As a young man in the 1840s Fyodor Dostoevsky was intimately involved in the Petraschesky circle, a secret society of liberal utopians dreaming of a general uprising that would revolutionize Russia for the better, as they saw it. Along with several other members of the group, he was caught, tried and condemned to death by a firing squad. At the last minute — the last second by some accounts — he was spared and sentenced to five years of hard labor in Siberia. This provided him with the experience he turned into his novel The House of The Dead and also provided background for the epilogue of Crime and Punishment. It left Dostoevsky permanently scarred, a compulsive gambler, and an epileptic to boot. And it started a revolution in his thinking that apparently turned him from a young idealistic nihilist into a reactionary conservative loyal to the Czar who had saved his life — though he later insisted he remained after many years “an old ‘Nechaevist’ myself.”
In any event, in 1869, he read about the brutal beating and murder of a young student who had sworn allegiance to, and later attempted to leave, a revolutionary group led by the young Sergei Nechaev. It provided Dostoevsky with the material he was determined to turn into a brief tract attacking the nihilists and the revolutionary movement in general. After years of reflection the result was instead his major novel Demons (also titled The Possessed or The Devils, the Russian word suggests all of these possibilities); it became a substantial novel that was more didactic than many of his major works but with many literary qualities that saved it from being simply a prolonged attack on a political group the author was no longer in sympathy with.
In that novel he created the character of the young Pyotr Verkhovensky (called “Nechaev” in the early drafts of the novel) who leads a small, zealous group of nihilists in the direction of revolution. Many of the incidents described in the novel were culled from the newspapers at the time and reflect the atrocities that were being committed on the eve of the Russian revolution that was to erupt with violence in 1917. In his novel, after the murder of the young student — as recreated by Dostoevsky from the events that stirred his creative juices, — one of the young men who devotedly followed Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky reveals to the police the events surrounding several killings and the violent events that led to that horrible murder of the student. In his confession he repeats the platitudes that Verkhovensky put in his mouth and which almost certainly are echoes of the basic nihilistic notions that inspired Sergei Nechaev. To the police who questioned why so many murders, scandals, and abominations had been perpetrated, the young man replied:
“. . .all was for the systematic shaking of the foundations, for the systematic corrupting of society and all principles; in order to dishearten everyone and make a hash of everything, and society being thus loosened, ailing and limp, cynical and unbelieving, but with an infinite yearning for some guiding hands, raising the banner of rebellion, and supported by the whole network of [nihilists], which would have been active all the while, recruiting and searching for practically all the means and all the weak spots that could be seized upon.”
This brings the novel to its unsettling conclusion, but it raises some interesting questions for us in this country in the glow of the recent political triumph of a demagogue who admires the Russians and many of whose activities have disturbing parallels with the events in Dostoevsky’s novel. Not that our fearless leader can be seen to resemble Sergei Nechaev as he lacks the imagination and the intelligence and, so far as we know, is not a sadistic murderer. But he is a bully and is easily led by a stronger personality. And there is a man who lurks in the shadows of his inner circles, the avowed follower of Lenin (a Nihilist with a capital “N”), who appears to have some of the qualities that were apparent in that young man and in Dostoevsky’s character modeled after him.
This may be a stretch, but it does give us pause and requires that we pay close attention to what is going on with an administration that seems to have declared war on social programs and regulatory agencies that have evolved over the years to protect American citizens from the abuses of the wealthy and the power-brokers who would just as soon see America made great again by “shaking its foundations” and transforming it into an imitation of the Russia that its leader seems to admire, an autocratic government without checks and balances and with no concern whatever for the ordinary citizen who struggles to keep his head above the waters of discontent. Would this indeed be a country “ailing, limp, cynical and unbelieving, but with a yearning for some guiding hands”? Let’s hope not. After all, that is merely a fiction.
hughcurtler 
I posted recently about a conversation with my two selves regarding painting ‘The Muir Tree.” A reader sent me a link to writings of Thomas Jefferson — a long conversation between his head and his heart. I found this part particularly interesting, and it fits with your theme.
“…Head. Well. Let us put this possibility to trial then on another point. When you consider the character which is given of our country by the lying newspapers of London, and their credulous copyers in other countries; when you reflect that all Europe is made to believe we are a lawless banditti, in a state of absolute anarchy, cutting one another’s throats, and plundering without distinction, how can you expect that any reasonable creature would venture among us?
Heart. But you and I know that all this is false: that there is not a country on earth where there is greater tranquillity, where the laws are milder, or better obeyed: where every one is more attentive to his own business, or meddles less with that of others: where strangers are better received, more hospitably treated, and with a more sacred respect…”
It seemed brutally clear that TJ would be shocked to witness what has happened.since it was written in Oct. 1786.
While reading your post, I thought about how many masters were inspired by actual events, either living them or witnessing a profound and often heart-wrenching event. Sometimes those moments are catalysts – perhaps T’s life is inspiring yet-to-be-written literature that will be discussed centuries later?
Could be… One of my favorite people, Thomas. Thanks for the good comment!
Hugh, I saw an excellent piece yesterday on the complacency of Americans. We are too content to pay attention to what is going on, as a whole. We believe easy solutions to complex problems, interpreting this to great wisdom rather than asking more questions of someone who does not understand that complexity. This is how we ended up with a President who truly does not care about details or others.
The protests are needed, but we need more curiosity and interest in understanding what is happening. Right now, we have fallen into tribal thinking which is lazy and dishonest. And, those who challenge the tribal thinking need to be listened to, not beaten up.
Keith
“Tribal thinking.” I like that. Spot On!!!
Tribal thinking is the bane of our politics here in Britain too. But I can see a glimmer of hope in the awakening alertness of more and more people to the real (as opposed to Trump) fake news phenomenon, to the insidious, manipulative messages we encounter on social media and – perhaps as important – to the echo chambers we tend increasingly to inhabit. With awareness will action follow? Well, I live in hope. Certainly this current general election campaign is a very different affair from usual.
Thanks for the perspective. We must all live in hope, must we not?
We must, though sometimes …
I had decided to avoid this for a while, because I am feeling too bruised by what has been going on here in Britain, just a few miles down the road, for contemplating dark issues, but since I loved Dostoevsky as a teenager/young woman and since fiction is part of my daily preoccupation, I finally caved in. And though your reading is related to the man in power over your side of the pond, and his Rasputins (mixing my Russian historical allusions wildly!) I found myself thinking more of jihadists “… all was for the systematic shaking of the foundations, …” I have been pondering (rather incoherently, in my own blog) what it means to be human, since I cannot relate to the motivation of a young human who blows up himself and young girls enjoying a night out. Previous terrorists, such as our very own IRA, have had an ultimately political goal – it feels as if these have simply the shaking of our foundations at their hearts – if hearts they have.
I cannot fathom that mentality either. This is why we need writers like Dostoevsky — to help us get a glimpse of how these people think. It helps us learn what we are up against.
I read an interview (a few years ago now) with the plutocrat, Nick Hanauer. He could see all this coming down the line really. He is no philanthropist (in the true sense of the word), and admits that he likes making lots of money. But, in the article, he advocated raising the minimum US wage to over $15.00 per hr. He said if it wasn’t done, revolution was on the horizon! It seems to me that the current president is considering this sort of proposal…but cutting the social programs first. To me this is just another form of keeping people slaves to a system that flogs the work base but pats them on the back at the end of each day. It is no wonder that we are approaching revolutionary times. We go around in circles really….revolution – dictatorship – capitalism – revolution …
We are like lemmings!
I do wonder if Americans are too complacent to resort to violence. The corporations will continue to give people just enough diversion to keep them blind to what is going on behind them! I see his becoming a Brave New World — if we aren’t already!
That would be “I see us becoming….” I need to go more slowly!
Agreed! Aldous Huxley was perhaps a prophet of what may come.