Moscow, Nauka Publishing House. 1975. 350 pp. The print run is 2550. Price 1 rub. 46 kopecks. The history of Russian absolutism has long attracted the attention of researchers. Soviet scientists made a significant contribution to its study. In their works, many aspects of this topic were considered to one degree or another .1 However, the discussion on the history of absolutism in Russia2 that took place in the late 60s and early 70s showed not only the full significance and relevance of this topic, but also the need for its further in-depth development. It revealed differences in views on the class nature and evolution of autocracy and the need to create works that would summarize the accumulated material on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist concept. Therefore, the appearance of the monograph by the senior researcher of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences A. M. Davidovich is quite natural. Unlike earlier studies, the reviewed work is characterized by a multi-faceted coverage of the topic, an integrated approach to its solution. Based on Lenin's assessments of autocracy, the author aims to determine the economic and socio-political foundations, as well as to study the class essence and evolution of the tsarist monarchy in the era of monopoly capitalism. This also determines the structure of the book. 1 E. D. Chermensky. Bourgeoisie and Tsarism in the First Russian Revolution, Moscow, 1970; V. Ya. Laverychev. Tsarism and the Working question in Russia (1861-1917). Moscow, 1972; Yu. B. Solov'ev. Autocracy and nobility at the end of the XIX century L. 1973, et al. 2 See History of the USSR, 1968, NN 2, 4, 5; 1969, NN 1, 3, 6; 1970, NN 1, 4; 1971, NN 1, 2, 3, 4; 1972, No. 4; Voprosy Istorii, 1968, No. 5; 1971, N 7. page 168 The advantage of the monograph is that it is directed against the fabrications of modern bourgeois researchers of Russian absolutism, who show great interest in this topic. They study the problem of autocracy in line with t ... Read more