The Origins of Russian Political Modernity: Did Radishchev “Crib” His Enlightenment Project From Kant? (And If So, Why Didn’t He Cite the Source?)

Abstract

The paper argues that Alexander Radishchev’s well-known work A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790), which is a seminal text for the Russian Enlightenment, contains an unattributed passage borrowed from Immanuel Kant’s essay “What Is Enlightenment” (1784). That passage is by no means extraneous; it is crucial for understanding the logic of Radishchev’s republican Enlightenment project, which was an important origin of political modernity in Russia. In keeping with Kant, Radishchev views the Enlightenment as a singular historical stage in the evolution of European societies and as the core component of emancipation for the modern era, which represents the transition of European societies from a state of subjugation to despotic powers (the “state of slavery”) to a state of autonomy or self-governance (the “state of freedom”). Although at the time Journey was written Kant’s article was not widely known in Russia, Radishchev was clearly familiar with it. In addition to the passage directly transcribed from Kant’s article, Radishchev’s text addresses all the basic political and philosophical issues that Kant linked to the concept of “the public use of reason,” although Radishchev tailored them to the socio-political situation in late eighteenth-century Russia. However, if Radishchev really borrowed the formulation of the Enlightenment project directly from Kant — or at least did so partially — why wouldn’t he cite his source? Moreover, why did he mislead his readers, along with generations of literary historians, by using confusing references? The paper argues that addressing these questions through the lens of contemporary political theory would allow a better understanding of the distinctive features of the Enlightenment in Russia and literary practices during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.