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Radishchev was born a minor noble and was very well educated and wealthy. His education, however, lead him to greatly dislike the Russia he saw around him. He lauded revolutionaries like George Washington and praised the French Revolution. His most famous work A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is a complex critic of Russian society. He was especially critical of serfdom and the limits to personal freedom impsoed by the autocracy.
Catherine the Great read the work and saw much to fear in Raishchev's reformism. He was arrested and condemend to death. This was later commuted to exile to Siberia. He was freed by Catherine's successor Tsar Paul, and attempted to push for the reforms in Russia's government, but was unsuccessful. In 1802 he committed suicide. Radishchev, Alexander Radishchev, Alexander Radishchev, Alexander