Russia and the West: The Views of Pobedonostsev

Abstract

Throughout history of Russia, especially since time of Peter Great, one of central problems for state and its people has been its relationship with that part of world which Russians have consistently referred to as the In nineteenth and twentieth centuries in particular, many Russian statesmen, philosophers, and men of letters have meditated and debated about nature and significance of Russia and its culture and about relationships which had existed and even ought to exist with West. It is naturally difficult, perhaps even impossible, to provide a clear definition of the as it was used by even one prominent Russian, because meaning for any one person changed from time to time. Moreover, West itself was not and is not a constant: The West of Hitler or Picasso was not that of Gladstone and Daudet or of Napoleon and Goethe. One of most important and interesting statesmen and philosophers of Russia in nineteenth century was Constantine P. Pobedonostsev, who was ober-prokuror, or director general, of Most Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church from 1880 until 1905, and who was tutor of last two tsars. Pobedonostsev provided basic philosophy for government of Alexander III, and he served as symbol of reaction in Russia throughout last quarter of nineteenth century. At same time, he represents in a remarkably clear way riddle West posed for Russia. Brought up as both a Muscovite and a Westerner with remarkable knowledge of Western languages, literature, and thought, at same time he revered Russia's traditions, institutions, and values, and sought to deny information concerning West to his fellow Russians, except for ruling elite or those whom he called the aristocracy of intellect. For these trusted members of ruling group, access to West, its pleasures and its ideas, was relatively open, as it is today for a similar group in Soviet Union. He resisted and opposed political ideas and institutions of West, but he mined works of Western writers for his own political philosophy, and he treasured intellectual pleasures he found in his reading and in his travels. Moreover, he advocated