Publicism of F.M.Dostoevsky and A.I. Solzhenitsyn: From socialism to the “Russian idea”

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to describe the socio-political and philosophical views of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn on socialism and the “Russian idea”. The empirical basis of the study is publications from Dostoevsky’s “Diary of the Writer”, as well as articles, interviews, speeches at press conferences by Solzhenitsyn. The study is divided into several parts: 1) analysis of thе views of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn’s youth; 2) socialism as the antithesis of Christianity; 3) transformation of socialist ideas; 4) understanding of the “Russian idea”. Dostoevsky’s “Diary of the Writer presented not a rejection of socialist ideas, but a critique of the European version of socialism and an understanding of “Russian socialism”. This becomes the basis for the formulation of the “Russian idea”, associated for Dostoevsky with the conviction that the Russian nation must bring true Orthodoxy to other nations. The novelty of research is that it presents a comparative analysis of Dostoevsky’s and Solzhenitsyn’s ideas about socialism, messianism, the “Russian idea”, and the fate of Russian people. These ideas are reflected in the authors’ publicism related to the issues of Russian pochvennichesvo. Solzhenitsyn argues about the fate of the people and its task. However, the “Russian idea” becomes “the preservation of people” and the rejection of global objectives. At the same time, these calls and Christian ideals are paradoxically combined in the work of Solzhenitsyn with a love for the revolution and the demand to fight communism in the USSR.