ABSTRACT
During the years immediately preceding his supreme gesture of defiance—the publication of A Journey from St Petersburg to Moscow—Radishchev went on working as usual at his office in the Customs House. ‘His probity, pleasant manners, and social charm earned him general esteem and affection.’ It was usual for leading customs officials to amass huge fortunes by conniving at irregularities and accepting bribes, but Radishchev would have none of this. Since it was necessary to keep up appearances on his modest salary, the family continued to sink into debt. For the time being, however, the Radishchev family enjoyed quite comfortable circumstances. Radishchev’s son Paul recalled in later years that two or three years before his downfall, his father bought for six thousand roubles a dacha or suburban estate on Petrovsk island, which was registered in the name of his elder sister-in-law, Elizabeth Rubanovsky.
