Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/477

Rh life for mankind; but it is far more difficult to live for mankind, to live in love from day to day, from minute to minute. In his mysticism, Vanja supplements this theory by modifying the words of the Gospel. "Just remember," he says, "the words 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' And he must lay down more than his life—his soul."

The logic is chaotic. Vanja presumes upon the boundless mercy of Christ, and hopes for pardon in the other world. He is superstitious, and George the rationalist is likewise superstitious.

Beyond question, Ropšin had in mind the frequency of suicide among the revolutionary intelligentsia. He must have been acquainted with the discussions concerning this matter which have formed a leading theme of recent literature. He may have been conversant with Mihailovskii's analysis. His own decision is entirely accordant with Dostoevskii's formula. He makes suicide appear as the logical end of the rationalist, the basis of whose mentality is his ego—an ego conceived as naught.

Stepniak's novel was written only twenty years before that of Ropšin, but how great is the difference between the characters portrayed in the two books, how widely sundered are the respective conceptions of the terrorist revolution. It is true that Andrei and George in Stepniak's book (presumably Ropšin was thinking of his predecessor's work when he chose the name of George for his hero) occasionally ask themselves whether they have the right to kill. The question was continually being asked by the opponents of the revolution, and Stepniak was certainly acquainted with Dostoevskii, but the enquiry is unhesitatingly answered by "a life for a life." Such is the creed of Stepniak's hero, and such was the explanation (if not the justification) of his own terrorist act. Shortly before his death (he was run over by a train in London in 1895) he wrote the following words in a girl's album: "Remain true to yourself and you will never know the pangs of conscience, which are the only real unhappiness in life." Stepniak, Brandes assures us, knew nothing of the pangs of conscience.

Stepniak's revolutionists have faith; they believe enthusiastically in Russia, in socialism, and in the social revolution; they are atheists, for atheism is one item of the nihilist program, but they have replaced belief in the old God by belief in