Primarily an attack on serfdom and an appeal to the serfs voluntarily, Aleksandr Radishchv's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow has often been described as a Russian Uncle Tom's Cabin. Published in 1790, the book was banned immediately and the author first sentenced to death, then banished to eastern Siberia. On the order of the Empress Catherine II, who read the Journey very carefully, all copies that could be found were collected and burned. The few that escaped were widely circulated and laboriously copied out by hand, but the book was not freely published in Russia until 1905.

Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in the age of Catherine the Great. Alexander Radishchev's account of a fictional journey blends literature, philosophy, and political economy to expose social and economic injustices and their causes at all levels of Russian society.

Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in the age of Catherine the Great. Alexander Radishchev's account of a fictional journey blends literature, philosophy, and political economy to expose social and economic injustices and their causes at all levels of Russian society.

Primarily an attack on serfdom and an appeal to the serfs voluntarily, Aleksandr Radishchv's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow has often been described as a Russian Uncle Tom's Cabin. Published in 1790, the book was banned immediately and the author first sentenced to death, then banished to eastern Siberia. On the order of the Empress Catherine II, who read the Journey very carefully, all copies that could be found were collected and burned. The few that escaped were widely circulated and laboriously copied out by hand, but the book was not freely published in Russia until 1905.