The formation of peasant self-government in Russia (based on revision of rural municipality administrations in 1863 by V. P. Meshcherskii)
Range of problems characterizing the initial phase of the peasant self-government functioning in Russia is determined on the basis of archival materials. According to the author of the article, the evidence of this, penned by prominent public figure of Russia of the second half of XIX - early XX century, the grandson of historian N. M. Karamzin, Duke V. P. Mescherskii, deserves special attention of researchers as it reflects the views of the part of the Russian elite, which came into the strategy and tactics of the Great Reforms' conflict with the bureaucracy and liberal reformers.