Leckey, Colum. Patrons of Enlightenment: The Free Economic Society in Eighteenth-Century Russia (review)

Abstract

SEER, 93, 2, APRIL 2015 370 Having made these fairly minor criticisms, it remains warmly to recommend an exceptional opportunity to explore the complex and fascinating phenomenon of early modern Wilno, and to get to know seventeenth-century Vilnans. Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Wioletta Pawlikowska-Butterwick Sciences, Vilnius Leckey, Colum. Patrons of Enlightenment: The Free Economic Society in Eighteenth-Century Russia. University of Delaware Press, Newark, DE, 2011. x + 211 pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $75.00. This is a well thought-out and worthwhile volume on a neglected topic. It presents the first book-length study in English of the Imperial Free Economic Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and Household Management, which wasestablishedinRussiain1765undertheprotectionofCatherinetheGreat,and was part of a wider culture of the development of public economic associations across Europe in the eighteenth century: it remained in operation until 1915. The Russian Society survived and prospered, the author argues, by adapting the culture of free institutional associations to the politics of absolutism and the social conservatism of Russia’s educated public. In terms of its approach, the book presents a predominantly cultural and institutional history of an organization and its economy-related activities, rather than a ‘pure’ history of economic ideas as developed by its individual members, but it is well-researched and serves a very useful function in linking Russian intellectual history to the wider tradition of related societies in Europe and America. The story of how the Free Economic Society promoted agricultural surveys and invited proposals for reforming the structure of Russian agriculture in the eighteenth century is carefully presented, including a good amount of relevant detail using archival and other primary sources. Individual chapters cover varied topics such as the role of patrons of the Society, voices from the provinces, various Society publications, and whether Russian agriculture improved at all in the eighteenth century. The discussion of agrarian land reform proposals invited by the Society is especially interesting, including entries by D. A. Golitsyn and Voltaire. The book concludes that the greatest accomplishment of the Society was its longevity, especially given the turbulent socio-political context. I would like to have read more about key individuals, for example N. S. Mordvinov, the president from 1823 to 1840. Mordvinov’s crucial role in promoting the Society is highlighted, but the content of his economic writings is only very briefly considered. Even so, the themes covered in the book are all relevant to an understanding of how economic discourse widely understood developed in eighteenth-century Russia. REVIEWS 371 The book begins with a contextualized placing of the Russian Free Economic Society alongside equivalent bodies in the UK, continental Europe and North America, and this is perhaps the book’s most important contribution: to situate the Russian example within a wider trend. Other highlights are a detailed account of Catherine’s attitude to the Society and her role in initiating various projects within it, and a breakdown by topic of the content of the Society’s main journal publication in its first ten years of publication. The analysis of how the Society interacted with peasant customs is also notable. The demise of the Society in 1915 is explained as a result of its refusal to revise its charter to include a ‘third element’ of zemstvo professionals following an Imperial Decree in 1899. My only serious criticism is of the design of the book’s cover. Instead of reproducing an eighteenth-century text published by the Society, and other such examples inside, or historical photos of its key members, the cover is adorned by a dull photo of what looks like a dilapidated old plough-wheel. The author even describes examples of such Society publications in the text: ‘Gracing the cover was Catherine’s personal coat of arms, featuring bees swarming around their hive’ (p. 28): sounds delightful, why not illustrate it for readers? Other than that, the book makes an important contribution to enhancing historical understanding of the role of the Free Economic Society in wider Russian life. London Vincent Barnett Wortman, Richard. Russian Monarchy: Representation and Rule. Imperial Encounters in Russian History. Academic Studies Press, Boston, MA, 2013. xxvi + 332 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Index. $85.00. This book...