Chapter 2 two

The second concentric circle is the era and society at that time. Written in 1867-1868.At that time, Russia was undergoing the "serfdom reform" in 1861, and capitalism was developing rapidly.There are not only more and more bureaucratic capital, but also landlords and capitalists who have abandoned agriculture for business, and some newly prosperous middle-class usurers and businessmen.At the same time, foreign capital also poured in, and gradually took control of Russia's economic lifeline. It reflects the Russian society after the reform in 1861 from different aspects.There are dignitaries, political giants, landowner and capitalist Totsky, general Yepanchin who owns a large number of real estate, factories and company shareholders, all kinds of operators, speculators and usurers, prominent, There are noble ladies with great influence, there are official wives who are ostentatious, arty, and protect others with literature and art, there are clowns who flatter horses, and there are poets who are opportunistic and prostitute themselves... In short, there are so many.This is a country transformed from a feudal military empire to a capitalist one.This is a society full of opportunism, extravagance, luxury, and shamelessness.Nastasya Filippovna grew up in such a world of jackals.It is this evil society that caused her tragic experience.However, she is just one of thousands of Russian women who have been bullied and insulted.If the author once compared the dark and dark Omsk prison fort where he served four years of hard labor to a "house of death", then for the majority of Russian people, Russia at that time was just an enlarged "house of death" Or hell on earth.

This is an era when capitalist wolves are in power and rampant.Lebedev once used symbolism to explain the prophecies about the end of the world in the New Testament Revelation.He said that before the end of the world, there would be a bitter star falling from the sky like a flaming torch, and it would fall on the "fountain of life" - a third of the rivers and all the water sources, so that many people would drink this water. dead, and this "bitter star," as he explained it, was the damned "railroad network all over Europe."On the surface, he seems to be against capitalist civilization, against scientific and technological progress.In fact, it is not the case. What he opposes is the omnipotence of money and moral decline brought about by capitalism.As he said: "The railroad alone does not disturb the source of life, but it is all put together, and the whole is damnable", "I will now challenge you all, to all atheists: What are you going to use to save the world, what right way have you found for the world?—I would like to ask you people who are engaged in science, industry, associations, wages, etc., what are you using? "In his view, capitalism "does not recognize any moral basis other than the satisfaction of individual self-interest and material needs."He believes that anyone who claims to be a "friend of mankind" whose moral foundation is shaky, no matter how rhetorical he is, is nothing more than a "cannibal".

This society is based on man exploiting man and man oppressing man.Some people get rich, and some people suffer from poverty; some people are extravagant and dissipated, and some people have nothing to live, and die of cold and starvation;Money rules the whole society.Money has everything.Money has become the yardstick by which everything is measured.Money is omnipotent. "Money is freedom crushed into gold coins" ("Dead House Notes"); if you have money, you have power (); if you have money, you have status (); (); "Economic principles are above all else" ("The Gambler"), the so-called "above all" is above people, above the moral standards that people should have; "Money can eliminate all inequality" ("Youth" ).Money has become the goal pursued by everyone, and they try their best to make money by whatever means.This was the social fashion in Russia at that time.This gust started in Western Europe, and Russia is no more than following in its footsteps.

Russia and Europe, the Russian road and the European road, are the main axis running through Dostoevsky's creation.If we say that the first concentric circle created by Dostoevsky mainly analyzes Russians and Europeanized Russians, then his second concentric circle mainly discusses the Russian road and the European road of social development. . "Summer Impressions of Winter" talks about the European road of social development.It is about the European and Russian roads of social development; the European road leads Raskolnikov to a dangerous and criminal path; the Russian road leads Raskolnikov to a new life.What is marked is the Russian road of social development.What is shown is the European way of social development, and it was the European way that turned Pyotr Verhovensky into an anarchist careerist and conspirator.It is about the struggle of the two roads, the European road leading Ivan and Smerdyakov to patricide, and the Russian road bringing Dmitry back to life.

What is the Russian road?What are European roads?In a word, according to Dostoevsky: the Russian way is love; the European way is power and money.The European way depends on power and violence; the Russian way depends on tolerance, forgiveness and peace.The European way requires starting from others, let him do this and that, if he does not listen, he will be cut off at the head, even "cutting off 100 million heads" () will not hesitate; the Russian way advocates starting from oneself, small things To start, be strict with yourself and be lenient to others. According to Dostoyevsky, the so-called European road or Europeanism consists of four in one ideology, bourgeois ideology, Catholic ideology, liberalism and socialism.As for nihilism, atheism, and anarchism, in Dostoevsky's vocabulary, they are synonymous with socialism, that is, socialism is nihilism, atheism, and anarchism.To put it another way, the European way is to advocate violent revolution, and the Russian way is to advocate peaceful transition and reform.

The first characteristic of bourgeois thinking is profit-seeking.All kinds of landlords, capitalists, and usurers in China have this typical bourgeois thinking.As Nastasya Filippovna said: "These people are full of money now, and they are greedy. They will do anything stupid when they see money. Go to usury." Lebedev also used the words in "Revelation" to illustrate the characteristics of the times at that time: "We are in the age of the third dark horse, that is, the age of the rider holding the scales in his hand, because in today's world , everything is built on balances and contracts, and what everyone is looking for is his own rights: 'One penny buys one liter of wheat, and one penny buys three liters of barley'..." "Revelation" mentioned that the lamb opened the first seal At that time, a white horse appeared, and the man on the horse held a bow and arrow and became a victorious conqueror.This is roughly equivalent to what we call a slave society.When the second seal was opened, a red horse appeared. The rider of the horse held great power and slaughtered wantonly. The world killed each other, and there was no peace.This roughly corresponds to what we call the era of feudalism, colonialism and primitive accumulation of capitalism.When the third dark horse emerges, it will be the era of naked capitalism.This is a symbolic technique.Dostoevsky's works are full of various symbols, which is also one of his creative characteristics.

The second characteristic of bourgeois thinking is hypocrisy.Look, Totsky and General Yepanchin are two typical hypocrites.On the surface, Totsky showed great kindness and adopted an orphan girl whose parents had died, but then threw her to the housekeeper and ignored her.Later, it was discovered that the girl was a beauty, so she was moved by evil intentions and asked her to receive various educations.He had educated her, not for her own sake, but to bring her up to his taste.When the little girl grew up, she really looked beautiful, so he took advantage of her childishness to rape her and took her as his mistress.But after four or five years of playing, she got tired of playing, and wanted to dump her and marry another noble lady who was well-matched.When Nastasya Filippovna rebelled and rushed to Petersburg, and satirized, sarcastically, and ridiculed him, he was afraid that she would cause trouble and make him look ugly in public, so he used luxurious Life bought her.At the same time, he secretly searched for a "good son-in-law" for her, and would rather pay her a few dollars to marry her off to avoid future troubles.

General Yepanchin is also a romantic womanizer, but this gentleman is naturally fearful, superficially sanctimonious, and strongly encourages Gania to marry Nastasia Filippovna to make this "happy marriage", but he has a dark heart in his heart He wanted to use Ganya as his confidant secretary to share the forbidden wealth and steal incense and jade. The most obvious one was the little game played at Nastasya Filippovna's birthday party: someone suggested that everyone tell about one of the meanest and most shameless things he had done in his life.Except for Fedsenko, General Yepanchin and Totsky are actually boasting, not talking about bad things, but good things, good things, the most proud things in life.

The finishing touch to the game is a conversation between Ganya and Fedsenko.Gania said: "Who doesn't lie? Anyone can lie. They must lie." "Even if someone is lying, it's interesting to hear him lie." Bourgeois morality is sheer hypocrisy, and it is from this hypocrisy that people can see their true colors. The third feature of bourgeois thinking is that it worships foreign things and fawns over foreign countries, and despises one's own motherland.As Yevgeny Pavlovich said about liberalism: "Russian liberals are not Russian liberals, but non-Russian liberals." (emphasis added)" Liberals have gone so far as to deny Russia itself, that is to say, to be hostile and to lash out at his own mother. Every misfortune and setback in Russia delights him, almost to ecstasy. He hates the customs of the people, hates Russian history, hates everything. " According to expert research, Yevgeny Pavlovich's words are also Dostoevsky's own views, which is prominently reflected in the author's letter to Mayko on August 28, 1867. In his letter, he criticized Turgenev and his novels: "The main thing is that his novels make me angry. He himself said to me that the main idea, the basic point of view of this book is one sentence:' Humanity has nothing to lose, and nothing to be thrilled with if Russia falls.' This, he declared to me, was his fundamental belief in Russia." The author then attacks "Turgenev, Hull Cen, Ugin, Chernyshevsky and others" (sic), said, "They scolded Russia and the Russians so badly that it was unbearable to listen to... They took insulting Russia as their primary pleasure and satisfaction. The only difference is that: Chernyshevsky's followers outright curse Russia and openly want it to fall (preferably!). And these descendants of Belinsky add that they love Russia.  … I found that, They, like Turgenev . Turgenev also said that we should bow down before the Germans; there is a common and inevitable path for all people-this is civilization; emphasizing the Russian spirit and uniqueness Any attempt by them is despicable and stupid."

When Dostoevsky wrote this letter, it was also when he was brewing and conceiving his novel.Let's not talk about whether the author's attack on Turgenev, Chernyshevsky, and Belinsky is fair (this should be the problem of the first concentric circle research), we are now analyzing the second concentric circle : As a kind of liberal thinking that worships foreign things and flatters foreigners, denies the motherland, and hopes that the motherland will collapse soon (of course, this motherland is Tsarist Russia!), denying that Russia should have its own national characteristics and should follow its own development path. To be criticized?At that time, Turgenev had settled in Baden-Baden, Germany, and he actually said to Dostoevsky, "I consider myself a German, not a Russian, and I am proud of it!" How can Dostoevsky, who has a strong national sentiment, the so-called Slavophile, not feel indignant when he hears this!

In Dostoevsky's view, from bourgeois ideology, Catholic ideology inevitably arose in religion.He believes that Catholic thought is bourgeois thought in cassock.Because Catholics have distorted the spirit of Christianity, forgotten God, forgotten people, and betrayed Christ.He thought Catholicism was the religion of the rich.Their actions are hypocritical.They follow the wind and move the rudder, pitching up at any time, and what they pursue is only power and money in the world. In the book, Prince Myshkin said that Catholicism is "a religion that denies Christ" and that "Roman Catholicism is even worse than atheism... Atheism just preaches that there is no God, but Catholicism goes even further: it promotes a The crooked Christ, the Christ they slandered and insulted, preaches an antichrist! It preaches the Antichrist...Roman Catholicism is not even a religion, it is simply the continuation of the Western Roman Empire...The Pope has seized the land , ascended to the throne of the world, picked up the sword... In addition to the sword, lies, treachery, deceit, fanaticism, superstition, and crimes were added to play with the most sacred, true, and simple fiery feelings of the common people. Money, they sold everything, everything for low earthly power. Isn't that the doctrine of the Antichrist?" Nowadays, we often hear people say that the Orthodox Church is a conservative religion, while Catholicism is a religion that is constantly innovating, because it can adapt to world trends and keep changing.Doesn't this just show that Dostoevsky's views are not unreasonable?The essence of Christianity is love and fraternity.Catholicism pursues power and money with fire and sword.Orthodoxy, in the words of Orthodox Christians, is an orthodox religion, a religion that follows the original teachings of Christianity.On the Christian icons of the Orthodox Church, we often see Jesus Christ stretching out three fingers on his right hand, which means the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the left hand holds an open book, which reads: "I give you a new Order: love one another." We see the fundamental difference between Orthodox and Catholicism just from Dostoevsky's views on Catholicism. For Dostoevsky, liberalism was the medium through which Catholic thought evolved into "socialism."The essence of liberalism, according to his view, is to deny the existing social order, to oppose Tsarist Russia, and even to oppose Russia itself.He believes that liberalism is the echo of foreign countries. They stand on the side of foreign and domestic powerhouses, pick up the wisdom of others, and advocate open talk.They love the people, but only in theory.In fact, what they love is not the people, but their concept of the people.They don't understand the people, and the people don't understand them.They are on par with socialists in their opposition to the existing social order.However, in his view, liberalism is socialism without action, socialism in fantasy, and socialism advocating talk.It should be noted that the socialism Dostoevsky mentioned is not the scientific socialism we are talking about now, but Fourier's utopian socialism plus anarchism, nihilism and atheism.For the ideal of socialism, Dostoevsky has always believed in it.What he opposes are the means and roads to realize socialism, which is the main difference between scientific socialism and utopian socialism. Dostoevsky said in his confession during his trial in May 1849: "Fourierism is a peaceful system, which is fascinating by its beauty and fascinating by its influence on mankind. Inspired by the spirit of fraternity, Fourier formulated his system, which is admirable for its rigor and completeness. It attracts people not by angry attacks, but by its Human fraternity inspires people. There is no hate in this system. Fourierism does not advocate political reform, it advocates economic reform. It does not want to overthrow the government, nor does it want to encroach on private property..." Thus, on the issue of social reform , Dostoevsky was a reformer, not a revolutionary.He called socialism nihilism and anarchism, and its origins are also based on this.For example, on April 25, 1866, he wrote to Katkov: "All nihilists are socialists." They were convinced that on the open ground they could immediately build a paradise." In September 1867 a World Peace Conference was held in Geneva.Participants included representatives of all political affiliations, but were mainly anarchists.Dostoevsky took part in the congress.He wrote to Maykov on September 15, 1867: "I have long since had no doubt that their first words were." In Vanova’s letter (October 11, 1867): “These socialists and revolutionaries (see, he calls the anarchists socialists and revolutionaries!—the author) , talking nonsense in front of an audience of 5,000 people from a podium, it is indescribable!... They began by saying that in order to achieve world peace, the faith in Christ needs to be destroyed. Great nations must be destroyed, divided into small ones, all capitalism must be overthrown so that everything can be done according to Orders to become common property, etc. The main thing is fire and sword - when everything is destroyed, then, according to their opinion, there will be peace..." Dostoevsky also called socialism atheism and nihilism.It can be seen from this that what he opposed to socialism was: 1. Socialists attempted to destroy the belief in Christ.Christ or God, in his view, is not a supernaturally intelligent deity that exists outside of us.He believes that "God is a person formed by combining the characteristics of all the people during the whole period from the birth of a nation until its demise." He is the embodiment of the highest moral standard of a nation and even all mankind.He believes that socialists do not believe in God, that is, they do not believe in, respect, and do not practice the spiritual wealth of human beings for thousands of years-human moral norms.2. Socialists advocate violent revolution.At the evening party held for him and Aglaya at the Yepanchin House, Prince Myshkin spoke very excitedly that socialism "is not to use Christ, but to use violence to save mankind! This is to obtain freedom through violence." , This is to achieve domination of the world through sword and blood! 'No belief in God, no private property, no individuality, either fraternity or death, two million heads!'" Myshkin said, "It is not fraternity, It is death", this is the slogan of the French Revolution, which means that those who follow me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish. Through violent revolution, through the sword and blood, freedom, equality and fraternity will be achieved.The so-called "two million heads" refers to a republican named Heinzen who said: "As long as the heads of the earth are cut off, and two million heads are cut off, the revolutionary cause will be defeated." Invincible.” Dostoevsky opposed the use of force and violent revolution since his youth, but he confused revolutionary violence with counter-revolutionary violence, the proletarian revolution with the bourgeois revolution, and collectively referred to all those who advocate violent revolution as socialist.He said that although the socialists promised to give the people "bread", when they brought bread to the people, they also brought violence and slavery to the people.He advocated the use of Christ, love, and forgiveness, and everyone starts from himself in order to achieve world harmony. Dostoevsky was a Slavophile with strong patriotism and Great Russianism.He considered Orthodox Russians "the ideal of human beauty".The Christian spirit must be carried forward by the Russians. In his words, "the world will achieve a great revival through the Russian mind." (Referring to the Russians—the author), let them see that perhaps as long as they use Russian ideas, use Russian God and Christ, mankind will be able to move toward the road of innovation and resurrection in the future, and then you will see a hole Powerful, truly wise and gentle giants appear before a horrified world--they are astonished and terrified, because they always thought we could only use swords, swords and violence to make way, because they judge others by themselves, Always thought we had to use barbaric means." What is Russian thought?It is the thought of Christ, which is "faith, love and hope".Faith means to believe in all good things, to believe in truth, goodness and beauty, and to believe in God; love means to love God, love the tsar, love all people, and even love one's enemies and enemies; Pinned on a better tomorrow.The second connotation of Russian thought is "restraint" and "patience".He championed the Russian tsar and advocated class reconciliation because "unification by sword and blood" was unreliable, because "in this forced communism you become a hater of humanity."