A Herzen Reader

A reference to Nikolay Nekrasov's appearance at the English Club in St. Petersburg on April i6, i866, where he read a poem he had written in honor of Count Mikhail Muravyov—who was at the time presiding over the Karakozov investigation—in an at­tempt to save The Contemporary from being permanently shut down (Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, i9:388-89).

Herzen is partly quoting, partly paraphrasing the article "Nihilist" that appeared in issue no. i34 of The Moscow Gazette on June 28, i866. Katkov had in mind the folklor- ist and revolutionary Ivan A. Khudyakov (i842-i876), who was arrested in connection with the Karakozov case and sentenced to perpetual exile in Verkhoyansk. Khudyakov had traveled to Geneva in i865 to establish ties with Herzen, Ogaryov, and Bakunin, and when he returned to Russia at the end of the year he joined several radical circles in Moscow. Katkov was making use of information from the closed trial proceedings, which he saw before it was released publicly.

Herzen: "In the same issue of The Moscow Gazette Katkov himself says that world revolution is a fantasy." Katkov goes on to say that the danger comes from the Poles and their supporters, especially at The Bell, who curse Russian patriotism (Let 4:280).

In his October 28, i86i, inaugural lecture in a course on state law, Boris Chicherin set forth this theory.

What follows is a quote from the lead article in issue no. i38 of The Moscow Gazette, in which Katkov expresses his delight at Alexander's May i3 rescript (see Doc. 86).

♦ 88 ♦

A Frenzy of Denunciations (Kraevsky's First Warning) [1866]

We are overcome by the raging of denunciation—the wall separating the secret police from literature has fallen, and spies, informers, journalists, professors, and detectives have been merged into one family. The English Club has turned into an auxiliary chamber of the Third Department, the sovereign writes editorials in Gagarin's name, and Gagarin places them in the journal of the "committee of ministers." This is all fine, but our in­formers have begun to reach into the area of private life. in six months we will become accustomed to this, but at first it was startling. Two weeks ago in a feuilleton in The Voice, which Orthodoxy has sorely missed since the time of the missionary Count Tolstoy,¹ there were several stories about a cer­tain noblewoman-Old Believer who has a male friend, and about a certain male Old Believer who has a French lady. Various details were added, street names and so forth. We believe that like Heine, our brother in Christ An- drey has begun in his old age to fear death and his past sins, and, as a clever man, has begun to be zealous for the ministerial church, and not about any other. How else to explain that he has at once—like the petty Katkov— gone in for petty denunciations? Of course Kraevsky does not write them himself—even his enemies will not accuse him of excessive literacy—but if he has chosen for himself the place of honor as caretaker of two occasional journals,² then keep a watch out that there is no debauchery in them, and that everything proceeds in an orderly and proper manner.

As you grow older, Andrey, you should take more care!

It is the detention of Katkov that has caused all the trouble. The small-fry rag-and-bone dealers got going during the absence of the father of denun­ciations, with all sorts of gossip and hints. while "We, Katkov, will have a 'rendezvous' with the sovereign and with our inkwell and golden quill."

Notes

Source: "Beshenstvo donosov," Kolokol, l. 225, August i, 1866; 19:122, 409.

Count Dmitry A. Tolstoy (1823-1889), the head of the Holy Synod (1865-80), was also appointed minister of enlightenment (1866-80).

Andrey A. Kraevsky (1810-1889) was at this time editor of both The Voice (Golos) and Fatherland Notes.

♦ 89 ♦

The Bell, No. 227, September i, i866. This essay offers additional commentary on the Karakozov trial and on Katkov's shift from pro-constitutional liberal to darling of the reactionary camp.

A Quarrel Among Enemies Separatism at The Moscow Gazette [1866]

Within the darkness of the government, at the very focal point of the po­litical cancer that is eating away at Russia, a remarkable split has been re­vealed. The Moscow Gazette is turning into an organ of separatism, of the old enmity between Moscow and Petersburg. The publisher of The Moscow Gazette, having been forgiven by the sovereign, has not forgiven Valuev or an article on the Karakozov case printed in the official journal of the min­istry of internal affairs, which Valuev must have read ten or twenty times, and which sounded like it was written by a Pole, Konstantin Nikolaevich, or Golovin.¹