Chapter 33: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Regarding the greatest gain from this gathering, Mikhail could only say that after being in Russia for so long, this was truly the first time he had felt stuffed.

Ahem...

Another gain was that through listening to the conversations of those around him and participating to a certain extent, Mikhail was slowly sorting out the general intellectual currents of Russia's intelligentsia today.

There was no way; to survive in the literary circles of this period, it was definitely impossible not to understand the various political thoughts, philosophical concepts, and artistic ideas.

After all, in this period, whether one was engaged in revolution, political reform, or literature and art, it was, to some extent, a matter of ideas coming first; often, once a clear and noble idea emerged, a large group of people would begin to chase that seemingly ethereal yet infinitely alluring new world.

It was simply because in this era of violent social upheaval, the decline of the feudal system and religious authority had indirectly spawned an ideological vacuum; since the current era was vastly different from the past, why should people still live lives hardly different from before?

Precisely for this reason, philosophers, thinkers, and intellectuals set about carrying out a revolution in the realm of thought, and among them, our old revolutionary base, France, was the first to stage a major event.

First was rationalism, thoroughly developed and promoted through the Enlightenment, which made intellectuals even more convinced of the power of human reason; thus, they began to use ideas to challenge absolutism, explain science, and conceive utopias, thereby causing a revolution in the realm of thought.

Then, the domestic situation in France, the old revolutionary base at the time, was already bad to begin with, and Louis XVI, this man without a brain, was still desperately jumping around there.

Ultimately, under the guidance of ideas such as "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," the French Revolution that broke out in 1789 directly shocked the entire European world.

Louis XVI was also left bewildered by this revolution...

Against this historical backdrop, a large number of intellectuals in the 19th century, such as Hegel and Fichte, directly regarded thought as the driving force of historical progress; Hegel even directly proposed the philosophical proposition that "reason rules the world."

And one example of this that had a huge impact on Russian intellectuals was the Stankevich Circle, established in 1831 in the philosophy department of Moscow University; this group mainly studied Hegelian philosophy and advocated individual freedom and humanism.

Belinsky had participated in the activities of this group many times.

However, it is worth mentioning that Belinsky's own thought actually underwent a huge shift.

In the late thirties, Belinsky once fell into the quagmire of Hegelian thought; roughly summarized, he was trapped in the formula "whatever is, is right"; since the development of social systems would inevitably produce their own destruction, and their persistence proved their temporary rationality.

Then, in today's Russia, did the Tsar's rule possess rationality?

Under this line of thought, Belinsky, for a while, even came to support Russian absolutism.

However, as he went to St. Petersburg and saw the social injustice and cruelty more clearly, he strictly conducted self-criticism.

At the same time, the surge of revolution in the early forties, political events in Western Europe, the restoration of friendship with Herzen, and reading the early materialist works of the old man with the big beard, among other events, greatly strengthened Belinsky's materialist worldview; thus, he no longer avoided reality but faced it directly and began to fight.

By the way, the old man with the big beard and Nicholas I had a cross-border interaction; roughly, in 1843, the old man with the big beard committed a passionate crime in the "Rheinische Zeitung," fiercely denouncing the Russian Tsar:

What the hell era is this, still practicing traditional absolutism?! If you insist on doing it yourself, that's one thing, but forcing others to join you, refusing revolution and freedom for yourself and not allowing other nations to have them either—how can you still be human? You are simply a rat turd in the European revolutionary movement!

Although it was cross-border keyboard politics, Nicholas I, somehow or other, found out about it and flew into a rage: You're just bragging! If you have the guts, come to Russia and see if I'm real or not, and you'll be done for!

And although Tsar Nicholas I could not use his visible hand to send the old man with the big beard to Siberia to mine, he ultimately chose to use his invisible hand and lodged a protest with the King of Prussia.

Upon learning this, the King of Prussia immediately ordered the ban of the "Rheinische Zeitung"; thus, the old man with the big beard lost his job due to the invisible hand of His Majesty the Tsar. Fortunately, shortly after, he met the son of a factory owner; although the two seemed to be from completely different classes, this factory owner's son greatly appreciated the old man with the big beard, exchanging ideas with him, giving him money, and even acting as a ghostwriter when the old man with the big beard was behind on his manuscripts, helping him complete parts of the articles.

As for what happened afterwards, let's put it this way: a ghost has begun to wander across the entire European continent.

Of course, the above parts about the old man with the big beard are somewhat abstract; the old man with the big beard certainly would not be as vulgar as Mikhail portrayed him. Ahem...

In summary, in this period, if you do not understand various philosophical concepts, political ideas, and artistic thoughts, how dare you lightly claim to be an intellectual?

Furthermore, gatherings like salons, where such things are exchanged, are common occurrences; if one performs too poorly, one will be looked down upon by others, and there will be no chance of being invited to such events again in the future.

For Mikhail, this was something completely unacceptable.

Being looked down upon by others was not even the main issue; the most important thing was that if he lost the opportunity to attend salons, where else could Mikhail go to eat and drink for free?!

Just listening to others brag for a while and occasionally chiming in with a few words of agreement to their boasts was enough to get a big meal; in today's Russia, where else could you find such a good thing?

Of course, the most important thing was definitely Mikhail's articles; these were the foundation upon which he could stand in this era.

As for whether he could fully understand everything after sorting it out, Mikhail did not feel much pressure; first, the original owner had a very good foundation, and second, Mikhail himself was not bad either; back then, to secure his position, he had studied everything he should and shouldn't have.

Now that his memory had been strengthened once again, at least getting a preliminary understanding of these things was no problem; in that case, mingling in salons would be more than enough.

After all, salons were full of noble dilettantes who merely pretended to be cultured.

Additionally, also due to the strengthening of his memory, Mikhail could now actually put forward a fairly complete set of philosophical concepts and shout loudly:

"God is dead!!!"

And then carefully elaborate on it.

However, considering that Nicholas I, this great despot, was a very devout Orthodox Christian, Mikhail decided to wait a while before saying anything...

(End of Chapter)