No More Learning

In a characteristically Russian manner, Vladimir Soloviev refuses to confine himself to the immediate
bearings and aspects of the war-problem, but fear- lessly subjects it to examination sub specie
? xiv SOLOVIEV
aeternitatis. For him war is only a part of the
more general question of fighting evil, and it is his original conception of evil which is the guiding
principle in his analysis. It is impossible to go into the metaphysical theories of Soloviev here. A
few explanations are, however, necessary, lest the reader, puzzled by the quaint and seemingly un-
substantiated prophecies of future developments, should regard them as the product of an irre-
sponsible mind given to fancies and hallucinations.
'"
The Three Discussions is not a creation of an
inexperienced young man, whose youth could, per-
"
haps, be held responsible for its
fantastic char-
acter. " On the contrary, it is the crowning achieve-
ment, of the philosopher's life, embodying his last
and final conclusions on the evolution and future of mankind.
Through all the works of Soloviev there runs one
cardinal thought : the idea of the evolution of the
world which has made humanity a factor in the life
of Deity itself, has imbued it with God's spirit in
"
the form of
for a final union with God "the all-unity" by
overcoming that power which, though emanating from God, has severed itself from Him, has created
the material world, and has been the cause of existing evil. The realisation of this process in the
life of humanity, the ever-growing unity with God, was pictured by Soloviev differently at different
periods of his life. There was a period when he
God-human-ness" and has destined it
? TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE xv
believed that such a unity would be possible in this
world, and that it would be accomplished by a transformation of the present-day states into a world
theocracy.
In this transformation a mission of
special importance was assigned to Russia, who was believed to nourish within herself the idea of uni-
versal salvation. Soloviev was not alone in these
hopes of God's Kingdom on Earth, and of the mission of Russia in their realisation. He shared
them and, moreover, practically worked them out in close co-operation with his friend, Dostoievsky, who, for his own part, gave expression to them in
"The Brothers Karamazov. " But towards the close of his life, Soloviev began
to see things differently. No longer could he believe in the realisation of God's Kingdom in this
world. Only by a complete victory over the world that is sunk in evil, only by a general resurrection
of all living beings could the unity with the "All- One"beachieved. Andthisendwillbeattained, not through the union of the State and the Church, led and headed by the spiritual power of Russia, as he previously believed, but by means of the union of true Christians of all persuasions, righting against those who regard this world as the only
Kingdom of God.
This idea forms the basis of his
his famous
novel,
Story of the Anti-Christ," and it will be observed that in his
picture of the reign of the Anti-Christ he actually turns the weapons against himself and his former
"
? xvi SOLOVIEV
aspirations of God's Kingdom on Earth. But fear-
less as this renunciation is, it is not presented
"
altogether fairly in the Three Discussions. " Here
'Leo Tolstoy has been made the scapegoat of the
philosopher's indignation. Apart from the truth of
Soloviev's conception of evil and the Anti-Christ,
which, of course, can be disputed on more grounds
than one, the fact that Tolstoy, with his preaching
<j)f non-resistance and moral perfection, is singled
dmt as a forerunner of the Anti-Christ, shows all
the signs of a bias, sincere and involuntary, no doubt,
but nevertheless hardly justified in fact; particularly so in the light of Soloviev's own- opinion that iHe
element of Anti-Christ has been present in all the
- historical forms of Christianity, and, we may add,
--f was not entirely absent from even his own system. *. . j- j
This inconsistency, however, detracts very little from the value and significance of Soloviev's
In whatever form a man's own intuition may assimilate the external world, [whatever meta-
MA, physical conceptions may be built up on the basis of such intuitionTJone cannot help recognising that in Soloviev's philosophy an original and singularly profound aspect of the world finds an extremely lucid,consistent,andexhaustivepresentation. The essential feature of Soloviev, as of all the Russian thinkers and, one would like to say, of all the spiritual life of Russia, is the earnestness, the burning spirit with which truth is sought and the aims of life are conceived and pursued. It is for
teaching.
? TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE xvii
this reason that a mere rational comprehension can
never suffice for a full and true appreciation of a
Russian thinker. To experience his truth one has
to descend below the mechanism of his ideas to
the abysses ofrTiis spirit^where the eternal thirst for knowledge moulds itself into his individual
perception of the world. Unfortunately, not every-
body is capable of doing so, and just at present
there is to be perceived a dangerous tendency to
"
superficialise," if one may say so, the hitherto
much ignored spiritual life of Russia, in the attempt to present it to the eyes of the British public : since
the essential condition of appreciation is a personal
experience, and the agony and vicissitudes of
spiritual development seem to be little familiar to
the greater number of would-be interpreters of the
Russian soul. Yet it is this depth and earnestness
that distinguish Russia as a nation. If any mission
be at all assigned to her in the future destinies of
Western Europe, it is not to deliver any particular
message, but rather to stimulate and set aflame the
slumbering spirit of the cultured world. "Ex
oriente lux" the Slavophiles used to say "Ex
"
would, perhaps, be more in conformity ALEXANDER BAKSHY.
oriente ignis
with the ardent spirit of Russia.
"
Whilst translating the Three Discussions," I
have been fortunate enough to secure the assistance b
? xviii SOLOVIEV
of a number of English friends, to whom I wish to record my great indebtedness. In particular, my thanks are due to Mr. Robert Finch, who has care- fully edited my manuscript; and to Mr. G. H. Green, who has helped me in the work of reading the proofs, and has also rendered Count Alexis Tol-
stoy's verses into English metre, preserving, as far as possible, the grotesque character of the Russian
original.
A. B.
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Is evil only a natural defect, an imperfection dis- appearing of itself with the growth of good, or is it a real power, possessing our world by means of
temptations, so that for fighting it successfully assistance must be found in another sphere of being ?
This vital question can be fully examined and
solved only in a complete system of metaphysics.
I began carrying out this task for those who are
1
capable of contemplation, but I soon feltfhow im-
portant the problem of evil is for everybody Some two years ago a change in the tenor of my
spiritual life, which there is no need to dwell upon just now, created in me a strong and firm desire to illumine in some clear and easy way the main aspects of the problem of evil, which must concern everybody. For a long time I was unable to find a suitablemediumforcarryingoutmyplan. Inthe
spring of 1899, however, during my stay abroad, I
spontaneously composed and wrote in a few days the first discussion on this subject, and on returning
to Russia wrote the two others. In this way I dis- covered the literary form which this work assumes,
1 The introduction to this work was published by me in the first three chapters of my "Theoretical Philosophy. "
? -
xx SOLOVIEV
and which provided me with the simplest medium for the expression of the thoughts I was desirous of
communicating. This form of drawing-room dis- cussion is a sufficient proof in itself that neither a
scientifico-philosophical examination nor an ortho-
dox sermon should be looked for in this work.
object in it was rather apologetic and polemic : I
endeavoured, as far as I could, to set out clearly and
prominently (the vital aspects of Christian truth, in
/so far as it is connected with the question of evil,
and to the with which seems disperse fog everybody
L-Jt, to have been trying lately to enwrap it/3
Many years ago I happened to read about a new religion that was founded in the eastern provinces
of Russia. The religion, the followers of which called themselves "Hole-drillers," or "Hole-
worshippers," was very simple; a middle-sized hole was drilled in a wall in some dark corner of a house,
and the men put their mouths to it and repeated
"Jji
" do save me " My house, my hole, !
earnestly :
Never before, I believe, has the object of worship been reduced to such a degree of simplicity. It
must be admitted, however, that though the worship
of an ordinary peasant's house, and of a simple hole made by human hands in its wall, was a palpable error, it was a truthful error; those men were abso-
lutely mad, but they did not deceive anybody; the house they worshipped they called a house, and the hole drilled in the wall they reasonably termed
merely a hole.
My
? . ,^4
AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxi
But the religion of the hole-worshippers soon underwent a process of "evolution," and was sub-
jected to "transformation. " It still retained in its new form its former weakness of religious thought and its narrow character of philosophic interests, its former terre-a-terre realism, but it completely lost itspasttruthfulness. The"house"nowwastermed " the Kingdom of God on Earth," and the " hole "
"
received the name of
distinction between the sham gospel and the true one (and this is the most distressing fact about it), a distinction which is exactly similar to that exist- ing between a hole drilled in a beam, and complete living tree this essential distinction was either
neglected or confused by the new evangelists.
Of course, I do not assert a direct historical or
""
genetic connection between the original sect of
hole-worshippers and the teaching of the sham KingdomofGodandtheshamGospel. Neitheris
it important for my object, which is only to show ""
clearlytheessentialidentityofthetwo teachings with that moral distinction which has been stated
above. [The identity here lies in the purely negative $ " x^
and void character of both doctrmes. 'jj It is true,
""
the educated hole-worshippers do nojt call them-
the new Gospel," whilst the
* \ selves by this name, but go under the name of kH\
\ (Christians, and their teaching is also passed as the Gospel,! -but Christianity without ChristJ and the Gospel, i. e. , the ''message of good," without the only good worth announcing, viz. , without the real
~3*~
*
? $' r
,/
resurrection to the fulness of blessed life these are as much a hollow space as is the ordinary hole drilledinapeasant'shouse. Therewouldnotbe any need to speak about this at all were it not for the
fact that over the rationalist hole the Christian flag "
isflown,temptingandconfusingmanyofthe little ones. " Whenthepeoplewhobelieveandcautiously declare that Christ has become obsolete and has been superseded, or that He never existed at all, and that His life is a myth invented by Paul, at the same time persistently call themselves "true Christians"
/"and screen their teaching of hollow space by distorted
quotations from the Gospeljit is well-nigh time to put aside our indifference to, and our condescending
contempt for, their opinions. l-The moral atmosphere*- is contaminated with systematic falsehoods, \so the
public conscience loudly demands that the evil work should be branded by its real name. The true object of polemics would in this case be not the
1 confuting of sham religion but the showing up of the \ actual fraud.
This fraud has no excuse. Between me, as the author of three books, banned by the ecclesi- astic censorship on the one side, and these pub- lishers of numerous foreign books, pamphlets, and
leaflets on the other side, the question of external obstacles for an unreserved frankness in these matters does not seriously arise. The restraints of
religious freedom, existing in our country, cause the greatest pain to my heart, for I see and feel to what
xxii SOLOVIEV
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxiii
a great extent these external restrictions bring harm to and impose burdens not only on those whom they
directly hit, but mainly on the cause of Christianity in Russia, consequently on the Russian nation, con- sequently, again, on the Russian State.
No external situation can prevent a man who is
honestly convinced in his opinions, stating them fully. If it is impossible to do so at home, one can do it abroad, and no one has availed himself of this opportunity to a greater extent than the teachers of the sham Gospel have done when the matters con-
cerned have been the -practical questions of politics and religion. Whilst as regards the main, the essential question there is no need even to go abroad in order to refrain from insincerity and artifice : the Russian censorship never demands that anybody should pronounce opinions that he does not hold, to simulate a faith in things he does not believe in, or to love and revere what he despises and hates. To maintain an honest attitude towards the known his- torical Person and His Work, the preachers of
hollowness had only one thing to do in Russia : ""
they should merely have ignored Him. But here is the strange fact : in this matter these men
refuse to avail themselves either of the freedom of silence which they enjoy at home or of the freedom ofspeechwhichtheyenjoyabroad. Bothhereand there they prefer to show their allegiance to the Gospel of Christ; both here and there they decline to reveal honestly their real attitude to the Founder
? xxiv SOLOVIEV
of Christianity either by a resolute word or by an eloquent silence, i. e. , to show that He is entirely alien to them, is for no object required and is only a
hindrance in their way.
From their point of view the things they preach
are of themselves clear, desirable and salutary for ""
everybody. Their truth is self-supporting, and if a certain historical person happens to agree with
it, so much is it the better for him, though this fact does not endow him with any special authority in their eyes, particularly when it is remembered that this person had said and done many things which for
these people are nothing but a "temptation" and
" madness. "
Even supposing that these moralists in their very
human weakness feel an irresistible desire to sus- ""
tain their beliefs as well as their own reason
by some historical authority, why, I ask, do they not look in history for another who shall be a more suit- able representative ? There has for a long time been one waiting for such recognition the founder of
the widely-popular religion of Buddhism. He did really preach what they required : non-resistance, impossibility, inactivity, sobriety, etc. , and succeeded
"
even without a martyrdom to
make a brilliant
career" for his religion. The sacred books of the
Buddhists do really proclaim hollowness, and to
make them fully agree with the new teaching of the same matter they would require only a little sim-
plificationindetail. Onthecontrary,theScriptures
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxv
of the Jews and Christians are filled and permeated
throughout by a positive spiritual message which denies both ancient and modern emptiness, so that
to be able to fasten the teaching of this latter to any of the statements taken from the Gospel or the Pro-
phets it is necessary, by hook or by crook, to tear
away such a statement from its natural connection
withthewholeofthebookandthecontext. Whereas, ""
ontheotherhand,theBuddhist suttee
whole masses of suitable parables and legends, and there is nothing in those books inimical in spirit to
the new teaching.
By substituting the hermit of the Sacciah tribe for
"
the rabbifromGalilee,"theshamChristianswould
have lost nothing of importance, but would win something very valuable indeed, at least in my eyes
they would win the possibility of being, even
while erring, honestly thinking and to an extent consistent. Buttheydonotwantthis. . . .
^ The hollowness of the teaching of the new religion and its logical contradictions are too apparent, and in this matter I have been satisfied to give (in the
Third Discussion) only a brief, though complete,
statement of their pronouncements, obviously con-
tradictory in themselves and hardly capable of
tempting anybody outside the hopeless class of people typified by my Prince. Should I succeed in
opening anybody's eyes to the other side of the
question and making any deceived but living soul feel all the moral falsity of this death-spreading
supplies
? xxvi SOLOVTEV
teaching taken in all its entirety, the polemical object of this book would be fully achieved.
I am firmly convinced, however, that the exposure of an untruth made without reservation, should it
even fail to produce any beneficent effect, still remains, apart from the fulfilment of duty it in- volves for its author, a measure of spiritual sanita- tion in the life of society, [and brings useful results both in the present and in the futurej t^pttbl c
Bound up with the polemical object of these
dialogues I also pursue a positive aim : to present the question of the struggle against evil and of the
meaning of history from three different standpoints. One of these is based on a religious conception of
the everyday life, which is characteristic of past
times, and is given much prominence in the First Discussion in the speeches of the General. The
other, representing the ideas of culture and progress as prevailing in our time, is expressed and defended
by the Politician, particularly in the Second Discus- sion. Lastly, the third standpoint, which is abso- lutely religious and which will yet show its decisive value in the future, is indicated in the Third Dis- cussion in the speeches of Mr. Z. and in the story
by Father Pansophius. Personally, I unreservedly
accept the last point of view. But I fully recognise the relative truth contained in the two others, and
for this reason could with equal fairness express the opposing arguments and statements of the Politician and the General. The higher absolute
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxvii
truth does not exclude or deny the preliminary con-
ditions of its realisation, but justifies, appreciates,
andsanctifiesthem. Iffromacertainpointofview
the world's history is God's judgment of the world
die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht-^tiiis in-
volves a long and complicated contest or litigation between the good and the evil historical forces, and
this contest, to come to a final solution, must needs involve both a determined struggle for existence between those forces, and their greater inner, there-
fore peaceful, development in the common forms
truth, and I could with complete sincerity place myself in the position of the one or the other. It
is [only the power oL evil itself that is absolutely wrong,] but not such means of fighting it as the sword of the soldier or the pen of the diplomat. These\weapons must be appraised at their actual usefulness in the given circumstances^ and that must be considered the better of the two whose use is more effective in upholding the cause of good. St.
Alexis the metropolitan, when peacefully pleading for the Russian princes at the Tartar Horde, and
St. Sergius when blessing the arms of Dmitrius of the Don against the same Horde both equally served one and the same cause of good that finds its expression in many various forms and fashions.
For this reason the General and the
of culture.
Politician are both right in the light of the Higher
J
? xxviii SOLOVIEV
'
(jextremest manifestation of evil in historyj the picture
These discussions about evil and the militant and the peaceful methods of combating it, had to be concluded with a definite statement of the last, the
of its short-lived
At first I treated this subject in the form of a dia- logue, as I had treated the other parts, and with a
. //similar sprinkling of the jocular element-/ But friendly criticisms convinced me that this method
of exposition was doubly unsuitable : firstly, because
the interruptions and interpolations required by the form of dialogue tended to weaken the interest in
thestory; and,secondly,becausethecolloquialand particularly the jocular character of conversation did
not accord with the religious importance of the
subject. I recognised the justice of these criticisms and accordingly altered the form of the Third Dis-
cussion, introducing in it the reading from a MS.
left by a monk after his death, of an independent ^shortstoryoftheAnti-Christ. " Thisstory,which earlier formed the subject of a public lecture, created a good deal of bewilderment and confused comment on the platform and in the Press, the main reason
for which appears to be very simple : the prevailing insufficient knowledge of the references to Anti-
Christ contained in the Scriptures and in Church tradition. These give indications of all the main features of Anti-Christ such as the inner significance
f [_of Anti-Christ as a religious impostor, who obtains
"
the title of the Son of God by stealing" it, and not
triumphjjand
its final destruction-/
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxix
* byspiritualself-sacrifice; hisconnectionwithafalse
prophet, wizard, who seduces people by means of / real and false miracles; the obscure and peculiarly / sinful origin of Anti-Christ himself, who secures his external position of a monarch of the world by
. "
the help of evil powers ; lastly, the general develop- ment and the end of his activity. Other particulars, characteristic of Anti-Christ and his false prophet, may also be found in the same sources. We have
there, for instance, bringing down fire from
Heaven ' ' _witnesses. j)f. Christ, , J murjd^nn^_the_afo
exposure of their bodies in the streets of Jerusalem, \ andmanyothers. * Toconnecttheeventswitheach other and to make the story more speaking several details had to be introduced, partly based on his-*^
torical conjectures, and partly^ created by imagine-^ tion. On the details of the latter kind, such as the
/
semi-psychic, semi-conjuring tricks of the great magician with subterranean voices, fireworks, etc. ,
I placed, it hardly needs saying, very little import- ance, and I think was justified in expecting a similar
"
critics. " As theotherandextremelyessentialpoint thecharac- teristics of the three impersonated confessions in the oecumenical council, this could be noticed and
fully appreciated only by those of my critics who were acquainted with the history and life of the
churches.
CThe character of the false prophet given in the
Revelation and his mission, as clearly indicated
attitude on the of part my
-
regards
? xxx SOLOVIEV
therein, to mystify people for the benefit of Anti- Christ, made it necessary for me to attribute to him different prodigies of the kind that is peculiar to
magicians and conjurers. / It is known for certainty,
"
dass zein hauptwerk ein Feuerwerk sein wird :
he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. "
At present we cannot, of ' course, know magic and mechanical technique of these prodigies, but we may be sure that in two or three centuries it will advance very far from what it is now, and what will be made possible by such progressforamagicianlikeours isnotformeto say. I have admitted to my story certain definite features and details only as concrete illustrations to
the essential and fully-established relations, so that they would not be left mere bare schemes. The essential and the details should also be clearly dis-
tinguished in all that I say about Pan-Mongolism and the Asiatic invasion of Europe. But, of course,
the main fact itself has not in this case the absolute certainty which characterises the future coming and the fate of Anti-Christ and his false prophet.
rNothing has been taken direct from the Scriptures
in describing the development of the Mongolo- European relations, though a great deal of it can be based on Scriptural statements. I Taken in general,
*
mstory indicated presents a series of conjec-
tures of]the probable based on the actual facts^j Personally,! I believe this probability to be very near
Aj^ (Apocalypsis, xiii.
i3-)J
*4
and
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxxi
-if
the certaintyj and this appears so, not only to me,
but also to many much more important personages. For the sake of coherency of the story, several de-
tails had to be introduced into these considerations
of the coming Mongolian menace, for which I, of
course, cannot vouch, and which, on the whole, were
sparinglyused. The\jhingofmuchgreaterimport- ance to me was to make the picture of the coming
terrific conflict of the two worlds as realistic as pos-
sible^and to show thereby the pressing necessity of
peace and true friendship amongst all the nations of
Europe. ]
If the general cessation of war seems to me im-
possible before the final catastrophe is over, I firmly believe that the closest friendship and peaceful co-
operation of all the Christian nations and States is
not only a possible but a necessary and morally imperative way for the salvation of the Christian
world from being swallowed up by the lower elements.
So as not to make the story too long and too com- plicated I had to leave out another conjecture of mine which deserves a few words of explanation.
Vlt seems to me that the coming success of Pan- Mongolism will be greatly facilitated by the stub- born and exhaustive struggle which some of the European countries will have to wage against the
awakened Islam in Western Asia and in the North andCentralAfrica. J Agreaterpartthanitisgenerally believed will be played in that awakening by the
? xxxii SOLOVIEV
secret and incessant activity of the religious and
"
political brotherhood of
Senussi," which has for
the movements of modern Mahomedanism the same
directing importance as in the movements of the
Buddhistic world belongs to the Tibetian brother-
"
hood of Kelani," in Lhasa, with all its Indian,
Chinese,andJapaneseramifications. Iamfarfrom
being absolutely hostile to Buddhism, neither am I particularlysotoIslam. Butawilfulblindnessto
the existing and coming state of things is too readily indulged in by many people to-day, and I might perhaps have chosen for myself a more profitable occupation.
The historical forces reigning over the masses of humanity will yet have to come to blows and become intermingled with each other before the new head grows on the self-lacerating body of the beast : the
"
4 [world-unifying power of the Anti-Christ, who will
speak high-sounding and splendid words," and will cast a glittering veil of good and truth over the
mystery of utter lawlessness in the time of its final revelation, so that even the chosen, in the words of the Scriptures, will be reduced to the great be- trayal. J To show beforehand\this deceptive visor,] was my highest aim in writing this book.
Concluding, I must express my sincere gratitude to M. A. P. Salomon, who corrected and supple-
mented my topographical data of modern Jerusalem ;
? AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxxiii
to M. N. A. Veliaminov, who communicated to me the story of the bashi-bazouk "kitchen," which he
personallywitnessedin1877; andtoM. M. Bibikov, who carefully examined the General's narrative in the First Discussion and pointed out some errors from the military standpoint, which have now been amended.
Even in this amended form, however, I still feel numerous defects of the work. But not less felt is also the distant image of pale death, which quietly advises me not to put off the publication of this book to an indefinite and little secure date. Shall I be given time for new works, I shall be given it for improving the old ones as well. If not the state- ment of the coming historical issue of the moral
struggle has been made by me in sufficiently clear, though brief, outlines, and I publish this little work with the grateful feeling of a fulfilled moral duty.
VLADIMIR SOLOVIEV.
Easter, 1900.
This preface was originally published in the
"
newspaper, Russia, under the title
On the False
Good. " When
preparing
"TheFirstDiscussion"
for publication as a separate volume, V. Soloviev
madeinthetextnumerouscorrections. Inafateful manner, however, one of these corrections has proved unnecessary. Ontheadviceofhisfriendshestruck out the words which seemed to bear too personal a
? xxxiv
SOLOVIEV
"
but not less felt is also the distant
character, viz. :
image of pale death, which quietly advises me not toputoffthepublication,etc. " Thesewords,which were only too soon justified, should remain in the amended text as it stands now.
M. SOLOVIEV
(Editor of the Russian edition).
? AND THE END OF HISTORY
WAR,
PROGRESS,
? I
FIRST DISCUSSION Audiatur et prima pars
? THREE DISCUSSIONS
IN the garden of one of the villas that nestle together under the foothills of the Alps, and gaze into the azure depths of the Mediterranean, there happened to meet together this spring five Russians.
The first was an old GENERAL, a man of war from his youth. The second was a statesman, enjoying a hard-earned rest from the whirl and turmoil of politics him I shall henceforth call the POLITICIAN. ThethirdwasayoungPRINCE,whose strong democratic views and thirst for reform had led him to publish a large number of more or less valuable pamphlets on moral and social progress.
The fourth was a middle-aged LADY, very inquisitive and greatly interested in humanity at large.
And the last, another gentleman, of somewhat uncertain ageandsocialposition whomwewillcallMR. Z.
At the frequent discussions which took place among them I myself was a silent listener. Certain of these discussions appeared to me to be particu- larlyinteresting; Ithereforetookcaretowritethem down while they were still fresh in my mind. The first discussion was started in my absence and was
provoked by some newspaper article or pamphlet on B2
? 4 SOLOVIEV
the literary campaign against war and military ser-
vice, a campaign originated by Count Tolstoy and now being carried on by Baroness Zutner and Mr.
Stead. The POLITICIAN, questioned by the LADY as to his opinion of this movement, characterised itasbeingwell-intentionedanduseful. Thisstate- ment immediately called forth angry remarks from the GENERAL, who began to sneer at the leaders of this anti-war crusade, calling them ironically the true pillars of statesmanlike wisdom, the guiding stars on the political horizon, and dubbing them the three "whales" of the Russian land. 1 To this latter remark the POLITICIAN rejoined : "Well, there maybeotherfishesbesides. " This,forsomereason,
greatly delighted MR. Z. , who, as he subsequently
stated, made both opponents agree in regarding the whale as a fish. He even made them give a defini-
tion of what a fish is, viz. , an animal, belonging
partly to the Admiralty and partly to the Depart- ment of Waterways. I think, however, that this is a pure invention of MR. Z. Be this as it may, I am unable to reconstruct the beginning of the dis- cussion in the proper manner, and as I do not venture to evolve it out of my inner consciousness, after the manner of Plato and his imitators, I commence my chronicle with the words uttered by the GENERAL,
just as I joined the company.
1 According to the Russian folklore the Earth rests on
three whales.
(Translator. )
? THE FIRST DISCUSSION.
"
GENERAL (excited; speaks, incessantly getting up and sitting down, with many quick gesticulations].
Audiatur et prima pars. "
Oh,no! Howis that? Oh,no! no!
this one question : Does such a thing as a Christ-
loving and glorious Russian Army truly exist at this moment? Yes or no?
POLITICIAN (lounging comfortably in an easy- chair, and speaking in a tone suggestive of a compound of Epicurus, a Prussian colonel, and Voltaire]. Does a Russian Army exist? Obviously itdoes. Why,yousurelyhaven'theardthatithad been abolished?
GENERAL. How mightily ingenuous you are to be
You understand perfectly well that that is
sure !
notwhatI mean. I askyouthis: AmI rightin
regarding our present Army as a glorious band of Christ-loving warriors, or am I to suppose that one
ought to call it something else?
POLITICIAN. I see !
That is what bothers you, is
it? Well, you have brought your question to the
wrongshop. YoushouldinquireattheDepartment
of Heraldry they are the recognised experts in titles, I believe.
MR. Z. (speaking as if he had an idea at the back
of his mind). And the Department of Heraldry will probably tell the General that the law places no
Answer me
? 6 SOLOVIEV
restriction on the use of old titles. Did not the last Prince Lusignan hold the title of King of Cyprus,
although he not only had no jurisdiction in Cyprus, but could not even drink Cyprian wine owing to his
weak stomach and empty purse? Why, then, shouldn't the modern army be entitled a Christ- loving band of warriors ?
MR. Z. But I am not stating my own opinion. I merely put forward that which appears to be held
by people who should know !
LADY (to the Politician). Why do you argue about mere forms of expression? I am sure the General
"
has more to say about his warriors. "
Christ-loving band of
Then we may call black
GENERAL. Entitled !
and white titles? So are sweet and bitter, and so are hero and scoundrel.
GENERAL. I thank you, madam. What I wished,
and what I still wish to say is this : From the earliest
times until but yesterday every warrior, be he private or field-marshal, knew and felt that he served in a goodandholycause. Hebelievednotonlythathe fulfilled duties every bit as necessary as sanitation or washing, for instance, but that he was part of a service which was good, honourable, and noble in the highest sense of the word, and to which the greatest and best men that have ever lived heroes andleadersofnations havegiventheirlives. This cause of ours has always been sanctified and exalted by the Church, and glorified by the praise of the
? WAR 7
nation. Yet behold ! one fine morning we are told that we must forget all this and that we must hold ourselves and our place in the world to be the very opposite. The cause which we have served, and
always have been proud of serving, is suddenly declared to be a thing of evil and a menace to the
country. Warfare, it appears, is against God's express commandments, is entirely opposed to
human sentiments, and inevitably brings about most dreadful evil and dire misfortune. All nations, we are told, must combine against it and make its final destruction only a question of time.
PRINCE. Doyoumeantotellusthatyouhavenever before heard opinions which utterly condemn war and military service as relics of ancient barbarism?
GENERAL. Who has not? Of course I have heard them, and have read them, too, in more languages
But all such puny voices you must
than one!
pardonmyfrankness seemtomebynomeansthe
thunderclaps that you consider them. But to-day matters are different; one cannot but hear these
opinions, expressed as they are on all sides. What
Am I and for that matter,
on earth are we to do ?
every other soldier to regard myself an honourable man, or an inhuman monster? Am I to respect myself as a willing servant in a noble cause, or am I to view my occupation with abhorrence, to repent of my misdeeds in sackcloth and ashes, and to ask pardon on my knees of every civilian for the sins
of my profession?
? 8 SOLOVIEV
POLITICIAN. What a fantastic way of stating the
question ! As if anybody were asking you anything
extraordinary. The new demands are addressed,
"" nottoyou,buttodiplomatistsandother civilians
who care precious little whether soldiers are vicious
or whether they are Christ-loving. As far as you yourself are concerned, there is only one thing to be done ; and that is that you should carry out un- questioningly the orders of the authorities.
GENERAL. Well, well !
As you take no interest
in military matters it is only natural that your idea
"
of them should be fantastic," to use your own
expression. You are obviously unaware that in certain cases the order of the authorities has no other meaning than that you must not wait or ask for their orders.
POLITICIAN. For instance?
GENERAL. For instance, just imagine that by the will of the powers that be I am placed in command of a whole military district. From this very fact it follows that I am commanded to govern and
control in every way the troops placed in my charge. I am to develop and strengthen in them a definite
pointofview toactinsomedefinitewayontheir will to influence their feelings; in a word, to educate them, so to speak, up to the purpose of their being. Very well then. For this purpose I am
empowered, amongst other things, to issue to the troops of my district general orders in my name and
on my entire personal responsibility. Well, should
? WAR 9
I apply to my superior officers, asking them to dictate to me my orders, or merely to instruct in what form they should be drawn up, don't you think I should,
"" in return, be dubbed an old fool ?
And that if
it happened again, I should be summarily dismissed ? This means that I must adopt towards my troops a
consistent policy, some definite spirit which, it is supposed, has been previously and once and for all approved and confirmed by the higher command. So that even to inquire about it would be to show
either stupidity or impertinence. At present, how-
"
definite spirit," which, as a matter of fact, has been one and the same from the times of Sargon and Assurbanipal to those of William II.
this very spirit suddenly proves to be under sus- picion. UntilyesterdayIknewthatIhadtodevelop and strengthen in my troops not a new, but this
same old fighting spirit the willingness of each individual soldier to conquer the enemy or to go
to his death. And for this it is absolutely necessary to possess an unshaken faith in war as a holy cause.
But now this faith is being deprived of its spiritual basis, the military work is losing what the learned
"
POLITICIAN. How frightfully exaggerated all this
ever, this
call
is !
its moral and religious sanction. "
There is no such radical change of views in
reality. On the one hand, everybody has always recognised that war is evil and that the less there
is of it the better. On the other hand, all serious people to-day realise that it is the kind of evil which
? 10 SOLOVIEV
it is impossible to eradicate completely at present. Consequently the question is not whether war can be abolished, but whether it can be gradually, even if very slowly, reduced to the narrowest limits. As to the attitude to war as a principle, this remains as it has ever been : it is an unavoidable evil, a misfortune, tolerable only in extreme cases.
GENERAL. And nothing else? POLITICIAN. Nothing else.
GENERAL (springing up from his seat}. Have you ever had occasion to refer to the Book of Saints ?
POLITICIAN. You mean in the calendar ?
I have sometimes to run through a long list of names of saints in order to find the dates of certain birth-
days.
GENERAL. Did you notice what saints are men-
tioned there ?
POLITICIAN. There are different kinds of saints. GENERAL. But what are their callings? POLITICIAN. Their callings are as different as their
names, I believe.
GENERAL. That is just where you are wrong.
Their callings are not different.
POLITICIAN. What? Surely all the saints are not
military men?
GENERAL. Not all, but half of them.
POLITICIAN. Exaggeration again !
GENERAL. We are not taking a census for statis-
tical purposes here. What I maintain is that all the saints of our Russian church belong only to two
Oh, yes,
? WAR 11
classes : they are either monks of various orders, orprinces menwho,fromwhatweknowofpast history,musthavebeenmilitarymen. Andwehave no other saints I mean those of the male sex. Monkorwarrior thatisall.
LADY. You forget the "innocents," don't you?
" GENERAL. Notatall! But innocents"areakind
ofirregularmonks,aren'tthey? WhatCossacksare
"""
to the Army, innocents are to the monkhood. "
This being so, if you now find me amongst the Russian saints a single clergyman, or tradesman, or deacon,orclerk,orcommoner,orpeasant inaword,
a man of any profession except monks and soldiers then you may take the whole of my winnings which I may bring home from Monte Carlo next Sunday.
POLITICIAN. Thanks very much. Keep your treasures and your half of the book of saints the whole of it, if you like. But do please explain what
it is that you are trying to prove by this discovery of yours. Is it only that nobody but a monk or a
soldier can set us a true example of moral life ?
GENERAL. That is hardly the point. I myself
have known many highly virtuous persons amongst the clergy, the bankers, the official classes, and the peasants, but the most virtuous person I can recollect was the old nurse of one of my friends. But it is notaboutthisthatwearetalking. Imentionedthe saints only to point out that it could hardly have been possible for so many soldiers to become saints, side by side with monks and in preference to mem-
? 12 SOLOVIEV
bers of every other peaceful and civic profession, were military occupations always regarded as a
necessary evil something like the liquor traffic or things even worse. It is evident that the Christian
nations, at whose instance the books of saints were
actually compiled (and not only with the Russians was it so, but very much the same with other nations),
not only respected the military calling, but they
particularly respected it, and of all the lay profes- sions only the military one was held fit to contribute
members to the saintship. It is this view which
seems to be incompatible with the modern campaign
against war.
POLITICIAN. But I did not say that there is no
change whatever. Some desirable change is un-
It is true that the halo which crowned warriors and their wars in the eyes of the masses is fast disappearing. But matters have been tending this way for some long time. Besides, whose interests does this actually affect? Only that of the clergy, I should say, as the manu- facture of halos belongs exclusively to its depart- ment. It will, of course, be necessary to clear up some difficulties there. And what it will be im-
possible to suppress will be interpreted symbolically, whilst the rest will wisely be kept quiet or relegated to oblivion.
PRINCE. These modifications are already being made. In connection with my publications I have to watch our ecclesiastical literature, and in two
doubtedly taking place.
? WAR 13
papers I had the pleasure of reading that Christi-
anity absolutely condemns war. GENERAL. Is that really so ?
PRINCE. I could scarcely believe my own eyes
But I can show it.
POLITICIAN (to the General). You see! Why,
though, should you be worried about it ? Aren't you warriors men of deeds and not of windy words ? Is all this merely professional selfishness and ambition onyourpart? Ifitis,itisindeedbadofyou. But
I repeat again : in practice everything remains for you as before. Let it be true that the system of
militarism, which now for thirty years has been an insupportable burden to everybody, is now bound
todisappear. However,anarmyofsomesizemust still remain. And in so far as it will be admitted
that it is necessary, just so far the same fighting qualities as before will be demanded of it.
myself.
You are all great masters to ask for milk from a dead bull ! But who is to
give you the required fighting qualities, when the first fighting quality, without which all others are of
little use, is a cheerful and confident spirit, itself the outcome of faith in the sacredness of the cause to which one has devoted oneself?