No More Learning

POLITICIAN (to Lady}. The words matter little. What remains is the fact that no political mistake passes off without retribution. Those inclined to
look that way, may see in this something mystical. So far as I am concerned, I find as little of it in
this case as I should find were I, in my present age
and position, to start drinking champagne, glass after glass, as if I were a young man, instead of
satisfying myself with a milk diet. I should un-
doubtedly become ill, and were I too persistent in my ancient regime, I should at last die off, as the Bourbons did.
LADY. You cannot dispute that your policy of milk diet a la tongue becomes exceedingly tedious. POLITICIAN (offended). If I had not been inter- rupted, I should have long ago exhausted my sub-
ject, and given place to somebody more enter-
taining.
LADY. Please do not take me seriously. I was
merely joking. On the contrary, I think you have
been very witty . . . for your age and position. POLITICIAN. So I say that we are at one with the
rest of Europe in the object of reforming Turkey on the lines of culture, and we have not at present,
nor can we ever have, any special independent
? 96 SOLOVIEV
policy.
It must, however, be admitted that on
account of our comparative backwardness in social
development, in industry and trade, the share of
Russia in this common cause of civilising the
Turkish Empire cannot at present be very great. The foremost importance which our country had as
a military State cannot, of course, be retained by us now. Predominance is not acquired for nothing; it mustbeearned. Weearnedourmilitaryimportance not by mere bluff, but by actual wars and victories. In the same way, our importance in the work of civilisation must be earned by actual labour and successes in peaceful callings. As the Turks had to fall back before our military victories, they will now retire before those who prove themselves to be
strongestinthesphereofpeacefulprogress. What is there left for us to do, in that case? You will
hardly meet anywhere now with that blatant insanity which believes that the mere ideal of the imaginary
raising of the cross on St. Sophia is a more powerful force in itself than is the actual superiority of the Germans.
GENERAL. The only thing is that this cross must not be a mere ideal.
POLITICIAN. But who will materialise it for you? So long as you have not found the means to do so, the only thing demanded by our national ambition
within the reasonable limits, of course, in which this feeling could be recognised at all is to double our efforts so that we could as quickly as possible
? PROGRESS 97
come into line with other nations in what we lag
behind them, and by doing so, gain the time and effort wasted on various Slav committees and similar
poisonous nonsense. Besides, if we are as yet powerless in Turkey, we are already capable of
playing a leading part in civilising Central Asia, and particularly the Far East, whither, it appears, the history of the world is transferring its centre of
gravity. Owing to her geographical situation, and
other advantageous conditions, Russia can do more
there than any other nation, except, of course,
England. It follows, then, that the object of our
policy in this respect must be to secure a permanent
and amiable understanding with England, so that our co-operation with her in the work of civilisation
may never change into a senseless hostility and
unworthy competition.
MR. Z. Unfortunately, some such transformation
always comes about with single individuals as much as with nations, as if it were a part of their
destiny.
POLITICIAN. It is true, they do happen. On the
other hand, I don't know of a single case in the life of men, or in the life of nations, when hostility and
envy displayed towards their coadjutors in a com- mon cause have ever helped to make any one of
themstronger,richer,andhappier. Thisuniversal
experience, to which not a single exception could be found, is being made use of by clever people. And I believe that such a clever nation as Russia
H
? 98 SOLOVIEV
will not fail to make use of it either. To quarrel with the English in the Far East why, this would be the most utter madness, not to speak of the in-
decency of indulging in domestic quarrels before
strangers. Or do you perhaps think that we are more closely related to the yellow-faced Chinese
than to the compatriots of Shakespeare and
Byron ?
MR. Z. It is a delicate question.
POLITICIAN. Then we'll leave it alone for a time. Here you have something else to consider. From what I have said before, you already know that I
recognise only two objects for the Russian policy : firstly, the maintenance of peace in Europe (for
every European war at the present stage of historical evolution would amount to an insane and criminal
internecine struggle); and secondly, the civilisation of the barbarian nations which are within the sphere
of our influence. Now, if you accept my point of view you will see that both these objects, apart from their intrinsic value, are strikingly connected with each other, serving to further the realisation of
each other, and that they are mutually interdepen- dentfortheirveryexistence. Itisobvious,indeed,
that if we really do all we can to give the benefits of civilisation to the barbaric countries, in which
work all Europe is equally interested, we draw to- gether the bonds of solidarity between ourselves and
other nations; whilst consolidating European unity we, by this very fact, strengthen our influence among
? PROGRESS 99
barbarous nations, as we thus leave them no hope of successful resistance. Don't you think that if the yellow man knew that all Europe were behind Russia,wecoulddoinAsiaanythingwewish? If, however, he saw that Europe were not behind Russia, but against her, he would not hesitate even to attack our frontiers, and we should have to defend ourselves on two fronts, over a line ten thousand
"
versts long. I do not believe in the Yellow
Peril," because I do not admit the possibility of a
Europeanwar. Butgiventhelatter,weshould,of
course, have to fear even the Mongolians. GENERAL. To you a European war or a Mon- golian invasion seems to be absolutely out of the
rangeofpossibility. ButImustconfessIhavevery "
little faith in your consolidarity of the European ""
nations and the coming peace of the world. " Somehow it seems to be highly unnatural, and ex-
ceedinglyunlikely. IntheoldChristmashymnyou
"
hear sung :
men. " This means that peace will reign on the earth only when goodwill is established among men. But where is this goodwill now? Have you ever seen it? To be quite frank, both you and I feel a
real and sincere goodwill only to one European
family, to feel that their benefit is our benefit, their "
pleasureisourpleasure sucha consolidarity,"as H2
Peace on earth and goodwill towards
power the principality of Monaco.
Inviolable, also, is our peace with it. To regard, however, the Germans or the English as members of our own
? 100 SOLOVIEV
you call it, with the European nations, I am sure, we shall never have.
"
POLITICIAN. Why we shall never have," when it
is already with us, when it is in the very nature of things? WeareatonewiththeEuropeanPowers for the simple reason that we are Europeans our- selves. This has been an accomplished fact since the eighteenth century, and neither the total lack of culture amongst the Russian masses, nor the unfor- tunate chimeras of the Slavophiles, will ever be able to alter it.
GENERAL. Well, but do the Europeans agree amongthemselves? TheFrenchwiththeGermans, for instance; the English with both of these? It is rumoured that even the Swedes and the Nor- wegians have somewhere lost their consolidarity !
POLITICIAN. What a forceful argument!
But what a pity it is that all its force rests on a defective basis on the total neglect of historical fact. I will
you
a " Would Moscow have been at question :
ask
one with Novgorod at the time of Ivan III. , or Ivan the Terrible? " Will you on the strength of this
deny the consolidarity of the Moscow and Novgorod provinces in the common interests of the State?
GENERAL. Oh, no; not at all. But this I will say : let us wait a little before declaring ourselves Euro-
peans
the European nations are as firmly bound together asourprovincesareintheRussianState. Youwill
surely not advise us to tear ourselves to pieces in
at least until that historic moment when all
? PROGRESS 101
working for our consolidarity with all other Euro- peans, when they themselves are at daggers drawn ?
" drawn !
you be saved from the necessity of tearing yourself to pieces between Norway and Sweden, but from doing so between France and Germany, and for the simple reason that they will never come to a rupture. Atpresentitseemstobeevident. OnlyinRussia
can you find a good many people still taking for France that insignificant group of adventurers who
should be, and must be, put in prison : let them there display their nationalism and preach a war
with Germany.
LADY. It would really be a very good thing if it
were only possible to put in prison all those who foment strife among the nations. But I think you
are wrong.
POLITICIAN. Of course, what I have said must be
taken cum grano sails. It is quite true that on the surface Europe has not yet become consolidated into one whole. But I still stand by my historical
analogy. For instance, in our country in the
sixteenth century, separation among various pro- vinces, though still present, was at its last gasp, whilst the unity of the State had long ago ceased to be a dream and was actually shaping itself into definite forms. So in a similar way in modern
Europe, though national antagonism is still existent, particularly amongst the ignorant masses and half-
POLITICIAN. You will have it "at
daggers Butyouneednotworry. Notonlywill
? 102 SOLOVIEV
educated politicians, it is not strong enough to transform itself into any considerable action : that
it will not go so far as to lead to a European war Iampositivelycertain. Astothegoodwillofwhich you are speaking, General, to tell you the truth I
fail to see it, not only amongst different nations, but within any nation itself, or even within single families. Ifyoudomeetitoccasionally,itdoesnot go farther than the first generation. Well then, what conclusion can be drawn from this ?
Certainly not that this supplies the reason for intestine wars
and fratricide. Similarly, in international relation- ships. The French and Germans may dislike each other if they wish, but let them abstain from actual fighting. Iamsurethattherewon'tbeany.
MR. Z. Thisisveryprobable. Butevenregard- ing Europe as one whole, we cannot conclude from
this that we ourselves are Europeans. You know there is an opinion, which has become fairly popular
during the last twenty years, that Europe, that is, the combination of all the German-Latin nations, is
really a distinct type characterised by political unanimity and by common culture and history; it is further maintained that we, Russians, do not belong to this group, but constitute a separate Greco- Slavonic type.
POLITICIAN. I have heard of this variety of Slavo- philism, and even have had occasion to speak with someofthoseholdingthisview. Now,thereisone thing I have noticed about this theory, and it seems
? PROGRESS 103
to me to give a decisive answer to the whole problem. It is a curious thing that all these gentle-
men who argue in glowing perorations against
Europe, and our being Europeans, can never be satisfied with the assumption of our Greco-Slavonic
origin, but must always plunge headlong into a belief in some sort of Chinaism, Buddhism, Tibet-
ism,andotherIndo-MongolianAsiaticisms. Their
alienation from Europe is directly proportional to their gravitation to Asia. Now, what does it all
mean? Let us admit that they are right in their
viewofEurope,thatsheisspirituallywrong. Why, however, this fatal running to the other extreme, to this aforesaid Asiaticism ? Ah ! And whither has the Greco-Slavonic nucleus vanished ?
No! tellme, where has it gone? Ah? And yet it is in that very nucleus that one would expect to find the very sub- stance of the thing ! Ah ? There you are, you see. You may drive nature out through the door, but she will get back through the window. And nature in this case is the fact that no independent Greco- Slavonic type of historic culture exists at all; but there has been, is, and always will be, Russia as the great borderland of Europe towards Asia. Such
being the actual position of our country, it is only too natural that it feels the influence of the Asiatic
element to a much greater extent than the rest of Europe, and this is all that makes up our imaginary
originality. Byzantium herself was original, not through anything of her own, but only because of an
? 104 SOLOVIEV
admixture of the Asiatic element. Whilst with us,
from time immemorial, and particularly since the days of the Mongolian yoke, this element has be- come a part of our nature, our second soul, so to speak, so that the Germans could say about us,
sighing as they did so :
"
Die eine will sich von der andern trennen. "
Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach ! in ihrer Brust
It is impossible for us to get rid of this second soul, nor is it desirable; for we owe a great deal to it. In order, however, that we may save ourselves from being torn to pieces in such a conflict, as is
suggested by the General, it has been necessary that one soul should establish a decisive supremacy
over the other, and it stands to reason that this soul should be the better of the two that it should develop an intellect which is really the more power- ful, the more capable of further progress, and the
more highly endowed with spiritual possibilities. Such supremacy was actually established at the time
of Peter the Great. But the ineradicable (though
finally overpowered) affinity of our soul with Asia even after that led certain minds into meaningless
dreams that some chimerical revision of the his- torical question would settle it once and for ever.
Hence Slavophilism, the theory of an original type of historical culture and all the rest of it. As a
matter of fact, we are irrevocably Europeans, but with an Asiatic sediment at the bottom of our soul.
To me it is clear even grammatically. What is
? PROGRESS 105
" Russian " in the grammatical sense ? An adjec- tive. But what is the noun to which it refers?
"
LADY. I think the noun is man.
man," the Russian
POLITICIAN. No, that is too general and indefinite. Red Indians and Eskimos are also men, but I can- not agree in regarding as my noun what is common to me and the Redskins and the Eskimos.
LADY. There are things, you know, which are common to all human beings : love, for instance.
POLITICIAN. Well, that is even more general,
How can I regard love as my specific property when I know that all other animals, and even mis-
creants, have it in their nature ?
MR. Z. The question is no doubt very com-
plicated. I am, for example, a man of meek character, and in love would be more at one with a
white or blue-grey dove than with the black Moor Othello, though he also is called a man.
GENERAL. At a certain age every sensible man
1
is at one with the white doves.
LADY. Whatever is this?
GENERAL. This pun is not for you, but only for
us with his Excellency.
POLITICIAN. Leave it alone, please, do leave it
alone. Treve de plaisanteries. Surely we are not on the stage of the Michael Theatre. I wished to
"
say that the correct noun for the adjective
Rus-
1""
White Doves is the name of a Russian religious sect
accused of immoral tendencies.
(Translator. )
? 106 SOLOVIEV
" " We are Russian sian is European. "
Europeans, as there are English, French, and German Euro-
peans. If I feel myself a European, would it not be stupid of me to argue that I am some Slavo-Russ
or Greco-Slav? I am as positively certain of being a European as I am of being a Russian. I can,
and perhaps even must, pity and protect every man,
"
Happy is he who shows mercy even to animals ; but I shall regard myself at one, of the same family, not with Zulus or Chinamen, but only with the nations and men who have created and preserved all those treasures of culture which form my spiritual food, and which afford me my
highest pleasures. Before everything else it was necessary that these chosen nations should form and
consolidate themselves, and should resist the on- slaught of the lower elements. For this, war was
necessaryandwarwasaholyenterprise. Atpresent they possess the necessary form and strength, and
there is nothing they need fear, except internal strife. Now the time has arrived for peace and the
peaceful expansion of European culture over all
as every animal too :
"
theworld. AllmustbecomeEuropeans. Theidea ""
expressedby European mustbeasall-embracing as that expressed by "man," and the idea of the
European civilised world identical with that of man- kind. In this lies the meaning of history. At first therewereonlyGreekEuropeans. Theywerefol- lowed by the Roman ones. Next there arose all kinds of others, first in the West, later in the East;
? \
-
the relative virtues or values
pean
defining
PROGRESS
107
then there came Russian Europeans ;
the ocean the American Europeans ;
come Europeans who are Turkish, Persian, Indian,
" Japanese, and possibly even Chinese. The Euro-
"
is a notion with definite contents and an ever-
expanding capacity.
Note here one important distinction : every man is just as much a man as
any other. Therefore, if we take as our noun this abstract symbol, we are bound to come to the all- levelling equality, and the nation of Newton and Shakespeare will have to be valued no more highly than certain Redskins. This would be too absurd for words, and subversive of practice. But if my noun is not a man in general, not that empty space with two feet, but a man as a bearer of culture, that
is, a European, then nothing is left to support this absurduniversalequality. TheideaofaEuropean,
or what is the same, the idea of culture, possesses a
measure for
of various races, nations, individuals. A sensible policy cannot but take into account all these varia- tions in value. If it does not do so, if it, for instance, places on the same level a comparatively civilised Austria and some half-wild tribes of Herzegovina, this sort of thing will at once lead us to those stupid and dangerous adventures for which our last pillars
of Slavophilism are still longing. II y a europeen et europeen. Even after the cherished and, I hope,
not far-distant hour has struck, when Europe or the civilised world will really coincide in extent with
later
and now must
beyond
? 108 SOLOVIEV
the total population of the world, even then there will remain in the unified and pacified mankind all those natural and historically determined gradations and shades in the values of various cultures which will determine our relations with other nations.
Even in the triumphant and all-embracing kingdom of the higher culture, just as much as in the kingdom of Heaven one glory is of the sun, another glory
of the moon, yet other glories of the stars, for one star differs from another in glory this is, I believe, how it is said in the Catechism, isn't it? How much more is it necessary to guard ourselves from an all-
levelling equality in days when this object, though near, is not yet realised? At the present time, for
instance, the papers have told us of more dissensions between England and the Transvaal that the
1
Boers are even threatening England with a war. I can already see how all sorts of journalists and politicians in Russia, and most probably all over the
Continent, will take up arms against England and will cry themselves hoarse in defence of those poor and oppressed Boers. But it is the same as if our most esteemed, worthy, well-known and learned Mr.
Martens, having entered a neighbouring shop to buy something, was suddenly subjected to a violent
"
mine ; you are a stranger here ; if you don't clear off
"
attack by a dirty shop-boy shouting :
The shop is
what time he is already tryingtostiflehim. Ofcourse,onewouldfeelpity
I will stifle or kill you !
1 The discussion took place in April, 1898. (Author. )
? PROGRESS 109
for our esteemed Mr. Martens who fell a victim to
such a rascally trick. But if this actually happened, I should certainly feel some moral satisfaction if my
esteemed friend, having properly thrashed the rascal, had sent him by way of the police court to a home for young criminals. Instead of this, how-
ever, we see various respectable people encouraging
"
a little chap like that being plucky enough to tackle
him and spurring him on.
Clever boy ! Fancy Go for him, Tommy ;
such a great hulking fellow !
we will back you up when you want it !
"
How dis- gusting this is ! Why, these Boer keepers and breeders of cattle have not brains enough to pro- claim themselves Dutchmen, with whom they are bound by blood-ties. Holland is a real nation, highly cultured, and with great merits to her credit.
But no !
nation; they want to create a country of their own. The damned rascals !
LADY. In the first place, you need not swear. And in the second, tell me what this Transvaal is like, and what kind of people live in it.
MR. Z. The people living there are a mongrel breed of Europeans and negroes; they are neither
1
white nor black; they are "bur'i" (boers).
LADY. Again a calembourl
POLITICIAN. And a very high-grade one !
MR. Z. What are the boers, such are also the
1 A
boers and brown.
words. In Russian "bur'i" means both (Translator. )
play upon
They regard themselves as a separate
? 110 SOLOVIEV
calembours. Though if you don't care for this
colour, they have there also an Orange republic. POLITICIAN. Speaking seriously, these Boers are
ofcourseEuropeans,butonlybadones. Separated from their great motherland, they have to a great extent lost their former culture. Surrounded by savages, they have become wilder and coarser them- selves. Nowtoplacethemonthesamelevelasthe English, and to go even so far as to wish them success in the struggle with England cela n'a pas de nom !
LADY. Didn't your Europeans sympathise with
the Caucasian mountaineers when
Russia in defence of their independence ?
not Russians far more civilised than Caucasians?
POLITICIAN. I would not care to enlarge upon the motives of this sympathy of Europe with the Caucasian tribesmen. The only thing I will say is that we must assimilate the general European spirit and not be influenced by the accidental stupidities ofthisorthatbrandofEuropean. Fromthebottom of my heart I regret, of course, that England, in order to pacify these conceited barbarians, will apparently be compelled to use such an obsolete and historically condemned weapon as war. But if it proves inevitable owing to the degraded state ofmindoftheseZulus ImeantosaytheseBoers,
encouraged by the foolish envy of England nursed by the Continent, I shall naturally eagerly wish that the war may end as soon as possible with the
they fought And are
? Frenchman :
jour de ma vie. "
PROGRESS 111
complete defeat of these African ruffians, so that
nobody ever hears talk of their independence again. Should they prove successful and owing to the
distance of their country from England this is not
altogether impossible it would be a triumph of barbarism over culture, and to me as a Russian,
that is, a European, the day when that happened would be a day of deep national mourning.
MR. Z. (to the General, in a low voice). Ah, how well statesmen can speak. Altogether like that
"
Ce sabre d'honneur est le plus beau
LADY. No;Ican'tagreewithyou. Whyshould
not we sympathise with these transboers? We
sympathise with William Tell, for instance, do we not?
POLITICIAN. Well, if only they had created their
own poetical legend, had inspired such artists as Schiller and Rossini, and had produced from among
themselves anybody equal to Jean Jacques Rous- seau, or any other writers or scientists then the
thing would be quite different.
LADY. But all that kind of thing happens after-
wards; at first the Swiss themselves were shepherds
liketheBoers. Buttakeothernations. Werethe
Americans, when they rose against the English to
win independence, in any way distinguished in cul- ture? It is true they were not "bur'i"; they were
"
red-skinned," and used to strip off each other's scalps according to Captain Mayne
perhaps a little
? 112 SOLOVIEV
Reid. And yet even Lafayette sympathised with them, and was right, because now, for instance, in
Chicago they have managed not only to unite all the religious bodies, but they have made an exhibition
of them into the bargain. Nobody has ever seen such a thing before. Paris also wanted to gather
together all its religions for the coming exhibition, but nothing came of it, as you doubtless know. One
abbe, Victor Charbonnell, strove particularly hard
for this union of religion. He wrote a few letters
even to me he was so nice. Only all the religions
refused to join. Even the Great Rabbi declared :
"
For religion we have the Bible, and an exhibition has nothing to do with it. " Poor Charbonnell was in such despair that he renounced Christ and pub- lished in the papers that he had retired from the
service of religion and had a profound respect for Renan. Heendedalsoverybadly. Accordingto somebody who wrote to me, he either got married or took to drink. Then our Nepliuev also tried, and
he was disappointed in all religions. He wrote to me once he was such an idealist to the effect that
he relied only on a united mankind. But how can you show a united mankind at a Paris exhibition?
I think this merely a fancy. However, the Ameri- cans managed their business very well indeed.
Each creed sent them a clergyman. A Catholic
bishop was made chairman. He read them the
""
Pater noster in English, and the Buddhist and
Chinese priest idol-worshippers replied to him
? PROGRESS 118
"
We do not wish evil to anybody, and ask only for one thing : keep your missionaries as far from our coun-
tries as you possibly can. Because your religion is
exceedingly good for you, and if you do not observe it, it is not our fault; whilst our religion is the best
for us. " And it finished so well that there was not
even a single fight ! Everybody wondered. Now you see how good the Americans have become !
Perhaps the modern Africans will in time be like thesesameAmericans. Whoknows?
POLITICIAN. Everything is possible, of course. Even the veriest gutter-snipe may later become a scientist. But before this happens you should for his own benefit give him more than one good hiding.
with all courtesy :
Oh, yes ! All right, sir !
LADY. What language !
encanaillez. And this is all from Monte Carlo !
Quiest-cequevousfrequentezlahas? Lesfamilies descroupierssansdoute. Well,thatconcernsno-
body but yourself. I would only ask you to prune your political wisdom a little bit, as you keep us fromourdinner. Itistimewefinished.
POLITICIAN. I really wanted to sum up what I have said to put head and tail together.
LADY. I have no faith in you. You will never finishofyourownaccord. Letmehelpyoutoex-
plainyourthought. Youwantedtosay,didn'tyou, that times have changed; that before there were
God and war, but now, instead of God, culture and
peace.
Isn't it so?
Decidement vous vous
i
? 114 SOLOVIEV
POLITICIAN. Well, I think it is near enough.
Now what God is I do not know, nor can I explain. But I feel it all the same. As to your culture, I have not even a feeling for it. Will you then explain to me in a few words what
it is?
POLITICIAN. What are the elements of culture,
what it embraces you know yourself : it includes all the treasures of human thought and genius which have been created by the chosen spirits of the chosen nations.
""
LADY. But these chosen spirits and their crea-
tions differ alarmingly. You have, for instance, Voltaire and Rousseau and Madonna, and Nana, and Alfred De Musset and Bishop Philaret. How can you throw all these into one heap and set up this
heap for yourself in place of God?
POLITICIAN. I was also going to say that we need
not worry ourselves about culture as an historical
LADY. Good!
It has been created, it is existing, and let
treasury.
us thank God for the fact.
We may, perhaps, hope that there will be other Shakespeares and Newtons,
but this problem is not within our power and pre- sents no practical interest. There is, however, an-
other side to culture, a practical one, or if you like a moral one, and this is what in private life we call
politeness, civility. To the superficial eye it may appear unimportant, but it has an enormous and
singular significance for the simple reason that it is the only quality which can be universal and obliga-
? PROGRESS 115
tory : it is impossible to demand from anybody either the highest virtue, or the highest intellect or
genius. Butitispossibleandnecessarytodemand from everybody politeness. It is that minimum of
reasonableness and morality which allows men to
liveliketruehumanbeings. Ofcourse,politeness is not all culture, but it is a necessary condition of
every form of cultured conduct, just as knowledge
of reading and writing, though not the sum total of education, is a necessary condition to it. Politeness
is cultured conduct, a Vusage de tout le monde. And we are actually able to see how it spreads from
private relationships amongst people of the same class to social relationships amongst different
classes, and so to political or international relation- ships. Some of us can surely still remember how in our youth people of our class were allowed to treat the lower classes without any civility at all.
Whereas at present a necessary and even compul-
sory politeness has overstepped this class boundary, and is now on the way to overstep international
boundaries as well.
LADY. Do, please, speak briefly. I see what you
are driving at. It is that peaceful politics amongst the 'States is the same as politeness amongst indi-
viduals, isn't it?
POLITICIAN. You are quite correct. It is evi-
"" denced in the very words politeness and
"
politics," which obviously are closely related to
eachother. Aremarkablethingisthatnospecial I2
? 116 SOLOVIEV
feelings are necessary for this, no such goodwill, aswastonopurposementionedbytheGeneral. If
I do not fall upon anybody and do not furiously bite his head, this does not mean that I have any good- will towards that person. On the contrary, I may nurse in my soul the most rancorous feelings, but as a cultured man I cannot but feel repulsion at
biting anybody, and, what is more important, I understand full well that the result of it will be
anything but savoury, whilst if I abstain from it and treat this man in a polite manner, I shall lose
nothing and gain much. Similarly, whatever may be the antipathies existing between two nations, if they have reached a certain level of culture they will never come to voles de fait, that is, to war, and for the patent reason that, in the first place, the real
war not that portrayed in poetry and pictures, but asactuallyexperienced withallthosecorpses,foul
wounds, crowds of rough and filthy men, the stoppage of the normal order of life, destruction of
useful buildings and institutions, of bridges, rail- ways,telegraphs thatathingsohorridasthismust
be positively repulsive to a civilised nation, just as it is repulsive to us to see knocked-out eyes, broken
jaws,andbitten-offnoses. Inthesecondplace,at a certain stage of development, the nation under- stands how profitable it is to be civil to other nations and how damaging to its own interests it will be if it fights them. Here you, of course, have a number of gradations : the fist is more cultured than the
? PROGRESS 117
teeth, the stick is more cultured than the fist, and the symbolical slap in the face is even more cultured still. Similarly, wars also can be conducted in a more or less savage way ; the European wars of the nineteenth century more resemble a formal duel
between two respectable persons than a fight be- tweentwodrunkenlabourers. Buteventhisisonly
a transitional stage. Note that even the duel is out of fashion in advanced countries. Whereas back- ward Russia mourns her two greatest poets who have fallen in a duel; in more civilised France the duel
has long ago changed into a bloodless offering to a
"
bad and effete tradition.
qu'on riest -plus en vie" M. De-la-Palliss would say, and I am sure we shall still see with you how duels together with war will be relegated for ever to the archives of history. A compromise cannot last long here. Real culture requires that every kind of fighting between men and nations should
be, entirely abolished. Anyhow, peaceful politics are the measure and the outward sign of the progress
of culture. This is why, however anxious I am to please the worthy General, I still stand by my state-
ment that the literary agitation against war is a welcomeandsatisfyingfact. Thisagitationnotonly precedes, but actually expedites the final solution of a problem long since ripened. With all its peculiarities and exaggerations, this campaign
acquires importance by its emphasising in the public consciousness the main line of historical progress
Quand on est mort c'est
? 118 SOLOVIEV
A peaceful, that is, civil, i. e. , universally profitable settlement of all international relations and con-
flicts such is the fundamental principle of sound politics for civilised mankind. Ah? (to Mr. Z. )
You want to say something ?
MR. Z. Oh, it's nothing. It is only about your
recent remark that peaceful politics is the symptom
of progress. It reminds me that in Tourguenev's
Smoke some person, speaking just as reasonably, "
says Progress is a symptom. " Don't you think,
then, that peaceful politics becomes a symptom of a
symptom ?
POLITICIAN. Well, what of it?