At the crossroad of Economics and Politics: intellectual heritage and public activity of M.N. Sobolev, professor of Tomsk University

The study was undertaken to determine the factors and forms of correlation between the scientific and socio-political activities of M. N. Sobolev, Professor of Tomsk University. The author's focus on conceptual and methodologi-cal approaches of intellectual history was aimed at achieving two objectives: 1) to establish the connection between the social context and the texts of the professor's multi-genre publications; 2) to reveal the influence of his intellectual activity on the formation of his civic position. M.N. Sobolev's scientific and journalistic works served as a basis for reconstructing the logic of his reasoning and inferences on the problems of socio-economic development of the Mother-land. Reference to periodicals and archival documents made it possible, in turn, to record the facts of his participation in the life of the region and the country as a member of the Cadet Party. The strengthening of opposition sentiments in the society, politicization of various strata of the population against the background of the first Russian revolution contributed to the initiation of M.N. Sobolev’s social and political activism. He was a member of the provincial bureau of the People's Freedom Party; co-editor of the liberal newspaper “Sibirskaya zhizn” and the printing body of the local cadet organization, the newspaper “Narodnye nuzhdy”; propagandist and agitator in the elections to the State Duma; participant in all-party discussions on the tactics of the faction in the representative body - these are the main facts of his political biography. At the same time, an important role in the formation of liberal views of the scientist was played not only and perhaps not so much by external circumstances, but also by his research in the field of economic statistics, economic theory and spe-cific problems of economic development of Russia. Scientific integrity and high professional qualification, reliance on facts, the desire to comprehend them and identify cause-and-effect relationships created a powerful intellectual founda-tion for understanding the impossibility of solving problems in the country's economy without modernizing its socio-political structure. The harmonious combination of intellectual activity of a scientist and an economist, as well as civil position of a liberal-minded public figure is the main conclusion of the study devoted to the Tomsk period in the life of M.N. Sobolev.