Alexander Herzen and the Birth of Russian Socialism

by Martin Malia

Preface
Introduction
Family & Childhood
Schiller & Ogarev
Univesity & 'Circle"
Schelling & Idealism
Saint-Simon & Socialism
Arrest & Exile
Love & Religion
The Quest for Reality
Realism in Philosophy: Hegel
Realism in Love: Sand
The Slavophiles & Nationalism
Socialist & Liberal Westerners
The Crucial Year-1847
The Revolution of 1848
Russian Socialism
The Gentry Revolution
Bibliography
Notes
Index

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Biography, Politics

486 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the author's clear bias against Herzen's politics, and a psychological approach that attempts to reduce much of Herzen's politics to "egoism" born from his lonely childhood, this is an extremely useful book. I have not found any other text which so clearly describes the way German Idealism influenced the development of revolutionary socialism. Herzen is an ideal figure to trace the development of the socialist worldview, in part because he seems to have been easily influenced by the spirit of the times. In his intellectual development we find the influence of well-known European figures such as Schiller, Schelling, St. Simon, Cieszkowski, Hegel, Fourier, Blanqui, Blanc, Proudhon, Bakunin, as well as less well-known Russian circles such as the Stankevich Circle, the Slavophiles, and the Westernizers.

Of particular interest is the way that Herzen synthesized an appreciation for Enlightenment Humanism and Individualism, seen as a specifically European development, with Russian Nationalist & Pan-Slavist conceptions about the unique destiny of Russia. This leads Herzen to an idealization of the Russian peasant commune as a precursor to socialism.

Although Malia very clearly relates these debates to German and Hegelian philosophies of history, he doesn't point this out the way in which Marx's idea of primitive communism also developed out the same roots. Following Hegel's view that "Germany has always had free individuals", Marx believed that there was a Germanic rural commune prior to the imposition of Roman forms of property law, and that "the new commune introduced by the Germanic peoples in all the countries they invaded [during the decline of the Roman Empire] was the sole center of popular liberty and life throughout the middle ages". I think most Marxists don't know Marx believed in this German nationalist mythology! You can find this quote in the drafts of Marx's famous letter to Vera Zasulich, better known for his coming around to Herzen's view of the potential of the Russian commune. (Edit: Marx also discusses the Germanic commune in great detail in the Grundrisse.)

Unlike this mythical German commune, however, the Russian commune still existed, leading Herzen to hope that Russia can avoid the pains of industrialization and the banality and hypocrisy of bourgeois liberalism. By 1847, he has developed an anarchist conception of a stateless federation of independent communes, inspired by Proudhon's mutualism and his own travels to Italy, where the relative autonomy of the cities was a refreshing contrast to French centralization.

Nevertheless, while Herzen's maximal program is a form of romantic, nationalist, anarchist municipalism developing out of a social revolution, his minimum program was simply that the Russian serfs should be emancipated by the Russian autocracy or gentry in a way which gave them ownership of their land. Although Malia doesn't cover this period of Herzen's life in any detail, it sounds like the emancipation under Alexander II did not fulfill these hopes, leading Herzen back to his more radical views, and leading the future generations of Russian socialists to wholly reject ideas of collaboration with the Tsarist autocracy.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many other works, I read this book before being able to fully appreciate it. It was not only an introduction to Herzen himself, but also to the culture of mid-nineteenth century Europe. Before reading Malia I had never heard of George Sand or of Nicholas Ogarev and, although the names were familiar, I had yet to read Schelling, Schiller or Hegel. Previously, I had tended to think, unthinkingly, that political ideas were perennial, failing to appreciate the histories of discourse which informed them. Malia's book impressed upon me the need to study much more deeply, much more historically.

For quite some time Alexander Herzen & the Birth of Russian Socialism was my idea of a scholarly book. I was proud to have read it, however inadequately--proud of the title even, so reminiscent was it of the infamous Hegel & the Concept of the Comprehensible God. This pride and hidden shame actually inspired a second, partial reading--some of it done aloud with a close friend around the time of Watergate. The notes in the margins seem to date from that rereading.

The big memory of the first reading, however, is of laying in the back of Dad's red Opal Kadet station wagon on the way home from Michigan along I-94 on a hot Sunday in the late afternoon.

[catinca.ciornei · Rating 5 out of 5]

If one is interested, in quite a lot of detail, about Russia, communism and Alexander Herzen, this is an amazing book. Rich in historic detail and explanation, Mr. Malia explains how Russian socialism came to be and how Alexander Herzen played an important role. This is not a book to be read lightly, one has to have an interest in the subject beforehand. But it's a treasure trove of information about very consequential times, people and thoughts.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.