Vekhi: Landmarks: A Collection of Articles about the Russian Intelligentsia

by Nikolai Berdyaev, Sergius Bulgakov

A collection of essays first published in Moscow in 1909. Writing from various points of view, the authors reflect the diverse experiences of Russia's failed 1905 revolution. Condemned by Lenin and rediscoverd by dissidents, this translation has relevance for discussions on contemporary Russia.

Genres: History, Russian History, Philosophy, Russia, Nonfiction

230 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1994

About the author

Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was born at Kyiv in 1874 of an aristocratic family. He commenced his education in a military school and subsequently entered the University of Kiev. There he accepted Marxism and took part in political agitation, for which he was expelled. At twenty-five he was exiled from Kiev to the north of Russia and narrowly escaped a second period of exile shortly before the Revolution. Before this, however, he had broken with Marxism in company with Sergius Bulgakov, and in 1909 he contributed to a symposium which reaffirmed the values of Orthodox Christianity. After the October Revolution he was appointed by the Bolshevists to a chair of philosophy in the University of Moscow, but soon fell into disfavour for his independent political opinions. He was twice imprisoned and in 1922 was expelled from the country. He settled first in Berlin, where he opened a Russian Academy of Philosophy and Religion. Thence he moved to Clamart near Paris, where he lectured in a similar institution. In 1939 he was invited to lecture at the Sorbonne. He lived through the German occupation unmolested. After the liberation, he announced his adhesion to the Soviet government, but later an article by him published in a Paris (Russian) newspaper, criticising the return to a policy of repression, was tantamount to a withdrawal of this. He died at Clamart March 24, 1948.

Reviews

[Roman Brasoveanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two essays, written by N. Berdyaev and S. Bulgakov, are the finest criticisms of their contemporary Russian intelligentsia, but as the character of the post-imperial academy has changed little in the past century, this collection is of the highest value to any person aspiring to some standing within the academy, rather than merely the educated class.

M. Gershenzon’s essay, “Creative Self-Consciousness” is wandering, not providing an insight missing from the other essays. It, as well as P. Struve’s “Intelligentsia and Revolution,” can be skipped. B. Kistiakovskii’s “In Defense of Law” concerning the “intelligentsia’s weak legal consciousness” is of a somewhat different character from the rest of the book and feels misplaced.

Though not on the level of Berdyaev or Bulgakov, ‘A. Izgoev’ and S. Frank’s essays “On Educated Youth” and “The Ethic of Nihilism” are certainly worth reading. They share the power of prophecy with the first two essays; they had sensed the extinction of the intelligentsia which was to come and had diagnosed the condition which was to lead to it, allowing us to see a shocking discontinuity between the ways of old and the university culture of today.

This collection serves as an insight into the academic sphere of the apocalyptic world of the revolution in Russia as intellectual history but also articulates the eternal ideals of the Christian, which is to say Orthodox, intelligentsia.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amazing aspect of this book of essays are amazing predictions by these authors of the Soviet Union based on their observations on the philosophy and rhetoric of the Russian intelligentsia. Very uncanny. Though these thoughts are specifically tailored to specific historical moment and culture, the schisms between rhetoric and philosophy that created Russian socialism and communism are not uncommon elsewhere. In fact, there are many similarities to America's political world today . . . obviously with some very big differences.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished VEKHI=LANDMARKS: A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES ABOUT THE RUSSIAN INTELLIGENTSIA, published in 1909. In 1905, a revolution began as a peaceful demonstration, but rapidly devolved into a series of violent strikes and mutinies. The autocratic Russian government responded ruthlessly, though Tsar Nicholas agreed to some half-hearted compromises to establish a more democratic constitution and assembly. (See “History of Russia Part 5: The Last Romanov,” YouTube.) An elite group of seven Russian journalists, philosophers, and legal experts published a collection of essays explaining why certain instigators of the revolution—the Intelligentsia—failed morally and intellectually. As described by the authors, the Intelligentsia were mostly middle-class men committed to atheism, violent revolutionary overthrow of the Russian monarchy, hatred and destruction of any cultural idea (art, science, religion) that challenged their political ideology, and redistribution of any remaining materials to the working class without generating wealth through innovation and creativity. The VEKHI writers had hoped their symposium would prompt a renewed “creative, culturally constructive religious humanism.” But they were bitterly disappointed by the 1917 Bolshevik takeover of the provisional government after Nicholas abdicated, as expressed in their follow-up book in 1918, OUT OF THE DEPTH: A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES ON THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. The nihilistic Intelligentsia were superseded by even worse socialist sociopaths, who destroyed all but a few copies of OUT OF THE DEPTH.

However, VEKHI experienced a surprising and “remarkable rebirth” decades later by post Stalin-era Russians wanting to distance themselves from their communist past and instead “lay the positive intellectual and moral foundations for building a viable civil society, a meaningful national identity, and a rich and creative culture.” VEKHI inspired another collection of essays in 1974, FROM UNDER THE RUBBLE, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and other dissidents.