The nature and characteristics in the historical evolution of the Moscow Merchant and Industrial elite of the 19th century can be shown as a criterion to predict the fatal limit of the Russian liberalization movement and its struggle among autocracy, liberalism and radicalism the in the process of modernization. Most of the Moscow merchant and industrial elite families were originated from the inferior and low status of peasants or serf. In spite of the innumerous social and legal restraints they evolved into new wealthy and creative class with tremendously hard working, initiatives and abstinence under the impact of the technological innovation in the 1840s. The Moscow merchant and industrialist expanded their economic strength independently more rapidly than any other groups in Russia in the mid-nineteenth century. They succeeded in accumulating a grand scale of wealth, and taking more prominent places in various kinds of economic organizations and even in having a chance to elevate their estate and rank upward into that of nobility. It was one of the most surprising stories in the modern Russian history, which broke the myth of defining the traditional Russian merchant pattern as economic timidity, social inertia and political indifference. They gradually wished to play an important role in the public life such as city duma, zemstvo and municipal administration and to attain the political influence in parallel with the traditional landed nobility and intelligentsia toward the autocracy. But they never had the political power to which their wealth was entitled them. The declining gentry was very hostile to the rising industrialists, who gave much disadvantageous impetus to agricultural interests, and never wanted to allow the merchant and industrialists the access to the zemstvo self-government. The confronting relationship of the middle gentry with the merchant and industrialists did much harm to the political liberalization movement of Russia. Another important fact of the limit of the liberalization movement of the Moscow merchant-industrial elite was that the autocratic government always took a dual attitude toward their public activities in the city duma and municipal government. It continued to oppose to their growing as an element of the cohesive, dynamic and class-conscious activities other than as a means of fiscal resources from the merchant and industrialists, putting them in the servile position. The Moscow merchant and industrial peculiarly were proud of being themselves as more native, independent, patriotic defenders economically and culturally in contrast with the foreign, dependent, bureaucratic Peterburg industrialists. In this regard they were more willingly to be deeply indulged in the traditional cultural activities such as, philantrophy, art patronage, collection of old Russian artifacts, welfare question of poor labourers with the slavophile intellectuals. In sum, there existed a great contradiction between the economic development and political liberalization in nineteenth cenury Russia. It can be concluded that the Moscow merchant and industrialist elite do not fit into the conception of bourgeoisie until the 1905 revolution and new political arrangement thereafter. (Yeungnam University/lalajh@ynu.ac.kr)