Babst Ivan Kondratievich

(1824 - 81). At the end of the course at Moscow University, BA, at the suggestion Granovsky, was left at the university to prepare for a professorship in the Department of World History. In 1851 he received a master's degree universal history for the essay: "The public men of ancient Greece in the era of disintegration". In the same year won the Kazan University Department of Political Economy, is read at that time in history and philology faculty. In 1852 he published his doctoral thesis: "John Law, or the financial crisis of France in the early years of the Regency". B. guided only printed sources (and not all were available to him, . by his own admission) and nothing new either in the statement of the facts of, . nor in reporting and assessment of the events are not introduced, but some, . scattered in the book comments on the conditions of proper banking credit and sound financial policies demonstrate a proper understanding of issues of currency,
. In his subsequent works B. appears not so much a scientist theorist, as a publicist, promoter of political and economic ideas Rau, Roscher, Say and Sismondi. When, after the Crimean War, we began the era of transformation, B. warmly responded to the questions of the day. Particular attention is drawn to passion and conviction, and the ideological content of speech B., delivered June 6, 1856 in a solemn meeting of the University of Kazan ( "On some conditions conducive to the multiplication of the national capital"). It begins with a protest against the national self-delusion, the former one of the reasons for our stagnation in the first half of the XIX century and the defeat in the Crimean War. "The main reason for our underdevelopment is - according to the author - a lack of capital and in the inability to efficiently use their. The first condition for the accumulation of national capital is the provision of labor and property created by a well-arranged the administration of the country. Nothing, neither plague nor famine, nor the invasion of the enemy does not ruin the country so as despotic and arbitrary control ". Then B. points to the detriment of class privileges and the importance of education for the economic well-being of the population and outlines a program of some economic improvements (unit of credit institutions, the construction of railways, etc.). The authorities reacted to this speech with hostility, but it created a well known author, and Moscow University in 1857, invited B. Vernadsky's successor on the faculty of political economy. The ideas expressed in a speech in 1856, B. developed and added in another speech, delivered at the solemn act of the Moscow University on Jan. 12, 1860 ( "Thoughts on the modern needs of our economy"). Here, incidentally, B. insists on the need for wider publicity and public control in all cases, . relating to internal management and in particular in the areas of finance, . and the importance of involving local people to participate in the development of Government reforms envision an,
. And in his lectures at Moscow University, read before 1874, B. acquainted the audience not only with the theory of the subject, but also with the Russian economic life; abstract propositions of science are constantly interwoven in his historical examples and illustrations of modern life. Lectures statistics were used for B. as a complement to the political economy, a central point of them is the economic geography of Russia and fisheries statistics. The result of his lectures were the two labor: "Public lectures of Political Economy (1860) and" Statement of the national economy began "(Moscow, 1872). The scientific value of these works is small. In 1860 - 62 years B. published in Russian translation of the first volume of the textbook Roscher, "Beginning of the national economy". Close acquaintance with the practice of banking, as Trustee (since 1867) Moscow Merchant Bank, enabled B. printed in 1873 in "Russian Gazette" Letters on Banks (published separately), in which he outlined many of the abnormal phenomena in the development of our banking. He previously predicted the crisis that erupted in 1876. Other works of AB: Volga River Region "(1852), . while the best description of nature and life of the population of the Volga Basin, "The historical method in political economy" ( "Russian Messenger, . 1856), . "Geography and Statistics of Russia and neighboring Asian countries" (ibid., . 1857), . "On the industrial crises" ( "Athenaeum", . 1858), . On Kyakhta trade "(ibid.), . "On the Ukrainian fairs" (ibid.), . "On freedom of labor" (ibid.),
. In 1858 B. published in the "Athenaeum" curious letter on travel abroad, then issued separately (in 1859 "From Moscow to Leipzig). In the "Bulletin of the Industry" B. lead department "Review of Trade and Industry in Russia" and was co-editor (with F.V. Chizhov) as this magazine and weekly newspaper "Shareholder". In 1862 B. taught statistics heir to the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich, with whom he traveled to Russia. Letters from the Road B. and Pobedonostsev printed in the Moscow Gazette, published separately under the title: "Letters of a journey heir to the Emperor of Russia, from St. Petersburg to the Crimea" (1864). In 1866 and 1869 respectively B. accompanied by traveling to Russia heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich. From 1864 to 1868 years was director of the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages. - See. AI. Chuprov (disciple and successor in the department B. Moscow University), article in "Russian Gazette" (1881, N 201 - 04); L. Slonimsky, in "critical-biographical dictionary" Vengerov, t. II, where a detailed list of journal articles B.