Author Archives: whitec

Alexandr raises an interesting point on page 234, saying “If she does not understand this she is not a teacher of live, developing aesthetics, but a preacher of dogmatic aesthetics – which is no better than religion.”  I think Alexandr … Continue reading →

Tolstoy seems to be very anti-Russian in Hadji Murat. He paints the Nikolai I as an idiot who does not take religion seriously (67), which probably would have been a big deal for an early Christian Anarchist. On the other … Continue reading →

The Madariaga reading seems to suggest that Empress Catherine II believed that education and free inquiry would lead people to support her absolute monarchy. She attacked vices such as “ignorance” (92), she had the power to censor books but did … Continue reading →

In his secret speech Khrushchev speaks about the dangers of the cult of the individual in regards to Stalin, a deeply flawed leader who was built up as “a superman possessing supernatural characteristics, akin to those of a god” (Khrushchev). … Continue reading →

What stuck out most to me was that in Ch.3 of The Revolution of Peter the Great, Cracraft talks about the Russian form of government as compared to other forms in Europe at the time. Cracraft indicated that the system that … Continue reading →