A Herzen Reader

Trained as a cultural historian and social scientist, Malia delves into the realm of the "social psychology" of ideas, devoting much energy to Her- zen's intellectual development in Russia, the formative years in which he absorbed European thought. According to Malia, Herzen's socialism was largely developed before he ever left Russia's borders. Malia's study ef­fectively ends in i852, the very year Herzen arrived in England. In accord with several authors cited above, Malia was convinced that Herzen was not integrated into English life, and "largely ignored the English, as they did him."⁵¹ He allocates little space to Herzen's activities after his arrival in London, or to his writings of that period.⁵² There is only fleeting reference to Robert Owen, for example, and J. S. Mill is only mentioned once in the entire monograph of nearly 500 pages. This, despite the fact that Herzen was influenced by both thinkers, and, moreover, Herzen's essay on Owen is considered one of his finest. The Bell, among Herzen's greatest achieve­ments, hardly figures in Malia's narrative.⁵³

In not addressing Herzen's final eighteen years, two-thirds of which were spent in London, Malia's study stops short and does not embrace the full span, and arguably most intriguing period, of Herzen's thought. Clearly, there is much work to be done on this period in Herzen's life, and an understanding of his Bell writings is essential to the appreciation of Her- zen at his most sophisticated.

Aileen Kelly, who encountered Isaiah Berlin during her days as a gradu­ate student at Wolfson College in the late i960s, writes in the solid tradi­tion of the esteemed master, tracing the rich and variegated interweaving of Russian and European ideas to which Herzen was exposed. She has strong reservations regarding certain aspects of Malia's portrayal, which she rightly asserts has been a dominant influence for the understanding of

Herzen in the West. Kelly also notes that the "standard Soviet interpreta­tion, based on Lenin's view that Herzen represents a transitional stage be­tween utopian socialism and Russian Marxism," has meant that "his place in Russian thought, like that of many other thinkers mangled by Soviet ideologists, has yet to be properly assessed."⁵⁴

One of the few scholars to seriously and consistently address the issue of Herzen's London period has been Monica Partridge. She unearths connec­tions, contacts, and associations which were previously not known, places Herzen frequented in London, and figures with whom he associated. Par­tridge earned a reputation for uncovering unpublished memoirs and letters; however, she employs these mainly to supplement Herzen's biography, and she does not tend to weave these materials into the broader scheme of Herzen's intellectual development or with his written pieces during these years. Be that as it may, Partridge highlights the significance of Herzen's London years as "the most settled and successful period of his life."⁵⁵ She strongly makes the case that Herzen's English period has been unjustifi­ably neglected, and is full of promise for further research.⁵⁶

Edward Acton aims to construct a "unified picture" of Herzen's develop­ment. He maintains that "the different aspects of his life and thought were inextricably intertwined," and attempts to demonstrate this by "tracing the impact of public events and private tragedy upon his political thought and activity."⁵⁷ Following in the footsteps of his doctoral supervisor E. H. Carr, Acton's framework is primarily biographical, and through this tangled skein he explores the development of Herzen's thought. Acton devotes a full chapter to "The Tragedy" and asserts that Herzen's personal crisis profoundly impacted his "political and ideological development" and "trig­gered off a basic shift in his outlook and activity."⁵⁸

Acton's findings are worthy of note, in that he detects a palpable turn in Herzen's thought. Acton traces this "change in the tone of his writings" to the summer of 1852, the very time that Herzen moved to England. In­deed, after 1852 Herzen was prompted to reconsider and reassess many of his positions. It is Herzen's experience in England, his strong bonds with journalists and political activists as demonstrated by Partridge's research, his witnessing firsthand the town hall meetings and evolving parliamentary system, his exposure to the thought of Owen and Mill, as demonstrated in his writings—in sum, a long period of residency in a non-revolutionary, civil, and relatively prosperous and successful society—that contributed to Herzen's fundamental reorientation.