Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky (Russian: Никола́й Константи́нович Миха́йловский) (27 November [O.S. 15 November] 1842–10 February [O.S. 28 January] 1904) was a Russian publicist, literary critic, sociologist and one of the theoreticians of the Narodniki movement.
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In his works Nikolay Mikhaylovsky developed the idea of the relationship between the hero and the masses (crowd). Contrary to the ideas popular among revolutionary-minded people of the late 19th-early 20th centuries that an individual having strong character or talent is able to fulfil incredible things and even change of the course of history in the articles ‘Heroes and Crowd’ (1882) and some other Mikhaylovsky presents a new theory and shows that an individual not necessarily means an outstanding individual, but any individual who by chance finds himself within certain circumstances in the lead or just ahead of the crowd [1]. Mikhaylovsky emphasizes that at definite moments an individual can give a substantial strength to a crowd (through his emotional and actions), and so the whole event can acquire a special power. Thus, the role of an individual depends on its psychological influence is reinforced by mass perception[2]