Scientific Reconstructions of Stepan Razin Biography: Achievements, Problems, Prospects

Abstract

This article sheds light on some facts of S.T. Razin’s biography as it was reconstructed by historians of different generations. The author analyzes the methods and approaches implemented by the historians, including the Soviet ones, who discovered and interpreted the corresponding source base. According to the author a critical verification of such historiographical reconstructions is necessary and timely as a discrete topical problem of the source study of Razin's revolt. It is proved that a significant lack of historical sources about S.T. Razin life did not prevent many Soviet historians to create ideologically engaged (heroized) reconstructions of his biography.