Delo

Delo 

(Affairs), a monthly literary and political journal, published from 1866 to 1888 in St. Petersburg. Until 1880 the publisher and official editor was N. I. Shul’gin, while G. E. Blagosvetlov actually edited the journal. Delo was the continuation of the journal Russkoe slovo (Russian Word), which was closed down by the government in 1866, and became one of the most progressive and influential organs of its time. After 1880, Delo was edited by P. V. Bykov, N. V. Shelgunov (1881–82), K. M. Staniukovich (1882–83), and others. Contributors included D. I. Pisarev, V. V. Bervi (Flerovskii), P. L. Lavrov, D. N. Mamin-Sibiriak, F. M. Reshetnikov, and G. I. Uspenskii.

Scholarly articles and fiction were published in one section of Delo, and journalism and literary criticism were published in the other. The journal paid a great deal of attention to the peasant problem: it came out against the vestiges of serfdom and systematically featured material on the difficult situation of the peasantry; it defended the obshchina (village commune) and peasant handicraft production for sale as forms of collective economic activity and the bases of a socialist system in Russia. Delo propagated the individual tenets of Marx’ economic theory and came out in support of realistic art, opposing the theory of “pure art.” Government repressions, which coincided with the closing of Otechestvennye zapiski (The Fatherland Notes), virtually put an end to Delo. After the arrest in 1884 of Shelgunov and Staniukovich and the pressure of the government and censorship, the journal lost its social significance.

REFERENCE

Esin, B. I. Russkaia zhurnalistika 70–80-kh godov XIX veka. Moscow, 1963. Pages 45–66.