Title: Leo Tolstoy's critique of socialism in the context of his religious ideas
Source document: Sacra. 2021, vol. 19, iss. 2, pp. 25-40
Extent
25-40
-
ISSN1214-5351 (print)2336-4483 (online)
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/144741
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Despite the religiosity of late Tolstoy, the studies of his socio-political thought tend to neglect its religious basis and instead draw parallels with socialism. This paper aims to challenge the image of Tolstoy as a socialist by analyzing the latter's attitudes on socialism in the context of his religious ideas. Using Eric Voegelin's approach, the paper shows that Tolstoy's thought cannot be called political but rather moral. Tolstoy saw politics themselves as problematic and promoted the idea of moral self-transformation. The analysis of Tolstoy's two works, What Then Must We Do? (1885–1886) and The Kingdom of God is within You (1891), shows his hostility towards socialism. He claimed that it could not solve social problems and stressed that the only true means of resistance lay in personal moral growth and individual acts of disobedience.
References
[1] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958a). Diary 1847–1854. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 46 (pp. 1–242). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[2] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958b). Pis'mo V.P. Botkinu (1856) [A Letter to V.P. Botkin]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 60 (pp. 167–169). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[3] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958c). Ispoved' (1882) [Confession]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 23 (pp. 1–59). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[4] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958d). V chem moya vera? (1884) [What I Believe?]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 23 (pp. 304–468). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[5] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958e). Tak chto zhe nam delat'? (1885–1886) [What Then Must We Do?]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 25 (pp. 182–411). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[6] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958f). Tsarstvo bozhie vnutri vas (1891) [Kingdom of God Is within You]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 28 (pp. 1–293). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[7] Agarin, Y. (2019). Trudami Ruk Svoikh: Tolstovskiye Zemledel'cheskiye Kolonii v Dorevolyutsionnoi Rossii [By the Labor of Their Hands: Tolstoy Land Agricultural Colonies in Pre-revolutionary Russia]. Мoscow: Common Place.
[8] Asmus, V. (1957). Religiozno-filosofskie traktaty L. N. Tolstogo [Religious-Philosophical Treatises of Leo Tolstoy]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie socinenii, Vol. 23 (pp. iv–xxxi). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[9] Bonch-Bruevich, V. (1973). Raskol I Sektantstvo v Rossii (1904) [A Schism and Sectarianism in Russia]. In V. Bonch-Bruevich, Izbrannye Ateisticheskie Proizvedeniya (pp. 173–213). Moscow: Mysl'.
[10] Christoyannopoulos, A. (2019). Tolstoy's Political Thought: Christian Anarcho-Pacifist Iconoclasm Then and Now. New York: Routledge.
[11] Gorky, M. (1997). Razrushenie Lichnosti (1908) [Destruction of the Individual]. In Y. V. Zobnin (Ed.), Maxim Gorky: Pro et Contra (pp. 49–94). Saint-Petersburg: RKHGI.
[12] Lenin, V. (1973). Leo Tolstoy as the Mirror of the Russian Revolution (1908). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 15 (pp. 202–209). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[13] Lenin, V. (1973). L. N. Tolstoy and the Modern Labour Movement (1910). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 16 (pp. 330–332). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[14] Lenin, V. (1973). Tolstoy and the Proletarian Struggle (1910). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 16 (pp. 353–354). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[15] Lenin, V. (1973). The Assessment of the Russian Revolution (1908). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 15 (pp. 50–62). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[16] Lunacharsky, A. (1963). K predstoyashchemu chestvovaniyu L. N. Tolstogo (1928) [For the Upcoming Honoring of Leo Tolstoy]. In A. Lunacharsky, Sobranie Sochineniy, Vol. 1 (pp. 106–107). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[17] Meleshko, Y. (2006). Khristianskaya etika L. N. Tolstogo [Christian Ethics of Leo Tolstoy]. Moscow: Nauka.
[18] Plekhanov, G. (1952). Karl Marx i Lev Tolstoy (1911) [Karl Marx and Leo Tolstoy]. In S. P. Bychkova (Ed.), L. N. Tolstoy v Russkoi Kritike (pp. 405–427). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[19] Voegelin, E. (1997). Introduction to the 'History of Political Ideas'. In E. Voegelin, Collected Writings, Vol. 19 (pp. 225–237). Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
[20] Zorin, A. (2020). Zhizn' L'va Tolstogo: Opyt Prochteniya [The Life of Leo Tolstoy: A Reading]. Moscow: NLO.
[2] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958b). Pis'mo V.P. Botkinu (1856) [A Letter to V.P. Botkin]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 60 (pp. 167–169). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[3] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958c). Ispoved' (1882) [Confession]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 23 (pp. 1–59). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[4] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958d). V chem moya vera? (1884) [What I Believe?]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 23 (pp. 304–468). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[5] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958e). Tak chto zhe nam delat'? (1885–1886) [What Then Must We Do?]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 25 (pp. 182–411). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[6] Tolstoy, L. (1928–1958f). Tsarstvo bozhie vnutri vas (1891) [Kingdom of God Is within You]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 28 (pp. 1–293). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[7] Agarin, Y. (2019). Trudami Ruk Svoikh: Tolstovskiye Zemledel'cheskiye Kolonii v Dorevolyutsionnoi Rossii [By the Labor of Their Hands: Tolstoy Land Agricultural Colonies in Pre-revolutionary Russia]. Мoscow: Common Place.
[8] Asmus, V. (1957). Religiozno-filosofskie traktaty L. N. Tolstogo [Religious-Philosophical Treatises of Leo Tolstoy]. In L. Tolstoy, Polnoe sobranie socinenii, Vol. 23 (pp. iv–xxxi). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[9] Bonch-Bruevich, V. (1973). Raskol I Sektantstvo v Rossii (1904) [A Schism and Sectarianism in Russia]. In V. Bonch-Bruevich, Izbrannye Ateisticheskie Proizvedeniya (pp. 173–213). Moscow: Mysl'.
[10] Christoyannopoulos, A. (2019). Tolstoy's Political Thought: Christian Anarcho-Pacifist Iconoclasm Then and Now. New York: Routledge.
[11] Gorky, M. (1997). Razrushenie Lichnosti (1908) [Destruction of the Individual]. In Y. V. Zobnin (Ed.), Maxim Gorky: Pro et Contra (pp. 49–94). Saint-Petersburg: RKHGI.
[12] Lenin, V. (1973). Leo Tolstoy as the Mirror of the Russian Revolution (1908). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 15 (pp. 202–209). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[13] Lenin, V. (1973). L. N. Tolstoy and the Modern Labour Movement (1910). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 16 (pp. 330–332). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[14] Lenin, V. (1973). Tolstoy and the Proletarian Struggle (1910). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 16 (pp. 353–354). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[15] Lenin, V. (1973). The Assessment of the Russian Revolution (1908). In V. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 15 (pp. 50–62). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
[16] Lunacharsky, A. (1963). K predstoyashchemu chestvovaniyu L. N. Tolstogo (1928) [For the Upcoming Honoring of Leo Tolstoy]. In A. Lunacharsky, Sobranie Sochineniy, Vol. 1 (pp. 106–107). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[17] Meleshko, Y. (2006). Khristianskaya etika L. N. Tolstogo [Christian Ethics of Leo Tolstoy]. Moscow: Nauka.
[18] Plekhanov, G. (1952). Karl Marx i Lev Tolstoy (1911) [Karl Marx and Leo Tolstoy]. In S. P. Bychkova (Ed.), L. N. Tolstoy v Russkoi Kritike (pp. 405–427). Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura.
[19] Voegelin, E. (1997). Introduction to the 'History of Political Ideas'. In E. Voegelin, Collected Writings, Vol. 19 (pp. 225–237). Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
[20] Zorin, A. (2020). Zhizn' L'va Tolstogo: Opyt Prochteniya [The Life of Leo Tolstoy: A Reading]. Moscow: NLO.