Abstract
Title：The publication control policy of Catherine II: transformation of intellectual activities of literati aristocrats
Name：Misa Nakagami

In the late 18th century, Catherine II led enlightenment to Russia in order tomodernize her country. Although she patronized publication industry and aimed toincrease the numbers of literate intellectual population as tools to westernize the nation,the publication shaken up idea of modern self of the population, she ended up inregulating the industry to govern freedom of thought and speech.
By reviewing her regulation policy, the study reveals the relationships ofCatherine II with literati aristocrats emerged in the late 18th century. It also analyseshow the literati aristocrats' the senses of modern identity and social function affectedwith the policy.
As explained in Chapter 1, vast majority of the readers of publications called"public" were learned aristocrats of means who could afford publications. Literatiaristocrat familiar with Western European cultures and languages played central roleamong the public. Public opinions were formed as publication industry developed,however it should be noted as one of the characteristics of Catherine II's reign, "publicopinion" was of the limited circle and not of broader general population.
As the public spread in wider area and the publication world and journalismdeveloped rapidly, the Empress and her court lost its attractions as the center of culture.Publication and literature were no longer the national monopolistic business. When theintellectuals became liberal and independent from the state control, the Empressutilized publication policy in full term in order to suppressed freedom of thoughts andspeech to protect the traditional religion and autocracy.
The publication policy of Catherine II consisted of three factors: businessregulations on productions and distribution, contents censorship, and development ofthe censorship institutions. Three were closely connected to each other and each couldnot function on its own account.
In the following chapters, the Empress' relationship with the intellectuals and thepurpose of her edicts are reviewed in chronological order. Her reign thus can bedivided into three periods.
The first period from 1762 to 1782 was the time when the nation monopolizedpublishing business. The regulations were to protect publishers and journalism, andaimed to patronize literature and import of foreign cultures. The seconds from 1783 to1789, Catherine II allowed private printing office to operate, and at the same timebegan to control the contents of publications. From this period on, her policyconfronted the position of intellectuals hence the Empress aimed to keep privatepublisher under surveillance. Moreover cultural integration was reviewed. In the lastfrom 1790 to 1800, Catherine II issued numbers of decrees to oppress intellectuals likeNikolay Novikov and Aleksander Radishchev and reinforced censorships. Aftermath ofthe French Revolution made the Empress to review the censorship policy. Herantagonistic relationship with literati aristocrats was changed to repressive one. Thecensorship policy of this time was designed to increase the level of oversight onpublication industry and insulate public from foreign influences.
The characteristics of the concerned decrees can be summarized as follows: (1)development of legal system was closely connected to growth of publishing industryand of the enlightenment movement including literature in the nation; (2) officialcensorship institutions were founded in 1796 right before her death as a tool to controlintellectual activities and publishing; (3) Catherine II's concern on foreign influencewas reflected on the consolidation of censorship; (4) secularization of the society ledthe decline of Most Holy Governing Synod's influence. The Synod sought to restore itsprivilege; (5) principle of the decrees were based on the maintenance of OrthodoxChurch, the monarchy, public order and morality. After the French Revolution,insulation of foreign elements in Russian culture was added; (6) censorship wascategorized into religious, secular, foreign publications as foreign influence increased;(7) the effectiveness of the decree was questionable for they were ex post factomeasures. The policy changes caused opposition within the empire; (8) before officialinstitutions and censors were placed in 1796, the Empress directly involved inauthorization of publications; (9) Catherine's censorship was influenced by modernidentity and social role of literati aristocrats and formation of "public" and "publicopinion".
These were caused by absence of institutional censorship, lack of recognitionabout the contribution of publishing business, and excessive expectation of the role ofpolice as censorship institution. The intellectuals were critics, competitors, collaboratorunder the imperial aegis.
The correlation between modern identity and social function of aristocrats areobserved in the works of Nikolay Novikov, Aleksander Radishchev, and DenisFonvizin. Through publications or charity, they wrote political analysis and directlyinvolved in political issues. At the early stage they aimed at supporting public interestsand were collaborating with the Empress. Catherine II was quick to sense the latentdanger of their activities and after the French Revolution felt the need to develop lawsto control publications.
The Empress's confidence in enlightenment and its failures as seen in theRadishchev incident and influx of foreign publications were indicated in the problemsof censorship policy. It also reflected the intellectuals' expectations anddisappointment with the authority.
Literati aristocrats admired and tried to accept Western European culture whilethey identified themselves with the significance of Russian history and culturethroughout the modern period from the Catherin's age. The emergence of the publicwho had ability to think reasons critically, and the formation of public opinion were theresults of wide distributions of books and public debates in the late 18th century. As acorollary of it, they began to criticize the sovereign ruler. The censorship decrees thusare to be assessed as the history of struggles over the freedom of thought and press andcriticism which Catherine II gave to the public.