ABSTRACT
IN RUSSIA, MODERN POLITICAL thought made its appearance in the last third of the eighteenth century; the major stimulant for the debate was the "revolution" (Pushkin's definition) wrought by Peter the Great. Political thinking did not develop much earlier, except for an episodic manifestation in 1730, because it took educated Russian society almost half a century to assimilate the impact of Peter's reign. The "debate" of 1730 was not so much an expression of opposing ideas and concepts (there was an amazing degree of agreement on these), as an emotional reaction to a conflict in social interests. Of course, by the time of the last third of the eighteenth century, the "revolution" of Peter the Great had affected the entire country and created social and cultural conditions which in turn produced some very real problems that cried for solution.
