In 1850, Grigoryev became editor of "Moskvityanin" and leader of the young members of its staff. Despite its "old editorial staff" (Mikhail Pogodin, Stepan Shevyrev and Alexander Veltman), Grigoryev gathered a "young, daring, drunk, but honest and shining by gifts" circle: Alexander Ostrovsky, Aleksey Pisemsky, Boris Almazov, Alexei Potekhin, Andrey Pechersky, Yevgeny Edelson, Lev Mey, Nikolai Berg and Ivan Gorbunov. Although they were not Slavophiles, "Moskvityanin" attracted them because they could base their social and political ideology on Russian reality. Grigoryev was the chief theorist of the circle, reaching his peak during the early 1860s.