The paper looks at attitudes towards symbols and myths in the context of the mediaeval life world and that of Early and Classical Modernity. The author focuses on the clear differences between the theories of symbol and image in mediaeval culture and in the culture of Early and Classical Modernity. Researchers in the humanities will doubtless find it extremely useful to study the theory of symbols put forward by the prominent philosopher of social science Alfred Schütz. Using as his starting point the theory of pairs, Schütz developed a well-founded theory, moving from natural signs (indications) to the domain of marks (conventional signs within the reach of the cultural subject). Schütz also claimed that the relationship between signs can reach another level when refracted through intersubjectivity, when signs become the binding elements of communication. It is precisely the conventional nature of the sign that makes natural languages and the languages of culture possible. Despite all its indubitable importance in mediaeval culture, the theory of symbols is nonetheless but a step on the way to the concept of myth. Without ever using the term itself, one of the greatest mediaeval theoreticians of the symbol, Dionysius the Areopagite distinguished between different levels of symbolisation, paying tribute to the symbols of the church and mystery plays. Whilst representing the invisible, these mystically achieve that which they symbolize. During the Middle Ages with their focus on miracles and holiness, particular attention was paid to ritual and sacral objects. At that time, these were seen not merely as signs, but as direct representations of the supernatural. Thus, Schütz’s theory could be said to require expansion. An important place in mediaeval aesthetic theory and practice came to be occupied by the theory of the theurgical. This is myth in the highest sense of the word, the theory behind which was expounded by Aleksei Losev, one of Russia’s leading twentieth-century philosophers. If during Early and Classical Modernity, the theurgical was normally limited to the area of liturgical practice, during the Middle Ages, myth was expanded to all areas of culture, turning the everyday into a mystery play of faith.

The article analyzes cases of “everyday” words functioning as political terms. Data for his study he takes from panegyrical Russian literature in Peter the Great’s epoch. It is shown in this article that authors of panegyrical school dramas and sermons used words “envy” and “pride” to denote hostile to Russia nations.

This report attempts to examine one specific, almost “model” document provincial office, tells about the difficulties that impeded the elaboration of the national “tax books”, which contained information about the payment of taxes and fees are levied annually up to a set amount each tax-paying unit. According to the author, the transformations of the first quarter of the XVIII century, which were aimed at creating a “regular” state as a multi-level, accurate and uninterrupted management mechanism with qualified and responsible executors, were not and could not be implemented at the time of the system capabilities, as well as the level of training and provision of managerial personnel. Widespread ideas about the power and cruelty of Anna Ioannovna strongly exaggerated in the literature. Real administrative capacity of small and often incapable of the provincial Governor and “clerks” was very narrow and did not allow them to perform even objectively important and urgent task of streamlining the financial sector of the country.

The article examines personal income sources as one of the main factors that ensured and alleviated financial situation of political exiles to Nerchinsk katorga of 1860s-70s. Based on a wide range of archives, memoirs and epistolary sources, as well as legal acts and laws, the whole range of ways, available for political convicts to provide for themselves financially, has been revealed for the first time: legal and illegal ways of obtaining money have been determined. Along with the newly discovered archival materials, such as reports and correspondence of one Nerchinsk commandant about personal funds of political convicts, for the first time in scientific practice the article introduces previously unknown to Russian researchers: personal correspondence of Italian native Luigi Caroli and a diary of E. Andreoli published in Italy in a book by Angiola Zanchi “The Drama of Luigi Caroli”.

The article, based on the archival materials, examines the peculiarities of managerial work in the estates of the Musin-Pushkins. The author shows managers’ attitude to their activities, the degree of their responsibility and professionalism.Attention is paid to the origin of managers: for example, in the first quarter of the 19^th century people of peasant origin were most often made to the position of managers, and it caused the specific nature of their attitude to the case and their subordinates. Whereas managers from the gentry were representatives of a foreign world, alien for rural population, which complicated the relationship and led to numerous conflicts which the author of the article pays special attention to. In the middle of the XIX century professional managers came to estates. Most often they were inhabitants of western lands of the Russian Empire or foreigners. They were distinguished by pragmatism and competence. In this research the author will present several examples of the work style demonstrated by managers of the second half of the XIX century. Peculiarities of the relationship between owners of estates and managers during the revolutionary events of 1917-1918 years will also be the subject of the author’s attention. The author of the article will try to pay attention to the personal characteristics of each of the managers, since the managers’ character features affected their social interaction with their superiors, (that is, the owners of the estates, and their subordinates) and directly impacted on work efficiency and results.

The article is intended to analyze the practice of front-line daily relations between the Russian army and the population in the First World War. The work done on new archival materials uses the concept of a military frontier that created a situation of distancing ethnic groups in the western outskirts and army structures in the theater of operations. The main forms of manifestation of the relationship between the army and the population in the field of ensuring security, supply, human contacts and the general perception by the army of ethnic groups in the socio-political context are explored. The author comes to the conclusion that the experience of relations between the army and the population in the course of front-line everyday life on these aspects led to the formation of negative perception of the population in the army, gave rise to mutual alienation of servicemen and residents not only in the territory of the enemy, but also on the territory of the Allies and even on its own territory. Attempts to remove mutual alienation between the army and the population were of an eventual nature, but they did not solve the problems of alienation and hostility at the personal level. Their final decision was seen in the central event - the end of the war and the beginning of social and political reforms in Russia itself.

The article examines the phenomenon of “freethinking” in the early years of Soviet power, when most of the modern society was forced to agree that there was a change of power. Modernists should adopt the “dictatorship of the proletariat” in such a way as to preserve themselves - and not to dissolve in a new and alien environment. Free-thinking is the answer to the Bolshevik coup, it presupposed that radical changes affected only the external forms-civilization itself, but in the field of culture, complete autonomy of the individual with its artistic and philosophical preferences is possible.

In the center of the article there are two problems: the search for the Bolshevik leaders of the optimal model for the management of Russian universities in 1917-1921 and the opposition of university people to the intervention of the Bolshevik government in the life of higher education.

The article is dedicated to the specialties of courtier’s successful career development in the reign of Catherine the Great. As a case study were chosen two courtiers: N.B. Yusupov and I.M. Murav’ev-Apostol. There is also made an attempt of comparative study between these two careers in order to highlight common and particular features of their biographies. From the viewpoint of the author this research could illuminate the well-studied reign of the Empress from another side. Besides, it could give an additional information about the social mobility mechanisms in the aristocratic milieu during the second part of XVIII century and also could help to evaluate the impact of the education, birth rank and personal qualities on the courtier’s career development. Criteria of typically successful careers are also offered in the article. The biographies of N.B. Yusupov and I.M. Murav’ev-Apostol were chosen in order to illustrate the suppositive differentiation in the group of nobles, who were granted with a court ranks and managed to exploit their success by receiving an appointment to the important governmental posts. The author employed the prosopography as a key method of analysis and used material from the massive biographical data sources, such as mesyatseslovy and adres-kalendari of the Russian Empire. The article is also based on the scholarly works dedicated to the biographies of N.B. Yusupov and I.M. Murav’ev-Apostol or to the different aspects of the issue.