Some Western Sources of Radiš?ev's Political Thought - article ; n°1 ; vol.25, pg 73-86

D. M.Lang

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Revue des études slaves - Année 1949 - Volume 25 - Numéro 1 - Pages 73-86
14 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

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• Publié par: REVUE_DES_ETUDES_SLAVES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1949
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• Langue: English

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D. M. Lang
Some Western Sources of Radiščev's Political Thought
In: Revue des études slaves, Tome 25, fascicule 1-4, 1949. pp. 73-86.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Lang D. M. Some Western Sources of Radiščev's Political Thought. In: Revue des études slaves, Tome 25, fascicule 1-4, 1949.
pp. 73-86.
doi : 10.3406/slave.1949.1491
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/slave_0080-2557_1949_num_25_1_1491SOME WESTERN SOURCES
OF
RADIŠČEV'S POLITIGAL THOUGHT
BY
D. M. LANG
The importance of the Journeyfrom St. Petersburg to Moscow as
one of the fîrst manifestations of modern Russian social thought is
now generally recognized. The late Nicolas Berdjaev went so far
as to call Radiščev « the most notable phenomenon in Russia in the
xvinth » W. In the eyes of the Empress Catherine, he was a century
« rebel worse than Pugačev » *2), while Soviet literary historians haye
tried more or less unconvincingly to portray him as a kind oi
unsuccessful revolutionary firebrand (3Í. Both these views are
exaggerated. The ideology of xvinUl century philosophie radi-
calism has little in common with the outlook of a Pugaéev or a
Marat. In order to see Radiščev's ideas in their historical perspect
ive, it is essentiel to détermine the sources from which he derived
them, and the form which they assumed in his writings.
Radiščev's knowiedge of Western European thought dates from
his period of study at the University of Leipzig, where he was sent
in 1766, together with eleven other Russian students, on the per
sonal initiative of Catherine IL According to the Empressas
instructions, they were to study « moral philosophy, history and
above ail naturaland international ław, as weli as a certain amount
of Roman Law » ^К Tbe most eminent member of the Leipzig
W Nicolas Berdyaev, The Russian Idea, translatée! from the Russian by R. M. French,
London, 19^7, p. 38.
(î) A. V. Chrapovickij, Дневник, Спб., 187/1, P- ЗАо.
(3) For exemple, G. A. Gukovskij in История русской Литературы, IV, М.-Л.,
19&7' P- 5i5.
(*) These instructions, together with other officiai papers connected with
Radiàdev's stay at Leipzig, are printed in Сборник Императорского русского исто
рического Общества, л, Спб., 187а» pp. 107-1З1.
Revue des Etudei slaves, t. XXV, 1 9^9, fasc. \-h. З а 7Д D. M. LANG.
Law Faculty at thetimewasKarlFerdinandHoinrnel(i79 2-i78i),
the commentator of Beccaria's famous treatise Dei Delitti e delie
Pene W. Hommel has been described as a genuine son of the
Aufklärung : witty and fearless, energetically striking at the root
of what he recognized as abuse (2). His humane ideas on the
reform of criminai law had a profound effect on Radišcev and his
fellow-students (3).
Even more important for Radišcev's future intellectuel develop-
ment was his contact with the works of the French Encyclopedists,
whose ideas were certainly more radical than those professed by
his German teachers. As a page at the Court of St. Petersburg
from 1762 until 1766, Radišcev had already acquired a fuient
knowledge of French. While at Leipzig, the Russian students
acquired a copy of Helvétius's De l'Esprit (1768), which made a
deep impression on them(4). There can be little doubt that
Helvétius's utilitarianism and extrême scepticism in religious
matters, combined with his thinly veiled hostility to the established
order, were important factors in Radiščev's mental évolution. То
give one example, when the nobleman of Kresťcy in the Journey
from St. Petersburg to Moscou) urges his sons to avoid attendance at
officiai audiences, » обычай скаредный, ничего не значущий »(5),
he uses teraas which recall those used by Helvétius (6) :
Quel tableau plus humiliant pour l'humanité que l'audience d'un vizir,
lorsque, dane une importance et une gravité stupide, il s'avance au milieu
d'une foule de clients; et que ces derniers, sérieux, muets, immobiles, les
yeux fixes et baissés, attendent en tremblant la faveur d'un regard . . .
M De$ Herrn Marquis von Beccaria untterblicheê Werk uber Verbrechen und
Straf en. . ., mit Anmerkungen von K. F. Hommel, Breelau, 1778.
W FeiUchrift zur Feier des боо-jährigen Bestehens der Univenität Leipzig,
Leipzig, 1909, II, p. 95. See also R. Stintzing and E. Landsberg, Geschichte der
deutêchen Bechtswitiemchajt, Munchen und Leipzig, 1880-1898, III, pp. З86-600.
W In the biography of one of bis comrades at Leipzig, Житие Федора Василье
вича Ушакова (1789)1 Radišcev givos a summary of an essay by U šako v on the
subject of Capital Punishment, which he reproduces in full in an Appendix. This
essay bears unmistakable traces of Becraria's influence.
(4) «Федор Васильевич и мы за ним читали сию книгу, читали со вниманием,
и в оной мыслить научились.«
According to Radišcev, Baron Grimra, who was passing through Leipzig at the
time, heard of this, and later told Helvôtius of the onthusiasm of his young Russian
disciples. (A. Nf Radišcev : Полное собрание сочинений, éd. Y. V. Kallaš, M.,
1907, I, pp. 131-123.)
і5' Radišcev : Путешествие, original éd. of 1790, reprinted by Barskov, М.-Л.,
19З5, p. 187.
W De l'Etprit, III, 19. SOME WESTERN SOURCES OF RADlŠČEV'S POLITICAL THOUGHT. 75
In the Life of Ušakov, Radišcev furthermore records his agree-
ment with Helvétius's opinion that owing to the pernicious lust for
power, common to almost ail human rulers, every government has
a naturál tendency to degenerate into despotism (1).
Sbortly al'ter his return from Germany to St. Petersburg,
Radišćev transiated into Russian the Abbé Mably's Observations sur
ľ Histoire de la Grèce (1766). This translation was published by
N. I. Novikov in 1 77З (Ч The choice of this work js highly signi-
fîcant. Mably Iakes every opportunity of glorifying the republi-
can governments of ancient Greece, and denouncing the rulers of
modem Europe « where everyone is a subject and nobody a
citizen » ®. Speaking of the Spartans, Mably exclaims :
En lisant leur histoire, nous nous sentons échauffer; si nous portons
encore dans le cœur quelque germe de vertu, notre âme s'élève et semble
vouloir franchir les limites étroite» dans lesquelles la corruption de notre
siècle nous retient (4).
The political doctrine of such a book could hardly fail to make
some impression on its translator. Radišcev added to his text a
footnote of his own composition, in which he terms autocracy
(w самодержавство ») tbe condition « most répugnant to human
nature », and concludes that if a sovereign breaks the Social
Gontract, his subjects hâve the right to condemn him as a crimi-
nal (Ч This footnote is merely a restatement of some of the théories
of « Natura! Law », based on the conception of a society founded
on an original pact, and widely accepted in the xvinth century.
Among the numerous expositions of this doctrine, which had
become quite a commonplace by Radišćev's time, are Rousseau's
Contrat social, and, much earlier, John Locke's treatise Of Civil
О P.adišćev : Сочинения, éd. Kallaš, I, p. 98. Cf. Helvétius, De l'Esprit, Ш, 17 :
« Du désir que tous les hommes ont ďétre despotes ».
(s) This was not Radiščev's first contact with Mably's writings : as a student at
Leipzig, he was acquainted with Mably's Le droit public de l'Europe (17&6).
(Cf. J. L. Barskov : A. H. Радищев, Жизнь и Личность, М.-Л., ig35, p. до).
Several critics, foHowing Suchomlmov (Исследования и статьи, Саб., i88g, I,
р. 55о), hâve drawn parallèle between Radišćev's Путешествие and other works
by Mably, fur example his Observations sur l'histoire de France (1 760) and De la
manière d'écrire l'histoire (178З). There seems however to be no conclusive ev
idence that Radišcev was acquainted with these books : indeed, the naine of Mably
is not mentioned in any of his fater writings.
(3) Collection complète des œuvres de Mably, Paris, 179/1-1795, IV, p. 4з.
W Ibid., p. a M.
<5) Размышления о Греческой истории, Cnrt., 177З» p- 126, note.
За. 76 D. M. LANG.
Government (i68p,)(1), as well as the introductory chapters of
Beccaria's Dei Delitti e delie Pene.
In 177З, theyear of Dideroťs visit to St. Petersburg, a Russian
writer could indulge in such sailies with impunity; the Empress
was too fully occupied with tbat turbulent philosopher to pay
much attention to Radišcev's footnote, which, in any case, contains
nothing very startling for its time. Seventeen years later, after
the first impact of the French Révolution on Russian opinion, the
position was to be very différent.
None of the Western authors quoted so far, radical though
some of them were, can be considered sufficiently so to hâve sug-
gested to Radišcev's mind the impassioned tirades of tbe Journey
from St. Petersbur