Fighting Words

Imperial Censorship and the Russian Press, 1804-1906

By Charles A. Ruud
Categories: Literature & Language Studies, World Literature, History, World History, Literary Criticism
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Paperback : 9781442610248, 330 pages, July 2009
Ebook (PDF) : 9781442697942, 330 pages, July 2009
Buy Direct
View Table of Contents

Table of contents

Preface
Introduction to the 2009 Edition
Introduction
1 The European Pattern and the Beginnings of Russian Censorship
2 The Early Administrative System and the Rise of Mysticism, 1801-17
3 Golitsyn's Fall and the Decline of Mysticism
4 Nicholas I's Censorship Innovations, 1825-32
5 Censorship and the New Journalism, 1832-48
6 A System under Siege, 1848-55
7 Confused Steps towards Reform, 1855-61
8 The Dilemmas of Liberal Censorship, 1862-63
9 The Reform of 6 April 1865
10 The First Year of the Reformed System, 1865-66
11 Control of Press Freedom: Warnings, Court Cases, and Libel Laws, 1867-89
12 Censorship, Repression, and the Emergence of a 'European' Press, 1869-89
13 The Last Years of the Administrative System, 1889-1906
14 Autocracy and the Press: The Historical Conflict
Appendix 1 Regulations on the Press, 6 April 1865
Appendix 2 Tables
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Description

Censorship took many forms in Imperial Russia. First published in 1982, Fighting Words focuses on the most common form: the governmental system that screened written works before or after publication to determine their acceptability. Charles A. Ruud shows that, despite this system, the nineteenth-century Russian Imperial government came to grant far more extensive legal publishing freedoms than most Westerners realize, adopting a more liberal attitude towards the press by permitting it a position recognized by law.

Fighting Words also reveals, however, that the government fell far short of implementing these reforms, thus contributing to the growth of opposition to the Tsarist regime in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first few years of the twentieth. Now back in print with a new introduction by the author, Fighting Words is a classic work offering insight into the press, censorship, and the limits of printed expression in Imperial Russia.

Reviews

'Fighting Words is an intelligent, unpretentious, and compact monograph, and scholars dealing with Imperial Russia will find it helpful ... Fighting Words is thoroughly documented, well written, and carefully researched. Students of the period will use it often and with confidence for some time to come.'

- Abbott Gleason