ABSTRACT
The most prominent representative of the so-called "young slavophils," Yury Samarin, a very active and influential member of the Editorial Commission, has often been credited with the preservation of the commune as the basic unit of peasant life. A. Koshelev shared the general Slavophil belief in the dignity of the individual. Early interested in the problems of agrarian economics, he had soon realised the need for emancipation. Long before the emancipation Koshelev had warned Khomyakov against the evils of frequent redistribution of land. The state and its agents would have to cease to treat the people like chattels: The principal cause of these pitiful conditions resides in the fact that the government of Russia lives in isolation. In Russia there will be no need for violence if the government shows understanding and the people patience. For in Russia the central administration had always frustrated local attempts at self-improvement.
