During the reign of Alexander III of Russia, Pobedonostsev was considered the chief spokesman for reactionary positions and the éminence grise of imperial politics.

His writings on politics, law, art, and culture emphasized the positive element of the spiritual and secular unification of Russia with the acceptance of Christianity, while simultaneously condemning the Jewish population.

He warned of the negative element in Russia, portraying democratic and liberal movements as enemies of the national and religious unity of the Russian people.

He opined that the task of achieving a harmonious society meant there was a collective responsibility to uphold political and religious unity, which justified the close supervision of Russian behaviour and thinking as a necessity.

In 1841, he sent his son, then aged 14, to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg, which had been established to prepare young men for civil service.

Pobedonostsev's ascension in the first days after the assassination of Alexander II resulted in the subsequent resignation of Loris-Melikov and other ministers eager for liberal reforms.

He also used his home as a meeting-place for monarchist terrorists who were conspiring, and where he issued a manifesto, with the approval of Alexander the Second, demanding the abolishment of the constitutional movement: "Amid our affliction, the voice of God orders us to vigorously take the ruling power in our own hands..."[5] He was chosen as a firm, severe hand to take over the universities after the 1899 mass student strikes.

Tsar Nicholas II adhered to his father's Russification policy and even extending it to Finland, but he generally disliked the idea of systematic religious persecution, and was not wholly averse to the partial emancipation of the Church from civil control.

In addition, Pobedonostsev published in 1865 in Moskovskie Vedomosti several anonymous articles on the judicial reform of Alexander II.

Defunct Pobedonostsev held the view that human nature is sinful, rejecting the ideals of freedom and independence as dangerous delusions of nihilistic youth.

In his "Reflections of a Russian Statesman" (1896),[10] he promoted autocracy and condemned elections, representation and democracy, the jury system, the press, free education, charities, and social reforms.

To these dangerous products of Western thought he found a counterpoise in popular vis inertiae, and in the respect of the masses for institutions developed slowly and automatically during the past centuries of national life.

Among the practical deductions drawn from these premises is the necessity of preserving autocratic power, and of fostering among the people the traditional veneration for the ritual of the national Church.

The May Laws did not lapse; further policies led to deportations of Jews from large cities, enrollment quotas in public education, and a proscription against voting in local elections.

When Alexander III ascended the throne in 1881, Pobedonostsev rapidly gained a powerful influence over the affairs of both church and state.

As a result, his policies, which were intended to unify, actually engendered dissension and violence and in the long run contributed to the collapse of the Russian Empire.

[22] In the long run, argues Polunov, Pobedonostsev's attempts to impose safe conservative barriers to reform and his hostility toward innovation served only to weaken the autocratic state from within.