to the throne, Emperor Paul I gave Novikov his freedom on the condition that he would not engage in his previous activities. Several years of imprisonment turned an energetic man into a morally and physically broken one. Having ceased to engage in any public activities, he until August 12 (July 31, O.S.) 1818, i.e. until his death, he lived on his estate.

Biography from Wikipedia

Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov(April 27 (May 8), 1744, Tikhvinskoye-Avdotino, Moscow province - July 31 (August 12), 1818, ibid.) - Russian journalist, publisher and public figure, freemason, one of the largest figures of the Russian Enlightenment.

Youth

Born on April 27 (May 8), 1744, in the family estate of Tikhvinskoye-Avdotino, near the village (now city) of Bronnitsy, Moscow province. Father - Ivan Vasilyevich Novikov (1699-1763) - from the nobility of Petrovsky training, the son of a colonel, in the navy he rose to the rank of captain-colonel, retired under Anna Ivanovna, then for 10 years he was a governor in Alatyr, where he married Anna Ivanovna Pavlova. As a child, Nikolasha studied with a village sexton, then, at the age of 11-16, at the Moscow University Noble Gymnasium at Moscow University (1755-1760), from where he was expelled “for laziness and not going to class.”

At the beginning of 1762, he enlisted in the Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment (where he was enrolled as a child) and, as a sentry at the drawbridge of the Izmailovsky barracks on the day of Catherine II’s coup, was promoted to non-commissioned officer. Already during his service in the regiment, Novikov showed a “taste for verbal sciences” and a penchant for book writing: he published two translated French stories and a sonnet (1768). In 1766 he carried out his first publishing experience: he published at the Academic Printing House “Register of Russian books sold in Bolshaya Morskaya, in the Knutson House”

In 1767, Novikov was among the young people who were entrusted with keeping minutes in the commission of deputies to draft the “New Code”. The Empress considered this assignment a matter of high importance and ordered “to identify special nobles with abilities to keep the protocol.” Novikov worked in the Small Commission on the Middle Class of People and in the Large Commission. Participation in the work of the commission familiarized Novikov with many important issues raised by Russian life and with the conditions of Russian reality, and became an important stage in the formation of his educational views. When reporting on the work of the commission, Novikov became personally known to Catherine. On January 1, 1768, by personal decree, he was released from the Guard into the army as a lieutenant with an appointment to the Murom Infantry Regiment of the Sevsk Division, but continued to serve under the Commission.

The beginning of journalistic activity

In 1769, after the completion of the work of the Commission, Novikov retired and began publishing the weekly satirical magazine “Truten”. This magazine (1769-1770) promoted the idea of ​​​​the injustice of serfdom, protested against the abuse of landowner power, castigated injustice, bribery, etc. , speaking out against very influential areas, for example, against the courtiers. On the issue of the content of the satire, “Drone” entered into a debate with “Everything and Everything,” the organ of Empress Catherine II herself. Other journals also took part in the controversy, divided into two camps. “Everything” preached moderation, condescension to weaknesses, “smiling satire,” condemning “any offense against persons.” “Drone” stood for bold, open denunciations. The struggle, however, was unequal: “Drone” first had to moderate its tone, completely abandon the discussion of the peasant issue, and then Novikov, having received a hint about the possible closure of the magazine, stopped publishing it in April 1770. An attempt to continue the satirical line in the new magazine “ Pustomelya" (June-July 1770), unfortunately, was interrupted at the second issue.

In 1772, Novikov launched a new satirical magazine, “The Painter,” the best periodical of the 18th century. “The Painter” pursued the same ideas as “Drone”: in a number of articles, some of which belonged to I. P. Turgenev, others were attributed to A. N. Radishchev, he strongly and passionately advocated against serfdom. In 1775 Novikov published a book “Painter”, in which he collected the best articles from the magazine of the same name and “Drone” in a revised form.

Publication of historical monuments

Novikov considered one of the most important tasks to be the fight against the admiration of the nobility for foreignness, for the national foundations of Russian culture. Simultaneously with satirical magazines, he published a number of historical publications. Among them is the book “The Experience of a Historical Dictionary on Russian Writers” (1772), as well as “Ancient Russian Vivliofika...” - monuments of Russian history published monthly (1773-1776), “Ancient Russian Idrography” (vol. I, 1773 - a description of the Moscow state , compiled under Fyodor Alekseevich), and other publications of historical materials. He was the first to publish Scythian history"A. I. Lyzlova.

Novikov was aware of the need to publish historical monuments with paleographic accuracy, a collection of heteroglossia, compiling alphabetical indexes, etc., and sometimes applied these techniques when using several lists (for example, in Idrografiya). Novikov drew material for his publications of ancient monuments from private, church, and state ancient repositories, access to which was allowed to him by the Empress in 1773. Novikov himself compiled a collection of historical manuscripts. Miller, Prince Shcherbatov, Bantysh-Kamensky and others brought him a lot of materials, as well as Catherine II, who supported the publication of Vivliofika with generous subsidies.

In 1787, the “Velvet Book” was published by N. I. Novikov under the title “Genealogical Book of Russian and Traveling Princes and Nobles” and is a valuable document for genealogical research.

Freemasonry

Novikov was not always stable in his views on Russian antiquity. The ancient Russian sovereigns, according to him, “allegedly they had a presentiment that with the introduction of sciences and arts into Russia, the most precious Russian treasure - morals - would be destroyed irrevocably”; but at the same time, he is a zealous supporter of enlightenment, an admirer of Peter the Great and those people whose works for the benefit of Russian enlightenment he lovingly included in his “Experience in a Historical Dictionary of Russian Writers” (1772). Novikov found the outcome of these fluctuations and contradictions in Freemasonry.

Novikov's first connections with Freemasonry began in St. Petersburg. Back in 1775, friends invited him to join Freemasonry, but he hesitated for a long time, not wanting to bind himself to an oath, the subject of which was unknown to him. The Masons obviously valued Novikov’s entry very much, since, contrary to their rules, they informed him of the contents of the first three degrees before he joined the lodge. Novikov, however, was not satisfied with the Elagin system, which he entered into, and only later did he find “true” Freemasonry in the Reichel system, in which “ everything was focused on morality and self-knowledge».

Magazines published by Novikov

• Satire magazines:
  • Drone (1769-1770) - about the abuses of landowners, injustice and bribery;
  • Pustomelya (June and July 1770);
  • Painter (1772-1773) - denunciations of enemies of enlightenment, criticism of government administration and the judiciary, ridicule of noble morals;
  • Wallet (1774) - respect for Russian antiquity and condemnation of gallomania.

• “St. Petersburg Scientific Gazette” (1777) is the first Russian journal with critical and bibliographic content. In 1777, Novikov published 22 issues of the St. Petersburg Scientific Gazette, published weekly and dating back to the first period of his activity. It was a magazine of scientific and literary criticism, which aimed, on the one hand, to bring Russian literature and science closer to the scientific world of the West, and on the other, to show the merits of Russian writers, especially historians.

• "Morning Light" (1777-1780) - the first philosophical magazine in Russia. The moralizing element in Uchenye Vedomosti was still weak, but it became dominant in Morning Light. Novikov began publishing this monthly magazine, stopping Vedomosti, from September 1777, first in St. Petersburg, and from April 1779 - in Moscow. It published Jung's Nights, Pascal's Opinions, but mainly translations from German writers, moralists, pietists and mystics. “Morning Light” was published with the assistance of a whole circle of like-minded people, including M. N. Muravyov and I. P. Turgenev, and, moreover, for charitable purposes: all income from the publication was intended for the establishment and maintenance of the first public schools in St. Petersburg. This reflected two main features of Novikov’s later activities: the ability to organize public activities and the desire to work for the benefit of education. An appeal to the magazine's subscribers with an invitation to contribute to the formation of schools caused a large influx of donations.

• “Fashionable monthly publication, or Library for ladies' toilet” (1779) - the first Russian women's magazine. The first issue of the “Fashionable Monthly Edition” was published in January in St. Petersburg; from the fifth issue, due to N.I. Novikov’s move, the magazine began to be published in Moscow. The magazine was published for a year, but was closed by the publisher due to his busy schedule and lack of readers (for example, in one of the issues of the publication a list of subscribers was published, which included only 58 names). The magazine was literary, including prose and poetic works. The word “fashionable” in its name, according to researchers of the history of the press, was used to attract the attention of the female audience and update it on the typological concept of the magazine, which was modern for this period - this was the first attempt to create a periodical for women.

Schools founded by Novikov in St. Petersburg

In November 1777, Novikov opened a School (later called Catherine's) at the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, for 30 or 40 people, with boarders and visiting students, paid and free. The following year, a second school was opened (Alexandrovskoye, at the Church of the Annunciation on Vasilyevsky Island). Both of these schools existed back in 1782. The further fate of the schools founded by Novikov is unknown.

Moscow

In 1779, Kheraskov, who was the curator of Moscow University and also a Freemason, offered Novikov to rent the university printing house and the publication of the Moscow Gazette. Novikov moved to Moscow, and here the third and most brilliant period of his activity begins. Having quickly put in order and significantly expanded the university printing house, Novikov, in less than three years, printed more books in it than how many came out of it in the 24 years of its existence before it came into the hands of Novikov. Including the first Complete Works of A.P. Sumarokov (in 10 volumes), “Russian Fairy Tales” by Levshin (in 10 volumes), etc.

Along with publishing books, Novikov also raised the importance of the Moskovskie Gazette, to which he began adding additions of various content; the number of subscribers increased sevenfold (from 600 to 4000). In 1781 Novikov published a continuation of “Morning Light”, under the name “Moscow Monthly Edition”. This was followed by the periodical publication “City and Country Library” (1782-1786), in 1782 “Evening Dawn”, in 1784-1785 “The Rest Worker”, in which Novikov resumed his fight against serfdom, the first Russian children’s magazine “Children’s reading for heart and mind" (1785-1789), scientific journal "Shop of Natural History, Physics and Chemistry" (1788-1790). Through his publishing activities, he wanted to create a sufficiently abundant and easily accessible supply of useful and entertaining reading for a wide range of readers, without limiting himself to promoting his views.

In order to reduce the price of books, Novikov entered into relations with all the bookstores that existed at that time, created commission agents, sold goods to booksellers on preferential terms on credit, sometimes in tens of thousands of copies, and organized a book trade not only in provincial cities, but also in villages. In Moscow, where until then there were only two bookstores with a turnover of 10,000 rubles, under Novikov and under his influence their number increased to twenty. They sold two hundred thousand books annually; in particular, M.I. Glazunov created a publishing house that existed until the October Revolution of 1917. Novikov also established the first reading library in Moscow.

In a society where even the title of writer was considered shameful, one had to have a considerable amount of determination to become a printer and bookseller and see in these occupations one’s patriotic calling. People close to Novikov at that time argued that he did not spread, but created in us a love of science and a desire to read. Through the intensive work of translators, writers, printing houses, bookstores, books, magazines and the rumors excited by them, it began, according to the remark of V. O. Klyuchevsky, to break through something with which the Russian enlightened society was not yet familiar: public opinion.

In 1781, Novikov married the niece of Prince Trubetskoy, Alexandra Egorovna Rimskaya-Korsakova (died April 12, 1791).

In 1782 he founded the Friendly Scientific Society of supporters of the ideas of the Enlightenment, which in 1784 established the publishing house Printing Company (princes Yuri and Nikolai Trubetskoy, Ivan and Pyotr Lopukhin, V.V. Chulkov, I. Turgenev, A. Kutuzov, A. Ladyzhensky, Schroeder, A.I. Novikov).

Persecution

Novikov’s activity was in its prime when a thunderstorm was already gathering over him. First of all, the commission of public schools filed a claim against him (in 1784) for reprinting some textbooks published by it. Novikov did this by order of the Moscow commander-in-chief Chernyshev and not for profit, but so that there were enough cheap educational books on sale. But Chernyshev died in the meantime, and Novikov had to give the commission a reward.

In 1785, it was ordered to compile an inventory of Novikov’s publications and submit them for consideration by the Moscow Archbishop Plato, who was also supposed to test Novikov himself in the faith. In his report, Plato divided Novikov’s publications into three categories: some he considered very useful given the poverty of our literature; others, mystical ones, he, according to him, did not understand; the third, compiled by French encyclopedists, he considered harmful. About Novikov’s faith, Plato wrote: “I pray to the all-generous God that there will be Christians like Novikov all over the world.” Of the 460 publications, only 23 were recognized as “capable of serving various free speculations.” 6 of them were sealed as Masonic, and 17 were forbidden to be sold.

Church in Avdotyino, in which N.I. Novikov is buried

In 1787, during a crop failure and the resulting mass famine, Novikov began to provide philanthropic assistance to the peasants of his Avdotino estate, and then to neighboring villages. Having spent over 50,00 rubles on this (with the support of G. M. Pokhodyashin), he saved men from 100 villages from starvation. Unable to tolerate such insolence, Empress Catherine signed a decree “prohibiting the sale of all books related to holiness.” Over 330 publications were confiscated from shops and burned, most of which were published in Novikov’s printing houses.

By order of the Empress dated October 17, 1788, Novikov was denied an extension of the lease of the University Printing House. Having become seriously ill, in June 1789 he retired from Moscow to Avdotino. In 1791, the Printing Company officially liquidated itself, transferring all property and debts personally to Novikov.

In 1790, Prince Prozorovsky, an ignorant, suspicious, cruel man, promoted by servility, was appointed commander-in-chief in Moscow. He sent denunciations against Novikov, which caused Count Bezborodko to be sent to Moscow to conduct a secret inquiry; but Bezborodko did not find any reason to persecute Novikov.

On April 13, 1792, Prozorovsky was sent an order to investigate whether Novikov, contrary to the law, was printing books from the church press. April 22 The hussars burst into Novikov’s bedroom and conducted a search, despite the fact that the owner was ill. Empress Catherine ordered to look for books, letters - anything that might seem suspicious, but legally there was nothing to complain about. The hussars turned the house upside down and found nothing. During searches of bookstores and libraries, a number of previously banned books were discovered. Despite this, Novikov was pulled out of bed, put in a chair and transferred to a carriage. During this scene, Novikov’s children began to have a fit and suffered from epilepsy.

Hearing about Novikov’s arrest, Prince Razumovsky was indignant: “ They took the sick old man under guard, and boasted as if the city had been captured" Nikolai Ianovich faced interrogations in Moscow and torture in St. Petersburg.

Even before the end of the investigation, the Empress, by decree of May 10, 1792, ordered Novikov to be secretly transported to the Shlisselburg fortress, where Sheshkovsky himself conducted new interrogations.

However, the investigation was able to bring charges based only on suspicions that were so unconvincing that it was simply indecent to hold a trial. Finally, on August 1, 1792, the Empress signed a decree confining Novikov without trial to the Shlisselburg fortress for 15 years. Novikov was accused of a “vile schism”, of selfish deceptions, of Masonic activities (which were not prohibited either before or after), of relations with the Duke of Brunswick and other foreigners (these relations concerned exclusively Freemasonry and had no political significance). Catherine's decree read: " ...although Novikov did not reveal his innermost plans, his unacknowledged crimes are so important that We ordered him to be locked up in the Shlisselburg fortress».

The decree refers all these accusations not to Novikov alone, but to all his Masonic accomplices; Only Novikov suffered, although he was not even considered the head of the Moscow Freemasons. Even Prince Prozorovsky was amazed at the outcome of the Novikov case: “ I don't understand the end of this matter,” he wrote to Sheshkovsky, “ as close accomplices, if he is a criminal, then they are criminals too».

Karamzin, who expressed sympathy for the fate of Novikov in his “Ode to Mercy,” looked for the reasons for Novikov’s conviction not in the charges officially brought against him and in the first place put Novikov’s distribution of bread to the starving, which seemed suspicious, since they did not know the source of the money he spent on it. funds. It is most likely that Novikov suffered for his too, by the standards of that time, independent social activities. Novikov spent four and a half years in the fortress, suffering an extreme need for the most necessary things, even medicine, although his conclusion was selflessly shared by Doctor Bagryansky. In prison, he was assigned cell No. 9, in which former Emperor Ivan Antonovich had previously been kept.

Out of 15 years, Novikov served only 4 years - the empress died, and the new emperor Paul the First, on the very first day of his reign, ordered the release of Novikov for lack of guilt. However, Novikov was imprisoned in the fortress while his strength and energy were still fully developed, and he came out “decrepit, old, bent.”

But terrible news awaited his freedom - while he was in Shlisselburg, all his property was sold at auction, including the Avdotino estate. However, Novikov was able to achieve the return of the estate, but at the same time his financial situation was so deplorable that he had to mortgage the estate. With the money raised, Nikolai Ivanovich planned to renovate the estate buildings again, but it turned out that it would be cheaper to build everything anew.

Novikov built four-apartment brick houses for peasants, which he called “houses of communication.” This name was given because Novikov believed that civilization had destroyed the former natural connection between people. People became disconnected and isolated themselves from each other. This wall between people was what the “houses of communication” were supposed to break down. This, in fact, was the first commune in Russia.

Also, Nikolai Ivanovich dreamed of reviving the connection between man and nature. He was engaged in gardening, planted an orchard on the estate, and spent a lot of time in the park. Friends sent him seeds of various crops (flowers, clover), cuttings of cherries, pears, apple trees.

He was forced to abandon all public activities and until his death on July 31 (August 12, 1818) he lived almost continuously in his Avdotyino, caring only about the needs of his peasants, about their education, etc.

Novikov literally struggled to improve his affairs. But the children were bad helpers, because they suffered from epilepsy, which began on the day of his arrest. In December, Novikov was gripped by panic every year - he had to get funds somewhere for the next mortgage payment, because if this was not done, then all the property could go under the hammer. In 1817, Novikov had a particularly difficult time; he was barely able to raise money at the last moment. Immediately after this, he had a stroke and lost his memory and died soon after.

Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov - Russian journalist, publisher, educator, philosopher - was born on May 8 (April 27, old style) 1744 in the Moscow province, the family estate of Tikhvinskoye-Avdotino, located near the village. Bronnitsy, in the family of a middle-class nobleman. In his childhood, he was trained by a local clerk, during 1755-1760. received his education at the Moscow University Noble Gymnasium at the university, but he was expelled from there for lack of zeal for study.

Having entered service in the Izmailovsky regiment at the beginning of 1762, Novikov soon became a non-commissioned officer. Even then, an inclination towards book publishing and a passion for literature appeared: Novikov published two stories and a sonnet translated from French.

In 1767, a young man was elected to a commission of deputies who were supposed to draft the imperial “New Code”. Having passed hundreds of documents through his hands, he acquired a lot of knowledge about Russian realities, which significantly influenced the formation of his views as an educator.

After resigning, in 1769 Novikov began publishing the satirical magazine “Truten”, publishing accusatory materials and entering into polemics with the magazine “Everything and Everything”, which was published by Catherine II herself. As a result, he was forced to close Drone in April 1770. But already in 1772, under his leadership, the satirical magazine “Painter” was published, which was awarded the title of the best periodical of the 18th century.

Another important area of ​​Novikov’s activity was defending the national foundations of culture, opposing the blind worship of the nobles before everything foreign. Therefore, in parallel with magazines, he published historical publications. Thus, in 1772, his “Experience of a Historical Dictionary on Russian Writers” was published; during 1773-1775. – 10-volume collection of historical documents “Ancient Russian Vivliofika”. Throughout 1777, Novikov published 22 issues of the weekly St. Petersburg Scientific Gazette, which is considered the first Russian journal of critical bibliography. After its closure in September 1777, Novikov began publishing the country's first philosophical journal, Morning Light. The publication was charitable, the profits from it went to the creation and maintenance of the initial public schools in St. Petersburg.

In 1779, a new stage began in Novikov’s biography, associated with his move to Moscow. Here, the curator of Moscow University, Kheraskov, offered him to rent a printing house (this was facilitated by the fact that both of them were members of the Masonic Order). Under Novikov, the printing house increased noticeably; in less than three years it printed more publications than in the entire 24 years of its existence. Nikolai Ivanovich published magazines and books, textbooks, works of Rousseau, Lessing and other authors in translation. Using his profits in Moscow, he opened a reading room, two schools, and a pharmacy; he provided great assistance to the poorest townspeople and peasants.

At the very height of his publishing activity, Novikov had to cut it off. Clouds began to gather over him back in 1784, when he was confronted with claims for reprinting a number of textbooks, which he undertook on the orders of the Moscow Commander-in-Chief to replenish the reserve of inexpensive educational literature. In 1785, Novikov’s publications were included in the inventory; they were examined for reliability by the archbishop.

Prince Prozorovsky, who was appointed commander-in-chief of Moscow in 1790, wrote many denunciations against Novikov, and on his order the publisher was arrested. The investigation had not yet been completed when, on May 10, 1792, Catherine II issued a decree to send N.I. Novikov to the Shlisselburg fortress, and in August she signed a decree on his imprisonment there for 15 years. The charges brought against Novikov could just as easily have been brought against many people, so in fact, most likely, he suffered for being too zealous and independent in his social activities.

Nikolai Ivanovich had to spend 4.5 years in the fortress, enduring enormous hardships. On the very first day of his accession to the throne, Emperor Paul I gave Novikov his freedom on the condition that he would not engage in his previous activities. Several years of imprisonment turned an energetic man into a morally and physically broken one. Having ceased to engage in any public activities, he until August 12 (July 31, O.S.) 1818, i.e. until his death, he lived on his estate.