At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia maintained a system of higher education inherited from the feudal era, when the main purpose of higher education institutions, primarily universities, was to train officials for the state bureaucracy. The same tasks were performed by some non-university educational institutions: the Alexander and Demidov Lyceums, the School of Law, etc. Admission to higher education institutions required not only a certificate of secondary education, but also a certificate of political trustworthiness. The autocracy in every possible way hindered the access of the masses to educational and educational institutions. "The Ministry of National Education," wrote V. I. Lenin, "is a ministry of police investigation, of mockery of the youth, of outrage at the popular desire for knowledge." 1 In addition, the curriculum of higher education lagged behind the achievements of science. The existing system of higher education in Russia was not able to train a sufficient number of highly qualified personnel necessary for the successful development of the domestic economy and culture, let alone to satisfy the desire of the masses for knowledge. For the first time, an attempt to create a higher education institution free from bureaucratic official tutelage was made by Professor M. M. Kovalevsky, who in 1901 organized the Russian Higher School of Social Sciences in Paris2 . Its successful activity gave rise to the idea of establishing such an educational institution in Russia itself. The initiator in this matter was retired Major General A. L. Shanyavsky. The son of a poor Polish nobleman, he successfully graduated from the General Staff Academy and served in Siberia, and after retiring, he took part in organizing a company for gold mining in the Amur region 3 . As a representative of the liberal intelligentsia, Shanyavsky rightly believed that the country "needs as many educated people as possible", naively thinking that "they are all our strength and sa ... Read more