various regions, contributed to the mapping of soils in Russia, and published Vasily Dokuchayev's famous monograph on chernozem. Intellectuals including Dmitry Mendeleyev, Aleksandr Butlerov, Pyotr Semyonov, and Leo Tolstoy were involved in the Society's practical activities, ranging from the advancement of beekeeping (Butlerov) to the enlightenment of peasant children (Tolstoy). Last decades In 1895 Count Geiden became the Society's President. Under his guidance, the Society evolved into "an expanded cultural center, in which academics, agricultural experts, journalists, and leading spokesmen of the feuding socialist groups argued rather freely about current economic and political issues" Public debates of Pyotr Struve and Mikhail Tugan-Baranovsky on the precepts of Legal Marxism attracted many non-members (Maksim Gorky, Yevgeny Tarle) to attend the meetings. Such activities resulted in the liberal institution's being closed down by the authorities in 1900. The Society resumed its activities before long, but non-members would not be admitted to take part in the meetings again. With the outbreak of World War I, the activity of the Society was suspended; it was finally abolished by the Bolsheviks in 1919. During 154 years of its existence, the Society issued a variety of specialized journals, more than 280 volumes of the Proceedings, and a number of supplements to these. In 1992, the All-Soviet Economic Society, which had been functioning in the USSR since 1982, assumed the name of the Free Economic Society of Russia, with the Moscow mayor Gavriil Popov as its President. Valentin Pavlov, the former Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, became a Vice President of the Free Economic Society in the 1990s. References Further reading Khodnev A.I. History of the Imperial Free Economic Society from 1765 to 1865. SPb, 1865. Beketov A.N. An Historical Outline of the 25-year Activity of the Free Economic Society (1865-1890). SPb, 1890. Oreshkin V.V. Free Economic Society in Russia (1765-1917). Moscow, 1963. Joan Pratt. The Russian Free Economic Society (Ph.D. diss.). University of Missouri-Columbia, 1983. External links Medals of the Free Economic Society 1765 establishments in the Russian Empire 1919 disestablishments Economy of the Russian Empire Science and technology in Russia E