 In late 1858, the magazine entered into polemics with the liberal and conservative press and became a platform for and ideological center of the revolutionary democracy, turning into a political magazine.In 1861, it published materials, dedicated to the emancipation of the serfs and advocated the interests of serfs in the strongest terms possible.In 1859-1861, "Sovremennik" argued with Herzen's "Kolokol" about the aims of the Russian democracy.