К вопросу об этике революционного насилия и некоторых практиках ее воплощения в феврале-октябре 1917 года на Урале

Abstract

The article focuses on the revolutionary ethics of the Russian intelligentsia based on the idea of the service to the people, sacrifice and the possibility of using violence in the struggle for a future happy society. The revolutionary ethics based on violence was expressed in the fact that the very idea of revolution became absolute. Inherent in the revolutionary movement was a fanatical readiness to sacrifice themselves and others to the abstract idea of revolutionary victory for the sake of abstract human happiness. Revolutionary ethics subverted the religious values that preserved the moral health of society. To be sure, the idea of revolutionary violence was primarily shaped by the subversive activities of the revolutionary Russian intelligentsia. But this process was also shaped by other events of world history. Researchers have noted the great influence of the First World War, in which Russia was drawn by the ruling elite. Maintaining the stability of society on the basis of empathy and respect for human life was also one of the tendencies of the era which the revolutionary intelligentsia ignored. This tendency was expressed in Tolstoy's doctrine of non-violence (non-resistance to evil with violence) and also in collections of articles “Problems of Idealism” (1902), “Milestones” (1909), and “From Depth” (1918), which expressed religious and ethical values. The practices of embodying revolutionary ethics from February to October 1917 in the Urals on the basis of archival historical sources have also been considered in the article. The February Revolution of 1917 intensified the politicization of public consciousness which was largely tragic (including intelligentsia) in conditions of the general low level of culture of the masses. The author concludes that the democratization of the political life of the Russian society in February - October 1917 was accompanied by the implementation of the ideas of revolutionary overthrow of the existing foundations, developed by the revolutionary intelligentsia. This process was complemented by the destructive instincts of the masses, and the Bolsheviks’ coming to power in October 1917 was a visible embodiment of the violent seizure of power.