This article is an attempt to show the various ideas of conservative thinkers about the origins and meaning of Russian nihilism. In 1884, a controversy arose on the pages of the newspaper “Rus” around this topic. N.P. Gilyarov-Platonov answered N.Y. Danilevsky's article with a detailed article. Danilevsky argued that nihilism is not an “original phenomenon” in Russia and it cannot be considered the result of the problems of Russian life. According to Danilevsky, Russian young people simply picked up western ideas of materialism and socialism out of a passion for imitation. These ideas have nothing to do with Russian history. Gilyarov-Platonov, on the contrary, was convinced that nihilism appeared in Russia as a consequence of the “neglected diseases” of Russian society. Nihilism, from his point of view, is a rebellion of a Russian person against the vices of the social system, which conservatives often try not to notice.
