Chapter 102: Peter and Paul Fortress

Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle described humans as a species in his "History of Animals," arguing that humans are the noblest of all animals in nature because they possess reason and wisdom, capable of thinking, reasoning, creating, and reflecting. Humans are the most outstanding of all creatures.

Yet at the same time, if humans stray onto the wrong path, they become the most vicious of all beasts.

Whether this is right or wrong may be a matter of differing opinions, but humans do indeed often exhibit certain deviations in thought and action.

In terms of thought, there are always those who can propose words or concepts that, once heard, stir the hearts of the majority.

Fairness, justice, honesty, kindness, freedom, all men are created equal.

But what is fairness? What is justice? What is freedom? What is kindness?

Would these meanings differ when applied to different people?

And sometimes, as it says in "Animal Farm": "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Great Revolution in the old revolutionary region of Old France faced precisely this dislocation between ideals and reality.

Those Enlightenment thinkers firmly believed that reason would rule the entire world; they turned to reason, treating it as the sole arbiter of all existing things. They believed that a rational state and a rational society should be established, and that everything contradicting eternal reason should be ruthlessly eradicated.

But in the end, the rational state went completely bankrupt. Rousseau's social contract was realized during the Reign of Terror, and the bourgeoisie, having lost faith in their own political capabilities, first sought refuge in the corrupt Directory, and finally took shelter under the despotic rule of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The age of revolution has arrived!

So after the revolution, did peace arrive? Did society improve? Did the plight of the poor and the children of the poor improve?

Or perhaps did it even get worse?

Through this, one can roughly understand why writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries often displayed anti-revolutionary tendencies in their works; after all, the group of writers is often the most prone to doubt and the most likely to become moralists and humanitarians.

In this regard, Dickens is a relatively typical example: on one hand, he spared no effort in depicting the miserable lives of the lower classes in Britain at the time; on the other hand, he also portrayed in his books the destruction of humanity caused by revolution and the devastation brought by revolution.

Nevertheless, the pursuit and impulse for so-called "utopias" seem to forever exist deep within human nature; there are always those willing to launch Don Quixote-like charges one after another for an idealized world, even willing to sacrifice personal freedom and rights.

But the result is always contrary to expectations.

And when the feudal era had not yet ended and the bourgeois era had just begun, in 1515, Thomas More, as a Member of Parliament, wrote the book "Utopia" during a trip to Europe, based on stories recounted by sailors.

In the book, he wrote: the suffering of British farmers stems from sheep eating men; private ownership is the source of poverty.

Later, with the development of the Industrial Revolution, more and more thinkers discovered that the Industrial Revolution only made a small portion of people wealthy; they saw emaciated children forced to start work at an early age in the cities, and workers who drank themselves into oblivion day after day to drown their sorrows; they increasingly felt that only a completely new society could save humanity.

Thus, like the Enlightenment thinkers, they began to try to carve out a new path to realize the ideal kingdom in their minds.

Some merely conceived ideas, while others began to attempt practice; although in the end they all faced failure, they did indeed emit the sound of a new path.

This sound gradually began to echo across the European continent, and naturally spread to Russia, which had long been deeply influenced by European thought; and in Russia, this kind of thought largely stirred certain emotions in many intellectuals, arousing a warm welcome from some people.

Among these people, Petrashevsky was indeed among the first to eat the crab, and of course, also among the first to receive the iron fist.

After hearing Dmitri's words, a thought after another flashed rapidly through Mikhail's mind, but in the end, he could only pat Dmitri's slightly excited shoulder and say, "I see, I understand. However, I have been a bit busy lately; I need to think about some things. Let's talk about it later."

He then found a seat next to Dmitri.

After staring blankly for a moment, Mikhail gradually came to his senses. Looking at the food on the table, Mikhail, who had been so busy talking at the gathering that he hadn't eaten much, finally revealed a relieved smile.

Never mind, since things have come to this, let's eat first.

Thus, under the somewhat puzzled gazes of Dmitri and Old Dostoevsky, Mikhail began to eat his meal.

"Is Mikhail not very interested in such gatherings?"

The young Dostoevsky whispered to Dmitri, "But he is indeed very busy; after all, aside from playing some cards, Mikhail seems to be working and studying all the rest of the time."

"I think he might just be simply hungry."

Watching the way Mikhail ate, this man like a giant bear thought for a moment, then simply looked at the dining table and said, "After talking for so long, I am actually a bit hungry too; let's eat first."

Dostoevsky: "?"

Looking at the rather exquisite food on the table, Dostoevsky, who had not eaten much and whose financial situation was quite ordinary, was stunned for a moment, then unconsciously nodded: "That makes sense."

And so, the three of them began to eat and drink heartily in this lively atmosphere.

However, while Mikhail was eating, his mind was also pondering the problem.

Actually, if one must say it, Petrashevsky and the other group members were truly unlucky; they happened to encounter a period of severe circumstances and coincidentally ran into Nicholas I, the Great Scoundrel, which ultimately resulted in their exile.

After all, the initial activities of the Petrashevsky Circle were merely exchanges of ideas, and they did not advocate overthrowing the Tsar's autocratic regime through revolution.

However, after the European revolutions of 1848 broke out, some radicals in Russia prepared to emulate the European revolutionary wave; thus, some radical members of the Petrashevsky Circle advocated that the masses must be mobilized to seize the Tsar's throne through armed uprising.

And just as they were preparing to establish underground printing presses to spread revolutionary ideas among the people, Your Majesty the Tsar issued an order; thus, heavenly troops descended, transformed into spies who tracked down the whereabouts of the Petrashevsky faction members, disguised themselves as revolutionaries to infiltrate Petrashevsky's home to attend the gathering, recorded the meeting situation and speech content, and reported them to the Tsar.

And so, most of Petrashevsky's members were wrapped up like dumplings and sent to the infamous Peter and Paul Fortress.

But thinking from another angle, if Mikhail had gone in, that would truly have been a pilgrimage to the holy site—pfft!

After eating and drinking his fill, Mikhail had already realized that the situation did not seem as dire as he had just thought; but then again, he should at least think about what to do, otherwise, when the time comes, he might accidentally end up going to Siberia with Dmitri and Old Dostoevsky to mine.

(End of Chapter)