A Revolutionary Version of the Russian National Historical Narrative: Herzen's “On the Development of Revolutionary Ideas in Russia”

Abstract

The middle of the 19th century in Russian intellectual history is the time of the formation of key concepts and images, including the images of the "Russian nation". These images, being processed and modified, but maintaining continuity with respect to the original concepts, continue to operate even now. The problems of Russian nationalism in the 19th century from the perspective of the history of various trends in Russian socialist thought remain largely on the periphery of attention. The reason for this state of affairs is the rarity of an explicit, declarative union of the socialist movement and nationalism in XX century Russia. However, a purely retrospective, due to the subsequent development of events, the approach is insufficient. Themes and options, which later found themselves aside from the main lines of development, deserve to be considered in synchronicity. This is motivated historically, if we proceed from the absence of a rigid determinism of the historical process. Another reason for attention to the topic is the relevance of the narodnichestvo/populist program in the 20th century in many countries of the world. This study focuses on the construction of a Russian national revolutionary narrative in Herzen's brochure "On the Development of Revolutionary Ideas in Russia" (1852). The author highlights the main elements of this milestone for the formation of his concept of "Russian socialism" narrative, analyzes Herzen's rethinking, on the one hand, of the historical concept of M.P. Pogodin, and on the other - the "state school of thought" of Russian history. In conclusion, the main changes in Herzen's ideas of the 1850-1860s are highlighted in the aspect of nationalism, and new, potential or actual for the thought of late Herzen, contradictions in his concept are indicated.