A.I. Herzen: ideas. Alexander Ivanovich Herzen Literary and journalistic activities

Russian history is full of ascetics who are ready to lay down their lives for their idea.

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812-1870) was the first Russian socialist who preached the ideas of equality and brotherhood. And although he did not directly participate in revolutionary activities, he was among those who prepared the ground for its development. One of the leaders of the Westerners, he later became disillusioned with the ideals of the European path of development of Russia, went over to the opposite camp and became the founder of another significant movement for our history - populism.

The biography of Alexander Herzen is closely connected with such figures of the Russian and world revolution as Ogarev, Belinsky, Proudhon, Garibaldi. Throughout his life, he constantly tried to find the best way to create a just society. But it was precisely the ardent love for his people, the selfless service to the chosen ideals - this is what won the respect of the descendants of Herzen Alexander Ivanovich.

A short biography and overview of the main works will allow the reader to get to know this Russian thinker better. After all, only in our memory can they live forever and continue to influence minds.

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich: biography of the Russian thinker

He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev and the daughter of a manufacturing official, 16-year-old German Henrietta Haag. Due to the fact that the marriage was not officially registered, the father came up with a surname for his son. Translated from German, it means “child of the heart.”

The future publicist and writer was brought up in his uncle’s house (now it is named after Gorky).

From an early age, he began to be overwhelmed by “freedom-loving dreams,” which is not surprising - literature teacher I. E. Protopopov introduced the student to the poems of Pushkin, Ryleev, Busho. The ideas of the Great French Revolution were constantly in the air of Alexander's study room. Already at that time, Herzen became friends with Ogarev, and together they hatched plans to transform the world. It made an unusually strong impression on the friends, after which they became fired up with revolutionary activity and vowed to defend the ideals of freedom and brotherhood for the rest of their lives.

Books constituted Alexander's daily book ration - he read a lot of Voltaire, Beaumarchais, and Kotzebue. He did not ignore early German romanticism - the works of Goethe and Schiller put him in an enthusiastic spirit.

University club

In 1829, Alexander Herzen entered the physics and mathematics department. And there he did not part with his childhood friend Ogarev, with whom they soon organized a circle of like-minded people. It also included the future famous writer-historian V. Passek and translator N. Ketcher. At their meetings, members of the circle discussed the ideas of Saint-Simonism, equal rights for men and women, the destruction of private property - in general, these were the first socialists in Russia.

"Malovskaya story"

Studying at the university was sluggish and monotonous. Few teachers could introduce lecturers to the advanced ideas of German philosophy. Herzen sought an outlet for his energy by participating in university pranks. In 1831, he became involved in the so-called “Malov story,” in which Lermontov also took part. The students expelled the criminal law professor from the classroom. As Alexander Ivanovich himself later recalled, M. Ya. Malov was a stupid, rude and uneducated professor. Students despised him and openly laughed at him in lectures. The rioters got off relatively lightly for their prank - they spent several days in a punishment cell.

First link

The activities of Herzen’s friendly circle were of a rather innocent nature, but the Imperial Chancellery saw in their beliefs a threat to the tsarist power. In 1834, all members of this association were arrested and exiled. Herzen first ended up in Perm, and then he was assigned to serve in Vyatka. There he organized an exhibition of local works, which gave Zhukovsky a reason to petition for his transfer to Vladimir. Herzen also took his bride there from Moscow. These days turned out to be the brightest and happiest in the writer’s stormy life.

The split of Russian thought into Slavophiles and Westerners

In 1840, Alexander Herzen returned to Moscow. Here fate brought him together with the literary circle of Belinsky, who preached and actively propagated the ideas of Hegelianism. With typical Russian enthusiasm and intransigence, the members of this circle perceived the ideas of the German philosopher about the rationality of all reality somewhat one-sidedly. However, Herzen himself drew completely opposite conclusions from Hegel’s philosophy. As a result, the circle broke up into Slavophiles, whose leaders were Kirievsky and Khomyakov, and Westerners, who united around Herzen and Ogarev. Despite extremely opposing views on the future path of Russia's development, both were united by true patriotism, based not on blind love for Russian statehood, but on sincere faith in the strength and power of the people. As Herzen later wrote, they looked like whose faces were turned in different directions, but their hearts beat the same.

The collapse of ideals

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich, whose biography was already full of frequent moves, spent the second half of his life completely outside of Russia. In 1846, the writer's father died, leaving Herzen a large inheritance. This gave Alexander Ivanovich the opportunity to travel around Europe for several years. The trip radically changed the writer's way of thinking. His Western friends were shocked when they read Herzen’s articles published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski entitled “Letters from Avenue Marigny,” which later became known as “Letters from France and Italy.” The obvious anti-bourgeois attitude of these letters indicated that the writer was disillusioned with the viability of revolutionary Western ideas. Having witnessed the failure of the chain of revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848-1849, the so-called “spring of nations”, he began to develop the theory of “Russian socialism”, which gave birth to a new trend of Russian philosophical thought - populism.

New philosophy

In France, Alexander Herzen became close to Proudhon, with whom he began publishing the newspaper “Voice of the People.” After the suppression of the radical opposition, he moved to Switzerland, and then to Nice, where he met Garibaldi, the famous fighter for freedom and independence of the Italian people. The publication of the essay “From the Other Shore” belongs to this period, which outlined new ideas that Alexander Ivanovich Herzen became interested in. The philosophy of a radical reorganization of the social system no longer satisfied the writer, and Herzen finally said goodbye to his liberal convictions. He begins to be visited by thoughts about the doom of old Europe and the great potential of the Slavic world, which should bring the socialist ideal to life.

A. I. Herzen - Russian publicist

After the death of his wife, Herzen moved to London, where he began publishing his famous newspaper “The Bell”. The newspaper enjoyed its greatest influence in the period preceding the abolition of serfdom. Then its circulation began to fall; its popularity was especially affected by the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863. As a result, Herzen’s ideas did not find support among either radicals or liberals: for the former they turned out to be too moderate, and for the latter too radical. In 1865, the Russian government persistently demanded from Her Majesty the Queen of England that the editors of Kolokol be expelled from the country. Alexander Herzen and his associates were forced to move to Switzerland.

Herzen died of pneumonia in 1870 in Paris, where he came on family business.

Literary heritage

The bibliography of Alexander Ivanovich Herzen includes a huge number of articles written in Russia and in emigration. But his greatest fame was brought to him by his books, in particular the final work of his life, “Past and Thoughts.” Alexander Herzen himself, whose biography sometimes took unimaginable zigzags, called this work a confession that evoked various “thoughts from his thoughts.” This is a synthesis of journalism, memoirs, literary portraits and historical chronicles. Over the novel “Who is to Blame?” the writer worked for six years. In this work, he proposes to solve the problems of equality of women and men, relationships in marriage, and education with the help of high ideals of humanism. He also wrote the highly social stories “The Thieving Magpie”, “Doctor Krupov”, “Tragedy over a Glass of Grog”, “For the Sake of Boredom” and others.

There is probably not a single educated person who does not know, at least from hearsay, who Alexander Herzen is. A brief biography of the writer is contained in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, and who knows what other sources! However, it is best to get to know the writer through his books - it is in them that his personality comes into full view.

A.I. Herzen

Even as a child, Herzen met and became friends with Nikolai Ogarev. According to his memoirs, the Decembrist uprising made a strong impression on the boys (Herzen was 13, Ogarev was 12 years old). Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activity arise. One day, during a walk on the Sparrow Hills, the boys vowed to devote their lives to the fight for freedom.
A. Herzen is the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev and a young German woman, Henrietta Haag. The boy's surname was invented by his father: Herzen (from German herz - heart) - “son of the heart.”

He received a good education, graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. While still a student, he, together with his friend N. Ogarev, organized a circle of student youth, in which socio-political issues were discussed.

In the mainstream of the polemics between “Westerners” and “Slavophiles,” Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812 - 1870) occupies a special place. He not only belonged to the “Westerners” party, but in a certain sense he led it, was its ideological leader.

The essence of the controversy between these two groups of Russian intellectuals was the difference in understanding of the historical process and the place of Russia in it. The “Slavophiles” proceeded from the fact that Europe, having outlived its time, was rotting, and Russia had its own historical path of development, in no way similar to the Western one. “Westerners” argued that the principle of historical development has universal significance for humanity, but due to a number of circumstances it received expression most adequately and fully in Western Europe, and therefore has universal significance.

In 1847, having obtained permission to visit Europe, Herzen left Russia, as it turned out, forever. In 1848, Herzen witnessed the defeat of the French Revolution, which had a deep ideological impact on him. Since 1852, he settled in London, where already in 1853 he founded a free Russian printing house and began publishing the almanac “Polar Star”, the newspaper “Bell” and the periodical “Voices from Russia”. The publications of Herzen's free Russian printing house became the first uncensored press in Russia, which had a huge influence not only on socio-political, but also on philosophical thought.

Philosophical views

In 1840, having returned from exile, Herzen met the circle of Hegelians, which was headed by Stankevich and Belinsky. He was impressed by their thesis of the complete rationality of all reality. But the radical revolutionaries repulsed him with their intransigence and readiness to make any, even unreasonable, sacrifices for the sake of revolutionary ideas. As a follower of Hegel, Herzen believed that the development of humanity proceeds in steps, and each step is embodied in the people. Thus, Herzen, being a “Westernizer,” shared with the “Slavophiles” the belief that the future belongs to the Slavic peoples.

Socialist ideas

"The Theory of Russian Socialism" by A.I. Herzen

After the suppression of the French Revolution of 1848, Herzen came to the conclusion that the country in which it was possible to combine socialist ideas with historical reality was Russia, where communal land ownership was preserved.

The Russian peasant world, he argued, contains three principles that make it possible to carry out an economic revolution leading to socialism:

1) everyone’s right to land

2) communal ownership of it

3) worldly management.

He believed that Russia had the opportunity to bypass the stage of capitalist development: “The man of the future in Russia is a man, just like a worker in France.”

Herzen paid great attention to ways to implement the social revolution. However, Herzen was not a supporter mandatory violence and coercion: “We do not believe that nations cannot move forward except knee-deep in blood; We bow with reverence to the martyrs, but with all our hearts we wish that they would not exist.”

During the period of preparation of the peasant reform in Russia, the Kolokol expressed hopes for the abolition of serfdom by the government on terms favorable to the peasants. But the same “Bell” said that if the freedom of the peasants is bought at the price of Pugachevism, then this is not too expensive a price to pay. The most rapid, unbridled development is preferable to maintaining the order of Nikolaev stagnation.

Herzen's hopes for a peaceful solution to the peasant question aroused objections from Chernyshevsky and other revolutionary socialists. Herzen answered them that Rus' should be called not “to the axe,” but to the brooms, in order to sweep away the dirt and rubbish that has accumulated in Russia.

“Having called for an ax,” Herzen explained, “you must master the movement, you must have organization, you must have a plan, strength and readiness to lay down your bones, not only grabbing the handle, but grabbing the blade when the ax diverges too much.” There is no such party in Russia; therefore, he will not call for an ax until “there remains at least one reasonable hope for a solution without an axe.”

Herzen paid special attention to the “international union of workers,” that is, to the International.

Ideas about the state

The problems of the state, law, and politics were considered by him as subordinate to the main ones - social and economic problems. Herzen has many opinions that the state does not have its own content at all - it can serve both reaction and revolution, depending on which side has the power. The view of the state as something secondary in relation to the economy and culture of society is directed against the ideas of Bakunin, who considered the primary task of destroying the state. “An economic revolution,” Herzen objected to Bakunin, “has an immense advantage over all religious and political revolutions.” The state, like slavery, wrote Herzen, is moving towards freedom, towards self-destruction; however, the state “cannot be thrown off like dirty rags until a certain age.” “From the fact that the state is a form transient, - Herzen emphasized, “it does not follow that this form is already past."

Herzen's views on pedagogy

Herzen did not specifically deal with this issue, but, being a thinker and public figure, he had a well-thought-out concept on issues of education:

2) children, according to Herzen, should develop freely and learn respect for work, aversion to idleness, and selfless love for their homeland from the common people;

3) called on scientists to bring science out of the classroom walls and make its achievements public domain. He wanted secondary school students, along with natural science and mathematics, to study literature (including the literature of ancient peoples), foreign languages, and history. A.I. Herzen noted that without reading there is and cannot be any taste, no style, no multilateral development. Herzen wrote two special works in which he explained natural phenomena to the younger generation: “The Experience of Conversations with Young People” and “Conversations with Children.”

Literary activity

Herzen's ideas could not help but be expressed in his literary works and in numerous journalism.

"Who is guilty?", novel in two parts(1846)

"By passing by" story (1846 G.)

"Doctor Krupov" story (1847 G.)

"The Thief Magpie" story (1848 G.)

"Damaged", story (1851 G.)

"Tragedy over a glass of grog" (1864 G.)

"For boredom's sake" (1869 G.)

Newspaper "Bell"

"Bell"

This was the first Russian revolutionary newspaper, published by A. I. Herzen and N. P. Ogarev in exile at the Free Russian Printing House in 1857-1867. As a continuation of the closed Bell, a newspaper was published in French in 1868 "Kolokol"(“La cloche”), addressed primarily to a European reader.

In the first years of the existence of the Free Russian Printing House, the authorship of most of the published articles belonged to Herzen himself. In 1855, Herzen began publishing the almanac "Polar Star", and the situation changed dramatically: there was not enough space in it to publish all the interesting materials - publishers began to publish a supplement to the almanac, the newspaper "Bell". The first issues of Kolokol were published once a month, but the newspaper began to gain popularity, and it began to be published twice a month with a volume of 8 or 10 pages. The sheets were printed on thin paper, which was easier to smuggle through customs illegally. The regular uncensored publication turned out to be in demand among readers. Taking into account additional prints, over the ten years of the newspaper's existence, about half a million copies were published. The publication was immediately banned in Russia, and in the first half of 1858, the Russian government managed to achieve an official ban on “The Bell” in other European countries. However, Herzen manages to create ways for the relatively safe delivery of correspondence from Russia through a number of reliable addresses.

The Bell also published literary works that were subordinated to the tasks of agitation and exposing the policies of the authorities. In the newspaper one could find poetry by M. Yu. Lermontov (“Alas! how boring this city is...”), N. A. Nekrasov (“Reflections at the Main Entrance”), accusatory poems by N. Ogarev and others. As in “Polar star”, “Kolokol” publishes excerpts from “Past and Thoughts” by A. Herzen.

Since 1862, interest in the Bell begins to decline. More radical movements are already appearing in Russia, which “called Rus' to the axe.” Despite Kolokol's condemnation of terrorism, after the assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander II, the newspaper continues to lose readers. Correspondence from Russia almost stops coming. In 1867, the publication again returned to a single issue per month, and on July 1, 1867, with N. Ogarev’s poem “Goodbye!” reports that “the Bell will fall silent for a while.” But in 1868, the Bell ceased to exist.

The boy's first years were sad and lonely, but his unusually richly gifted nature began to unfold very early. He learned German from his mother, and French from conversations with his father and tutors. Yakovlev had a rich library, consisting almost exclusively of works by French writers of the 18th century, and the boy rummaged through it quite freely. Such reading aroused in the boy’s soul many questions that required resolution. It was with them that young Herzen addressed his French teachers, among whom was the old man Buchot, who took part in the French Revolution, and the Russians, especially the seminarian student Protopopov, who, noticing the boy’s curiosity, introduced him to the works of new Russian literature and - how Herzen later wrote that he began to carry him “finely copied and very worn notebooks of Pushkin’s poems - “Ode to Freedom”, “Dagger” - and “Dumas” by Ryleev.” Herzen copied all this and memorized it by heart. The events of December 14, 1825 determined the direction of Herzen’s thoughts and aspirations, likes and dislikes. “The stories about the indignation, about the trial, the horror in Moscow,” Herzen wrote in his memoirs, “struck me greatly; a new world was opening up to me, which became more and more the focus of my entire moral existence; I don’t know how it happened, but, Understanding little or very vaguely what was going on, I felt that I was not on the same side as buckshot and victories, prisons and chains. The execution of Pestel and his comrades finally awakened the childish sleep of my soul "... The boy’s loneliness also ended. He met, and soon became close friends with the son of Yakovlev’s distant relative, Ogarev. This closeness then turned into the closest friendship. Kind, gentle, dreamy, ready to give all of himself to serve his neighbors, Ogarev perfectly complemented the lively, energetic Herzen. The friends saw each other very often, read together, took long walks together, during which their thoughts and dreams were directed towards the fight against the injustice that surrounded Russian life. On one of these walks, in 1828, on the Sparrow Hills, Herzen and Ogarev swore eternal friendship and an unchanging decision to devote their entire lives to serving freedom. What was meant by this “freedom” was still unclear to them, but their imagination drew the heroes of the French Revolution, and the Decembrists, and Charles More, and Fiesco, and the Marquis Posa... Having overcome obstacles from the father, who wanted to arrange a military or diplomatic career, Herzen entered Moscow University and plunged into a new, noisy world. Distinguished by his extremely lively temperament, Herzen studies a lot, reads a lot, but speaks, argues, and preaches even more. “Life at the university,” he recalls, “left us with the memory of one long feast of ideas, a feast of science and dreams, sometimes stormy, sometimes gloomy, riotous, but never vicious.” In addition to Ogarev, Herzen became close to N.I. at this time. Sazonov (later a famous emigrant), N.M. Satin (translator of Shakespeare), A.N. Savich (astronomer), N.Kh. Catcher. This circle sometimes gave “heavy feasts,” but the feasts were inspired by deep content. Their participants had conversations and debates about science, literature, art, philosophy, politics; If not the “union of Pestel and Ryleev” that Herzen dreamed of when entering the university, then the embryo of an opposition against the three famous “dogmas” of Russian socio-political life was emerging. The July Revolution, the Polish uprising, political and literary issues that occupied Europe - all of this found a lively response in the student circle of which Herzen became the center. And then they saw in the circle “with inner horror” that “in Europe, especially in France, from where they were waiting for a political password and a slogan, things are not going well.” In 1833, Herzen graduated from the university with a candidate's degree and a silver medal. He, however, clearly understood that he still had a lot to learn, and in one letter, written a few days after finishing the university course, he wrote: “Although I completed the course, I collected so little that it’s embarrassing to look at people.” . While still at the university, he became acquainted with the teachings of Saint-Simonis

Comrade, which made a very strong impression on him. His thought had already turned to the study of socialist writers of the West, but, of course, it cannot be said that from that time Herzen became a socialist. Herzen, not only of the beginning, but also of the end of the 30s, was a man who was passionately searching, and not finally settling on anything, although the direction of his thoughts and sympathies was quite definite and was expressed in the desire for freedom. A year after completing the course, Herzen, Ogarev and several other persons were arrested. The reason for the arrest was the very fact of the existence of “non-employees” in Moscow, young people who were always talking about something, worried and fuming, and the reason was a student party at which a song containing “impudent censure” was sung, and a bust of Emperor Nicholas was smashed Pavlovich. The inquiry found that Sokolovsky composed the song, Ogarev knew Sokolovsky, Herzen was friends with Ogarev, and although neither Herzen nor Ogarev were even at the party, nevertheless, on the basis of “indirect evidence” regarding their “way of thinking,” they were involved in the case of “a failed conspiracy of young people devoted to the teachings of Saint-Simonism, which failed due to arrest.” Ogarev was arrested before his friend. In the last days of his free life, Herzen met his relative Natalya Aleksandrovna Zakharyina, a young girl who was very religious and already loved Herzen, although he had not noticed this before. Herzen entered into conversation with her “for the first time after many years of acquaintance.” He was indignant at Ogarev’s arrest and expressed indignation at the living conditions under which such facts were possible. Natalya Alexandrovna pointed out to him the need to endure trials without complaint, remembering Christ and the Apostle Paul. Having then ended up in prison, he writes from there, as well as from exile, letters full of prayerful mood. “No, faith burns in my chest, strong, living,” he wrote in a letter dated December 10, 1834, “There is Providence. I read with delight the Chetyi-Minea, that’s where the divine examples are.” Herzen spent nine months in prison, after which, in his words, “they read to us, like a bad joke, a sentence of death, and then they announced that, driven by the inadmissible kindness so characteristic of him, the emperor ordered only a corrective measure to be applied to us, in the form of a link." Herzen was assigned Perm as his place of exile. “What do I need Perm or Moscow, and Moscow-Perm,” Herzen wrote then. “Our life is decided, the die is cast, the storm carries us away. WhereN I don’t know. But I know that it will be good there, there is rest and reward.” .. It was with this mood that Herzen arrived in exile. He lived with him for a long time, but he also strived for freedom in him. Natalya Alexandrovna brought him the words of the Apostle Paul: “whoever lives in God cannot be shackled,” and in this Herzen saw the path to freedom, internal freedom, attainable for everyone, and through this and as a result of this, to universal freedom. Here begins the second period of Herzen's life. Herzen spent only three weeks in Perm and then, by order of the authorities, was transferred to Vyatka, enlisted as a “clerk” in the service of Governor Tyufyaev, a typical representative of the pre-reform administration. Tyufyaev received Herzen very hostilely, and it is not known how his nagging and persecution would have ended if some circumstances favorable for the exile had not occurred. The Minister of Internal Affairs conceived the idea of ​​establishing provincial statistical committees throughout Russia and demanded that the governors send him their feedback on this matter. To compose a response to such an unheard of “incoming” I had to turn to a “scientific candidate at Moscow University.” Herzen promised not only to draw up the required “review”, but also to take up the actual implementation of the minister’s wishes, so that he would be freed from his useless daily stay in the governor’s office and allowed to work from home. Tyufyaev had to agree to this. Soon a clash between Herzen and Tyufyaev occurred in a more dramatic form, and the exile would probably have had to travel to much more distant places if fate had not once again come to Herzen’s aid. During this time of travel

l across Russia, accompanied by Zhukovsky and Arsenyev, who was then heir to the throne, Alexander Nikolaevich. Tyufyaev received an order from St. Petersburg to organize an exhibition in Vyatka, to familiarize the heir with the natural riches of the region, arranging exhibits “in the three kingdoms of nature.” I had to turn to Herzen again, who also gave explanations to the heir. Surprised by the abundance of knowledge of the young man in the Vyatka wilderness, Zhukovsky and Arsenyev began to ask Herzen in detail who he was and how he got to Vyatka. Having learned what was the matter, they promised to petition for Herzen’s return from exile. This petition was not crowned with complete success, but, thanks to Zhukovsky and Arsenyev, an order was soon issued to transfer Herzen from Vyatka to Vladimir. Meanwhile, an order was made from St. Petersburg to establish “Gubernskie Vedomosti” in all provincial cities, with the so-called appendix to them.

the so-called "unofficial department". Governor Kornilov, who replaced Tyufyaev, offered Herzen the management of this department. Herzen traveled a lot around the province to collect materials for the newspaper, got acquainted with the people's life, and published a number of articles of economic and ethnographic content in the Gubernskiye Vedomosti. With his active participation, the first public library was founded in Vyatka, and he gave a speech, which was later included in the complete collection of his works. In Vyatka, Herzen became close to the famous architect Vitberg, who was in exile there, and experienced his influence very strongly. “Natalie,” wrote Herzen, “barely showed me God, and I began to believe. The fiery soul of the artist crossed boundaries and was lost in dark but majestic mysticism, and I found more life and poetry in mysticism than in philosophy. I bless that time ". At the same time, Herzen began to write “The Legend of St. Feodor” and “Thought and Revelation.” Herzen speaks of the last article as follows: “in it I described my own development in order to reveal how experience led me to a religious view.” Herzen was in the same mood in Vladimir, where the most important fact of his life was his marriage to N.A. Zakharyina. “Today I confessed for the first time since I was a child,” Herzen wrote on March 13, 1838, “with the help of Natasha I achieved such a victory over my soul.” But behind this came a crisis. “Whatever you say, dear friend,” he wrote to the same Natasha, “I just can’t force myself to that heavenly meekness, which is one of the main properties of your character, I’m too fiery.” Herzen’s strong mind, a huge amount of collected information that still lay randomly in his consciousness, a restless spirit and a nature thirsty for activity - all this was still shrouded in a thick veil of Vyatka-Vladimir moods, but it was already eager to tear them apart, it was only waiting for a push to give that Herzen, whose distinguishing feature was not “resignation”, but a thirst for struggle. Such an impetus for Herzen was the study of Hegel, whose works were then read by all Herzen’s friends in Moscow. This study led Herzen to conclusions opposite to those drawn from Hegel by Belinsky and other “Hegelians” of that time. Belinsky preached a well-known “reconciliation”; Herzen found that Hegel's philosophy is the "algebra of revolution." It was on this basis that Herzen and Belinsky soon clashed, which ended in their temporary break; Then, when Belinsky admitted his views were wrong, a friendship was established between him and Herzen that lasted throughout their lives. After Vladimir, Herzen was allowed to live in St. Petersburg, but then the “vile Russian reality” again made itself felt to him. In St. Petersburg, a guard killed a passerby; This story was talked about everywhere, and Herzen reported it as one of the St. Petersburg news in a letter to his father. The letter was illustrated, and Herzen was again sent to exile to Vyatka. Only with the help of great efforts was it possible to change the exile in Vyatka to exile in Novgorod, where Herzen was sent to serve as an adviser to the provincial government. There he had to manage cases of abuse of landowner power, cases of schismatics and... cases of persons under police supervision, and among such persons was himself. In parallel with the accumulation of lessons drawn from life itself, Herzen continuously worked on theoretical issues. Soon he managed to get acquainted with the book of the most “left-wing” of the Hegelians: Ogarev was abroad and from there he brought Feuerbach’s “The Essence of Christianity”. Reading this book made a very strong impression on Herzen. In Novgorod, Herzen began to write his famous novel: “Who is to Blame.” Thanks to the efforts of his friends, Herzen managed to escape from Novgorod, retire and move to Moscow. He lived there from 1842 to 1847 - the last period of his life in Russia. This period is filled with the most intense work. Constant communication with Belinsky, Granovsky, Chaadaev and others, disputes with Slavophiles, and literary activity constituted the main content of Herzen’s life. He grew more and more into such an outstanding force that Belinsky predicted a place for him

“not only in the history of Russian literature,” but also “in the history of Karamzin.” As in many other cases, Belinsky was not mistaken. Herzen's literary activity did not place him in the ranks of Russian classic writers, but it was nevertheless highly remarkable. Here are the development of philosophical problems, and questions of ethics, and Russian life of that time, with its oppressive influence on the living forces of the country, and ardent love for the native land, the native people. Like all the best Russian people of the “forties,” Herzen saw very well that the main evil of Russia was serfdom, but it was especially important to fight in literature precisely this evil, which was recognized, along with autocracy, as a “dogma of political religion” in Russia. difficult. Nevertheless, in the story “The Thieving Magpie” and in the famous novel “Who is to Blame,” Herzen, as far as possible, touched on this forbidden topic. Herzen also looked closely at another question, even more complex - the question of relations between the sexes. This question forms the main theme of the novel "Who is to Blame"; Herzen returned to it more than once in his other works, especially in the article: “About a certain drama.” This article was written under the impression of “the most ordinary play,” but the strength of Herzen’s intellectual and moral personality lies in the fact that his gaze saw in the most “ordinary” things aspects that thousands of people pass by completely indifferently. Herzen looked just as intently at the question of the role of abstract knowledge, theoretical ideas, and abstract philosophy. To this topic he devoted the articles “Amateurs in Science”, “Dilevantl-royantiksh”, “Dshlhtanty0i0tskhkh0uzeeykh” and “Buddsshz in eaukh”, yarshchhm0pyud “science” Herzen means in general the theoretical work of human thought and in particular - philosophy. Herzen demands from a person both breadth and depth. He demands that a specialist in one field or another respond to all the demands of living life, in other words, to be a citizen. He makes the same demand for “amateurs,” insisting that at least one issue be thoroughly studied. Herzen was also deeply interested in the question of the relationship between the individual and collectivity. In the ancient world, the individual was completely sacrificed to the collectivity. “The Middle Ages turned the question around - they made the individual essential, the res publica unimportant. But neither one nor the other solution can satisfy the perfect person.” “One rational, conscious combination of personality and state will lead to a true concept of person in general. This combination is the most difficult task posed by modern thinking "... If we add to this such works of Herzen as "Letters on the Study of Nature", which are essays on the history of philosophy and a presentation of the philosophical views of Herzen himself, then the versatility of the topics that worried him will become clear back in the forties. And over all these themes there was that living feeling that determined the content of Herzen’s entire life. He himself characterized this content, already at the end of his days, in the following words: “the dominant axis around which our life went - this is our attitude towards the Russian people, faith in them, love for them, the desire to actively participate in their destinies." Under the conditions under which Herzen’s life took place in Russia, he could express in print only a small part of those thoughts that he worked hard worked. His intellectual interests and demands were enormous. He closely follows the development of socialist teachings in Europe, studies Fourier, Considerant, Louis-Blanc, pays tribute to them, but retains the independence of his own thoughts. He speaks about them in his diary: “good, extremely good, but not a complete solution to the problem. In the wide, light phalanstery, they are a bit crowded; this is the arrangement of one side of life, it is awkward for others.” This recording dates back to 1844, but in it one hears Herzen from the period of his life in Europe. The most complete impression is made on Herzen by Proudhon, about whose famous work, “Qu” est ce que la proprieteN,” Herzen responded in his diary as follows: “a wonderful work, not only not lower, but higher than what was said and written about it.”

m... The development is excellent, accurate, strong, sharp and imbued with fire." At the same time, Herzen studies the history of Russia, the life of the Russian people, the structure of their mental life. He approaches the question: what force has preserved many of the wonderful qualities of the Russian people, despite to the Tatar yoke, German drill and domestic whipN - This is the power of Orthodoxy, - said the Slavophiles: only from it comes, as a derivative, the spirit of conciliarity of the people, and the external expression of this spirit is the communal life of the Russian peasantry. The educated strata of society broke away from the people in the "St. Petersburg period" of Russian history, and this is our whole misfortune. The whole question now comes down to returning "to the people", to merging with them. The Russian people in their everyday life solved the very problem that the "West" posed only in thought. Herzen did not agree with the premises from which the views of the Slavophiles proceeded, but there is no doubt that their views on “especially

The "essentials" of the economic life of Russia were largely assimilated by him and took a place in his later views. He himself admitted this. Despite his vigorous mental life, Herzen felt that there was no work, no permanent work, for his forces in Russia at that time, and this thought sometimes brought him almost to despair: “They argued and argued,” he wrote in his diary, “and, as always, they ended in nothing, cold speeches and witticisms. Our situation is hopeless because it is false, because historical logic indicates that we are beyond the needs of the people, and our business is desperate suffering." Herzen was drawn to Europe, but in response to Herzen's requests for a foreign passport for the treatment of his wife there, Emperor Nicholas put down a resolution: “It’s not necessary.” The conditions of Russian life put terribly pressure on Herzen; meanwhile, Ogarev was already abroad and from there he wrote to his friend: “Herzen! But you can’t live at home. I am convinced that it is impossible. A person who is alien to his family is obliged to break with his family... I’m tired of carrying everything inside, I need an action. I, weak, indecisive, impractical, dem Grubelenden, need action. What after that to you, who are stronger than me? “Herzen himself felt with all his being that “it is impossible to live at home,” but he suffered many difficult days before the desired opportunity came, and the doors of the stuffy Russian prison of the 40s opened before him. The joy of liberation, the novelty of the feeling of being able to breathe freely, and the heightened atmosphere that distinguished itself throughout Europe, and especially in France, on the eve of the storms of 1848 - all this filled Herzen’s soul with joy. Arriving in 1847, straight to Paris, he was completely immersed in the new life that had opened up before him. He quickly became close to the leaders of the French social movement of that time and therefore had the opportunity to observe the unfolding events very closely. “Herzen’s house,” recalls Annenkov, who was also abroad at that time, “became like the ear of Dionysius , where all the noise of Paris, the slightest movements and unrest that ran on the surface of his street and intellectual life were clearly reflected." But through the external decorations of this life, Herzen soon saw its shadow sides. Already in “Letters from Avenue Marigny” there are lines that clearly indicate the dissatisfaction that he then experienced. “France has never fallen so deeply in moral terms as now,” he wrote on September 15, 1847. The whole structure of French life, the whole way of life in France, which Herzen called “philistine,” excited him more and more in his soul. deeper antipathy. “Debauchery,” he wrote, “has penetrated everywhere: into the family, into the legislative body, literature, the press. It is so ordinary that no one notices it, and no one wants to notice it. And this debauchery is not widespread, not chivalrous, but petty, soulless, stingy. This is the depravity of a huckster." As for the leaders of the movement, here too the first impression from conversations with them, equal, as he jokingly noted, “in some way, rank, promotion,” quickly gave way to a skeptical attitude towards them. “For me, all the experiences of idolatry and idols do not hold up and very soon give way to complete denial.” He was drawn to Italy, where at that time the liberation movement apparently proceeded in a different direction than in France. “I have recovered morally,” Herzen wrote, “having crossed the borders of France; I owe Italy a renewal of faith in my own strengths and in the strengths of others; many hopes were again resurrected in my soul; I saw animated faces, tears, I heard passionate words... All Italy "Woke up before my eyes. I saw the Neapolitan king, made by hand, and the pope, humbly asking for alms of the people's love." The news of the February revolution in France and the proclamation of the Second Republic there again attracted Herzen to Paris, where the fever of events captured him very strongly; but the impression that France made on him on his first visit there has not diminished even now. He saw more and more clearly that the revolution had nothing to rely on and that Paris was irresistibly striving for disaster. It happened in the “June days” that Herzen experienced in Paris. They made a terrible impression

and him. “On the evening of June 26, after the victory over Paris, we heard regular volleys, with small placements... We all looked at each other, everyone’s faces were green. “After all, they are shooting,” we said in one voice and turned away from each other. I pressed my forehead to the glass of the window and was silent..." The scenes that followed were distinguished by the same character: "The arrogant national guard with dull anger on their faces took care of their shops, brandishing a bayonet and butt; jubilant crowds of drunken mobiles walked along the boulevards, singing; boys For 15 - 17 years they boasted about the blood of their brothers. Cavaignac carried with him some monster who killed a dozen Frenchmen... Doubt brought its heavy foot to the last assets, it shook up not the church sacristy, not the doctor's robes, but the revolutionary banners "... Soon Herzen had to flee from Paris to Geneva to avoid arrest, although on paper a republic continued to exist in France. While still in Paris, Herzen decided not to return to Russia. No matter how terrible everything he experienced in Europe was, Herzen managed to get used to such living conditions, after which returning to his homeland seemed simply beyond human strength. It was possible to fight the conditions of Russian life - and Herzen decided to fight them by directly attacking them in the press in Russian and foreign languages ​​- only by remaining in Europe. In addition, he wanted to acquaint Europe with Russia, the real Russia, and not the one that bribed feathers often portrayed to Europe. But before Herzen’s position as an emigrant was finally determined, some more events took place in his life. Having fled from Paris to Geneva, he met there with many people from different countries and, by the way, with Mazzini, for whom he retained his warmest sympathy throughout his life. There he received a letter from Proudhon, asking him to help him publish the newspaper “La voix du Peuple” and to become its closest collaborator. Herzen sent Proudhon the 24,000 francs needed to pay the deposit and began writing in his newspaper. But this did not last long: a number of fines were imposed on the newspaper, nothing remained of the deposit, and the newspaper ceased to exist. After this, Herzen was finally naturalized in Switzerland. The aggravation of the reaction was accompanied by a number of heavy blows in Herzen’s personal life. All this brought Herzen into the gloomiest mood of spirit, and when the December coup d’etat occurred, Herzen wrote the article “Vive la mort!”... He lived in Nice at the time. At one time it seemed to him that “everything collapsed - the general and private, European revolution and home shelter, freedom of the world and personal happiness." He himself called the state in which he was “the edge of moral ruin,” but he also emerged victorious from it: in his words, “faith in Russia” saved him, and he decided to give all of himself to serving her. While living in Nice, he published a number of his works: these were “Letters from France and Italy”, which appeared first in German, then the pamphlet “On the Development of Revolutionary Ideas in Russia” (originally the same in German in “Deutsche Jahrbucher”, then a separate publication in French "Du developpement des idees revolutionnaires en Russie") and, finally, "Le peuple russe et le socialisme" ("Letter to Michelet"). Both of these pamphlets were banned in France. At the same time, Herzen’s famous work “From the Other Shore” (originally also in German: “Von andern Ufer”) appeared in print. In this famous work, Herzen posed the question: “where lies the need for the future to play out the program we have invented” - in other words, what objective guarantees exist that the ideals of socialism are feasible? Having parted with theologism long ago, Herzen took the same negative position towards any philosophical construction. Having declared back in Moscow to Khomyakov that he could accept “the terrible results of the most ferocious immanence, because the conclusions of reason are independent of whether a person wants it or not,” Herzen called for the judgment of reason and earthly religion, the religion of humanity, the religion of progress. “Please explain to me,” he asked, “why it is funny to believe in God, but not funny to believe in humanity, to believe in the kingdom of heaven.”

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everything is stupid, but believing in earthly utopias is smartN" - The goal of each generation, according to Herzen, is itself. It must live, and live a human life - live in a social environment in which the individual is free, and at the same time society is not destroyed. But the creation of such relations between the individual and society depends only partly on ourselves, - mainly, on the conditions already given by previous history. Examining the living conditions of European countries, Herzen comes to very pessimistic conclusions for these countries. He finds that Europe is mired in the never-ending swamp of "philistinism". She, perhaps, will get rid of the autocracy of private property by realizing the economic side of the problem of socialism. This will be the best case, but even then she will not wash away her philistinism; her socialism itself will be philistine socialism. In the worst case this will not happen either, - then Europe will completely stagnate in the terry blossom of philistinism

and will finally decompose in it. With such a turn of events, the possibility cannot be ruled out that she will become a victim of the eastern peoples with fresher blood. Herzen saw objective conditions for other opportunities in Russia with the communal life of its people and the thought, free from prejudices, of the advanced layer of Russian society, what later became known as the intelligentsia. Herzen and his ardent love for Russia were drawn to the same conclusion. He wrote that faith in Russia saved him then “on the brink of moral death.” This faith revived all Herzen’s strength, and in the same work “From the Other Shore” he wanted to speak to Europe about the Russian people, “powerful and incomprehensible, who quietly formed a state of 60 million, which grew so strongly and amazingly without losing the communal principle, and carried him through the initial upheavals of state development; which retained his majestic features, lively mind and wide-ranging rich nature under the yoke of serfdom and to Peter’s order to be formed - responded a hundred years later with the enormous appearance of Pushkin.” This theme completely captivates Herzen, he varies it in different ways, comes to the conclusion about the possibility for Russia of a different path of development, different from the Western European one, considers the community and the artel as the basis for such development, sees in the worldly gathering the embryo from which the broadest possible public, lays the foundation for later Russian populism - in a word, puts the stamp of his personality on the movement of the Russian intelligentsia, which then continued for decades. Living in Nice, Herzen almost never saw Russians. Golovin lived there at the same time, also as an emigrant, and even edited the newspaper “Le Carillon” (Trezvon) there; Perhaps this name gave Herzen the idea to later give his Russian organ the name “Bell”. Herzen did not establish any close relations with Golovin. Engelson (later an employee of Polar Star) was also in Nice; Herzen had a closer relationship with him than with Golovin. Having buried his wife in Nice, Herzen moved to London. There he installed the first press of the free Russian press. Leaflets and brochures were printed on this press ("St. George's Day", "The Poles Pierce Us", "Baptized Property", etc.), then the magazine "Polar Star" and, finally, the famous "Bell", the first issue of which was published on July 1, 1857 d. The "Bells" program contained three specific provisions: 1) liberation of peasants from landowners, 2) liberation of speech from censorship, and 3) liberation of the tax-paying class from beatings. Sketching out this program, Herzen, of course, looked at it as a minimum program and, calling himself an “incorrigible socialist” in his famous letter to Alexander II, wrote the following lines: “I am ashamed of how little we are ready to be content with. We want things in the justice of which you doubt as little as everyone else. For the first time, this is enough for you." The breadth of his horizons, combined with the ability to pose questions on practically feasible grounds, attracted the warm sympathies of the best elements of Russia in the late 50s and early 60s to Herzen. Shevchenko wrote in his diary that he wanted to redraw the portrait of Herzen, “honoring the name of this holy man” and that, having seen “The Bell” for the first time, he “reverently kissed it.” Kavelin wrote to Herzen: “When you denounced everything with unheard-of and unprecedented courage, when you threw out in your brilliant articles and pamphlets thoughts that ran centuries ahead, and for the current day you set the most moderate demands, the most immediate ones that were in line, you told me "I seemed to be the great man with whom a new Russian history should begin. I cried over your articles, knew them by heart, chose epigraphs from them for future historical works, political and philosophical studies." “With tears in our eyes,” says P.A. Kropotkin in his memoirs, “we read Herzen’s famous article: “You have won, Galilean”... A lot of such reviews could be given about Herzen and his journal. “Bell” and the role that "Bell" played in resolving the peasant question and in general in public

a special article will be devoted to the movement in Russia in the late 50s and early 60s. With the onset of reaction and especially after the Polish uprising, Herzen's influence greatly declined; "The Bell" continued to be published until 1867 inclusive, but it no longer had the same meaning. The last period of Herzen's life was for him a time of isolation from Russia and loneliness. The “fathers” recoiled from him for his “radicalism,” and the “children” for his “moderation.” Herzen's state of mind was, of course, very difficult, but he believed that the truth would triumph, believed in the powerful spiritual forces of the Russian people and firmly endured his situation. Everyone who saw him at that time unanimously testifies that, despite everything he experienced and experienced, he was still the same lively, charming, witty Herzen. He remained interested in the course of events in Russia, and still kept a keen eye on the state of affairs in Europe. How deeply Herzen looked at everything that was happening around him can be seen from such a striking example: while living at the end of 1867 (after the end of the Bell) in Genoa, Herzen wrote an article about Napoleonic France that can be called prophetic. “Holy Father, now it’s your business” - these words from Schiller’s “Don Carlos” (Philip II transfers the life of his son into the hands of the great inquisitor), taken by Herzen as an epigraph to the article, Herzen “just wants to repeat Bismarck. The pear is ripe, and can't do without his Excellency. Don't stand on ceremony, Count. I'm sorry that I'm right; I seem to be connected to the matter in that I foresaw it in general terms. I'm annoyed with myself, as a child is annoyed with a barometer that indicates a storm and spoils a walk... "Count Bismarck, now it's up to you!" These were the words of a seer. A year after Herzen wrote this article (it appeared in the last book of the Polar Star), he arrived in Paris, where on January 9/21, 1870 he died. He was buried first in the Pere Lachaise cemetery, and then his ashes were transported to Nice, where he rests to this day. Above the grave stands a beautiful monument depicting Herzen standing at full height, with his face turned towards Russia, a monument by Zabello. On March 25, 1912, all of cultural Russia celebrated the centenary of Herzen’s birth. On this day, many newspapers dedicated hot articles to the memory of the glorious citizen of the Russian land, which were read by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of readers, and thus the beginning of Herzen’s “spiritual return” to his homeland was laid. With the change in the existing conditions of political life in Russia, such a “return” will, without a doubt, be carried out in a much more complete manner. Then not only the spirit of Herzen, in the form of a complete collection of his works and letters, but, hopefully, the ashes of the great exile will be returned to Russia and laid to rest in his beloved native land. Literature. The main source for studying Herzen is primarily his own works, available in two editions, foreign and Russian. Both editions are far from complete. They did not include many of Herzen’s works, not to mention his correspondence with various individuals, which is of great importance for the study of Herzen’s life and work. Biographies of Herzen: Smirnova (Ev. Solovyova; 1897); Vetrinsky (1908) and Bogucharsky (1912). The following articles are also dedicated to Herzen: Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky’s article (characteristic); Baturinsky's book "Herzen, his friends and acquaintances"; Gershenzon "Social and political views of Herzen"; Plekhanov, an article in the 13th issue of “History of Russian Literature of the 19th Century,” etc. A detailed bibliography of Herzen and about Herzen, compiled by A.G., is attached to the biography of Herzen written by Vetrinsky. Fomin (brought to 1908). V. Bogucharsky.

KLASSNIE
KLASSNIE 05.11.2016 07:19:46

April 6 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Russian prose writer, publicist and philosopher Alexander Ivanovich Herzen.

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich - Russian prose writer, publicist.

Born on March 25 (April 6), 1812 in Moscow in the family of a noble Moscow gentleman I.A. Yakovlev and a German woman, Louise Haag. The parents' marriage was not officially registered, so the illegitimate child was considered his father's pupil. This explains the invented surname - from the German word Herz (heart). The future writer spent his childhood in his uncle’s house on Tverskoy Boulevard (now building 25, which houses the A.M. Gorky Literary Institute). Although Herzen was not deprived of attention from childhood, his position as an illegitimate child gave him a feeling of orphanhood. In his memoirs, the writer called his home a “strange abbey”, and considered the only pleasures of childhood to be playing with the yard boys, playing in the hall and playing with the girls. Childhood impressions of the life of serfs, according to Herzen, aroused in him “an irresistible hatred of all slavery and all arbitrariness.”
Oral memories of living witnesses of the war with Napoleon, the freedom-loving poems of Pushkin and Ryleev, the works of Voltaire and Schiller - these are the main milestones in the development of the soul of young Herzen. The uprising of December 14, 1825 turned out to be the most significant event in this series. After the execution of the Decembrists, Herzen, together with his friend N. Ogarev, vowed to “take revenge on those executed.”

In 1829, Herzen entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where he soon formed a group of progressively thinking students. Members of this group Ogarev, N.H. Ketcher and others discussed the burning problems of our time: the French Revolution of 1830, the Polish uprising of 1830–1831, and other events of modern history. This time included a fascination with the ideas of Saint-Simonism and attempts to present his own vision of the social order. Already in his first articles (On the place of man in nature, 1832, etc.) Herzen showed himself not only as a philosopher, but also as a brilliant writer. The essay by Hoffmann (1833–1834, published 1836) showed a typical style of writing: introducing vivid figurative language into journalistic discussions, confirming the author’s thoughts with a plot narrative.

In 1833 Herzen graduated from the university with a silver medal. Work in the Moscow expedition of the Kremlin building. The service left the young man enough free time to engage in creativity. Herzen planned to publish a magazine, but in July 1834 he was arrested for allegedly singing songs discrediting the royal family in the company of friends. During interrogations, the Investigative Commission, without proving Herzen’s direct guilt, nevertheless considered that his beliefs posed a danger to the state.

In April 1835, with the obligation to remain in public service under the supervision of local authorities, Herzen was exiled first to Perm, then to Vyatka. He was friends with the architect A.L. Vitberg and other exiles, corresponded with his cousin N.A. Zakharyina, who later became his wife. In 1837, the heir to the throne visited Vyatka, who was accompanied by V.A. Zhukovsky. At the poet's request, at the end of 1837 Herzen was transferred to Vladimir, where he served in the governor's office. From Vladimir, Herzen secretly traveled to Moscow to visit his bride, and in May they got married. From 1839 to 1850, four children were born into the Herzen family. In July 1839, police surveillance was removed from Herzen, he was given the opportunity to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, where he was accepted into the circle of V.G. Belinsky, T.N. Granovsky, I.I. Panaev and others. In 1840, Herzen’s letter was illustrated, in in which he wrote about the “murder” of a St. Petersburg security guard. The enraged Nicholas I ordered Herzen to be expelled “for spreading unfounded rumors” to Novgorod without the right to enter the capital. Only in July 1842, having retired with the rank of court councilor, after the petition of friends, Herzen returned to Moscow. I began hard work on a series of articles on the connection of science and philosophy with real life under the general title Amateurism in Science.

After several unsuccessful attempts to turn to fiction. In 1847, Herzen and his family left Russia and began their many-year journey through Europe. Observing the life of Western countries, he interspersed personal impressions with historical and philosophical research (Letters from France and Italy, 1847–1852; From the Other Shore, 1847–1850, etc.). In 1850–1852, a series of Herzen’s personal dramas took place: his wife’s betrayal, the death of his mother and youngest son in a shipwreck, his wife’s death from childbirth. In 1852 Herzen settled in London. By this time he was perceived as the first figure of the Russian emigration. Together with Ogarev, he began to publish revolutionary publications - the almanac “Polar Star” (1855–1868) and the newspaper “Bell” (1857–1867), the influence of which on the revolutionary movement in Russia was enormous. Despite the many articles published by the writer in Polar Star and Kolokol and published in separate editions, his main creation of the emigrant years is The Past and Thoughts (published 1855–1919).

The past and thoughts by genre - a synthesis of memoirs, journalism, literary portraits, autobiographical novels, historical chronicles, short stories. The author himself called this book a confession, “about which stopped thoughts from thoughts were collected here and there.” The first five parts describe Herzen's life from childhood until the events of 1850–1852, when the author suffered difficult mental trials associated with the collapse of his family. The sixth part, as a continuation of the first five, is devoted to life in England. The seventh and eighth parts, even more free in chronology and theme, reflect the life and thoughts of the author in the 1860s.

At first, Herzen intended to write about the tragic events of his personal life. But “everything old, half-forgotten, was resurrected,” and the architecture of the plan gradually expanded. In general, work on the book lasted about fifteen years, and the chronology of the narrative did not always coincide with the chronology of writing. In 1865, Herzen left England and went on a long trip to Europe, trying to unwind after another family drama (three-year-old twins died of diphtheria, the new wife did not find understanding among the older children). At this time, Herzen distanced himself from the revolutionaries, especially from the Russian radicals. Arguing with Bakunin, who called for the destruction of the state, he wrote: “People cannot be liberated in external life more than they are liberated internally.” These words are perceived as Herzen’s spiritual testament.
Like most Russian Westernized radicals, Herzen went through a period of deep fascination with Hegelianism in his spiritual development. Hegel's influence can be clearly seen in the series of articles Amateurism in Science (1842–1843). Their pathos lies in the affirmation and interpretation of Hegelian dialectics as an instrument of knowledge and revolutionary transformation of the world (“algebra of revolution”). Herzen severely condemned abstract idealism in philosophy and science for its isolation from real life, for “apriorism” and “spiritism.” The future development of humanity, in his opinion, should lead to the “removal” of antagonistic contradictions in society, the formation of philosophical and scientific knowledge inextricably linked with reality. Moreover, the result of development will be the merging of spirit and matter. In the historical process of cognition of reality, a “universal mind, freed from personality,” will be formed.
These ideas were further developed in Herzen’s main philosophical work, Letters on the Study of Nature (1845–1846). Continuing his criticism of philosophical idealism, Herzen defined nature as “the genealogy of thinking,” and saw only an illusion in the idea of ​​pure being. For a materialistically minded thinker, nature is an ever-living, “fermenting substance”, primary in relation to the dialectics of knowledge. In the Letters, Herzen, quite in the spirit of Hegelianism, substantiated consistent historiocentrism: “neither humanity nor nature can be understood without historical existence,” and in understanding the meaning of history he adhered to the principles of historical determinism. However, in the thoughts of the late Herzen, the old progressivism gives way to much more pessimistic and critical assessments.
First of all, this relates to his analysis of the process of formation in society of a new type of mass consciousness, exclusively consumer, based on completely materialistic individualism (egoism). Such a process, according to Herzen, leads to the total massification of social life and, accordingly, to its peculiar entropy (“the turn of all European life in favor of silence and crystallization”), to the loss of individual and personal originality. “Personalities were erased, generic typism smoothed out everything sharply individual and restless” (Ends and Beginnings, 1863). Disappointment in European progress, as Herzen admitted, led him “to the brink of moral death,” from which only “faith in Russia” saved him. Herzen hoped for the possibility of establishing socialist relations in Russia (although he had considerable doubts about the previous revolutionary paths, as he wrote about in the article To an Old Comrade, 1869). Herzen associated the prospects for the development of socialism primarily with the peasant community.

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen - Russian revolutionary, writer, philosopher.
The illegitimate son of a wealthy Russian landowner I. Yakovlev and a young German bourgeois woman Louise Haag from Stuttgart. Received the fictitious surname Herzen - son of the heart (from German Herz).
He was brought up in Yakovlev's house, received a good education, became acquainted with the works of French educators, and read the forbidden poems of Pushkin and Ryleev. Herzen was deeply influenced by his friendship with his talented peer, the future poet N.P. Ogarev, which lasted throughout their lives. According to his memoirs, the news of the Decembrist uprising made a strong impression on the boys (Herzen was 13, Ogarev was 12 years old). Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activity arise; During a walk on the Sparrow Hills, the boys vowed to fight for freedom.
In 1829, Herzen entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where he soon formed a group of progressively thinking students. His attempts to present his own vision of the social order date back to this time. Already in his first articles, Herzen showed himself not only as a philosopher, but also as a brilliant writer.
Already in 1829-1830, Herzen wrote a philosophical article about Wallenstein by F. Schiller. During this youthful period of Herzen’s life, his ideal was Karl Moor, the hero of F. Schiller’s tragedy “The Robbers” (1782).
In 1833, Herzen graduated from the university with a silver medal. In 1834, he was arrested for allegedly singing songs discrediting the royal family in the company of friends. In 1835, he was sent first to Perm, then to Vyatka, where he was assigned to serve in the governor’s office. For organizing an exhibition of local works and the explanations given to the heir (the future Alexander II) during its inspection, Herzen, at the request of Zhukovsky, was transferred to serve as an adviser to the board in Vladimir, where he got married, having secretly taken his bride from Moscow, and where he spent the happiest and bright days of your life.
In 1840, Herzen was allowed to return to Moscow. Turning to fictional prose, Herzen wrote the novel “Who is to Blame?” (1847), the stories “Doctor Krupov” (1847) and “The Thieving Magpie” (1848), in which he considered his main goal to expose Russian slavery.
In 1847, Herzen and his family left Russia, going to Europe. Observing the life of Western countries, he interspersed personal impressions with historical and philosophical research (Letters from France and Italy, 1847–1852; From the Other Shore, 1847–1850, etc.)
In 1850–1852, a series of Herzen’s personal dramas took place: the death of his mother and youngest son in a shipwreck, the death of his wife from childbirth. In 1852, Herzen settled in London.
By this time he was perceived as the first figure of the Russian emigration. Together with Ogarev, he began to publish revolutionary publications - the almanac "Polar Star" (1855-1868) and the newspaper "Bell" (1857-1867), the influence of which on the revolutionary movement in Russia was enormous. But his main creation of the emigrant years is “The Past and Thoughts.”
“The Past and Thoughts” by genre is a synthesis of memoirs, journalism, literary portraits, autobiographical novel, historical chronicle, and short stories. The author himself called this book a confession, “about which stopped thoughts from thoughts were collected here and there.” The first five parts describe Herzen's life from childhood until the events of 1850–1852, when the author suffered difficult mental trials associated with the collapse of his family. The sixth part, as a continuation of the first five, is devoted to life in England. The seventh and eighth parts, even more free in chronology and theme, reflect the life and thoughts of the author in the 1860s.
All other works and articles by Herzen, such as “The Old World and Russia”, “Le peuple Russe et le socialisme”, “Ends and Beginnings”, etc. represent a simple development of ideas and sentiments that were fully defined in the period 1847-1852 years in the works mentioned above.
In 1865, Herzen left England and went on a long trip to Europe. At this time he distanced himself from the revolutionaries, especially from the Russian radicals. Arguing with Bakunin, who called for the destruction of the state, Herzen wrote: “People cannot be liberated in external life more than they are liberated internally.” These words are perceived as Herzen’s spiritual testament.
Like most Russian Westernized radicals, Herzen went through a period of deep fascination with Hegelianism in his spiritual development. Hegel's influence can be clearly seen in the series of articles “Amateurism in Science” (1842–1843). Their pathos lies in the affirmation and interpretation of Hegelian dialectics as an instrument of knowledge and revolutionary transformation of the world (“algebra of revolution”). Herzen severely condemned abstract idealism in philosophy and science for its isolation from real life, for “apriorism” and “spiritism.”
These ideas were further developed in Herzen’s main philosophical work, “Letters on the Study of Nature” (1845–1846). Continuing his criticism of philosophical idealism, Herzen defined nature as “the genealogy of thinking,” and saw only an illusion in the idea of ​​pure being. For a materialistically minded thinker, nature is an ever-living, “fermenting substance”, primary in relation to the dialectics of knowledge. In the Letters, Herzen, quite in the spirit of Hegelianism, substantiated consistent historiocentrism: “neither humanity nor nature can be understood without historical existence,” and in understanding the meaning of history he adhered to the principles of historical determinism. However, in the thoughts of the late Herzen, the old progressivism gives way to much more pessimistic and critical assessments.
On January 21, 1870, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery. His ashes were later transported to Nice and buried next to his wife's grave.

Bibliography
1846 - Who is to blame?
1846 - Passing by
1847 - Doctor Krupov
1848 - Thieving Magpie
1851 - Damaged
1864 - Tragedy over a glass of grog
1868 - Past and thoughts
1869 - For the sake of boredom

Film adaptations
1920 - Thieving Magpie
1958 - Thieving Magpie

Interesting Facts
Elizaveta Herzen, the 17-year-old daughter of A.I. Herzen and N.A. Tuchkova-Ogareva, committed suicide because of unrequited love for a 44-year-old Frenchman in Florence in December 1875. The suicide had a resonance; Dostoevsky wrote about it in his essay “Two Suicides.”