Alexander Ivanovich Herzen was a philosopher, publicist, writer, and revolutionary who left an indelible mark on the history of Russia. For many years, his free word represented in Europe progressive Russian social thought. Herzen’s creative legacy is extensive and diverse, but it is permeated by a single humanistic pathos and deeply personal experience of history. After the publication of the novel “Who Is to Blame?” (1847), V. G. Belinsky wrote to Herzen: “In you, as in a nature that thinks and is conscious above all… talent and fantasy went into a mind—so to speak—brought to life and warmed by a humanistic direction that was not taught or learned, but inherent in your nature.” “Who Is to Blame?” is an intellectual novel, and the question set in its title has no single answer. Perhaps that’s why it resonated with such force in the hearts of the writer’s contemporaries.