Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2016 number

The article analyzes journalistic works of Ivan Ivanovich Popov, a political exile, one of the members of the organization “Popular Will” whose name was well-known in Irkutsk in the 1890s-1900s. I.I. Popov never concealed his political beliefs; he was not a monarchist and always stood for a radical democratization of the political system in Russia. Popov’s established political image seems dissonant with the opinion of redactors of “The United Catalogue of the Siberian and Far Eastern Books...”, published in 2004, that it was Popov who wrote an article published in the supplement to “Irkutskie eparkhialnye vedomosti” (Irkutsk diocesan journal) (1891. №№ 26, 28, 32) and entitled “Visit of His Imperial Highness Faithful Sovereign Heir Tsesarevitch the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich to Irkutsk”. This article was written in a faithful, monarchist and patriotic spirit. Because of his political beliefs I.I. Popov could not be the author of this publication. The redactors of the catalogue drew their conclusion from the fact that the article was signed with a pseudonym “Irkutyanin” (Native of Irkutsk) which actually belonged to I.I. Popov. This fact was stated by such bibliographers as Masanov I.F. and Petryaev E.D., however they did not argue that Popov was the author of the above mentioned article. Analysis of the Irkutsk periodicals provided quite foreseeable results. There were at least two people with the same pseudonym. Moreover, they were namesakes. One of them was N.I. Verkhoturov, an Irkutsk painter, famous for his revolutionary views. Another one was Nikolay Verkhoturov, who appeared to be a Transbaikalian merchant. However, careful examination of their notes in the “Vostochnoe Obozrenie” (Eastern Review) has led to conclusion that more than likely none of them wrote the article about the meeting of the Tsarevitch in Irkutsk. Thus, possibly there could be yet another “Irkutyanin” (Native of Irkutsk), who used this pseudonym in newspapers in the 1890s. But who was he? The answer to this question requires further research.