Nikolai Chernyshevsky

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Chernychevsky.jpg Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (Russian: Николай Гаврилович Чернышевский) (July 12, 1828 - October 17, 1889) was a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist. He is seen by some as a utopian socialist. He was the leader of the revolutionary democratic movement of the 1860s, and was an influence on Lenin and Emma Goldman.

The son of a priest, Chernyshevsky was born in Saratov in 1828, and stayed there till 1846. After graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1850, he taught literature at a gymnasium in Saratov. From 1853 to 1862, he lived in St. Petersburg, and became the chief editor of Sovremennik (Contemporary), in which he published his chief literary reviews and his essays on philosophy. In 1862, he was arrested and confined in the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, where he wrote his famous novel What Is To Be Done? The novel was an inspiration to many later Russian Revolutionaries, who sought to emulate the novel's hero, who was wholly dedicated to the revolution, ascetic in his habits and ruthlessly disciplined. Among those who took inspiration from the character was Lenin, who named a work of political theory the same name, and who was ascetic in his personal life (lifting weights, having little time for love, and so on). In 1862 he was sentenced to 'civil execution' (mock execution), followed by penal servitude (1864-72), and by exile to Vilyuisk, Siberia (1872-83). He died on October 17, 1889, at the age of 61.

Chernyshevsky was a founder of Narodism, Russian populism, and agitated for the revolutionary overthrow of the autocracy and the creation of a socialist society. He thought of creating socialism based on the old peasant commune.

Chernyshevsky's ideas were heavily influenced by Herzen, Belinsky, and Feuerbach. Philosophically, he was a materialist.

He saw class struggle as the means of society's forward movement and advocated for the interests of the working people. In his view, the masses were the chief maker of history. He is reputed to have used the phrase 'the worse the better', to indicate that the worse the social conditions became for the poor, the more inclined they would be to launch a revolution.

[edit]