STATE AND LEGALIST PRESS IN THE ERA OF CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY IN RUSSIA

In the early 20th century, the legalist (legal) press played a prominent role in the Russian liberation movement. Its leading publications professed the principles of legality and law and order. In fact, the term Order itself appeared thanks to the newspaper of the same name, and supporters of legalism were called “people of legal order”. The relevance of the work lies in the fact that it presents the history of the relationship between the state and moderate publications that support the principle of the rule of law. During the years of the first Russian revolution, liberal publications for some time welcomed it as an “inevitable evil”. Legalists criticized both the state and the radical forces opposing it. Despite the propaganda of the rule of law and a stable political system, legalist publications remained under suspicion of the state. As a result, they were subjected to continuous persecution by the police and the controlling bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Fines and criminal cases rained down on the editors of publications like “from a cornucopia”. Nevertheless, legalists found support from the courts and major financiers. Each of them, for their own reasons, supported the moderate legal press.