Alexander Herzen and the Birth of Russian Socialism, 1812-1855 (Russian Research Center Studies)

During Nicholas I’s despotism (1825–55), Alexander Herzen moved from dialectical philosophy to revolutionary action as did Marx. He and Bakunin were the first Russian socialists to call for revolt of the masses. Turning biography to intellectual analysis, Martin Malia shows that Herzen is typical of the liberal in a repressive environment; frustration in the active world finally changed liberal concepts into radical programs. This fundamental study in the relation of ideology to political frustrations argues that, under repressive controls, Russian socialism could only develop as ideology, and thus became peculiarly extremist and utopian. Preface Contents CHAPTER I. Introduction CHAPTER II. Family and Childhood CHAPTER III. Schiller and Ogarev CHAPTER IV. University and “Circle” CHAPTER V. Schelling and Idealism CHAPTER VI. Saint-Simon and Socialism CHAPTER VII. Arrest and Exile CHAPTER VIII. Love and Religion CHAPTER IX. The Quest for Reality CHAPTER Χ. Realism in Philosophy: Hegel CHAPTER XI. Realism in Love: George Sand CHAPTER XII. The Slavophiles and Nationalism CHAPTER XIII. Socialist and Liberal Westerners CHAPTER XIV. The Crucial Year — 1847 CHAPTER XV. The Revolution of 1848 CHAPTER XVI. Russian Socialism CHAPTER XVII. The Gentry Revolutionary Bibliography Notes Index Malia Martin : Martin Malia was Professor of History, Emeritus, at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991. Serious study of the man and his ideas in relation to 19th Century Russian thought