The article considers the main trends of Russian public life in the second half of the 19th century, their influence on the policy of the Russian government. Describing the trends and conflicts of public life in Russia in the 19th century, the author highlights the confrontation of class-Imperial and national models of state construction. The article describes the main representatives and ideologists of these two directions, their influence on the course of Imperial reforms of the late 1880’s and the historical path of Russia. Assessing the reforms in relation to the Russification of the suburbs, the author draws attention to the importance of studying the course of administrative Russification of the Russian Western suburbs, because this process was inseparable from the process of building a Russian national myth and the associated historical narrative.