A conservative search for meaning
The Russian philosophy of the counter-revolution
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The negative perception of the Revolution of 1917 in today’s Russia has its roots in the Perestroika era. At that time, the writings of opponents of the Revolution, such as Nikolai Berdyaev, were published and read in huge numbers of copies for the first time. A key role was played by the reissued collective volume “De profundis” (1918), the authors of which reflected on the metaphysical “meaning” of the Revolution. Many of them regarded the social cataclysm as being a punishment for the moral failures of the intelligentsia, and hoped for a national rebirth. This conservative “philosophy of the counter-revolution” strongly influenced the political mindset of post-Soviet Russia. Key elements are politics created in the spirit of religion, separate national paths of progress and the rejection of communism and liberal democracy in equal measure.
(Osteuropa 6-8/2017, pp. 243–258)