N. A. Danilicheva

M. G. Yaroshevsky

This article examines the establishment of the first free people’s university in the pre-revolutionary Russia, conceived and headed by V. M. Bekhterev. The program of that institution was aimed at undetaking the complex multidisciplinary study of the human person as an integral system. The socially progressive character of its program, as well as its democratic ways (e. g., the abolishment of any class and national restrictions whatsoever), made the University, entitled the Psychoneurological Institute, a target for constant attacks on the part of governmental authorities.