In the mid-1850s, as the rift between Socialist radicals and liberals in the Russian literature was becoming more and more pronounced, Grigorovich made a strong neutral stand and attempted to make Nekrasov see that his way of "quarrelling with other journals" has been causing harm to both himself and "Sovremennik", as Grigorovich saw it. In keeping with this spirit of peace and compromise was his next small novel "Ploughman" (Pakhar, 1856), either a paean to the "strength of the Russian folk spirit," or a comment on a man of the land's utter endurance, depending upon a viewpoint. "School of Hospitality" (Shkola gostepriimstva, 1855), written under the influence of Alexander Druzhinin (and, allegedly, not without his direct participation), was in effect a swipe at Chernyshevsky, but the latter refused to be provoked and personal relations between the two men never soured, even if their ideological differences now were irreconcilable. Several years later, as Druzhinin and his fellow proponents of the 'arts for arts' sake' doctrine instigated a dispute along the lines of "free-thinking Pushkin versus overcritical Gogol," Grigorovich backed the Chernyshevsky-led "Sovremennik" group, despite being friends with Druzhinin.