What is the connection between the development of science, university autonomy and the project of democracy? How has this connection manifested itself in the fate of Russian ‘scientific class’, which realises the need for civic education? In search of answers to these and other questions relevant to contemporary Russia, Dmitry Gorin, Head of the Department of the Bryansk Branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Science, Chairman of the Bryansk Branch of the Russian Society of Sociologists, a 2002 graduate of the School, turns to the history of civic activity of Russian professors in 19th and early 20th centuries. In the modern context, this knowledge is important not only for understanding the origins of civil society and its potential, but also to disprove the widespread thesis that the ideals of right and freedom are incompatible with the traditions of Russian culture.