Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/31

Rh some time of the world's history, been the dwelling-place of Reason pure and unadulterated,—and thus it had gone on, from East to West, leaving behind it a trail of national corpses. It had never reached the Slavic race, but had attained its highest wisdom in Germany. And so the Slavophiles wished to import it.

It is clear that the Slavophilism was an expression of race consciousness, and of a growing sense of national unity. The Slavophiles felt that the Russian people, hence the Slavic race, is predestined to play an important role in the history of the world. The influence of this idea was tremendous. On the one hand, it found expression in "official" aspirations for Slavic ascendency. On the other, it influenced revolutionary thought, and sought to liberate Russia from officialdom.

We must note how the Slavophile movement is connected with the attempt to find, in the national social structure, that unit which differentiated Russia from the countries of West Europe. It was felt that Russia was destined to be the great hope of the world largely because it was running a different historical course from that of other nations. And the differentiating factor was the "rural" community. The cry was for Russia to purge its social system of the conditions that prevented a return to the communal mode of life. By far the saddest of these conditions was serfdom. The abolition of serfdom meant the emancipation of an enslaved people. Liberate the serfs, re-establish a free people under the old, simple form of Russian communal life,—and the problems of the country will be settled for all time. And so the watchword of the literature of the 30's and 40's became, Abolition, the People, Simplification,—words that threatened the end of the land-owning nobility,—the master-class. The "Tragedy of the Master-Class" is the fitting title given to the literature of this period.