Female Herald (journal, 1866-1868)

The magazine "Female Herald" was published in St. Petersburg every month from September 1866 to January 1868 . A total of 10 issues were issued.

The magazine was published by A. B. Messaroche, and the official editor was N. M. Messaroche.

The actual editors of Zhenskiy Vestnik were employees of the Russian Word closed by the government, N. A. Blagoveshchensky (edited the fiction department) and A. K. Sceller-Mikhailov (edited the foreign department). Under the reaction of 1866-1867, after the prohibition of Sovremennik and the Russian Word, the Women's Herald, along with Delo magazine, occupied the leftmost position in the Russian press, trying to become a continuation of closed democratic publications. But the magazine did not have a consistent socio-political program.

The main section of the "Women's Newsletter" contained journalistic articles and fiction. Were printed: a programmatic article by V. A. Sleptsov “Women's business” (No. 1); apparently unfinished due to censorship interference, an article by P. N. Tkachev “The Effect of Economic Progress on the Status of Women and the Family” (No. 1, 2); P. L. Lavrova (pseudo - P. Mirtov) “Woman in France in the 17th and 18th centuries” (No. 4, 5) and “Medieval Rome and the papacy in the era of Fedora and Marocia” (No. 7) and others. Here the works of N. F. Bazhin, N. Worms, I. V. Fedorov (Omulevsky), L. I. Palmin, I. P. Polonsky, G. I. Uspensky (The Medic and Patients, No. 1-2) were placed , “Modern Wilderness”, No. 3, “On the Black Staircase”, No. 7), A. K. Sceller-Mikhailov. A posthumously published story by N. G. Pomyalovsky “Danilushka” (No. 3).

In the section “Criticism and Bibliography” all the main employees of the journal took part: M. A. Alexandrov, N. A. Blagoveshchensky, S. Ya. Kapustin, E. I. Konradi, P. Konradi, P. L. Lavrov (“Herbert Spencer and his experiments ”, No. 6), A. K. Sceller-Mikhailov, V. V. Chuyko and others.

The department “Overseas Life” (or the Chronicle of Overseas Life) was led by E. I. Konradi .

The Department of Internal Review was led by V.V. Chuyko (No. 4, 5), and then Stanyukovich (No. 7, 8).

Our Modern Journalism Department was headed by N. A. Blagoveshchensky .

A large place was occupied by materials on the situation of workers in the West. Of greatest importance among them is the article by P. N. Tkachev, “The Impact of Economic Progress on the Status of Women and the Family” (No. 1, 2), in which the author proves that the impoverishment of the proletariat grows as capitalism develops. A sharp criticism of capitalism, which is voiced in Tkachev’s article, contradicts the statement of this issue in other articles of the journal that belonged to its permanent employees. The Women's Gazette spoke of the need to create production cooperatives with the support of the authorities and the help of workers from enlightened representatives of the big bourgeoisie, that is, the idea of ​​the class world, the union of workers and the bourgeoisie was eventually carried out (Chronicle of Foreign Life No. 4). Strikes as a method of the workers' struggle to improve their material situation were rejected (Overseas Life No. 2).

Significant attention in the journal was given to the struggle against various manifestations of reaction in public life and literature. The “Female Herald” preached the theory of rational egoism (The Chronicle of Foreign Life, No. 4, etc.). Touching upon questions of literature, he opposed “pure art”.

The women's issue was to become one of the main issues of the magazine. The announcement of the publication of the "Women's Newsletter" said: "The main task of our magazine will be to discuss, from different sides, the current situation of the Russian woman, to find means to improve this situation in all the ways of her reasonable and useful activity, to practically point to those labor sectors, where a woman, independently improving her economic life, may be more useful to her family or society. ” But this program was implemented very poorly. If the “Female Herald” concerned the situation of women in Western Europe, very little was said about the current situation of Russian women in the journal.

The difficulty of publishing a democratic magazine in the era of reaction, as well as the heterogeneous composition of employees (for example, in No. 1, along with the above-mentioned article by Tkachev , a conservative article by the official editor of Messarosh’s magazine addressed to secular women), the lack of a clear program and orientation to a certain circle of readers doomed the magazine to failure.

Pisarev gave a negative assessment to the magazine, and later its editor Blagoveshchensky himself. At No. 1 for 1868, the publication of the Women's Gazette was discontinued.

Translations of the novels and the History of English Literature by Hippolytus Ten were printed in the annexes to the magazine.

• Women's Bulletin // Russian Periodical Press (1702-1894): Reference Book / Edited by A. G. Dementiev , A. V. Zapadov , M. S. Cherepakhov . - M .: State. political literature publishing house , 1959. - S. 479-481. - 835 s.
• Female Herald, St. Petersburg Journal (1866-1868) // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.