Progress: The Russian Experiment
Dostoevsky, "The Grand Inquisitor"
Lenin, excerpts from
The State and Revolution
Excerpts from Sakharov
Excerpts from Solzhenitsyn
In terms of progress:
It is paramount to consider the concept of self-limitation and moral justice: "Our duty must always exceed the freedom we have been granted" (Solzhenitsyn 55). We have to think of history as a continuum (Solzhenitsyn 59). Therefore, it makes to comprehend progress as ongoing, rather than as a series of almost "tangible" representations of success in society that are commonly countered with apparent downfalls in history. This ties in Dostoevsky's existentialist thoughts of a universal foundation of morals that is based on our perception of the world, which is conversely based on those morals. They're based on each other, which makes it inevitably difficult to
contemplate history without such value-soaked perceptions and variations
in interpretations. It complicates our search for truth and
affirmation that we have made (and we are making) progress as beings in
the world.
This parallels Solzhenitsyn's thought that "[p]olitical stability endures only when it is founded on moral strength" (104). Justice is founded on conformity to moral law, which translates to say that moral principles are (or should be) aligned with legal principles (Solzhenitzyn 105).
Robby, Kathryn, and Tim's Presentation
"The Russian Experiment"
Color-Key:
Presentation Preparation
Kathryn's Questions
Class Notes/Thoughts/Reflection
PART ONE: KATHRYN
The Grand Inquisitor
Who is Charles B. Guignon? (Wrote the introduction of book and compiled chapters)
Professor Emeritus of the University of South Florida
American philosopher known for his expertise on Heidegger and existentialism
Focii:
Continental Philosophy (Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Existentialism,
Post-structuralism, with a specialization in Heidegger), philosophical
study of psychology and psychotherapy theories, and recent thought on
the self and related matters
Who was Dostoevsky?
Lived (1821-1881)
Russian novelist, essayist, also wrote short stories
Most well known novels: The Idiot, The Brothers Karamozov, and Crime and
Punishment
Used
characters and an examination of their interior minds to examine
social, spiritual, and political forces interact in the psyche of an
individual
Many think his works = precursor to Russian Symbolism (characters : signs of concepts)
Imprisoned/condemned to death for participation in Petrashevsky Circle
Married the wife of an acquaintance
Rejected ideals of his Western upbringing
Devoted to his Russian Orthodox faith
After wife died- depression and gambling
Introduction:
· “Dostoevsky’s insights into the Russian spirit…”
· Uses the “novel of ideas” The Brothers Karamozov as context for the legend of “The Grand Inquisitor”
·
“The Rebellion” and “The Grand Inquisitor” are not Dostoevsky’s
views -> reflections on atheism (beliefs of his younger days) (x)
o his
view: “it is only by passing through the dark night of the soul and
embracing suffering that one can come into God’s grace and so become
fully human” (xvii).
· uses characters to embody worldviews/orientations: polyphonic novel
o characters are pitted against e/o, open-ended dialogue
What
are advantages to the technique of creating an open-ended dialogue in
regards to a specific topic, such as human suffering or faith and doubt?
· The Brothers Karamazov -> set in 1860s (upheavel in Russia)
o shift in life (result of influx of Western European ideologies)
o Dostoevsky thought that Russia wasn’t ready for the reforms
§ Passage on (xiv) beginning “Dostoevsky’s method is immanent critique…incoherence of their positions…”
o “Behind the show of humanitarian love is a craving for power, an impulse to stand above the crowd and be like gods” (xv). – selfless devotion -> pride/egoism
How does this speak to the concept of progress and “positive change”? Is it for the good of all?
o “In
Dostoevsky’s view, only if reform starts from the concrete forms of
life of Russia itself could it hope to achieve meaningful and lasting
change” (xvii)
The Brothers Kara
father, Fyodor –sensualist, driven by lust, carnal pleasures, and impulse
“the Karamazov” dimension of self – drive to evil, good drives of compassion, love, will to live
3 brothers:
Ivan –Westernized individual, Enlightenment ideals, “lacerated stance” takes faith
out of the equation: atheist
younger brother, Alyosha –naïve novice monk
Dimitri –like
his father, but also represents need to transcend our sensual/animal
nature and achieve something higher (more spiritual ideals)
(11) “Our historical pastime is the direct satisfaction of inflicting pain.”
(4) “if there were no God, he would have to be invented.”
(14) “What I said was absurd, but –“
“That’s
just the point, that ‘but’! cried Ivan. ‘Let me tell you, novice, that
the absurd is only too necessary on earth. The world stands on
absurdities, and perhaps nothing would have come to pass in it without
them. We know what we know!”
·
existentialist thought -> what we do and the decisions we make
with our free will are based on a set of ideals/morals/guidelines, but
those morals are in turn based on/shaped by what we do/our
interpretation/our idea of suffering and the world
· if there is a God then he must hate humanity because of all the suffering
Why is this a very important perspective to consider when we think about the dangers and the tensions of modernity and progress?
·
see passage in the intro (xxvii) “For if nothing exists except
inherently valueless material objects in push-pull causal interactions…”
o humans as meaning-makers, adhering meaning
o Ivan has trouble understanding why he wants to go on living despite logic (2)
Whether modernity itself, material progress, is really what is good for people?
God and established church are not the same for Dostoevsky
godfather of existentialism
Dostoevsky
goes through suffering/imprisoned...quits being a materialist and goes
to depths of own soul ->becomes great novelist, all about the
interior mind/soul
saying something about Russia -> materialism in society -> missed soul
USSR atheist -pg.74 “frigtheningly accurate” prophecy of Stalin’s Soviet Russia - killing off ppl who opposed… “They aim at justice…”
What does it mean to “[l]ove life more than the meaning of it”? (3)
o in the book, Ivan eventually breaks down, which shows the chaos that results from this doubt
The Legend of The Grand Inquisitor:
·
2 irreconcilable and unattainable ideals: conflict between freedom
and happiness -> advent of Christ did nothing but increase suffering
in world
· conflict: doubt and faith
· Christ’s biblical rejections of the temptations of Satan ended up giving humans free will
· free will plagues those who doubt God’s existence
o “Choosing
‘bread’ [worldly comforts], Thou wouldst have satisfied the universal
and everlasting craving of humanity—to find someone to worship. So long
as man remains free, he strives for nothing so incessantly and so
painfully as to find someone to worship. But man seeks to worship what
is established beyond dispute, so that all men would agree to worship
it” (27)
§ incites conflict: different gods
§
“For the secret of man’s being is not only to live, but to have
something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of
life, man would not consent to go on living…” (28)
“In
Dostoevsky’s view, the only way to deal with the problem of suffering
is to embrace our own responsibility for what happens in the world and
to own up to it by acting to change things” (xliii)
What is our obligation as pawns in history to improve things?
in
terms of Chess- pawn is incredibly unimportant, yet plays an important
role in the end game -> human agency in history -> free will and
human agency
Pawns are more important than we think!!
How does a vision of connectedness and spiritual significance help
us to make change and progress, as well as to understand the struggle
between good and evil that Dostoevsky says is “fundamental to our
existence” (xx).
PART TWO: ROBBY
Lenin
Jeffrey Brooks- Johns Hopkins University The unifying theme of his work on Russia is the interconnectedness of Russian public culture, politics, and society from the Emancipation of the Serfs to the early post-Stalin era
Georgiy Chernyavskiy- Ukrainian culture, Trotsky
Lenin
anti-Tsarist russian revolutionary
opposed Stalin- wanted Trotsky
he claims he’s not a Utopian, but he kind of is?
-Lenin stresses the role of the state in the transition from capitalism to socialism/communism
-”The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled.”
-”The proletariat needs state power,” etc
He lays out how society should work- official positions “can (and must) be stripped of every shadow of privilege, of every semblance of ‘official grandeur’”
He seems to use democracy as a bridge from capitalism to socialism/communism- his definition of democracy on page 48
BUT He wants an abolition of the state, as shown on the end of page 48, when all people will miraculously agree that communism is the way to go
CONNECTIONS TO OTHER TEXTS
-when he talks about what capitalist culture has created and how they will take it and modify it- top and bottom of page 47- Newton’s “I stand on the shoulder of giants”?
-the end of p. 48 seems too hopeful, similar in tone to Condorcet?
QUESTIONS
-What does he mean with “but also for the entire historical period which separates capitalism from classless society, from communism” p. 47
-Historically, is his analysis of the state correct? What differences can we pick out from what he wrote to the actual government he helped form?
-Why does he think democracy should only be the bridge to communism- it seems that his definition of democracy is exactly what he wants.
-Can people become accustomed to observing the elementary conditions of social life without violence and without subordination? Can we relate this to the Ukraine conflict now?
PART THREE: TIM
Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Russian Physicist responsible for the creation of the Russian Hydrogen Bomb. After that he became a human rights and political activist, at first advocating for the scale back of nuclear testing and the transition into peaceful nuclear technology, in fact his ideas on practical fusion reactors still form the basis for the work being done today. he then transitioned into general political and human rights activism, advocating for the reformation of the soviet political body. this work won him a nobel peace prize and a number of awards named in his honor. jHe was internally exiled in 1980 which means he couldnt leave the city of Gorky where anyone who wasnt placed there could not go. he was freed from exile by Gorbachev in 86 and he writes this volume of his memoirs in 89 with this particular chapter focusing on his time after he was allowed to return to moscow.
Summary
The First part is partly a narrative of his time in estonia and partly observational as to why the Estonians seem to live in relative comfort compared to much of the rest of the USSR Question 1
he then was invited to join the international foundation for the survival and development of humanity, something he claims was a sad affair. stating that the foundation fell well short of his hopes for its ability to influence the direction of the perestroika and maintaining the glasnost question 2
The next major political analysis section and one of the major sections of the excerpt deals with the crisis in the Nagorno Karabhak valley in Azerbaijan, question 3
PART THREE: Dr. McFadden
Solzhenitzyn
Solzhenitzsyn
Mr. Solzhenitsyn's dream is the return of an entity that might be called "Rus," consisting of the Little Russians (Ukrainians), Great Russians and Byelorussians, and located in the Russian heartland ("we all sprang from precious Kiev"). The remaining 12 republics and assorted jurisdictions, with their numerous ethnic groups, must go. " We don't have the strength for the peripheries either economically or morally. We don't have the strength ." -NYT article
For, as Mr. Solzhenitsyn observes, "many new countries have in recent years suffered a fiasco just after introducing democracy; yet, despite such evidence, this same period has seen an elevation of democracy from a particular state structure into a sort of universal principle of human existence, almost a cult."
He seems to be a separatist.
CLASS NOTES
Dr. McFadden:
-Legend of The Grand Inquisitor:
-not focused on Church & Inquisition
-rather Russian Orthodox Church vs. spiritual concept of Jesus Christ
-looks into future
-through voices of characters
____________
Lenin IS NOT Stalin
____________
-2 giants:
-Solzhenitzsyn (Vision: Slovek, not multi-ethnic future of Russia)
-Sakharov (noble prize winning physicist, helped devel. H-bomb for Soviet Union, then began to understand human rights/Western values -> couldn’t imprison him bc of his nuclear developments)
-Gorbachov released Sak. from internal exile to become Gorb’s conscience in Moscow at the Congress of People’s Deputies (Sak challenged Gorb to be open and move toward democratic society)
-Russia = “a managed Democracy” -Putin
-there is a Duma, but they belong to Putin’s party
Robby’s Presentation on Lenin and the Making of the Soviet State:
-Utopian: lays out ideal system of how the state should work
-role of state is necessary in transition from capitalism to communism state
-Marx influence: class antagonism necessitates state
-official positions can and must be stripped of grandeur
-(48) democracy is a state that recognizes the subordination of the minority to the majority
-majority will and should have some control over the minority
-Why is democracy not good enough then? Why only a transition to communism?
-just recognizes subordination of minority to majority
-organization for the systematic use of force against another class = Democracy
-stepping stone, force needs to be used, but then how do we get to communism from there?
-socialism/communism = romantic view of no violence, even playing field
-Condorcet: everyone’s equal, no violence
-Newton: standing on the shoulders of giants
-long line of scientific history that makes a difference to Lenin (Hegel, Marx & Engels)
-gets warped in Soviet period
-Lenin says state has to be involved vs. Marx & Engels say that the state withers aways
-what are we building on? what do we know about state formation?
-trying to change theory of Marxism: says state has to be built out of ruins of Russian empire (he didn’t create those ruins, Trotsky was there, but not Lenin)
-doesn’t believe in withering away of the state (pg. 46):
Interp. of Marx: not the withering of state, but it is a single class (ie. majority, proletariat) on top of a dictatorship that subordinates the minority
-he thinks that ppl misinterpret Marx vs. his interpretation
What is the historical period/differences that separates capitalism from classless society?
classless: no maj. no minority
capitalism: minority subordinating majority
communism: rich ppl aren’t as prevalent
Page 47: re-allotment of power in a sentence (but not as easy as it seems -> asking ppl to give up power?!): “We, the workers, shall organize large-scale production on the basis of what capitalism has already created, relying on our own experiences, as workers...”
-not everyone is distinctly proletariat or bourgeoise
-Marxist didn’t really work in some cases/places bc there wasn’t really a proletariat class (just farmers, etc.) -> context of where he wrote it
-Hobswam- what would he say about Lenin taking and reshaping Marxism for the context of Russia?
-Historically, is Lenin’s analysis of the state correct, and what differences can we pick out from the actual government he helped form?
-USSR: officially formed in 1923, Lenin died in 1924 (before: simply called Soviet Russia)
-democratic centralism: minority makes the decisions and they’re carried out by everyone else
-Stalin built statues of Lenin around world, Stalin = terrible theorist, builds himself up as great Leninist
-”In striving for socialism…” (48)
-what are the elementary conditions of social life?
-can ppl become accustomed to observing them w/o violence and subordination?
Does human nature make it possible to do what Lenin says?
If you set up a state w/ coercive properties (Russian history before, but now w/sense of setting up a Communist state) = recipe for disaster.
-suppresses minorities, doing terrible things, human nature: greed and ideals
-any state that tries that will ultimately fail after a lot of bloodshed)
-Lenin: not reporter, “persuader in chief,” politician (lies?)
-Value of Communism: justice and education
-McF: Utopian of a different kind -> belief in hope (different than optimism)
Solzhenitzsyn, Rebuilding Russia
-exiled, lived in Vermont
-returned to Russia ->welcomed as a hero
-ideas on how Russia needed to be rebuilt
-not multi-ethnic (doesn’t include non-Slavs/immigrants from Central Asia of the Russian Federation)
-spiritual roots, Slavek Russia
-ONE vision for the future of Russia
Tim’s Presentation: Sahkarov
-created H-bomb (hydro-fusion) for Soviets
-advocated for scaled back of nuclear testing, which transitioned into being an activist for human rights
-still studies on it today -> green energy
-Nobel Peace Prize
-internally exiled (1980) city of Gorkey - only exiles in the city
-Gorbechav freed him from exile ‘86
-excerpt is from 2nd volume of his memoirs
-advocating for what’s happening -> more optimistic than Solzhenitzsyn
-3 years after exile
-”The Steamroller of Socialism”
-Why is this the term he uses?
Dostoevsky quote page 74
how socialism left Russia in the Ukraine
-perastroika -> translates to “restructuring” to be more in tune w/global community
-> in context of Communism, ends up failing
-Pg. 43; 6 proposals in direction of Soviet State and perastroika
-why would the board agree to push through the more radical ones? (4,5,6 domestic issues)
-focused on social liberalization, not economic liberalization (1st three)
-Cold War is just wrapping up
-part of perastroika
-glahstos: openness= transparency in what gov. is doing (so avoid some parts of it)
-point 3 on capitalizing on scientific discovery -> is it yours? can you use it? should it be conducted openly? ----who has access to what info? Is any info proprietary?
-inability to get things done -> all of his ideas were not put through, done halfway, or put through as “vague theories”
-Did the Russian Experiment FAIL or did it succeed in teaching us how not to go about progress?
