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The World War against the spirit of Immanuel Kant: philosophical Germanophobia in Russia in 1914–1915 and the birth of cultural racism

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…Although … [he] may have spoken in the language of the past, the content of what he had to say is the absolute substance of anti-democratic talk of our day.

I. Berlin. Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism.

To the Russian of 1915 it was axiomatic that political effects were not the result of their ostensible political causes.

William C. Fuller, Jr. The Foe Within: Fantasies of Treason and the End of Imperial Russia. Cornell University Press, 2006.

Abstract

During the First World War the radical nationalist sentiments were widespread in different European countries involved in military activities, including the Russian Empire. In Russia this rise united the features of Russian ethnonationalism and imperial enthusiasm. The Russian philosopher Vladimir Ern (1882–1917) in his article “From Kant to Krupp” (1914) attempted “to ground” the hostility between Russia and its allies, on the one hand, and Germany, on the other hand. This attempt turned Ern’s article into one of the earliest manifestoes of cultural racism in Russia, maybe the very first one. Discussing this article in the context of other works by Ern of 1910–1917, one can see that Ern applied Friedrich Nietzsche’s genealogical method for the political interpretation of “the problem of technology” causing the aggressive approach to the human’s environment. Nevertheless, Ern’s cultural racism and aggressive rhetoric blocked further development and even reception of his methodological innovations. The psychological compensatory pragmatic of his rhetoric seems to resemble the analogical function of rigid opposition between “Russia” and “West” in speeches of contemporary Russia’s official ideologues.

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Notes

  1. Many responses to this paper are reprinted in the valuable book: Ermičev (2006). Ern in his article “The Essence of German Phenomenalism,” developing the main points of the paper “From Kant to Krupp,” quotes the titles of those polemical articles which had been published to that moment. Texts not published in A.A. Ermičev’s collection include: «Evg. Adamov (“Kijevskaja Mysl'”, oktjabr'), N. Efros, Kant i Krupp (“Reč'”, okt <jabr'>), […] P. Ryss. Ot Vladimira Solov'ёva k Vladimiru Ernu (“Den'”. 27 nojabrja)…».

  2. I used the biographical data represented in the articles: Vjunnik (1991); Sherrer (1991).

  3. This leaflet was reprinted and commented by Modest Kolerov: Kolerov (2002, 56, 65). Ern’s and Sventsitskij’s leaflet was reprinted in “Vperёd” under the title “Verjuščije protiv samoderžavija” (“The Believers are Against the Autocracy”): Vperiod (Geneve). 1905. March 10. No. 11, p. 11; Revoliutsionnaja Rossiia. 1905. March 15. No. 61, p. 9. Newspaper «Rus’» (Russia) (1905. March 28. No. 79, p. 3) and the journals “Missionerskoe obozrenie” (“The Missionary Review”) and “Nedelja” (“The Week”) published the articles commenting “the emergence [of the new organization] among the progressive part of metropolitan intelligentsia, professors of the Spiritual Academy, theological seminaries’ teachers and city clergymen”.

  4. New studies of Ern’s concept of Christian socialism and Christian Brotherhood of Struggle include the following articles: Somin (2006); Luzina (2009).

  5. From the vast literature concerning this issue, see, for example: Dykstra (1988); Polovinkin (1996); Chitrov and Solomina (2001); Boršc (2005); Graham and Kantor (2009); Rezničenko (2012); Grillaert (2012); The Economist (2012); Senina (2013).

  6. The discussions on onomatodoxy did not end with the revolution of 1917, but later Soviet authorities intervened in them. In 1929 a group of monks, secret defenders of onomatodoxy, who hid from Soviet authorities and mainstream Orthodoxy were arrested by the Soviet political police OGPU. They were shot. Today polemics on the mystical meaning of the name of God periodically flares up within the milieu of Russian Orthodox clergymen. In particular, the extreme right (in his political views) bishop Diomid (Dzjuban), who was degraded in 2008 by a resolution of Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church and created his own religious group, is a defender of imjaslavie. Articles dedicated to the newest discussions on imjaslavie are collected on a personal internet site of nun Kassia (Senina): http://www.pravoslav.de/imiaslavie/sovr/sovr.htm, accessed 08.05.2014.

  7. Besides the mentioned work by Modest Kolerov, see for example: Keidan (1995, 705–716).

  8. The specifics of Ern’s onomatodoxical views is analyzed in: Alfeev (2002 [2013]).

  9. 1914. No. 12, pp. 116–124, second pagination.

  10. Ern had time to finish only the first chapter of this book, which was published in 1917 and concluded with the phrase “To be continued.” Ern (1917b [1991]).

  11. Some examples see in a book: Kruglov (2012).

  12. This article was published at first in the journal Voprosy filosofii (1990. No. 1, pp. 51–69), and then republished several times with corrections, which didn’t change its main idea. Here quoted according to edition: Akhutin (2005, 450–480).

  13. …Кaк xoчeтcя ycтpoитьcя, нaкoнeц, «нeпpoтивopeчивo», пpaвильнo, лaднo, кoгдa имeeтcя вepнoe и пoтoмy вcecильнoe yчeниe, кoгдa цeли яcны, зaдaчи oпpeдeлeны и ocтaeтcя тoлькo paбoтaть нa блaгo, oгpaждaя, paзyмeeтcя, cвятoe дeлo oт paзныx «чepтeй».

    “True and thus omnipotent teaching” («Верное и потому всесильное учение») is a rephrase of the notorious declaration from Vladimir Lenin’s article «The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism» (1913): «The Marxist doctrine is omnipotent because it is true.» (Lenin [1977, vol. 19, 21–28]; first published: Prosveščenije, No. 3, March 1913. Signed: V.I.). “…The aims are clear, and the goals are defined…” («Цели ясны, задачи определены…»)—ironically revisited exclamation from Nikita Khrushchev’s Concluding Speech on 22nd CPSU Congress in 1961: «Our goals are clear. Our tasks are defined. Get to work, comrades! To the new victories of communism!» (22nd Congress 1962, vol. 3, 203).

  14. http://magazines.russ.ru/druzhba/2012/7/s17.html, accessed 09.05.2014.

  15. See for example the conclusion of his article “The Essence of German Phenomenalism”: Ern (1991, 328).

  16. Possibly Lukács in his genealogical logic was influenced not only by Nietzsche but also by Siegfried Kracauer’s book From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film published in English in 1947.

  17. Concerning the parallels between Lukács and Heidegger see for example: Fritsche (1999, 149–172).

  18. Ern (1991, 321–322).

  19. The origin of this famous phrase seems to be thoroughly discussed in Francoise Dastur’s article: Dastur (1992, 37).

  20. L'Express. 1969. 20–26 Oct, pp. 79–85.

  21. A traditional Russian men’s hat with a high round top.

  22. First published: Leont’ev K.N. Srednij evropeec, kak ideal i orudie vsemirnogo razrušenija. In Leont'ev K.N. Sobranie sočinenij. Vol. 6. Moscow: V.M. Sablin, 1912, pp. 5–79.

  23. In an article “Edge of Russian-Polish Relations” in collection The Sword and the Cross and in the book Time makes Slavophiles (Ern 1991, 381–383, 397–398).

  24. Salierian spirit, or Salierism, is a designation for the inability to have creative insights, widespread in Russian culture of late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This term goes back to the image of Italian composer Antonio Salieri, as he was mythologized in Alexander Pushkin’s “little tragedy” “Mozart and Salieri.”

  25. See his article “An Idea of Catastrophic Progress” (1909) (Ern 1991, 198—219).

  26. Verne’s novel was based on a manuscript written by Corsican revolutionary and writer Jean-François Paschal Grousset and signed with one of his numerous pseudonyms André Laurie. By this time Grousset went into hiding after the defeat of The Paris Commune, in which he had taken part. Verne’s editor Pierre Jules Hetzel considered Grousset's manuscript as unfit for publication but potentially interesting and asked Verne to remake it.

  27. See for example: Dirda 2006.

  28. The term “externalization” is also used in social philosophy and psychoanalysis, especially in Gregory Bateson’s works. In order to differentiate the described meaning I specify it as “imaginary spatial externalization.”.

  29. From the literature on Karamzin’s work see for example: Raeff (1994), Pain (2010, 9), Snežko (2012).

  30. On the previous development of Uvarov’s ideas see: Maiofis (2010).

  31. This quotation is translated from Maria Maiofis’s Russian translation of Uvarov’s French paper. This translation was published only on Internet—as a supplement to the full version of M. Maiofis’s article: http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2009/100/mm14.html, accessed 06.05.2014.

  32. This quotation is translated from Russian translation: Herzen 1855 [1957, 263]. Herzen alludes to the Latin proverb «Sero venientibus ossa»--«Bones for those who came late». The influence of Pëtr Čaadaev’s historiosophical ideas on this speech deserves separate discussion.

  33. The author of this article retells the same ideological constructions that became a basis for Ern’s opposition to “Eastern Christian Logism” (in this text Fadeev advances his own Byzantine hesychastic interpretation of this idea) and the wretchedness of Western civilization. Valerii Fadeev is the editor-in-chief of Russian pro-Government political magazine Expert.

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Acknowledgments

I am sincerely grateful to Henrieke Stahl-Schwätzer, Anatolij Akhutin, Ivan Boldyrev and Pëtr Rezvych for the valuable discussions and to Seth Bernstein for help with editing of English text. Work on this article was supported by the International Center for the History and Sociology of World War II and Its Consequences, National Research University—Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

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  1. Vysšaja škola ekonomiki, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Building 7, 8/2 Maly Trjokhsvjatitelskij Pereulok, 123022, Moscow, Russia

    Ilya Kukulin

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Kukulin, I. The World War against the spirit of Immanuel Kant: philosophical Germanophobia in Russia in 1914–1915 and the birth of cultural racism. Stud East Eur Thought 66, 101–121 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-014-9199-9

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