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Russian Conservatism
"Examines the history of Russian conservative thought from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present"--
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2019
11 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Paul Robinson
174 books11 followersPaul Robinson is a highly regarded keynote speaker and accomplished author of numerous books and audio books. Over the past 15 years, he has delivered speeches to over 500,000 executives from more than 350 companies across the globe. His expertise lies in the areas of human potential development, leadership, sales, and innovation. Some of his notable works have even been adapted into inspirational documentary films.
Know more: www.paulrobinson.in
Know more: www.paulrobinson.in
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 28, 2024
EXCELLENT book. Highly recommended. Review to come!
Update, Feb. 27, 2024: So, I never posted that review like I promised, so I figured I'd paste in the notes I made as I was reading this fantastic book.
Page 25: I've only read one chapter and this book is already blowing my mind! From p. 19: "Autocracy, in the ideology of Russian conservatism, means limited government." Mind. Blown.
Page 43: I made it through Chapter 2 and this book continues to astound me. Chapter 2 was all about conservatism under Alexander I and yes, Karamzin was mentioned (yay!). I had no idea Karamzin was against the gold or silver standard for currency (p. 41). That was not a common idea at the time!
Pages 61-62: This book continues to amaze me. Chapter 3 was about conservatism during Nicholas I's reign and how varied it was. Some people (like the historian Mikhail Pogodin) favored abolishing serfdom and making quality education available to everyone, while others (like Nikolai Gogol) did not. What is interesting is how limited the tsarist state was. P. 43 notes how small the central state administration was (1.3 officials per thousand inhabitants, compared to 4.1 in England and 4.8 in France). Nicholas also sought to limit the deficit and had a silver standard for the ruble (go Nicholas!) and believed in the sanctity of private property (p. 56).
Page 79: Chapter 4 was surprisingly not as interesting as I expected. It was about the Slavophiles, who I found fascinating in history class, but somehow not as much so now while reading this! It was a pretty brief chapter—now on to chapter 5, which is about Alexander II and his reforms.
Page 115: Chapter 6 was REALLY good. It dealt with the reign of Alexander III and one of my favorite historical figures, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, made an appearance. I also have a new favorite 19th century conservative figure: Lev Tikhomirov. A former revolutionary, he ended up embracing autocracy and very presciently warned about the evils of socialism and communism (pp. 109-10, 113).
Page 131: Chapter 7 was a bit of a disappointment. There was not enough detail about the era when Nicholas I was in power! I know there was a LOT going on politically at that time, so I refuse to believe that was all there is to say about conservatism in that era.
Page 153: Chapter 8 deals with emigration, one of my personal favorite topics in Russian history. One of my favorite philosophers is Ivan Ilyin, who was a prominent White emigre thinker. Also, any chapter that takes the vastly overrated historian Timothy Snyder to task is going to be something I enjoy.
Page 165: Chapter 9 was short—not much conservatism under Stalin, as you'd imagine. Though the Soviet Union did become more socially conservative than would be expected starting in the 1930s. Very interesting stuff.
Page 183: Chapter 10 was about late Soviet conservatism, so lots of info about Solzhenitsyn. Unfortunately, conservatism from this era was very influenced by communism, since the Soviet Union had existed for decades at this point, so I relate a lot less to the ideology of this era.
Page 201: Wow, chapter 11, which is about contemporary Russia, is LONG. And honestly, not super interesting. I think this is why I am a historian, not a political scientist. :D
Update, Feb. 27, 2024: So, I never posted that review like I promised, so I figured I'd paste in the notes I made as I was reading this fantastic book.
Page 25: I've only read one chapter and this book is already blowing my mind! From p. 19: "Autocracy, in the ideology of Russian conservatism, means limited government." Mind. Blown.
Page 43: I made it through Chapter 2 and this book continues to astound me. Chapter 2 was all about conservatism under Alexander I and yes, Karamzin was mentioned (yay!). I had no idea Karamzin was against the gold or silver standard for currency (p. 41). That was not a common idea at the time!
Pages 61-62: This book continues to amaze me. Chapter 3 was about conservatism during Nicholas I's reign and how varied it was. Some people (like the historian Mikhail Pogodin) favored abolishing serfdom and making quality education available to everyone, while others (like Nikolai Gogol) did not. What is interesting is how limited the tsarist state was. P. 43 notes how small the central state administration was (1.3 officials per thousand inhabitants, compared to 4.1 in England and 4.8 in France). Nicholas also sought to limit the deficit and had a silver standard for the ruble (go Nicholas!) and believed in the sanctity of private property (p. 56).
Page 79: Chapter 4 was surprisingly not as interesting as I expected. It was about the Slavophiles, who I found fascinating in history class, but somehow not as much so now while reading this! It was a pretty brief chapter—now on to chapter 5, which is about Alexander II and his reforms.
Page 115: Chapter 6 was REALLY good. It dealt with the reign of Alexander III and one of my favorite historical figures, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, made an appearance. I also have a new favorite 19th century conservative figure: Lev Tikhomirov. A former revolutionary, he ended up embracing autocracy and very presciently warned about the evils of socialism and communism (pp. 109-10, 113).
Page 131: Chapter 7 was a bit of a disappointment. There was not enough detail about the era when Nicholas I was in power! I know there was a LOT going on politically at that time, so I refuse to believe that was all there is to say about conservatism in that era.
Page 153: Chapter 8 deals with emigration, one of my personal favorite topics in Russian history. One of my favorite philosophers is Ivan Ilyin, who was a prominent White emigre thinker. Also, any chapter that takes the vastly overrated historian Timothy Snyder to task is going to be something I enjoy.
Page 165: Chapter 9 was short—not much conservatism under Stalin, as you'd imagine. Though the Soviet Union did become more socially conservative than would be expected starting in the 1930s. Very interesting stuff.
Page 183: Chapter 10 was about late Soviet conservatism, so lots of info about Solzhenitsyn. Unfortunately, conservatism from this era was very influenced by communism, since the Soviet Union had existed for decades at this point, so I relate a lot less to the ideology of this era.
Page 201: Wow, chapter 11, which is about contemporary Russia, is LONG. And honestly, not super interesting. I think this is why I am a historian, not a political scientist. :D
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