. Pobedonostsev held the view that human nature is sinful, rejecting the ideals of freedom and independence as dangerous delusions of nihilistic youth. In his "Reflections of a Russian Statesman" (1896), he promoted autocracy and condemned elections, representation and democracy, the jury system, the press, free education, charities, and social reforms. He despised representative government, and denounced the notion of an all-Russian parliament. He also condemned
Social Darwinism as an erroneous generalisation of Darwin's Theory of Evolution. In the early years of the reign of Alexander II, Pobedonostsev maintained, though keeping aloof from the
Slavophiles, that Western institutions were radically bad in themselves and totally inapplicable to Russia, since they had no roots in Russian history and culture and did not correspond to the spirit of Russian people. In that period, he contributed several papers to
Alexander Herzen's radical periodical
Voices from Russia. He denounced democracy as "the insupportable dictatorship of vulgar crowd". He argued that
parliaments,
trial by jury,
freedom of the press, and
secular education were undesirable alien nostrums. He subjected all of them to a severe analysis in his
Reflections of a Russian Statesman. He once stated that Russia should be "frozen in time", showing his undivided commitment to autocracy. To these dangerous products of Western thought he found a counterpoise in popular
vis inertiae, and in the respect of the masses for institutions developed slowly and automatically during the past centuries of national life. In his view, human society
evolves naturally, just like a tree grows. The human mind is not able to perceive the logic of social development. Any attempt at reforming society is an act of violence and a crime. Among the practical deductions drawn from these premises is the necessity of preserving autocratic power, and of fostering among the people the traditional veneration for the ritual of the national Church. In the sphere of practical politics Pobedonostsev exercised considerable influence in the
Russification policy of Alexander III. This found expression in nationalist propaganda.
Antisemitism Pobedonostsev particularly advised the
anti-Jewish measures taken during Alexander III's administration. These began with the temporary "
May Laws" that banned Jews from rural areas and
shtetls even within the
Pale of Settlement. The May Laws did not lapse; further policies led to deportations of Jews from large cities, enrollment quotas in public education, and a proscription against voting in local elections. His anti-Jewish measures, at least, may have stemmed from a personal motive. British author Arnold White, interested in Jewish agricultural colonisation in
Argentina, visited Pobedonostsev with credentials from
Baron de Hirsch; Pobedonostsev said to him: "The characteristics of the Jewish race are parasitic; for their sustenance they require the presence of another race as "host" although they remain aloof and self-contained. Take them from the living organism, put them on a rock, and they die. They cannot cultivate the soil." He was also by 1894 credited (dubiously) with illustrating the goal of his anti-Jewish measures as making "a third of Jews die out, a third move out, and a third dissolve tracelessly into the surrounding population" (Russian: "Одна треть вымрет, одна выселится, одна треть бесследно растворится в окружающем населении"). He was also a supporter of Baron
Maurice de Hirsch's efforts for Jewish colonization in Argentina.
Church policies Pobedonostsev was not always a reactionary. He had originally welcomed the
Great Reforms that
Alexander II undertook in the 1860s-1870s. However, he soon became alarmed by the weakening of the rural estates and the tsarist bureaucracy. He decided that a deeper spiritual unity of the tsar and his people was needed to restore stability to Russia. When Alexander III ascended the throne in 1881, Pobedonostsev rapidly gained a powerful influence over the affairs of both church and state. To establish order he suppressed all reform efforts. The reforms of the 1860s had legalized the role of Protestant and other non-Orthodox religions. Pobedonostsev said Russia needed an Orthodox monopoly. However, he failed to win over the civil authorities, the judicial authorities, and the religious department in his struggle against the non-Orthodox. As a result, his policies, which were intended to unify, actually engendered dissension and violence and in the long run contributed to the collapse of the Russian Empire. Pobedonostsev did develop a social program for the Church while limiting its autonomy. He imposed repressive measures against the non-Orthodox. He carried out major Church reforms, but they resulted in a church that by 1900 was enmeshed in bureaucracy, alienated in many ways from society, resentful of secular authorities, and divided internally. Stagnation in church and state policies prevailed until Pobedonostsev retired in 1905. In the long run, argues Polunov, Pobedonostsev's attempts to impose safe conservative barriers to reform and his hostility toward innovation served only to weaken the autocratic state from within. == Works ==