This book is devoted to the study of the internal policy of the Russian autocracy during the political reaction of the 80s - the first half of the 90s (1882-1894). The chronological framework of the study is determined, on the one hand, by the middle of 1882 - by the appointment to the post of Minister of the Interior, Gr. D.A. Tolstoy, which meant the approval of an openly reactionary government course. On the other hand, 1895, characterized by some weakening of the reaction under the influence of a new social upsurge, which finds its initial manifestation in the revival of social activity during the famine of 1891-1892, and later in the creation of the "Unions of the struggle for the liberation of the working class."