Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/54

28

S an appendix to what has just been said we must discuss Černyševskii's relationship to Marx and to historical materialism.

From the Marxist side we learn that Černyševskii was a utopian socialist, and that he was an "idealist" notwithstanding his materialism in the explanation of social phenomena. Some Marxists tell us, however, that Černyševskii came nearer than any other man of his day to scientific socialism and historical materialism.

It has been shown above that Černyševskii's conception of history differed from that of Marx. But the main point is that the Russian considered the understanding to be the motive force of history and of human life in general—though he failed to explain how and in accordance with what laws the understanding or the brain undergoes modifications. The understanding, culture, science, opinion (Černyševskii's terminology lacks precision and uniformity), are the primary motive force, that which sets other forces at work. In What is to be Done the mission of Rahmetov, the ideal man of the new time, is described in the following terms: "Such persons are few in number, but through them the general life blossoms, and without them it would be choked; they are few in number, but they enable all other men to breathe, for without them these would be stifled. Honest and good men exist in plenty, but those of whom I am thinking are rare specimens. They are like theine in tea, like the bouquet in a fine wine, they are the source of the strength and the fragrance. They are the flower of the optimates; they are the primal sources of energy; they are the salt of the salt of the earth."

Thus it is Rahmetov and his kind who count, and not the methods of production! In his novel, Černyševskii presented us with no more than eight such primal sources of energy. In history he had found one, Lessing. With contagious enthusiasm, Černyševskii describes this hero of the spirit and his significance for the Germany of that day. "Though politics and industry may move noisily along in the foreground of history, history none the less bears witness to the fact that knowledge is the essential energy to which politics, industry, and all else in human life, are subordinated." In the same sense, in his historical disquisitions, it is Černyševskii's way