A Herzen Reader

According to utopian socialist theories of Charles Fourier (1771-1837).

These references are all to France from the Revolution of 1789 to that of 1848. In June 23-25, 1848 (the June Days), there was an uprising caused by the closure of work­shops set up by the Second Republic.

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The Bell, No. 121, February 1, 1862. Herzen was dissatisfied with the September 1862 millennium ceremony staged in Novgorod, the city to which he had been exiled in 1841. He had requested Odessa, "the newest city in Russia, and they transferred me to Novgorod, the oldest city" (Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, 22:96). In an ill-tempered letter to friends, he had described "this city of worn inscriptions, reconstructed monasteries, Hanseatic memories, and Russian Orthodox liberalism" (Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, 22:97). Other than the ninth-century Varangian leader Rurik and the current governor, no one would go there willingly "since, like all provincial capitals, it is uninhabitable" (Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, 22:102).

Herzen particularly disliked the monument commissioned from the artist Mikeshin. That in the age of great reforms so much money and energy were wasted on jubilees was unfortunate, but what most offended Herzen were the heroes chosen for the very large and mute Novgorod bell, after he found out about the details for the design in a supplement to the official spiritual-cultural calendar (mesiatseslov) for 1862. Well aware of the mercurial nature of official favor in Russia, he suggested, tongue in cheek, that removable plaques should be made to celebrate "temporarily important people," and be changed every five years.

Jubilee [1862]

. The jubilee of Knyazhevich, the jubilee of Vyazemsky, the jubilee of Adlerberg, the jubilee of Sukhozanet,¹ and, finally, Russia's jubilee! How ridiculous in itself to mark the exact moment of the conception of a state, especially when it took place in such a remote location that people are still arguing about the identity of the father,² but we will not attack this, as it is an innocent affair. One could object that any sort of excess expense is now out of place, but, taking into consideration that the jubilee of any kind of useless, utterly insignificant person, whose total services consisted in, a la Maniloff,³ a tender friendship with Nicholas, costs more than ten monu­ments, we are prepared to reconcile ourselves even to this expense. What offends us is the continuation of lies in the past, and we are offended by sculptural deceptions. There is something faint-hearted and obtuse in a de­liberate distortion of history on the highest authority. Did Nicholas hide the participation of Ermolov and Tol⁴ in the Battle of Borodino by omitting their names from a monument, did he hide from posterity the fact that Warsaw was captured by Tol and not Paskevich? Why have Rtishchev, Betskoy, Po- temkin, Kochubey, Vorontsov, Paskevich, Lazarev, Kornikov, Nakhimov,⁵ et al., et al. been elevated as temporarily important people?

We are not even talking about the crowd of every kind of high clergy­men, these official enlighteners, whose carved faces appear in the list of his­toric celebrities. Among them are people of whom no one has heard, like Gury and Varsonofy, and there are those of whom we are accustomed to hearing about the negative side, like the schemer Feofan Prokopovich.⁶

If the deed is done and the carved likenesses have been commissioned, then we propose bas-reliefs for temporarily important people on removable plaques, so that they can be replaced as required by necessity and by the departure of new celebrities to join their forefathers.

Tikhon Zadonsky, keeper of fasts—with Adlerberg-the-elder.⁷ Mitrofan Voronezhky, the virgin—with Baryatynsky.⁸ The least talented of soldiers Paskevich—with the even less talented states­man Panin.

Gury and Varsonofy—with Putyatin and Askochensky.⁹ Rtishchev, who in 1648 organized a group to translate from the Greek— with Pokhitonov, who in 1858 organized a group to translate from all languages.

After five years these could also be discarded and new plaques installed. changed before opinions settle and legal measures for important people are established. Then the Russian people will in turn finally cry out: The front or back of the head!¹⁰

Notes

Source: "Iubilei," Kolokol, l. 121, February 1, 1862; 16:30-31, 358-59.

1. Vladimir F. Adlerberg (1790-1884) headed the Postal Department from 1842 to 1856, and then served as minister of the Imperial Court until 1872; Nikolay O. Sukho- zanet (1794-1871) was an adjutant-general who took part in the suppression of the Poles in 1830-31 and later was war minister (1856-61).