Radishchev opens a new era in the development of social thought in Russia. A man of encyclopedic education, a freedom lover and a revolutionary who believes in the creative forces and future of his people, Radishchev for thirty years of his social and literary activity left a deep mark on Russian culture. Philosopher and sociologist, politician and writer, poet and critic, historian and lawyer, he always acted as an innovator, as an ideologist of a new type.