A Herzen Reader

We must at last inform our readers about a very interesting phe­nomenon that has arisen on the political landscape of Europe—that phenomenon is us. For a while we have been a subject of attention, study, and agitation, open and secret, a subject of correspondence and editorials in the foreign press, and finally, the subject of books. Remarkable legends have appeared about us in serious foreign journals; the European public has been informed, for example, that in far-off, frozen Russia a dragon has been born, whose name is Herr Katkoff, and that he sits in Moscow and from there devises his devas­tating raids, that an entire nation languishes under his iron yoke and tearfully prays for deliverance from this constriction and let a Saint George appear from beyond the seas to strike down this monster for the pleasure and exultation of the Russian people. Readers might think that we are joking; we solemnly assure them that such legends have appeared in foreign journals. [. . .]

Brilliant. Why didn't he send this inspired article to The Bell? No one has written anything more vicious about him than this and no one ever will.

Notes

Source: "Pravitel'stvennaia agitatsiia i zhurnal'naia politsiia," Kolokol, l. i90, October i5, i864; I8:269-73, 598-99.

From i845 to i85i Mikhail Katkov was an adjunct professor of philosophy at Moscow University. In January Й56, Katkov began to publish Russkii vestnik (The Russian Herald), in which he printed a series of articles calling for the kind of broad self-government that existed in England.

The pyramid metaphor comes from Horace's poem "A Monument." Mikhail Niko- laevich was the tsar's brother and a prominent general.

67 ♦

The Bell, No. i93, January i, Й65. Herzen wrote this on the eve of a gathering of younger emigres in Geneva, as a public answer to their proposal to turn The Bell into an outlet for the radical Russian emigres, which would fundamentally alter a role that Herzen had defined as "words, advice, analysis, denunciation of evil [oblichenie], and theory" (Let 4:68). Nikolay Utin had written to Herzen in July i864, urging him to provide this crucial center for all the forces of change, which would prepare "missionaries" to carry out agitation amongst the people. For this to be effective, the publishing enterprise would have to move to Switzerland, where the majority of young revolutionaries were now located. Herzen had long been in favor of such a move, but did not agree with other suggestions in Utin's correspondence; a meeting was organized in Geneva to discuss these issues in late i864. Even before Herzen's arrival, a platform had been drawn up which insisted that the program of The Bell must be clearly defined, and that it must no longer consist of a random assortment of articles, arranged according to the tastes of Herzen and Ogaryov. Herzen offered to transfer the press to Switzerland, to include work by younger expatriates in The Bell, and to provide them some financial support, but he insisted that the main work of propaganda could take place only in Russia itself. In addition, he was loathe to turn over what had been a very literary journal to people who did not read literature. In a January 4, i865, letter to Ogaryov, Herzen said that he was terribly bored in this company where "no one is learning anything or reading anything" (Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, 28:9). While Ogaryov generally was more supportive of this group, he co-signed the article "i865" in solidarity with Herzen.

1865 [1865]

In view of the difficult events of the past two years, we have had to express our opinions on more than one occasion, and, as we embark on a new year, we consider it unnecessary to repeat our creed and our protest.¹ We are continuing our path, and not embarking on another.

The Bell will remain what it has been—an organ for the social development of Russia. As before, it will be against everything that hinders that develop­ment, and for everything that furthers it.

It is hindered by: military-bureaucratic governance, class-based laws, the ruling clergy, the ignorance of educated people, contradictory ideas, and idolatry of the government to whom everything is sacrificed—the welfare of individuals and the masses, and one's mind and heart. All of this taken together does not smash those foundations, deeply embedded in the life of the people, on which our hope is based. They were not smashed by Tatars, by Germans, by Moscow, or by Petersburg, no matter how much devel­opment was hindered, no matter how much it was distorted, sullying the people with unnecessary blood and undeserved filth.

Against these dark forces, which rely on the ignorance of some and the self-interest of others, we will fight as we did before, and, even more than before, we will issue a call for assistance.