At the breaks of history (Mikhail Aleksandrovich Arzhanov – man, scientist, era)

The article was prepared within the framework of the project “Russian Academy of Sciences: outstanding scientists and lawyers. XX century” on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences and dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Arzhanov, scientist, lawyer, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. M. A. Arzhanov embodied the type of lawyer of the ХХ century, characteristic of the Soviet era in the history of Russian legal science: he combined in his personality the properties of a scientific researcher and at the same time an ideologist-propagandist. He is one of the first researchers in Soviet Russia who was deeply involved in the problems of nationalism, the study of the fascist state as a natural product of the capitalist system, and such an urgent problem of jurisprudence as the relationship between state and law. The article briefly highlights the life path that M. A. Arzhanov went through from a village boy to a corresponding member, and provides a brief description of the most significant works of the scientist. The scientific works of M. A. Arzhanov are very relevant. His works formed the basis for the formation of ideas about Soviet law in the pre-war and immediate post-war periods (1930–1960).