The social and political ideal of Alexander Herzen and ideology of republicanism

Abstract

The article offers a new look at the question of the ideological affiliation of Alexander Herzen. Usually the thinker is concidered to belong to either the revolutionary or the liberal tradition. In contrast, Herzen's legacy is viewed by the author in the context of the ideology of civil republicanism. The thesis that his political thought belongs to the left flank of republicanism is confirmed, in particular, by the fact that for Herzen the peasant community was not only the prototype of the future socialist system, but also a proto-civil institution of participation, which (in a transformed form) should form the basis of the political self-organization of the entire Russian society. In addition, Herzen's criticism of contemporary Europe is also partly carried out from a republican standpoint - he argues that the victorious "philistine spirit" in the West leads to depoliticization of society, degradation of the public sphere and to the unwillingness of Europeans to fight for true freedom and equality. Finally, in the mainstream of the republican tradition, Herzen criticizes the Russian autocracy as a tyrannical, arbitrary power, the subordination of which is incompatible with human dignity. According to the author, consideration of the ideas of Herzen, from a republican standpoint, allows us to take a fresh look at many plots of the intellectual history of Russia in the middle of the 19th century.