The Russian Library in Zurich (1870–1874)

The purpose of the article is to provide a historical analysis of the emergence and functioning of the Russian library in Zurich, organized by members of the Russian colony in 1870, and also to show that the public discussions that took place at the end of the 19th century are very similar in style to modern Internet discussions and , therefore, can be considered as a prototype of the latter.
The article is devoted to the history of one of the first Russian public libraries abroad, located in Zurich (Switzerland) in the first half of the 70s of the XIX century, which was not just a library, a repository of books, but in fact, a place where the formation of two main directions of the Russian revolutionary movement of that time took place: "Bakunism" (anarchism) and "Lavrinism" (populism), named after their leaders M.A. Bakunin and P.L. Lavrov. The first part of the article presents the history of the emergence of the library, provides the composition of the book collection, discusses the methods of its replenishment, accounting, tells about the fates of the creators of the library, first of all, M.P. Sazhin (Armand Ross), the actual creator of the library, the main associate of Bakunin, who not only collected the book collection, but also organized a discussion club at the library, where sharp and topical discussions took place about the library itself and the revolutionary events in Russia and Europe. Such discussions were very emotionally charged, topical in content, and sharp in meaning. The second part of the article is devoted to the content and analysis of these discussions, where the idea is first put forward that they became the prototype of discussions in the Internet space of the 21st century. 

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