Russian Advocate of Peace: Vasilii Malinovskii (1765–1814)

Vasilii Malinovskii, the subject of this study, was one of the most significant figures in the history of Russian thought, and was one of the first campaigners for the abolition of serfdom in Russia. In his capacity as Director, he made a fundamental contribution to the establishment of the liberal atmosphere which characterized the Tsarskoe Selo Lycee, where Aleksandr Pushkin and some of the Decembrists were educated. Malinovskii's major work, "Dissertation on Peace and War" (1803), contains a plan for the establishment of peace in Europe which was the only project of this sort to appear in Russia. At a time when the Napoleonic Wars were deeply transforming the status quo, he proposed a redesigning of geopolitical map of Europe, regrouping its states on the basis of rational, ethno-linguistic criteria. A general council, empowered to deliberate once conflicts among them, was to guarantee a permanent peace.