Interpretation of the revolution in the reports of the Moscow religious-philosophical society in memory of Vladimir Solovyov 1905–1907

Abstract

The article analyzes the revolutionary issues reflected in the reports of the Moscow Religious and Philosophical Society in memory of Vladimir Solovyov (hereinafter: MRFO) in the first period of its activity from 1905 to 1907. The article presents a brief overview of domestic and foreign studies of the activities of the MRFO, which is devoted to clarifying information about the reports made at meetings of the Society. To understand the key ideas presented in the reports, a wide context of the formation of the MRFO is given. The list of participants of the MRFO and the value of the contribution of the key participants to the Society’s activities are reviewed. Special attention is paid to ideological evolution of participants on the example of their attitude to revolutionary events. The main figures of the Society opposed the views of the liberal revolutionary intelligentsia to the concept of "Christian socialism" and "Christian progress", which allowed them to speak about a fundamentally different nature of the struggle for freedom - about the revolution of the spirit. Formation of the ideas of the most active figures of the MRFO (V.P. Sventsitsky, V.F. Ern and S.N. Bulgakov) were in mutual influence on each other. Berdyaev’s views on the conceptualization of the revolution were developing in a similar direction. The application of the method of textual comparison of reports presented at meetings of the Society, with other epistolary and scientific heritage of the figures of the same period, made possible not only to identify the positions of each of the most active members of the Society to the revolutionary events and socialism, and to assess their involvement in the revolutionary struggle, but also to trace their ideological and Christian evolution.