The main features of the son of the fatherland according to Radishchev. Radishchev "Conversation about the fact that there is a son of the fatherland"
Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (1749 - 1802)
Writer, philosopher, publicist, founder of Russian revolutionary pedagogy, ethics and aesthetics. The son of a wealthy landowner, he received his education in the Corps of Pages (1762 - 1766), then studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Leipzig (1767 - 1771). Studied natural sciences. Acquaintance with the works of English, French, and German thinkers played a major role in the formation of his worldview. Upon returning to Russia, he was appointed an official in the Senate, then served as chief auditor (legal adviser), retired in 1775, and in 1777 joined the Commerce Collegium, first as an assistant manager, then as manager of the St. Petersburg Customs House.
The literary and journalistic activity of A. N. Radishchev began in the 70s. translation of G. Mably's book “Reflections on Greek History” with his notes. One of these notes stated that “autocracy is the state most contrary to human nature.” In 1783, A. N. Radishchev completed the ode “Liberty” - the first work of Russian revolutionary poetry; in 1789 - the autobiographical story “The Life of F.V. Ushakov.” In his main work, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790), A. N. Radishchev truthfully depicts the life of the common people, sharply denouncing autocracy and serfdom. Catherine II, having read the first 30 pages of the copy of “Travel ...” given to her, regarded the author as “a rebel worse than Pugachev.” On June 30, 1790, by order of Catherine II, A. N. Radishchev was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. For publishing a “disastrous book,” he was sentenced to death, which was replaced by exile to Siberia for 10 years with deprivation of ranks and nobility. In exile, Radishchev wrote a philosophical treatise “On Man, His Mortality and Immortality,” as well as works on economics, history, and poetic works. Under Paul I, Radishchev was allowed to settle in one of his father's estates, and only after the accession of Alexander I did he return to St. Petersburg. Years of hardship and exile did not change Radishchev’s convictions; he still fought for the abolition of serfdom and class privileges. Radishchev was threatened with a new exile. In response to the threat, realizing the idea of a person’s right to suicide as a form of protest, Radishchev committed suicide.
In the scientific, theoretical, literary and journalistic activities of A. N. Radishchev, issues of enlightenment, education and training of the younger generation occupy a significant place. He viewed them as an integral part of the general struggle for the revolutionary renewal of the rotten serf-based foundations of life in Tsarist Russia and the feudal-serf system of education in it.
Conversation about what is the son of the Fatherland (abbreviated)
(Published according to the publication: Radishchev A. N. Poli. collection cit., vol. 1. M.; L., 1938. The article was completed by A. N. Radishchev in 1789 and published in the magazine “Conversing Citizen” (1789, December). In this work, A. N. Radishchev defined the main goal of education as the preparation of a true person, a true son of the Fatherland - a fighter against violence and despotism. Only people who rose up to fight tyrants for their freedom and human dignity can be considered true people and true patriots. 464 Comments)
Not everyone born in the Fatherland is worthy of the majestic title of son of the Fatherland (patriot). Those under the yoke of slavery are not worthy to be adorned with this name. Hold back, sensitive heart, do not pronounce your judgment on such sayings while you stand with the enemy. Come in and see! Who doesn’t know that the name of the son of the Fatherland belongs to a person, and not to a beast or other dumb animal? It is known that man is a free being, since he is gifted with intelligence, reason and free will; that his freedom consists in choosing the best, that he knows and chooses this best through reason, comprehends it with the help of his mind and strives for the beautiful, majestic, high. ...The helipad, flying around from midday (for then he begins his day) the whole city, all the streets, all the houses for the most senseless idle talk, for seducing chastity, for infecting good morals, for catching simplicity and sincerity, having made his head a flour store, eyebrows a receptacle of soot, cheeks with boxes of white and red lead, or, better said, a picturesque palette, the skin of his body with an elongated drum skin, he looks more like a monster in his attire than a man, and his dissolute life, marked by the stench from his mouth and his whole body what is happening, he is suffocated by a whole pharmacy of fragrant sprays, in a word, he is a fashionable person, completely fulfilling all the rules of the dandy big world of science; he eats, sleeps, wallows in drunkenness and lust, despite his exhausted strength, talks all kinds of nonsense, shouts, runs from place to place, in short, he is a dandy. Isn't this the son of the Fatherland? Or the one who lifts his gaze in a majestic manner to the firmament of heaven, trampling under his feet all who are before him, tormenting his neighbors with violence, persecution, oppression, imprisonment, deprivation of rank, property, torture, deception, deception and murder itself, in a word, by all by means known only to him, tearing apart those who dare to utter the words: humanity, freedom, peace, honesty, ... streams of tears, rivers of blood not only do not touch, but delight his soul. He who dares to oppose his speeches, opinions, deeds and intentions should not exist! Is this the son of the Fatherland? Or the one who stretches out his arms to seize the wealth and possession of his entire Fatherland, and if it were possible, the whole world, and who with composure is ready to take away from his most unfortunate compatriots the last crumbs that support their dull and languid life, to rob, to plunder their specks of dust property; who delights in joy if an opportunity for a new acquisition opens up to him, let him pay with rivers of blood of his fellow men, let him deprive his fellow men of the last shelter and food, let them die of hunger, cold, heat, let them weep, let them kill their children in despair, let them risk their lives to thousands of deaths; none of this will shake his heart; all this means nothing to him; he increases his wealth, and that is enough. So, isn’t this what the name of the son of the Fatherland belongs to? Or is it not the same person sitting at a table filled with the work of all four elements, whose tastes and bellies are delighted, several people taken away from serving the Fatherland are sacrificed, so that, when he is full, he can be transferred to bed and there he can calmly engage in the consumption of other works that he pleases until sleep takes away the strength to move his jaws? So, of course, this one or one of the above four? (for we rarely find the fifth addition separately). A mixture of these four is visible everywhere, but the son of the Fatherland is not yet visible, if not among these!..
There is no person who would not feel sorrow when he sees himself humiliated, reviled, enslaved by violence, deprived of all the means and ways to enjoy peace and pleasure and not finding his consolation anywhere. Doesn't this prove that he loves Honor, without which he is like without a soul? ...There is not a single mortal who is so rejected by nature who does not have that spring embedded in the heart of every person, directing him to love Honor. Everyone would rather be respected than reviled... It has already been proven that a true man and a son of the Fatherland are one and the same; therefore, there will be a sure distinguishing sign of him if he is... ambitious.
He kindles this beneficial flame in all hearts; he is not afraid of the difficulties that he encounters during this noble feat of his... and if he is confident that his death will bring strength and glory to the Fatherland, then he is not afraid to sacrifice his life; if it is needed for the Fatherland, then it is preserved for the full observance of natural and domestic laws; to the extent possible, he averts everything that could tarnish the purity and weaken the good intentions of them, as a detriment to the bliss and improvement of his compatriots. In a word, he is well-behaved! Here is another true sign of a son of the Fatherland! The third and, as it seems, the last distinguishing sign of a son of the Fatherland, when he is noble. Noble is the one who has made himself famous for his wise and philanthropic qualities and actions... true Nobility is virtuous actions, enlivened by true honor, which is found not elsewhere, as in continuous beneficence to the human race, but mainly to one’s compatriots, giving each according to his dignity and according to the prescribed laws of nature of government. Those adorned with these only qualities, both in enlightened antiquity, and now are honored with true praise. And here is the third distinctive sign of the son of the Fatherland!
But no matter how brilliant, no matter how glorious, no delightful for every right-thinking heart, these qualities of the son of the Fatherland, and although everyone is born to have them, they cannot, however, not be pure, mixed, dark, confused, without proper education and enlightenment by the sciences and knowledge, without which this best ability of a person conveniently, as it always was and is, turns into the most harmful impulses and aspirations and floods entire states with mischief, anxiety, discord and disorder. For then human concepts are dark, confused and completely chimerical. Why, before anyone desires to have the aforementioned qualities of a true person, it is necessary to first accustom his spirit to hard work, diligence, obedience, modesty, intelligent compassion, to the desire to do good to everyone, to the love of the Fatherland, to the desire to imitate the great examples in that world, as well as love for the sciences and arts, as much as the rank in the hostel allows; would be applied to an exercise in history and philosophy, or philosophy, not school, for the definition of words that is only addressed, but in the true, teaching a person his true duties; and to purify the taste, I would love to look at the paintings of great artists, music, sculptures, architecture or architecture.
Those who consider this reasoning to be that Platonic system of public education, the events of which we will never see, will be very mistaken, when in our eyes a kind of education exactly like this and based on these rules was introduced by the godly monarchs, and enlightened Europe sees with amazement its successes, going back to the intended goal with gigantic steps!
Discourse on work and idleness
(Published according to the publication: Radishchev A. N. Discourse on labor and idleness. - Conversing Citizen, 1789, October.
This article is directly adjacent to the essay “Conversation about the existence of a son of the Fatherland.” The main leitmotif of the article is “idleness is the mother of all vices”; work should be the “precursor of prosperity.”)
Whatever state, rank, title... a person is placed in, it is known that there is not a single one of them that would make him completely free from all positions in the judgment of the society of which he is part and which would give him perfect rights be useless. If there were such an exception, it would be very contemptuous and, at the same time, extremely dangerous. From a useless person to a harmful person there is no more than one step; whoever does not do any good in the world must necessarily do evil, and therefore there is not a single person who does not know this saying: idleness is the mother of all vices. There is nothing in which reason and experience could better discover the truth, and the connection of affairs has never been better proven. From idleness the poor man becomes impoverished, and from poverty all the vices that, of necessity, give rise to the desire to free himself from it at any cost. From idleness a rich man becomes bored, and from boredom all the vices that make it necessary to get rid of them.
Idleness fills the streets with beggars, the marketplaces with swindlers, the free houses with obscene women and the highways with robbers. Idleness feeds that treacherous force, that surrender to luxury, which only often plunges into the abyss of crime those who have the misfortune of listening to their advice; in the bosom of idleness nest the most terrible intentions, the connection of which is strengthened by dishonor and depravity, and it is here that the most iniquities begin. An evil person is never so dangerous as when he is idle; however, the habit of idleness imperceptibly extinguishes the feelings that connect us with those like us. It makes us deaf to the voice of nature, which speaks to us in their favor, cold and impartial when looking at them, and accustoms us to forgetting all our duties.
A hardworking people has its vices; but it is impossible for an idle country to maintain good morals ( It turns out that in opposition they will present the example of the Spanish people, who are considered idle and who, however, have not lost their good behavior. This is possible; but take away from him, on the one hand, his pride, and on the other, moderation, and tell me, what will happen then to his morals?). It is not enough for the people to be enlightened; they need to be hardworking, and without this, enlightenment will be more harmful than ignorance; for an idle ignorant is much less successful in crime than a slothful person who knows something. But what means will make the whole world industrious? And who can flatter himself that he is able to completely banish idleness from the best-ordered societies? What to do with this unmoved spirit, which does not want to take on anything, with this flighty spirit, which cannot have success in anything? What to do with these vain people who think that they are busy because they remain imperfectly motionless, who themselves do not doubt their idleness, but whose life is an everlasting emptiness, filled with the continuous succession of nothingness, and whose best use of time lies in nothingness? ? What to do with these idle rich people, who, since happiness has placed them above needs, think that at the same time it has made them alien to be useful in anything, who believe that all their effort should consist in living in pleasure and satiety, and who abhor all labor? What should we finally do with these proud beggars, who, deceived by one opinion, consider nothing so beautiful and lofty as doing nothing, and think that through laziness they rise to the level of abundance? We agree that it is difficult to employ such people usefully in positions and that one should not expect great services from them, but one should also not caress their inclinations or authorize their way of thinking. And prudence requires that we try more to exterminate such principles of idleness and prevent them from spreading further. Fortunately, the benefits of morals meet here completely with those that are generally considered to constitute the well-being of the state. Science, diligence, trade, abundance, and finally wealth are removed when laziness approaches; neither the fertility of the earth, nor the moderation of the climate, nor the advantages of a happy situation can compensate for the evils or losses caused by it; everything is cold, everything is inertia, where it reigns, while everything is animated and successful, despite the most natural oppositions, in places where that property of activity reigns, which sets everything in motion. So, there is nothing more worthy, for all reasons, of the government’s attention than to try through the most effective means to drive out the spirit of idleness and, on the contrary, to breathe in a love of work.
Whoever speaks of love speaks of free feeling, excluding any concept of coercion; for it is impossible, by forcing people to work, to instill in them a love for it; It is not convicts who are needed for society, but free and arbitrary workers. If you want to drive out idleness, destroy it at the very beginning; look at what attracts you about her; try to reduce its charms, contrast passion with passion. If it originates in the property of negligence, generally scattered throughout the entire people, use the most effective and characteristic incentives to shake off and defeat it; put in place this pleasure, honor, benefit; arouse jealousy through everything that contributes to this; highly distinguish a useful and hardworking person from a lazy one, make sure that the latter cannot enjoy the same advantages as the former; force every citizen, not excluding either the noble or the rich, to accept some title that requires activity and labor; watch that everyone fulfills the positions he has chosen or in which he finds himself; exclude every rank without a real position, every benefit without a burden; Equalize the subsequent profit from labor; moreover, do not give it rest places, except for those who, due to the exhaustion of their strength, have received the right to demand it or have become worthy of it by their merits. With such attention, if you do not completely destroy the idle habit, at least correct the careless quality and prevent it from becoming clingy. If the beginning of pride opposes the beginning of labor, overthrow this pride with noble pride; dispel this stupid prejudice that associates a type of advantage with the ridiculous right to live without doing anything; and so that, on the contrary, the satiated, sterile and joyful state would, if possible, be the last thing of all when receiving honors and distinctions; so that, at least, no kind of labor is despised, unless it is of little use; so that the measure of actual services rendered to society is the measure of the people's respect and that every person is valued in no other way than in accordance with the good he renders to society. If it is noted that the spirit of frivolity and inability inspires aversion to useful exercises that require attention and a certain firmness in work; if you notice that empty thoughts prevail either because they require less labor or because they are more profitable, try to correct these abuses; Do not discourage any talent, but ensure that everyone is honored according to its dignity and respected according to its merits; do not exterminate butterflies, but wage war against the devouring prius and do not allow the diligent and hardworking bee to be despised by everyone. If idleness is a consequence of incomprehensibility, which has its source in a lack of strength, multiply and make the means of learning more convenient; adapt them to everyone, so that no honest industry can complain about the lack of reinforcement and protection or exercise it in case of chance; listen above all to the taste and talents that may be characteristic of the people; encourage useful enterprises that can be brought into action by the grace shown in advance, and rely on the strength, often insufficient, of private people, always promote good will and so that no one can tell the truth; It’s not on my own that I’m idle, on the contrary, I would like nothing so much as to be busy. If disgust from work takes its source in the fear of not enjoying the fruit of one's labor and seeing it stolen through those protected: if despondency is the result of some bonds recklessly imposed on zeal, or some deception of power, or the error of government, eradicate abuses and break the chains of zeal .
If it is noticed that the regulations feed the spirit of idleness and give rise to laziness, immediately make a saving change, no matter what the other rules for their establishment may be; do not allow the bread of alms to be the food of laziness, but on the contrary, let it be the reward of labor; Remember... let the idle not eat. In the most corrective houses, make work not a punishment, but a means to tame the severity of punishments or the cruelty of obedience observed in these places. In a word, so that everywhere work should be the forerunner of good morals, and suffering, on the contrary, the payment and inheritance of idleness.
We do not agree that a person, although condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, should be condemned to constant labor: he, at least, should have time to wipe his brow and eat his bread calmly; labor gives the right to rest, and peace must be followed by work, but this peace should also not be complete inaction... but it must be accompanied by some feeling that would at least remind a person of his existence, and would remind in a word, pleasure is the fair use of rest. It is a real renewal of strength, unless it is harmful by its nature or by excessive use.
Sacrum
(Published according to the publication: Radishchev A. N. Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. - In the book: Russian prose of the 18th century. M., 1971, p. 450 - 463.
“Sacrimals” is a chapter from the book by A. N. Radishchev “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” The book was first published by the author in his small home printing house with the help of his own people in 1790. Almost the entire circulation was destroyed by order of Catherine II. Progressive figures made several attempts to publish the book, but without success. And only in 1858 “The Journey...” was published by A. I. Herzen in London with his preface. In Russia, until 1905, the book was strictly prohibited. The most complete publication was carried out in 1905.
(chapter from the book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”)
In Kresttsy I witnessed a separation between a father and his children, which touched me all the more sensitively because I am a father myself and may soon be parting with my children. The unfortunate prejudice of the noble rank tells them to go into service. This one name sets all the blood into extraordinary motion! A thousand against one, you can say that out of a hundred noblemen who enter the service, 98 become rakes, and two in old age, or, more correctly, two in their decrepit years, although not old, become good people.
“My friends,” said the father, “today we will part,” and, hugging them, he pressed the sobbing ones to his chest. I had already witnessed this spectacle for several minutes, standing motionless at the door, like a father turning to me:
Be a witness, sensitive traveler, be a witness to me before the world, how hard it is for my heart to fulfill the sovereign will of custom.
But if I fulfilled my duty in your upbringing, I am obliged to tell you now why I raised you this way and not another and why I taught you this and not another; and for this you will hear the story of your upbringing and know the guilt of all my deeds against you.
Since infancy, you have not felt your compulsion. Although you were guided by my hand in your deeds, you did not feel any of its direction. Your deeds were foreknown and anticipated; I did not want timidity or obedience of obedience to mark you with the slightest trace of the weight of my finger. And for this reason, your spirit, not tolerating the command of a foolish one, is meek towards the advice of friends. But if, to your little ones, I found that you had deviated from the path I had appointed, being driven by a random emphasis, then I stopped your procession, or, better said, unnoticedly led you back to your previous path, like a stream breaking through strongholds, with a skillful hand turns into its own. shores.
Timid tenderness was not present in me when, it seemed, I did not care about protecting you from the hostility of the elements and weather. I wished it would be better for your body to be offended for a moment by passing pain, than for you to remain at full age. And for this reason you often walked barefoot, having your head uncovered; in the dust, in the mud, they reclined to rest on a bench or on a stone. I tried no less to remove you from deadly food and drink. Our labors were the best seasoning for our dinner. Remember with what pleasure we dined in a village unknown to us, without finding the way to the house. How tasty rye bread and country kvass seemed to us then!
Do not grumble at me if you are sometimes ridiculed because you do not have a showy ascendancy, that you stand as if your body is at peace, and not as custom or fashion dictates; that you do not dress with taste, that your hair is curled by the hand of nature, and not by the comber. Do not complain if you are careless in meetings, and especially from women, because you do not know how to praise their beauty; but remember that you run fast, that you swim without getting tired, that you lift weights without strain, that you know how to drive a plow, dig a ridge, wield a scythe and an ax, a plow and a chisel; you know how to ride a horse and shoot. Don’t be sad that you don’t know how to jump like buffoons. Know that the best dancing does not represent anything majestic; and if you are once touched by the sight of it, then lust will be the root of it, but something else is foreign to it. But you know how to depict animals and inanimate things, to depict the features of the king of nature, man. In painting you will find true pleasure not only for the senses, but also for the mind. I taught you music, so that a trembling string in accordance with your nerves would excite your dormant heart; for music, setting the interior in motion, makes tenderness a habit in us. I also taught you the barbaric art of fighting with a sword. But let this art remain dead in you until your own safety requires it. I hope it will not make you insolent, for you have a strong spirit and will not consider it an insult if a donkey lays down on you or a pig touches you with its stinking snout. Don’t be afraid to tell anyone that you know how to milk a cow, that you cook shti and porridge, or that a piece of meat you roast will be delicious. The one who knows how to do something himself knows how to force it to be done and will be lenient when it comes to mistakes, knowing all the difficulties in doing it.
In infancy and adolescence I did not burden your mind with ready-made reflections or alien thoughts, I did not burden your memory with unnecessary objects. But, having offered you the path to knowledge, from the moment you began to feel the strength in your mind, you yourself move towards the path that is open to you. Your knowledge is all the more thorough because you acquired it without repeating it, as the proverb says, like Jacob’s magpie. Following this rule, until the powers of reason were active in you, I did not offer you the concept of a Supreme Being, and even less of revelation. For whatever you knew before you were intelligent would be a prejudice in you and would interfere with your reasoning. When I saw that you were guided by reason in your judgments, I proposed to you a connection of concepts leading to the knowledge of God; I am confident in the interior of my heart that it is more pleasant for the all-generous father to see two immaculate souls, in whom the lamp of knowledge is not kindled by prejudice, but that they themselves ascend to the initial fire for combustion. I then proposed to you about the revealed law, without hiding from you everything that was said by many in refutation of it. For I wanted you to be able to choose between milk and gall, and I saw with joy that you accepted the vessel of consolation without timidity.
While teaching you information about the sciences, I did not leave behind introducing you to various nations by teaching you foreign languages. But first of all, my concern was that you get to know your own, and that you know how to express your thoughts verbally and in writing, so that this explanation would be at ease in you and would not produce sweat on your face. English, and then Latin, I tried to make others better known to you. For the elasticity of the spirit of freedom, turning into the image of speech, will also accustom the mind to firm concepts, so necessary in all kinds of government.
But if I allowed your reason to guide your steps into the path of science, the more vigilant I tried to be in your morality. I tried to moderate the momentary anger in you, subjecting your mind to long-lasting anger that produces vengeance. Vengeance!., your soul disgusts him. Out of this natural, sensitive creature of movement, you have left only the protectiveness of your constitution, trampling on the desire to return wounds.
Now the time has come when your feelings, having reached the perfection of excitement, but not yet the perfection of the concept of what is excited, begin to be disturbed by all appearances and create a dangerous swell in your insides. We have now reached the time in which, as they say, reason becomes the determinant of doing and not doing; or better to say, when the feelings, hitherto obsessed with the smoothness of infancy, begin to feel trembling, or when the vital juices, having filled the vessel of youth, begin to exceed its resurrection, seeking the path of their characteristic aspirations. I have kept you hitherto unapproachable from the perverse shocks of the senses, but I have not hidden from you in ignorance the harmful consequences of seduction from the path of moderation in sensual pleasure. You witnessed how vile the excess of sensory saturation is, and you were disgusted; witnesses of the terrible excitement of passions that exceeded the shores of their natural course, knew their disastrous devastation and were horrified. My experience, hovering over you like a new Egis ( This refers to the aegis, in ancient Greek mythology - the shield of Zeus. Aegis is a symbol of protection and patronage.), protected you from wrong insults. Now you will be your own leaders, and although my advice will always be the lamp of your endeavors, for your heart and soul are open to me; but just as the light, moving away from the object, illuminates it less, so you too, rejected by my presence, will faintly feel the warmth of my friendship. And for this purpose, I will teach you the rules of living together and living together, so that, after pacifying your passions, you will not disdain the deeds committed in them, and will not know what repentance is.
The rules of living together, as far as it may concern you, must relate to your physicality and morality. Never forget to use your bodily powers and feelings. Moderate exercise will strengthen them without depleting them, and will contribute to your health and long life. And for this purpose, practice the arts, arts and crafts known to you. Improvement in these may sometimes be necessary. We don't know the future. If hostile happiness takes away from you everything that it has given you, you will remain rich in moderation of desires, feeding on the work of your hands. But if you neglect everything in the days of bliss, it is too late to think about it in the days of sorrow. Bliss, laziness and immoderate pleasure of the senses destroy both body and spirit. For, exhausting the body with intemperance, it also exhausts the strength of the spirit. The use of strength will strengthen the body, and with it the spirit. If you feel disgusted with food and illness is knocking at the door, then arise from your bed, where you cherish your feelings, bring your sleeping members into action with exercise and you will feel an instant renewal of strength; abstain from the food you need for health, and hunger will make your food sweet, which made you sad from being full. Always remember that all you need to satisfy your hunger is a piece of bread and a ladle of water. If the beneficial deprivation of external feelings, sleep, moves away from your head and you are not able to renew your mental and physical strength, run from your palace and, having tired your limbs to the point of fatigue, lie down on your bed and rest in health.
Be neat in your clothing; keep your body clean, for cleanliness contributes to health, and untidiness and stench of the body often open an inconspicuous path to vile vices. But don’t be immoderate in this either. Do not hesitate to help by lifting a cart sunk in a ditch, and thereby relieve the fallen; You will dirty your hands, feet and body, but enlighten your heart. Go to the huts of humiliation; comfort those who are languishing in poverty; taste its meat, and your heart will be gladdened, giving joy to the sorrowing.
Now you have reached, I repeat, that terrible time and hour when passions begin to awaken, but reason is still weak to curb them. For the cup of reason without experience will rise on the scales of the will; and the cup of passions will instantly sink to the bottom. So, the only way to approach balance is through hard work. Work with your body, your passions will not be so agitated; work with your heart, practicing tenderness, sensitivity, condolences, generosity, forgiveness, and your passions will be directed to a good end. Work with your mind, immersing yourself in reading, thinking, searching for truth or events, and your mind will control your will and passions. But do not imagine in the delight of your mind that you can crush the root of passions, that you need to be completely dispassionate. The root of passions is good and is based on our sensitivity by nature itself. When our feelings, external and internal, weaken and become dull, then passions also weaken. They produce good anxiety in a person, but without it he would fall asleep in inaction. A completely dispassionate person is a fool and an absurd idol, who does not achieve either good or evil. It is not a virtue to abstain from evil thoughts without being able to create them. An armless man cannot hurt anyone, but he cannot give help to a drowning man, nor hold on to the shore of a sea falling into the abyss.
So, moderation in passion is good; walking on the path through the environment is reliable. Extremeness in passion is destruction; dispassion is moral death. I am a wanderer, I have moved away from the path, I run into the danger of plunging into one or another ditch, such is the procession in morality. But if your passions are directed by experience, reason and heart towards a good end, throw off the reins of languid prudence from them, do not shorten their flight; their metastasis will always be greatness; They know how to dwell on it alone.
But if I urge you not to be dispassionate, what is most needed in your youth is moderation of love passion. It is planted by nature in our hearts for our happiness. And so in his rebirth he can never make a mistake, but in his subject and immoderation. And so be careful, so that you do not make a mistake about the object of your love and do not honor this image with mutual fervor. With a good object of love, the immoderation of this passion will be unknown to you. Speaking about love, it would be natural to talk about marriage, about this sacred union of society, the rules of which were not drawn by nature in the heart, but the holiness of which state stems from the initial societies. To your mind, as soon as you begin your procession, this would be incomprehensible, and to your heart, which has not experienced the proud passion of love in society, the story of this would be imperceptible to you, and therefore useless. If you want to have an understanding of marriage, remember the one who gave birth to you. Imagine me with her and with you, restore to your hearing our words and mutual kisses, and attach this picture to your heart. Then you will feel a pleasant shudder in it. What is it? You will learn with time; and today be happy with this feeling.
Let us now briefly look at the rules of the hostel. It is not possible to prescribe them with precision, because they are often located according to the circumstances of the moment. But, in order to make as little mistakes as possible, ask your heart at every undertaking; it is good and cannot deceive you at all. Whatever it says, do it. If you follow your heart in youth, you will not go wrong if you have a good heart. But he who pretends to reason, without having hair on his shoulder, proclaiming experience, is a madman.
The rules of community life relate to the fulfillment of folk customs and morals, or to the fulfillment of the law, or to the fulfillment of virtue. If in a society morals and customs are not contrary to the law, if the law does not place any stumbling blocks in the progress of virtue, then compliance with the rules of community life is easy. But where does such a society exist? Everything known to us by many is filled with contradictions in morals and customs, laws and virtues. And that is why it becomes difficult to fulfill the office of a person and a citizen, for they are often in complete opposition.
Since virtue is the pinnacle of human deeds, its fulfillment should not be interfered with by anything. Neglect customs and morals, heedless the civil and sacred law, things that are so sacred in society, if the fulfillment of them separates you from virtue. Do not dare to cover up any violation of it with the timidity of prudence. You will be prosperous without her in appearance, but blessed in no way.
By following what customs and morals impose on us, we will gain the favor of those with whom we live. By fulfilling the law, we can acquire the title of an honest person. By practicing virtue, we acquire general trust, respect and surprise, even in those who would not want to feel them in their souls. The treacherous Athenian Senate, giving the cup of poison to Socrates, trembled in its interior before his virtue.
Never dare to fulfill a custom in reproach of the law. The law, no matter how bad it is, is the bond of society. And if the sovereign himself ordered you to break the law, do not obey him, for he errs to the detriment of himself and society. Let the law be destroyed, since violation of it commands, then obey, for in Russia the sovereign is the source of laws.
But if the law, or the sovereign, or any authority on earth encouraged you to commit untruth and violate virtue, remain unshakable in it. Do not be afraid of ridicule, or torment, or illness, or imprisonment, less than death itself. Remain unshakable in your soul, like a stone among the rebellious but weak shafts. The fury of your tormentors will be crushed against your firmament; and if they put you to death, you will be ridiculed, but you will live in the memory of noble souls until the end of time. Be afraid in advance to call weakness in actions, this first enemy of virtue, prudence. Today you violate her respect for the sake of which, tomorrow her violation will seem like virtue itself; and so vice will reign in your heart.
Virtues are either private or public. The motives for the former are always kindness, meekness, condolences and the root of their blessings. Motivations for social virtues often have their origin in vanity and curiosity. But for this you should not stop fulfilling them. The pretext they revolve over gives them importance. In the one who saved Curtia ( Curtius, Mark - a Roman youth, according to legend, sacrificed himself to save the city from danger.) no one sees their fatherland from a destructive ulcer, neither vain, nor desperate, or bored with life, but heroic. If our motivations for social virtues originate in the humane firmness of the soul, then their brilliance will be much greater. Always practice private virtues, so that you may be rewarded with the fulfillment of public virtues.
I will also teach you some executive rules of life. Try above all to earn your own respect in all your deeds, so that, turning your gaze inward in solitude, you would not only be able to repent of what you have done, but would look at yourself with reverence.
Following this rule, avoid, as much as possible, even the form of servility. Having entered the world, you will soon learn that in society there is a custom of visiting noble persons in the mornings on holidays; the custom is stingy, meaningless, showing in the visitors a spirit of timidity, and in the visited a spirit of arrogance and weak reason. The Romans had a similar custom, which they called ambition, that is, ingratiation or treatment; and from there, curiosity is called ambition, for by visiting eminent people, young men earned their way to rank and dignity. The same thing is being done today. But if this custom was introduced among the Romans so that young people would learn how to deal with experienced people, then I doubt that the purpose of this custom would always remain intact. In our times, when visiting noble gentlemen, no one has the goal of teaching, but to gain their favor. So, let your foot not cross the threshold that separates servility from the performance of office. Do not visit the front hall of a noble boyar, except in accordance with the duty of your rank. Then, among the despised crowd, even the one whom they look at with servility will, in his soul, even with indignation, distinguish you from her.
If it happens that death will cut short my days before you have matured in a good path, and, while you are still young, passions will take you away from the path of reason, then do not despair, sometimes seeing your wrong progress. In your delusion, in forgetting yourself, love goodness. A dissolute life, immeasurable curiosity, impudence and all the vices of youth leave no hope of correction, for they glide over the surface of the heart without hurting it. I would rather that in your younger years you were dissolute, wasteful, and arrogant, rather than lovers of money, or overly thrifty, dandy, being more involved in decoration than anything else. A systematic, so to speak, arrangement in panache always means a compressed mind. If they say that Julius Caesar was a dandy; but his panache had a purpose. His passion for women in his youth was his motivation for this. But from being a dandy, he would instantly put on the foulest rags if it would help him achieve his desires.
In a young man, not only transient panache is forgivable, but almost any kind of tomfoolery is forgivable. If, with the most beautiful deeds of life, you cover up deceit, lies, treachery, love of money, pride, covetousness, and atrocity, then although you will blind your contemporaries with the brilliance of your clear appearance, although you will not find anyone who loves you so much, may he present you with a mirror of truth, do not, however, imagine eclipse the gaze of clairvoyance. It will penetrate the luminous robe of deceit and virtue will expose the darkness of your soul. Your heart will hate her, and like a sensual woman, your touch will fade, but instantly, but her arrows from afar will sting and torment you.
Forgive me, my beloved, forgive me, friends of my soul; Today, with a favorable wind, cast off your boat from the shore of alien experience; strive along the shafts of human life, and learn to manage yourself. Blessed, without suffering a wreck, if you reach a refuge, we long for it. Be happy on your voyage. This is my sincere wish. My natural strength, having been exhausted by movement and life, will become weak and fade away; I will leave you forever; but this is my testament to you. If hated happiness exhausts all its arrows over you, if your virtue has no refuge on earth, if driven to the extreme, there will be no protection for you from oppression, then remember that you are a man, remember your majesty, seize the crown of bliss, and take it away from they are taking care of you. Die.
As a legacy I leave to you the word of the dying Cato ( Catanus, Marcus Porcius the Younger (96 - 46 BC) - politician of Ancient Rome. Not wanting to see the death of the republic, he pierced himself with a sword. Radishchev, apparently, has in mind the dying words of Cato, quoted by the historian Plutarch: “Now I belong to myself.”) . But if you can die in virtue, know how to die in vice and be, so to speak, virtuous in evil itself. If, forgetting my instructions, you rush into evil deeds, the ordinary soul of virtue will become alarmed; I will appear to you in your dreams. Arise from your bed, pursue my vision with your soul. If then a tear flows from your eyes, then go back to sleep; You will awaken to correction. But if, in the midst of your evil undertakings, remembering me, your soul does not waver and your eye remains dry... Behold steel, behold poison. Spare me sorrow; rid the earth of diarrhea. Be my son again. Die to virtue.
As he spoke this to the old man, a youthful blush covered his wrinkled cheeks; his gaze emitted rays of reliable joy, his facial features shone with a supernatural substance. He kissed his children and, having escorted them to the cart, remained firm until the last parting. But as soon as the ringing of the postal bell informed him that they had begun to move away from him, this elastic soul softened. Tears streamed through his eyes, his chest heaved; he extended his hands after those departing; seemed as if he wanted to stop the horses' rush. The young men, seeing from afar their father in such sadness, wept so loudly that the wind carried their pitiful groan to our ears. They also stretched out their hands to their father; and it seemed as if they were calling him to their place. The elder could not bear this spectacle; his strength weakened, and he fell into my arms. Meanwhile, the hillock hid the young men who had driven away from our eyes; Having come to his senses, the elder knelt down and raised his hands and eyes to the sky.
“Lord,” he cried, “I pray you, may you strengthen them in the paths of virtue, I pray, may they be blessed.” Weigh, never bothered you, all-generous father, with useless prayer. I am confident in my soul that you are good and just. Dearest to you, there is virtue in us; the deeds of a pure heart are the best sacrifice for you... I have now separated my sons from me... Lord, may your will be done on them. - Confused, but firm in his hope, he drove off to his home.
The word of the Krestitsky nobleman could not leave my head. His evidence of the insignificance of the power of parents over children seemed undeniable to me. But if in a well-established society it is necessary that young men respect the elders and inexperience is perfection, then, it seems, there is no need to make parental power unlimited. If the union between father and son is not based on the necessary feelings of the heart, then it is, of course, unstable; and will be unstable in spite of all the laws. If a father sees his slave in his son and seeks his power in laying down the law, if a son honors his father for the sake of inheritance, then what good does that bring to society? Or one more slave in addition to many others, or a snake in his bosom... The father is obliged to raise and teach his son and must be punished for his misdeeds until he comes of age; and let the son find his positions in his heart. If he doesn’t feel anything, then the father is guilty for not planting anything. The son has the right to demand assistance from his father while he remains weak and young; but in adulthood, this natural and natural connection collapses. The bird chick does not seek help from those who produced it when it begins to find food on its own. The male and female forget about their chicks when they mature. This is the law of nature. If civil laws move away from him, they always produce a monster. A child loves his father, mother or mentor until his love turns to another object. May your heart not be offended by this, dear father; nature demands it. Let this be your only consolation, remembering that your son’s son will love his father to the fullest age. Then it will be up to you to turn his ardor towards you. If you succeed in this, blessed and worthy of respect. In these thoughts I arrived at the post office.
About man, his mortality and immortality (abbreviated)
(Published according to the publication: Radishchev A. N. Poli. collection soch., vol. 2. M.: Leningrad, 1941. This philosophical work began in 1792 and was completed at the end of 1796.
Consists of 4 books. Literature in German, French, and English was used. In the first book, the author reveals the general issues of the problem raised, introduces the reader to the place of man in nature, and analyzes his mental abilities. In the second book he concludes that both the physical and spiritual life of man are mortal. In the third and fourth books, A. N. Radishchev emphasizes the main idea - the soul is immortal, that is, he recognized bodily death and believed in the immortality of the soul. However, this cannot be taken literally. In this case, A. N. Radishchev (at that time he was in hard labor in Siberia), who knew the ideas of French materialists well, wanted to emphasize that there are two truths: one is logically provable and objective (the bodily death of a person), the other is not fully proven , subjective (about mortality and immortality of the soul). Both points of view can coexist. The philosophical treatise “On Man, His Mortality and Immortality” helps the reader to better understand the works of A. N. Radishchev, which outline issues of education.)
Having turned our gaze to man, let us consider ourselves; let us penetrate with a curious eye into our insides and try from what we are to determine, or at least guess, what we will be or can be; and if we find that our existence, or better to say, our uniqueness, this so felt self, will last beyond the limits of our days for a moment, even if only one, then we will exclaim in heartfelt joy: we will be united again; we can be blessed; we will! Shall we?.. Having hesitated in conclusion, my dears, the heart in delight often plunged the mind into error.
Man is not a predatory animal. On the other hand, the folding of his arms prevents him from hiding where animals with claws can. His standing position prevents him from escaping danger by flight; but his artificial fingers provide him with defense from afar. So, man, due to his physical constitution, is born, it seems, to be quiet and peaceful. Oh, how he moves away from his goal! Having armed his hands with iron and fire, folded to perform artificial actions, he became more furious than a lion and a tiger; he kills not for food, but for amusement, not driven into despair by hunger, but in cold blood. Oh, creature, the most sensitive of all earthly creatures! Is that what nerves are for?
Man has the power to be aware of things. It follows that he has the power of knowledge, which can exist even when a person does not know. It follows that the existence of things is independent of the power of knowledge about them and exists in itself.
We know things in two ways: 1st, by recognizing the changes that things produce in the power of knowledge; 2nd, cognizing the union of things with the laws of the power of knowledge and with the laws of things. The first is called experience, the second is reasoning. Experience is twofold: 1st, since the power of the concept cognizes things by feeling, we call sensuality, and the change that occurs in it is sensory experience; 2nd, we call the knowledge of the relationship of things with each other reason, and information about the changes of our mind is rational experience.
Through memory we remember the changes we have experienced in our sensuality. We call information about an experienced feeling a representation.
The changes in our concept produced by the relationships of things among themselves are called thoughts.
Just as sensuality differs from reason, so does idea differ from thought.
We sometimes cognize the existence of things without experiencing from them a change in the strength of our concept. We called this reasoning. In relation to this ability we call the power of knowledge mind or reason. So, reasoning is the use of the mind or understanding.
Reasoning is nothing more than an addition to experience, and the existence of things cannot be verified otherwise than through experience...
For reasoning, two things are required, which are assumed to be reliable: 1) a union, as a result of which we judge, and 2) a thing, from whose union we must know things that have not been subject to experience. These propositions are called premises, and the knowledge arising from them is the conclusion. But just as all premises are propositions of experience and from them extraction or conclusion, then conclusions from premises, or reasoning, are merely an addition to experience; therefore, we thus know things whose existence is known by experience.
From this we can judge that human errors can be manifold and nowhere so frequent as on the path of reasoning. For, besides the fact that sensuality can deceive us and that we can poorly understand the unions of things or their relationships, there is nothing easier than a conclusion falsely drawn from premises and perverse reasoning. Thousands upon thousands of things disgust our reason in the correct conclusion from the premises and interrupt the procession of reason. Inclinations, passions, even often random appearances, placing foreign objects in the environment, give rise to absurdities as often as the steps of our procession in life are frequent. When you consider the actions of intelligent forces and determine the rules that they follow, it seems that nothing is easier than avoiding error; but as soon as you have blotted out the path for your reason, prejudices penetrate, passions rise up and, rushing swiftly onto the shifting helm of the human mind, carry it more than the strongest storms across the abyss of error. Single laziness and negligence produce so many false reasonings that it is difficult to note their number, and the consequences bring forth tears.
Everything affects a person. Its food and drink, external cold and warmth, the air that serves our breath (and this has so many components), electric and magnetic forces, even light itself. Everything affects our body, everything moves in it.
The effect of naturalness becomes most obvious in the human imagination, and this always follows at the beginning from external influence.
The executive mind in man has always depended on the needs of life... agriculture divided the land into regions and states, built villages and cities, invented crafts, handicrafts, trade, organization, laws, government. As the man quickly said: this is the span of my earth! - he nailed himself to the ground and opened the way for bestial autocracy, when man commands man. He began to bow to the god he himself had erected... but, bored with his dream and shaking off his chains and captivity, he trampled on the deified one and took away his breath. These are the six six parts of the human mind. Thus they form his laws and government, make him blessed or plunge him into the abyss of disasters.
Social reason solely depends on education, and although the difference in mental strength is great between man and man, and seems to occur by nature, education does everything. In this case, our thought differs from Helvetius’s; and since this is not the place to talk about this at length, then, having shortened our words according to decency, we will try to offer our thoughts with possible clarity.
The most elegant teacher about education. J.-J. Rousseau divides it into three types: “First, the education of nature, that is, the dissolution of the inner powers and organs of ours. Second, the education of a person, that is, instruction on how to use this disintegration of forces and organs. Third, the education of things, that is, the acquisition of our own experience with the objects that surround us. The first is completely independent of us; the third depends on us in some respects only; the second consists in our will, and that is only hypothetical, for how can one hope to completely direct the speeches and deeds of everyone, the child of those around him?
No matter how hard Helvetius tried to prove that man never owes his reason to nature, however, to prove the opposite position, we will refer to the experience of everyone. There is no one who has noticed with little attention the disintegration of rational forces in man, there is no one who is not convinced that there is a great difference in the abilities of each from the other. And whoever has dealt with children clearly understands that since the motives in each person are different, since the temperaments are different in people, since, due to the nervous composition of the nerves and fibers, a person differs from another in irritability, and everything that has been said has been proven by experiments, then the mental powers should discrimination in every person is inevitable. So, not only will there be a special disintegration of mental powers in each person, but these different powers themselves must have degrees. Let’s take memory as an example: look how much one person surpasses another in this talent. All the examples given to prove that memory can be acquired do not refute that it is a gift from nature. Let us enter the first school and the very first class, where the incentives for learning are very limited; ask just one question, and you will be convinced that nature is sometimes a tender mother, sometimes an envious stepmother. But no; let us distance ourselves from blasphemy! Nature is always one, and its actions are always the same. That the differences between mental powers in people are obvious even from infancy is indisputable; but one who is a degree or many degrees from his comrade in learning, due to the march of naturalness and its laws, should not be a partner with him; for the seed not born from him could not achieve an organization equal to that with which it is compared; for a person reaches perfection not through one generation, but through many. This should not be considered a paradox; for who does not know that the procession of nature is quiet, inconspicuous and gradual. But it often happens that the disintegration that has begun stops, and this happens at the expense of reason. If, at the time when Newton laid the foundation for his immortal inventions, he had been hindered in his education and moved to the islands of the Southern Ocean, would he have been able to be what he was? Of course not.
Thus, recognizing the power of education, we do not take away the power of nature. Education, depending on it, or the dissolution of forces, will remain in full force; but the teaching of using them will depend on the person, which will always be facilitated to varying degrees by circumstances and everything around us.
Let us repeat everything that has been said in brief words: a person will remain alive after his death; his body will be destroyed, but his soul cannot be destroyed, for it is uncomplicated; his goal on earth is perfection, and the same goal will remain after death; and from this it follows that since the means of improving him was his organization, it must be concluded that he will have another, more perfect and commensurate with his improved state.
A return path is impossible for him, and his condition after death cannot be worse than the present; and for this reason it is probable or plausible that he will retain his acquired thoughts, his inclinations, insofar as they can be separated from the physicality; in his new organization he will correct his errors, direct his inclinations towards the truth; inasmuch as he retains the thoughts of which the expansion of his speech had the beginning, he will be gifted with speech: for speech, like the composition of arbitrary signs, is a sign of things that signifies, and can be intelligible to any sense, then no matter what the future organization may be, if sensitivity is involved, then it will be gifted with the verb.
Let us put an end to our conclusions, so that we are not seen as seeking only dreams and alienating the truth. But be that as it may, oh man, although you are a complex or homogeneous being, your mind and body are not determined to collapse. Your bliss, your perfection is your goal. Gifted with various qualities, use them in proportion to your purpose, but be careful that you do not use them for evil. Execution lives alongside abuse. You contain within yourself your bliss and misfortune. Walk in the path outlined by nature, and believe: if you live beyond your days and the destruction of your thoughts will not be your lot, believe that your future state will be proportionate to your life, for the one who created you gave your being a law to follow, which cannot be eliminated or violated; the evil you have done will be evil for you. You determine your future by the present; and believe, I’ll say again, believe, eternity is not a dream...
Where does the homeland begin?
The concept of “patriot” celebrated its three hundredth anniversary last year. It appeared in 1716, but no one had used such a word before or thought in such categories. In Rus', patriotism in our modern understanding did not exist. No, of course, the people loved their native land and even sang praises. True, it is quite difficult to determine what the Russian land of the 13th century, for example, was - the territories that we used to call Russian did not consider themselves such at all. However, they were in some way united - like Christian lands.
The word "patriot" appeared in Russia in 1716
But it was precisely this unity based on the Christian faith that prevented the emergence of the concept of patriotism. Moscow, which considered itself the heir of Byzantium and Rome, also adopted their self-determination as a world kingdom. And in the Gospel of John it even says: “Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world,” that is, a real Christian should have thought about eternal life, and not about mortal earthly existence. And only many years later, in the 19th century, the motto “For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland” appeared, uniting Orthodoxy and love for one’s country in the minds of Russian people.
For a long time, “patriot” and “son of the fatherland” were synonymous
The concept of patriotism was preceded by love for the fatherland, for what we now call our small homeland. For example, during the time of the Mongol yoke, the fatherland was considered one specific land, “patrimony,” the heritage of the fathers. Only by the 14th century did the fatherland receive a different interpretation - a larger one, its borders extending beyond the boundaries of one land. This was largely facilitated by the rise of the Moscow Principality.
Life for the king!
For a long time, patriotism was associated not with love for the country, but with admiration for the ruler. The word “state” itself, in our usual understanding, appeared only in the 16th century. Back in the 15th century, “state” meant personal power, in particular, that of Ivan III. But already in the Code of Laws of 1550, “state” means a certain territory, land. The change in focus from the ruler to the territory was most clearly evident during the Time of Troubles. The beginning of the 17th century clearly showed that the inhabitants of Russia were ready to fight for the country in which they live, even if there was no Tsar-Father over them.
Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III
First Patriot
In the 17th century, the concept of the “common good” appeared, which arose from the combination of the ideas of “homeland” and “state”. Alexey Mikhailovich, for example, in his letters talks about goodness for the state. His son, Peter I, can rightfully be considered the first patriot in the modern sense of the word. The term “patriot” first appears in the treatise “Discourse on the Causes of the Sveian War,” written by Peter I, a comrade-in-arms, Pyotr Shafirov in 1716.
The term "patriotism" appeared in Catherine's era
At that time, the word “patriot” still retained the meaning that came from the Greek – “countryman”. That is why Shafirov uses the combination “true patriot” or, as equivalent to it, “son of the fatherland.” He calls the ruler “father of the fatherland” and considers him a true patriot, that is, a fighter for his homeland. The term “patriot” replaced the expressions that already existed in the language - “fatherland lover”, “well-wisher”. True, they did not take root in speech, but the borrowing remained.
Petr Pavlovich Shafirov
At the beginning of the 18th century, the word “patriot” was used only by the nobility, and only several decades later it entered the vocabulary of educated people. By the end of the century, the concept of “patriotism” emerged, which was used by writers of that time. For example, in the essay “Conversation about the Son of the Fatherland,” Radishchev discusses whether any person born in the country is worthy of bearing the name of a patriot.
A. N. Radishchev considered the main political tasks to be the liberation of the peasants and the overthrow of the autocracy, which, in alliance with the church, mercilessly oppressed the people. “Autocracy is the state most contrary to human nature,” he writes. At the same time, Radishchev developed the idea that the education of the people, the mental, moral and political education of the younger generation play an important role in the reconstruction of the country. These questions attract his close attention. He covers them in his main work “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”, in the philosophical treatise “On Man, on His Mortality and Immortality”, in the sociological essay “An Experience on Legislation”, “Conversation on Being a Son of the Fatherland” and in a number of others.
In 1790, he wrote and printed in his home printing house his most famous work - the book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” It not only sharply condemns serfdom, but also contains a direct call for the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a republican form of government. After reading the book, Catherine II described the author: “A rebel is worse than Pugachev!” It’s worse because, in the words of Radishchev himself, Pugachev’s speech showed “in its ignorance, the joy of vengeance rather than the benefit of shaking bonds,” and the author of “Travel” was ideologically shaking the “ties” themselves, the foundations of the autocratic monarchy, class system and serfdom.
Radishchev exposed the feudal system of public education: “division into classes” deprives the masses of the people of the opportunity to gain knowledge, and yet “a person, coming into the world, is equal in everything else”; the ability to know, think, and create is inherent in all people, regardless of race and class. The few schools eke out a miserable existence. Cut off from modern life, they “belong to bygone centuries.” Neither in school nor in the family is the main task of education carried out - the formation of the personality of a true son of the fatherland, who passionately loves his people and hates violence, ready for a selfless struggle against social injustice. Everything that exists is various forms of manifestation of matter. Man is also material, “substantial”. Man is not only a part of nature, he is also its highest creation, “the most perfect of creatures, the crown of material compositions, the king of the earth.” Being the highest stage of development of nature, being a “relative” to all living things, man is different from other living beings, even from the most highly organized animals, from monkeys. The main difference between man and other animals, along with a straight gait and developed arms, is his ability to think and speak. Speech contributes to the expansion and development of a person’s mental abilities, the establishment of connections between thoughts - “gathering thoughts together.” But there is one feature of man, perhaps the most important: man is a creature that can live only in the company of other similar creatures: “Man is born to live together.”
Radishchev opposed the religious-idealistic view of man. Pointed out the connection between physical and mental development.
The main task of education: the formation of a person with civic consciousness, high moral qualities, who loves his fatherland most of all. He outlined these thoughts in his essay “A Conversation about Being a Son of the Fatherland.” The state is obliged to ensure that the younger generation receives a proper education.
He paid much attention to the process of mastering knowledge and mental development. He insisted that the native language become the language of science and education. He called for taking into account the natural characteristics of children, although he said that the main thing in the formation of a person is not his natural data, but the circumstances of life.
He demanded a full-fledged education for children of all classes, which should be not just education, but the political education of a person fully prepared for the work of rebuilding society.
Gymnasiums should be of two types:
- 1. classical (humanities disciplines, provided the opportunity to enter the university)
- 2. real (oriented towards natural and mathematical disciplines).
Radishchev defended the people's right to education. By nature, the peasant is sharp-witted and capable of mental development no less than other classes. The right to education can only be achieved through a peasant revolution and the establishment of a new, fair system. Then properly organized education will become the main force shaping a real person. But, wrote Alexander Nikolaevich, “while recognizing the power of education, we will not take away the power of nature.” As we see, he addressed the problem of the relationship between environment, education and biological factors in human development. New education, according to Radishchev, should be available to every child, regardless of origin, and carried out in their native language. His main goal is to prepare a “son of the fatherland” , a citizen, a true patriot, a defender of the interests of the people, ready to do anything for them. “Son of the Fatherland” has all the data for a reasonable and useful life in society: intelligence, health, strong will, noble character, readiness for useful work. Radishchev is a supporter of real education, which gives knowledge of real life, in contrast to classical education, which contains a lot of scholasticism. Education should be based on the native language and history, supplemented with a wide range of natural and other humanities knowledge. He demanded the opening of a large number of higher educational institutions. In the process of learning and through the example of parents, educators, and other people from the child’s environment, his moral education should be carried out. Linking morality with the revolutionary idea, he defined the moral traits of the “son of the fatherland”: patriotism, the desire for freedom, hatred of slavery, humanity, honesty, hard work, willpower, and the ability to protect dignity.
Attacking the contemporary system of education and upbringing, Radishchev paints an ideal that has largely not been realized to this day. He says that the government exists for the people, and not vice versa, that the happiness and wealth of the people are measured by the well-being of the mass of the population, and not by the well-being of a few individuals, etc. The general nature of Radishchev’s worldview is also reflected by his extremely harsh “Ode to Liberty”, placed in “Travel” (largely reproduced in volume I of “Russian Poetry” by A.S. Vengerov). Radishchev’s poem “The Heroic Tale of Bova” was imitated by Pushkin.
Work, Radishchev believes, acts as the best seasoning in a pupil’s lunch, and bliss and laziness are the worst scourges of the human body, they weaken both the body and the strength of spirit. Mental, moral, physical development with labor education are one. Constant “use of strength” strengthens the body, and with it, its mental abilities and morality are “loosened.” A.N. Radishchev is a person of exceptional courage with a developed civic consciousness. Catherine II called him a rebel worse than Pugachev, determining Radishchev a severe punishment for free-thinking and prohibiting his writings, which until 1864 were classified as “hidden literature.” He is probably too categorical in some of his statements. In the same noble upbringing there was a lot of instructiveness. He also overestimated the realities of the peasant revolution in the absence of a strong bourgeoisie. Maybe he idealized the “son of the fatherland” too much. But in the main thing he was right: people should be able to defend themselves and their right to education. From A.N. Radishchev traced the origins of Russian revolutionary-democratic pedagogy , further developed by Belinsky, Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, which existed in Russia in the 19th century.
In parallel with the work on “Put. From St. Petersburg to Moscow" Radishchev writes a revolutionary journalistic article "A Conversation about the Son of the Fatherland" (1789), published in the Masonic magazine "Conversation Citizen", and at one time there were even doubts that the author of the "Conversation" was Radishchev , despite the direct evidence of one of the publishers of “BG” Tuchkov, and also despite the fact that the style of “Conversation” corresponds to Radishchev’s letter.
When discussing who can be awarded the title of true son of the fatherland, Radishchev puts forward the main condition: he can only be a “free being.” Hence he refuses this title to a peasant in serfdom, and refuses it with great pity. But how angrily does his denunciation sound against the oppressors, those feudal landowners, tormentors and oppressors who are accustomed to consider themselves sons of the fatherland. In the article we see a whole series of satirical portraits of evil, insignificant, frivolous landowners. But who is worthy to be the true son of the fatherland? And Radishchev answers that he can be a person full of honor, nobility, capable of sacrificing everything for the good of the people, and if necessary, if he knows that his death will bring strength and glory to the Fatherland, then he is not afraid to sacrifice his life. This is one of Radishchev’s strongest political speeches.
Retelling:
Man, man is needed to bear the name of the son of the Fatherland! - But where is he? Where is this one worthily adorned with this majestic name? Serfs are likened to a horse, condemned to pull a cart for life, and having no hope of freeing themselves from their yoke, receiving equal retribution with the horse, and suffering equal blows; not about those who do not see the end of their yoke, except for death, where their labors and their torment will end, although it sometimes happens that cruel sadness, having enveloped their spirit with reflection, ignites the weak light of their mind, and makes them curse their disastrous state and search.
Or the overfed landowner looks more like a monster in his attire than a man, and his dissolute life, marked by the stench from his mouth and his whole body, is suffocated by a whole pharmacy of fragrant sprays, in a word, he is a fashionable person, completely fulfilling all the rules of the dandy big world science ; - he eats, sleeps, wallows in drunkenness and lust, despite his exhausted strength; He changes clothes, talks all sorts of nonsense, shouts, runs from place to place, in short, he is a dandy. - Isn’t this the son of the Fatherland?
Or the one who stretches out his arms to seize the wealth and possessions of his entire Fatherland, and if it were possible, the whole world, and who with composure is ready to take away from his most unfortunate compatriots the last crumbs that support their dull and languid life, to rob, to steal their specks of dust property; who delights in joy if an opportunity for a new acquisition opens up for him;
Discussion about honor.
It has already been proven that a true man and a son of the Fatherland are one and the same; therefore there will be a sure distinctive sign of him if he thus Ambitious.
those who chase fame and praise not only do not acquire it for themselves from others, but even more so are deprived of it. A true man is a true executor of all the laws ordained for his bliss; he religiously obeys them.
He (the son of the Fatherland) would rather agree to perish and disappear than to set an example of bad behavior for others, and thereby take away from the Fatherland children who could be its adornment and support; he is afraid of contaminating the well-being of his fellow citizens; he burns with the most tender love for the integrity and tranquility of his compatriots; there is nothing so eager to ripen as mutual love between them; he kindles this beneficial flame in all hearts; - is not afraid of the difficulties encountered in this noble feat of his; overcomes all obstacles, tirelessly watches over maintaining honesty, gives good advice and instructions, helps the unfortunate, delivers from the dangers of error and vices, and if he is confident that his death will bring strength and glory to the Fatherland, then he is not afraid to sacrifice his life; if it is needed for the Fatherland, then it is preserved for the full observance of natural and domestic laws; to the extent possible, he averts everything that could tarnish the purity and weaken the good intentions of them, as a detriment to the bliss and improvement of his compatriots. In a word, he well-behaved! Here is another sure sign of a son of the Fatherland! The third and, it seems, the last distinctive sign of the son of the Fatherland, when he noble. Noble is the one who has made himself famous for his wise and philanthropic qualities and actions; who shines in Society with reason and Virtue, and being inflamed with truly wise curiosity, directs all his strength and efforts towards this one thing, so that, obeying the laws and the guardians thereof, the authorities who hold him, both himself and everything that he has, will not read differently
The largest among publicists in Russia at the end of the 18th century. was Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev. He went down in the history of Russian educational philosophical thought as a determined opponent of autocracy and serfdom. Radishchev, having begun his education in Russia, continued it at the University of Leipzig, where he became acquainted with the ideas of Western philosophers. Returning to Russia in 1771, he actively became involved in the ideological struggle, combining it with service in the Senate and literary activity.
In 1790, in his home printing house, Radishchev printed a small brochure “Letter to a friend living in Tobolsk as a duty of his rank.” This letter to an unknown addressee is dated August 8, 1782 and is devoted to a description of the opening in St. Petersburg of a monument to Peter I by Falcone.
In essence, this work is an account of the celebration, accompanied by statements about the role of monarchs. This essay is truly journalistic work; it “asks” to appear on the pages of a magazine or newspaper. But the author’s thoughts are too bold, so it was impossible to publish the letter in the censored press. Radishchev was able to publish it, without a signature, only after he started a home printing house.
In “Letter to a Friend,” the writer talks about the ceremony in some detail. Then Radishchev describes the monument, explaining the allegorical nature of the image: the stone represents the obstacles that Peter I had to overcome; the snake symbolizes the ruler’s ill-wishers, etc. The precise and laconic lines of the report are interrupted by the author’s reasoning. Thus, noting the appearance of Catherine II, who arrived along the river at the head of the court flotilla, Radishchev notes that popular recognition of Peter’s merits would have been much more sincere if it had not been artificially inspired by the appearance of the empress.
Radishchev recognizes the merits of Peter I and agrees that the ruler is worthy of the title “Great”. However, the writer also saw negative aspects in Peter’s reign: the powerful autocrat enslaved his people and made freedom an unattainable dream. According to Radishchev, Peter could have glorified his rule even more if he had given freedom to the Russian people.
However, Radishchev understands that this is practically impossible: not a single sovereign will give up any of his autocratic rights. As mentioned above, the publicist was able to publish “Letter to a Friend” much later, only eight years later. In the “History of Russian Journalism” there is an interesting remark on this matter: “... after the explosion of the French bourgeois revolution, Radishchev made the following note to the final lines: “If this had been written in 1790, then the example of Ludwig XVI would have given the writer other thoughts.” In other words, there is no need to ask the sovereign for mercy - he can and should be deprived of the throne in order to achieve freedom for the people.”
In 1789, in the December issue of the magazine “Conversing Citizen,” he published an article entitled “A Conversation about Being a Son of the Fatherland.”
The magazine “Conversing Citizen” was published from January to December of this year in St. Petersburg by the “Society of Friends of Verbal Sciences”. There are different points of view on the issue of Radishchev’s role in this publication. On the one hand, “History of Russian Journalism”, edited by Professor A.V. Zapadov. believes that Radishchev was a member of this society, joining it as a senior comrade. “At that time he was working on “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” the ideas and images of this great book excited him extraordinarily, he was looking for like-minded people, eager to meet with an audience, and “friends of verbal sciences” listened to Radishchev with awe and admiration. The sluggish, long, moralizing articles, with a bias towards religious morality, which filled the pages of the magazine, were suddenly illuminated by the fiery word of Radishchev...”
On the other hand, “History of Russian Journalism” under the leadership of L.P. Gromova. states: “The face of the magazine was still made up of materials of religious and philosophical content... It is unlikely that Radishchev, ... skeptical, if not negative, regarding the church as a support of political despotism, could approve such materials if he were a participant and ideological leader of the publication.” And below: “Thus, we do not have any direct evidence of Radishchev’s participation in the “Conversing Citizen,” not to mention the facts in favor of recognizing him as the “mastermind of the magazine.”
Nevertheless, “Conversation about the existence of a son of the Fatherland” is an expression of Radishchev’s educational ideas. The writer, wishing to maintain the style of the “Conversing Citizen,” wrote not an article, but a “conversation,” and adopted the genre of instruction and teaching adopted in this magazine.
According to the author, not everyone can be called a son of the Fatherland. A true patriot must have many moral qualities: honor, good behavior, modesty, devotion, nobility. The writer believes that the noble one is the one who commits wise and philanthropic actions, is smart and virtuous, and cares most about the glory and benefit of the Motherland. These are the qualities of a true son of the fatherland. They need to be developed in oneself through education, studying science, becoming an enlightened person. In addition, it is necessary to learn philosophy and get acquainted with works of art.
In “A Conversation about Being a Son of the Fatherland,” Radishchev aims to awaken a sense of civic duty, a sense of patriotism, to lead the reader to an understanding of the tasks posed by the growing revolutionary wave in Europe, but does not openly call for revolution.
In July 1789, Radishchev began publishing his most daring work, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” The first readers saw in Radishchev's book the ideas of the revolutionary transformation of Russia, thoughts about the need to overthrow the monarchical power through a popular uprising. However, the content of Radishchev’s book is not limited to criticism of autocracy and is not limited to socio-political issues at all. Be that as it may, the starting idea of the book is educational. The revolutionary ideas in Radishchev’s “Journey...” are connected not so much with the French Revolution, but rather caused by Radishchev’s independent reflections on the historical development of Russia.
Usually, in discussions about the socio-political ideas of “The Journey...” it is not taken into account that this is not a treatise, but a work of fiction, in which the author’s point of view may not coincide with the point of view of the hero. In many respects, The Traveler is a double of the author, but there are also significant differences. The traveler is extremely hot-tempered, unrestrained, and sensitive. and Radishchev in life was an extremely reserved, even secretive person. Having conveyed his thoughts and feelings to his hero, endowing him with many traits of his own personality, Radishchev at the same time separated him from himself with some discrepancies in his biography and character.
The main theme of “Journey...” is the theme of law and lawlessness. In “Sofia” everyone breaks the law: the driver who illegally demands for vodka, the postal commissioner who does not fulfill his duties. The lawyer from the chapter “Tosna” is occupied with lawlessness, ready to compose a fake pedigree for anyone. The chapter “Lyubani” examines the very concept of law in its relationship with human rights. It turns out, on the one hand, everyone violates existing laws, on the other, the laws of the Russian Empire themselves are legalized lawlessness from the point of view of the enlightenment concept of “natural law” and “social contract.”
Next, Radishchev moves on to the problem of an enlightened monarch. According to the theory of "enlightened absolutism", such a monarchy is tantamount to a constitutional monarchy, or at least a monarchy limited by laws based on "natural law". In a dream, the Traveler sees just such an enlightened monarch. This is the peculiarity of Radishchev’s “Journey...”: he showed not a tyrant on the throne, but a monarch about whom all educational literature dreamed. The denunciation of lawlessness in the second part of the “dream” sounds all the more powerful: since something like this can happen under an “enlightened” sovereign, it means that the very principle of monarchy is not suitable. This is the conclusion of the first compositional part.
In “Podberezye” Radishchev disputes the idea of enlightenment as a means of improving life, argues with the Freemasons about the appropriateness of spiritual and religious enlightenment. In the chapter “Novgorod” he proves that one cannot pin one’s hopes on the merchants. In the chapter “Bronnitsa” Radishchev refutes hopes for the “second coming” of Christ. In the chapter “Zaitsovo” Radishchev tells the story of Krestyankin, an honest, disinterested, fair man, with an inner harmony of mind and heart. And yet Krestyankin fails. The only thing an honest official can do is resign and not participate in lawlessness. The chapter “Kresttsy” is entirely devoted to the problem of education. Radishchev proposes a whole system of educating a citizen, but education will not save the country and the people. The chapters “Khotilov”, “Vydropusk”, “Copper”, connected by one character, are devoted to the idea of “reforms from above”. The author’s conclusion is this: for “reform from above” to take place, social and political conditions are necessary, which do not exist in Russia. Hopes for the power of the printed word are destroyed in Torzhok. Finally, the author concludes: “Freedom... must be expected... from the very severity of enslavement.” “Tver” is the culminating chapter of the second compositional part, since here Radishchev substantiated the idea of the most realistic way to transform reality - the revolutionary one. The inevitability of a popular revolution is the main idea of the ode “Liberty.” Having substantiated the need for a revolution, Radishchev had to talk about how it could be realized. The answer to this question is contained in the chapter “Gorodnya”: educated peasants who have realized the severity of bondage are the layer that can connect the revolutionary thought of the advanced nobility with the spontaneous real power of the peasantry.
