Chapter 18 one six

Tolstoy never abandoned art.A great artist, even if he wants to, cannot give up the reason for his own existence.For religious reasons he may not publish; but he cannot but write.Tolstoy never stopped his artistic creation.Paul Boyer, who met him in the last years of his life at Yasnaya Polyana, said that he was immersed in preaching or literary work and purely fanciful careers;When he has finished some treatise on society, such as "Book to the Ruler" or "Book to the Ruled", he will write a beautiful story that he has imagined for a long time, such as his "Haji The epic of the army in "Murat", the work singing the Caucasian war and the resistance of the mountain people, was born in this situation.See Le Times, Paris, November 2, 1902.Art is his pleasure, his relaxation.But he thought it was vanity to use art as an ornament.On the 26th of the first month of 1903, he wrote to his aunt, Countess Alexandra Tolstoya, saying: "Please don't blame me for doing such silly things at the end of my life! These boring things fill my free time, and make my mind full of serious thoughts rest." He once compiled a "Daily Must-Read Vincent (1904-05), Tolstoy regards this anthology as one of his main works: ""Daily must-read Vincent is a very conscious thing in my work, and I attach great importance to it..." (August 1909 Jan 9th to Jan Štika) which collects many writers’ thoughts on life and truth—it can be said to be a real anthology on world outlook, covering everything from oriental holy books to modern artists ,—but apart from this book, almost all of his works written since 1900 are unprinted manuscripts.These works were not printed until after Tolstoy's death.The catalog is very long, and we can cite several important ones such as: "The Posthumous Works of Old Man Kuzmich-Diary", "Old Sergey", "Haji Murat", "The Devil" , "Living Corpse" (twelve acts), "Forged Notes", "Diary of a Madman", "Light in the Darkness" (five acts), "The Source of All Qualities" (a melodrama), several beautiful Short stories: "After the Prom", "What I Seen in a Dream", "Khodenka" and so on.See the bibliography of Tolstoy's posthumous works at the end of this book.But the main work is still Tolstoy's.It covers forty years of his life, from the time the Caucasus went to war until his death; it is the most naked confession a great man could write.

Instead, he boldly and passionately published his offensive and mystical writings on social polemics.From 1900 to 1910, his strongest energies were spent in the polemics of social issues, Russia experienced unprecedented panic, and the foundation of the empire seemed to be shaken, to the point where it was about to fall apart.The Russo-Japanese War, the loss after the defeat, the turmoil of the revolution.Mutiny in the navy and army, massacres, riots in the countryside, seemed to be symptoms of the "end of the century"—as the title of a Tolstoy book suggests. —The Great Panic reached its apogee in 1904 and 1905.During that period, Tolstoy published a series of resonant works "War and Revolution". The Russian title of this book is "The Only Necessity". The Great Sin, The End of the Century.Most of them were abridged a lot by the censorship committee during his lifetime, or they were completely banned from distribution.Until the Revolution, his works were popular in Russia in the form of manuscripts hidden in the reader's coat pocket.Even today, when everything is printed, Communist censorship is no more lenient than in imperial times.During these last ten years he occupied the only place, not only in Russia, but in the whole world, the only one who did not affiliate to any party, did not taint any national color, and broke away from the Church from which he was excommunicated.His excommunication took place on February 22, 1901.The reason is that there is a chapter in the book that talks about the mass sacrifice.Unfortunately, this chapter was deleted by the translator in the French translation.His rational logic and firm belief forced him to "choose one of the two ways of leaving others or leaving the truth".He remembered a Russian proverb: "A rich man steals as much as an old man tells a lie"; and he separated himself from the others in order to speak the truth.The truth, he told everyone completely.The old man who extinguished lies continues to attack all religious and social superstitions, all idols with courage.He was not alone in the tyranny of antiquity, the tyranny of the church, and the royal power; perhaps his anger towards them had calmed down a little when they threw stones at them.People already know them, so they won't be so scary!Moreover, they do not deceive people in doing His office.Tolstoy's letter to Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, on the issue of state ownership of land, see "The Great Sin" (printed in 1905).With no deference due to the emperor, but full of tenderness for people, he called the Russian emperor "dear brother" and asked him to "forgive him if he inadvertently displeased him"; The signature is: "I wish you true happiness your brother".

But what Tolstoy most unforgives, what Tolstoy denounces most viciously, is the new lie, because the old lie has revealed its true colors.What he hated was not slavery but the illusion of freedom.But among the admirers of the new idol, we do not know which one Tolstoy hated more: socialists or "liberals." His distaste for the Liberals was old.He already had this antipathy when he was an officer in the battle of Sevastopol and in the literary society of St. Petersburg.This used to be one of the main reasons for his feud with Turgenev.This proud aristocrat, a man of great descent, could not stand these intellectuals and their fantasies that, voluntarily or not, according to their ideals, the real happiness of the country could be achieved.The true colors of the Russians are very strong, and they are of old origin. Leroy Beaulieu said that he is "a pure Muscovite native, a great Russian of Slavic descent, and a Finnish mixed race. In physique, he is closer to the commoners and farther than nobles". (See French "Two Ball Magazine", December 15, 1910) He has always held a contemptuous attitude towards the new theories of the Liberal Party, these constitutional ideas from the West, and his two trips to Europe It only strengthened his conviction.Returning from his first trip, he wrote: "Avoid Liberal Ambition." 1857.

Returning from his second trip, he believed that a "privileged society" had no right to educate people it did not know in its own way. ... 1862. In the book, his contempt for the Liberals is vividly displayed.Levin refused to join the cause of popular education and New Deal in the interior.The electoral assemblies of the provincial gentry show every kind of deceitful organization to exchange a country from an old conservative administration for a new liberal one.Nothing has changed, only a deceit has been added which is neither excusable nor worth the centuries spent on it. "We may be really worthless," said the representative of the old regime, "but we have existed for more than a thousand years."

And the Liberals abused the phrase "the people, the will of the people..." to increase Tolstoy's resentment.well!What do they know about the people?What is the people? Especially when liberalism achieved considerable success and would lead to the convening of the first Congress, Tolstoy expressed fierce opposition to constitutional ideas. "In recent times, the transfiguration of Christianity has given birth to a new kind of deceit, which has enslaved our people even more. A complicated system of parliamentary elections has been used to make our people imagine that they are directly electing their own people. When they are represented, they have participated in the government, and in obeying their representatives, they obey their own will, they are free. This is a deception. The people cannot express their will, even by universal suffrage. Impossible: first, because in a country with millions of people, group will does not exist; second, even if it existed, most of the votes would not be of this will Needless to say that the legislature and administration of the elected are not for the public good but for the maintenance of their own power,--nor that the depravity of the people is often due to the oppression and illegality of elections--this lie is especially deadly , because those who submit to this system will fall into a state of self-satisfied slavery... These free men are no more than those prisoners who think they are free because they can elect their warders to preside over the prison... The people of despotism may be perfectly free, even when tyranny is exacting. But the people of a constitutional state are always slaves, because he recognizes the lawfulness of the violence that In slavery!" See The End of the World. (1905) Tolstoy said in a telegram to a certain American daily: "The activities of the various provincial assemblies are aimed at limiting the authority of the autocratic government and establishing a representative government. Whether they succeed or not, Its inevitable result is that the real improvement of society will be more and more retarded. Political disturbances make the work of improvement by external methods terrible, and stop the real progress. countries, such as France, England, and the United States.” In reply to a letter from a woman who asked him to join the Committee for the Advancement of Civilian Education, Tolstoy had other accusations against the Liberals: they were perpetually fraudulent. out of fear, they are complicit in the dictatorship, their participation in politics gives the government moral authority, accustoms them to compromise, and is used as a tool by the government.Alexander II once said that all Liberals sell themselves for honor, if not for money.Alexander III had destroyed his father's liberal cause without danger; the liberals whispered to each other that it displeased them, but they still participated in the judiciary, served the state, and served public opinion; They make metaphors about what is metaphorical; but they keep silent about things that are forbidden to be talked about, and they publish in the newspapers what they are ordered to publish.So did they under Nicholas II. "Would the liberals protest when the young sovereign, knowing nothing and knowing nothing, shamelessly and presumptuously answered the representative of the people? Absolutely not... In every way, the young emperor was being despicable Shameless flattery and flattery."

In the abandonment of liberalism, contempt rules.As for socialism, Tolstoy would have hated everything if he had not forbidden himself to hate everything.He doubles down on socialism because it combines two lies in one: liberty and science.Is it not based on a certain economics, whose absolute laws hold the chances of world progress? Tolstoy was very harsh on science.To this modern superstition, "these useless questions: the theory of the origin of races, the study of the seven colors, the exploration of the essence of radium ingots, the theory of numbers, fossil animals, and all other useless debates, for people today and in the Middle Ages about the conception of the Virgin Mary. As important as the duality of objects", Tolstoy wrote a series of words, full of sharp irony. —he mocked "these servants of science, like the servants of the church, are confident and convincing that they are the masters of mankind, and believe in their invincibility, but they can never agree among themselves, divided into many small factions, like the church, these Sects become the main cause of vulgarity and immorality, and make it impossible for suffering human beings to relieve their sufferings at an early date, because they have abandoned the only ingredient that can unite mankind: religious consciousness.See War and Revolution.

His uneasiness was still greater, and his anger intensified, as he saw the dangerous weapon of this new zeal fall into the hands of those who professed to promote the regeneration of man.When he resorts to violence, he is nothing less than a revolutionary artist.But revolutionary intellectuals and theoreticians are what he hates: they are harmful pedants, proud and dry souls, people who do not love human beings but only their own ideas.Typical of such characters is Novodvorov, the revolutionary demagogue whose intelligence is stifled by extreme vanity and selfishness.No imagination, no doubt.Behind him, followed by a worker-turned-revolutionary, Markel, who wants to revolution is to be oppressed and revengeful. He worships science, but he doesn't know what science is, and he blindly opposes the church.In "Three Dead Again" or "God and Man", there are also some typical examples of new revolutionary youth.

Thoughts, and humble thoughts at that. "The purpose of socialism is to meet the lowest needs of human beings: his material comfort. And even this purpose cannot be achieved by the method it proposes." At the end of 1904, to the Japanese Abe Wei Sanshu .See "Asia's Response to Tolstoy". In fact, it is loveless.It hates only the oppressors, and "envies the security and sweetness of life of the rich, who swarm like flies around filth."See Danna Lomo: "Tolstoy's Quotations" (Socialism Chapter).When socialism triumphs, the world will look terrible.The vagabonds of Europa will pounce on the weak with redoubled force, they will make them slaves, and the former proletarians of Europa will be able to enjoy themselves as comfortably and at leisure as they did in the days of the Roman Empire.Cit.

Happily, the most quintessential force of socialism is spent in speeches in smoke,—as Jaurès said: "What an astonishing orator! There is everything in his speeches,—and what Nor... Socialism is a bit like Russian Orthodoxy: you go after it, you think you've got it, and it turns around and says, 'But no! I'm not what you believe, I'm something else ' It plays you in the palm of your hand... Patience! Let time take its course. Socialist theory will be withdrawn from the drawing-room to the basement as quickly as a woman's fashion." Thor Erstet talks to Paul Boyer. (See Le Times, Paris, December 4, 1902.) However, Tolstoy's declaration of war on the liberals and socialists in this way is not for the sake of dictatorship; After defeating all troublesome and dangerous elements, he can fight with great momentum between the old and new worlds.Because he also believed in revolution.But his revolution has another understanding than that of ordinary revolutionaries: it is like the mysterious believers in the Middle Ages, expecting the Holy Spirit to rule the future: "I believe that at this certain time, the Great Revolution began, and it was in the Christian world. It has been brewing for two thousand years,—this revolution will replace the broken Christianity and the ruling system derived from the true Christianity, this revolution will be the basis of human equality and true freedom,—the principle of equality and liberty It is the wish of all sane beings." See The End of the World.

Which time will this prophet choose to announce a new age of happiness and love?It is the darkest time in Russia, the time of devastation and disgrace.what!What a wonderful function of creative confidence!All around it is light—even night.Tolstoy sees the opportunity of rebirth in death—in the catastrophe of Manchuria, in the disintegration of the Russian army, in the terrible anarchy and bloody class struggle.The logic of his sweet dreams led him to this curious conclusion in the victory of Japan, that Russia should renounce all wars: for the non-Christian masses tended to have a greater share in wars than the Christian masses who had "experienced the servile class." excellent. —Is this teaching his nation to back down? ——No, this is the highest pride.Russia should renounce all wars, because he should complete the "Great Revolution".

Look, the preacher of Yasnaya Polyana, the old man against violence, unknowingly predicted the communist revolution!Beginning in 1865, Tolstoy had already spoken about social chaos: "Industry is theft. This truth, as long as there are human beings in the world, will be more true than the British Constitution...Russia has historically Its mission is to imbue the world with the concept of the social commons of the land. The revolution in Russia can only be based on this principle. It will not be against the emperor and against despotism, but against private land.” "The revolution of 1905, the revolution that will liberate mankind from tyrannical oppression, should have begun in Russia.—It has begun." Why does Russia play the role of this chosen nation? —for the new revolution must above all remedy the "great evil," the monopoly of the rich few, the slavery of millions, the cruelest slavery. "The cruelest form of slavery is landlessness. For the slave of one master is the slave of one; but he who has no right to land is the slave of many." (see Chapter VII) and because no nation is This absurd situation is as familiar and clear as the Russian nation feels.At that time, Russia was indeed in a special situation. Even if Tolstoy was wrong to think that the special situation in Russia was the situation in Europe as a whole, we should not be surprised that he had a special understanding of the suffering that he saw. Sensitive—In "The Great Sin", there is a conversation between him and the villagers, describing that those people lack bread because they have no land, and they all hope to regain the land in their hearts.Peasants in Russia account for 80 percent of the total population.Tolstoy said that under the system of big landlords, tens of millions of people suffered from famine.When people talked to him about remedies for these woes, about freedom of speech, about the separation of church and state, about the eight-hour day, etc., he laughed at them: "All people who pretend to be looking for a way to save the public's suffering are reminiscent of In the case of the stage, when the entire audience sees an actor hiding, the supporting actor also sees his companion clearly, but pretends not to see it at all, and tries to divert everyone's attention." Except for returning the land to farming There is no other way of salvation than human beings.In order to solve this land problem, Tolstoy agreed with Henry George's idea of ​​imposing a land value tax and abolishing all miscellaneous taxes.This is Thor's economic bible, and he refers to it forever, even in his writings, sometimes in full sentences of George's. But above all because the Russian nation was the most imbued with true Christianity of all nations, and the revolution that broke out at that time was to fulfill the laws of unity and fraternity in the name of Christ.But this law of love can never be fulfilled if it is not based on the law of non-resistance. "Non-resistance is the most important principle. Mutual aid without knowing that there is no resistance will never be fruitful." (see "The End of the World") and no resistance has always been the main character of the Russian nation. "The Russian nation always has a different attitude towards the authorities than other countries in Europe. He never fights with the authorities; he never participates in politics, so he cannot be stained by politics. He believes that participating in politics is a thing that should be avoided. Sin. An ancient legend says that the Russians begged the Varangians to rule them. Most Russians have always preferred to endure acts of violence without retaliation. They are always submissive..." Voluntary submission and servile obedience are Totally different.In his letter to friends in 1900, he complained that people misunderstood his doctrine of non-resistance.He said: People confuse "don't repay grievances for grievances" with "don't resist the evil that is done to you".The latter means an attitude of indifference to the evils suffered... "It is true: resistance to evil is the only end of Christianity, and not resisting evil is the most powerful struggle against evil." It can be compared to Gandhi's doctrine - this is also resistance for love and sacrifice!This is also the bravery and fortitude of the soul, which is completely opposite to the indifference and indifference.It's just that Gandhi enhanced the hero's power even more. "The true Christian can submit, and he can only submit to violence without resistance, but he cannot submit, that is, cannot recognize the lawfulness of violence." See The End of the World. As Tolstoy wrote these lines, he was agitated by the most tragic example of a people's non-resistance - the bloodshed in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905. The demonstration movement, a group of unarmed people, led by the priest Gabon, was shot without a cry of hatred, without a gesture of self-defense. For a long time the old believers of Russia, known as "converts," stubbornly persisted in their peaceful resistance against the state, in spite of all oppression, and did not recognize the authority of the government as legitimate.Tolstoy once described two typical "blind followers": one is at the end of the book, and the other is in the middle of "Three More Dead".After the catastrophe of the Russo-Japanese War, this idea spread more rapidly to the rural people.The number of refusals to serve in the army increased day by day; the more brutally oppressed they were, the more rebellious they became. —In addition, all provinces and nationalities, who did not know Tolstoy, also practiced absolute peaceful resistance against the state: the Caucasian Dukhobors began in 1898, the Caucasian Dukhobors around 1905 The Georgians of Guri, Tolstoy was far less influential on these movements than they were on him; and the significance of his work, contrary to what the revolutionary writers (such as Gorky) say, is indeed that of the old Russian nation. voice.After Tolstoy accused the riots of the provincial councils, Gorky expressed his dissatisfaction, writing: "This man has become a slave to his ideas. For a long time he has left the real life of Russia and has not heard the voice of the people." No. He is too far ahead of Russia." He is very humble and serious about people who risk their lives to do what he preaches.For him, it was a severe pain not to be abused by the authorities.He longed for martyrdom, but the government was too good to satisfy him. "All around me, people abused my friends, but not as much as I, though I was the only one who could be counted as harmful. Obviously because I was not worthy of abuse, and I was really ashamed of it." (1892 To Teneromo on May 16, 1894) "It is embarrassing that I am in a state of freedom." (To Teneromo on June 1, 1894) Why did he do those things and still be so peaceful nothing?God only knows!He insulted the emperor, he attacked the state as "that loathsome idol for which life, liberty, and reason were sacrificed." (See "The End of the World"; see his excerpted history of Russia in "War and Revolution") Here is the devil's fair: "Ivan the mad devil, Peter I the drunkard, Catherine I the foolish cook, Elizabeth the licentious, Paul the debauched, Alexander I the kinsman” (but he was the only monarch who commanded Tolstoy’s secret affections), “the cruel and foolish Nicholas I, the unintelligent Alexander II Alexander III the wicked, Nicholas II the fool, wild and ignorant..." He has no lessons for the Dukhobors, the Georgians, as well as for the escapees from the military service look. "He who cannot endure any trials can teach nothing to those who endure trials." Letter to the deserter Goncharenko, January 19, 1905. He begged clemency to "everyone whose words and writings could lead to misery" in his 1897 letter to the Dukhobors.He never encouraged a person to refuse military service.This is up to each individual to decide.If he had any dealings with a man who was hesitating, "he always advised him to accept military service and not to resist, as long as it was not morally impossible for him."For, if a man hesitates, it is because he is immature; "after all, it is better to have one more soldier than one more hypocrite or apostate, which is the state into which people who do things beyond their abilities are prone to fall" . Letter to a friend in 1900.He doubted the resolve of Goncharenko, who had evaded military service.He feared that the youth was driven by pride and vanity, and not "for the love of God."Letter to Goncharenko on February 12, 1905.To the Dukhobors he wrote to them, teaching them not to persist in their resistance for the sake of pride and human pride, but to "save, if possible, their feeble wives and children from misery. No one will Blame them for that."They "should hold on only while the Spirit of Christ has come upon their hearts, and because of this they will be happy through pain".Letter to the people of Dukhobor in 1897.In ordinary circumstances he begged all those who had been abused "to not, under any circumstances, break their bond with their abuser."Letter to Goncharenko on January 19, 1905.Love even Herod, the cruelest of antiquity, as he wrote to a friend: "You say: 'One cannot love Herod.'—I do not understand, But I feel, and you feel, that we ought to love King Herod. I know you know that if I do not love him, I shall suffer, and I shall have no life." Letter to Friends, November 1905.Tolstoy's most important works on the state question are: "Christian Spirit and Patriotism" (1894); "Patriotism and Government" (1900); 1902); The Russo-Japanese War (1904); A Tribute to Those Who Escaped Military Service (1909). The purity of the gods, the ardor of love, and finally even the famous saying in the Gospel "Love your neighbor as yourself" could not satisfy him, because this is still a disguised form of selfishness!He thought the original text was wrong, and the second item in the "Ten Commandments" should be "Love your fellow man as he is", that is, as God. (See Conversation with Teneromo.) Some people think that this love is too broad, and after being so cleansed of human selfishness, won't love become empty? ——But, who else hates "abstract love" more than Tolstoy? "The greatest sin today is the abstract love of mankind, the love for someone far away... how easy it is to love someone we don't know and never meet! We need no sacrifice What. And at the same time we are complacent! Conscience has been teased.—No. Love your neighbor,—love those who live with you and hinder you.” Ibid. Most writings on Tolstoy say that his philosophy and his beliefs were not original: it is true that the beauty of these ideas is too permanent to appear as the prevailing fashion of the time. . . People say his philosophy and beliefs are utopian.And that's not bad: they're utopian, like the gospels.A seer is an ideal; his eternal life begins here on earth.Now that he has appeared before us, since we have seen the last of the prophets, and the only one among the artists with a golden light on his brow,—this fact seems to me more peculiar than the fact that there is one more religion and one philosophy in the world more important.Whoever is blind to this great miracle of the soul, to the boundless love of this wounded world, is blind!