Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/243

 to its development. This occurred not only in the times of reaction mentioned above, but even later—some years before the tragical death of Alexander II, after the promulgation of the new code for the Universities in 1884, and at other times.

But the obstacles, which restrained the development of Russian thought and its conscious applications to life, could not stop its course and had even some positive results: Russian thought was obliged to struggle for its independence and to endure the severe trials, to which it had been submitted. It came out of them tried by misfortune and firmly conscious of the ideal ends, to which it is called.

These reactions could not, however, be favourable to a permanent fecundation of thought by life; this divergence between thought and life was pernicious to both of them; but it must be overcome, and this will be done as the Russian people grows into a nation, conscious of herself and acting by herself.

This unifying principle of self-conscious action can be realized in Russia, of course, only under liberal political conditions; in its strict sense it implies, moreover, a reciprocal acknowledgment of its value for every nation; the Russian nation must acknowledge, therefore, other nations just as she herself is acknowledged by them as a self-conscious cultured nation acting for the good of humanity, and thus she becomes, in concert with other nations, a part of humanity, and obtains, in agreement with them, her right to relative independence; and this right cannot be violated without trampling on the claim which humanity has on every one of its parts.