SPECIAL ASPECTS OF M. B. SVERDLOV's HISTORIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

Abstract

In 2020, the website "Historical Expertise" published the report by the famous Russian historian M. B. Sverdlov on S. A. Nikonov's and S. B. Chebanenko's review where they critically analyzed his monograph published in 2003. Unfortunately, the report didn't receive much attention from experts on the history of Ancient Russia, although the report contains interesting information about the author, the main issues and peculiarities of the research of Ancient Russia history. Currently, the report has been removed from the main site, and the search provides the link only to the archive of "Historical Expertise". There is a high probability that the text which undoubtedly deserves publication in scientific journals will be lost in the great interwebs. The present article is not intended to provide a complete analysis of the report on the review by S. A. Nikonov and S. B. Chebanenko or analyze the major scientific achievements of M. B. Sverdlov. The goal is much more modest - to consider the characteristics of M. B. Sverdlov's self-presentation of his contribution to the research of Ancient Russia. The article investigates that since the 1960s the researcher made unsuccessful attempts to convince the audience of the permanency of his scientific views that do not correspond to reality. The analysis of M. B. Sverdlov's basic publications of the late 1970s-2020 shows that his methodological principles changed in accordance with socio-political changes in the country. The assessment of his rank in the hierarchy of Russian history researchers also changed.