Lodu was born on an estate just outside Moscow, into a minor noble family of Tatar descent, tracing its roots back to defeated princes who entered into the service of Ivan the Terrible after the conquest of Kazan in 1552,[1] the Tsar offering them, in exchange of baptism, to work for him and being allotted lands of some twenty-two thousand acres, a number their descendants will keep upgrading by serving the Tsars over the generations.

Until he was 8 years old he lived on his father's estate in Verkhni Oblyazovo[3] (then part of the Saratov Governorate, today in Penza Oblast), one hundred miles west of the Volga river with a nurse and tutor.

In 1765 his family connections provided him with an opportunity to serve as a page in Catherine's court, which he nonetheless regarded with suspicion for its "contempt for the Orthodox faith, and a desire to deliver the homeland into foreign (German) hands".

[6] The Empress Catherine the Great read the work, viewed Radishchev's calls for reform as evidence of Jacobin-style radicalism, and ordered copies of the text confiscated and destroyed.

En route the writer was treated like a common convict, shackled at the ankles and forced to endure the Russian cold from which he eventually fell ill. His friend, Count Alexander Vorontsov, who held sway with Catherine, interceded and managed to secure Radishchev more appropriate accommodations, allowing him to return to Moscow to recover and restart his journey with dignity and comfort.

Settling in Ilimsk for five years with his second wife, Elizabeth Vasilievna Rubanovsky, and his two children, Radishchev, as the only educated man in the area, became the local doctor and saved several lives.

In 1802, a despondent Radishchev committed suicide by drinking poison, possibly after being rebuked in a friendly manner by Count Zavadovsky for expressing radical ideas.

Alexander Pushkin, sympathetic to Radishchev's views and passion, undertook to write a sequel to his inflammatory book, which was unfortunately never finished and early on faced pressure from the censors.

[12] Upon his return from Leipzig in 1771, Radishchev saw with fresh eyes the stark contrast between life under liberal Western states like England and Switzerland and that under Russia's autocracy.

Though influenced by Adam Smith, Radishchev maintained protectionist views, condemning unnecessary international trade and proposing stronger domestic production.

Radishchev does not sweepingly criticize all autocrats, but only tyrants, praising, in fact, Lycurgus, the philosopher king of Sparta who promoted equality and civil rights.

[17] Radishchev, however, did not believe in, or desire, bloody revolution and instead hoped for a reforming autocrat who would abolish serfdom and "maintain equality in society, protect the widow and the orphan and save the innocent from harm.