Konstantin Kavelin

Konstantin Dmitrievich Kavelin (November 4, 1818 – May 5, 1885) was a Russian historian, jurist, and sociologist, sometimes referred to as the principal architect of early Russian liberalism. Born into an established noble family in Saint Petersburg, Kavelin completed his legal education at Moscow University and subsequently lectured on law at the University of St Petersburg. He was a leading figure among the Westernizers, alongside contemporaries like Timofey Granovsky and Alexander Herzen. Kavelin's influential proposal for the emancipation of serfs, published by Herzen in 1855, resulted in his removal from the position of tutor to the tsesarevich. His political engagement with the student constitutional movement led to his resignation from his university post in 1862. During the 1860s, Kavelin was elected President of the Free Economic Society. In his later work, 'Short Review of Russian History' (1887), he adopted views sympathetic to the Slavophiles, emphasizing the state's crucial role in Russian national history. There is speculation that Kavelin may have served as a prototype for the character Stiva Oblonski in Leo Tolstoy's renowned novel 'Anna Karenina'.