Nikolay Chernyshevsky

Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was a central figure in 19th-century Russian intellectual life. He was a novelist, a journalist, and a philosopher. He is often identified as a utopian socialist and a leading theoretician of Russian nihilism. He also helped found Narodism, which is a form of Russian agrarian socialism. This movement sought the revolutionary overthrow of the autocracy. It aimed to create a socialist society based on the old peasant commune. Chernyshevsky was the dominant intellectual figure of the 1860s revolutionary democratic movement in Russia.

Chernyshevsky developed a specific way of viewing art and science. In 1855, he defended his master's dissertation, "The Aesthetic Relation of Art to Reality." This work contributed to the development of materialist aesthetics in Russia. Materialism is the idea that physical matter is the fundamental reality. He believed that art should serve as a "textbook of life." He argued that art should reproduce reality and explain it for the good of mankind. To him, art should focus on what is of general interest in life.

His political views were shaped by several major thinkers. He was inspired by Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Charles Fourier. He also drew influence from Vissarion Belinsky and Alexander Herzen. By the time he graduated from Saint Petersburg University in 1850, he held revolutionary, democratic, and materialist views. He believed that class struggle was the primary means of social movement. In his view, the masses were the chief makers of history. He advocated for the interests of the working people and the masses.

Chernyshevsky's early life took place in Saratov. He was born there in 1828 to a priest. While studying at a local seminary, he learned several languages. These included English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Old Slavonic. It was during this time that he also became an atheist. After university, he taught at the Saratov Gymnasium from 1851 to 1853. During this period, he expressed his beliefs to his students. Some of these students later became revolutionaries.

From 1853 to 1862, Chernyshevsky lived in Saint Petersburg. He served as the chief editor of the magazine "Sovremennik," or "The Contemporary." In this role, he published his major literary reviews and philosophical essays. He was also sympathetic to the 1848 revolutions occurring throughout Europe. In 1862, his life changed when he was arrested. He was confined in the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul. While in prison, he wrote his most famous novel, "What Is to Be Done?"

This novel had a massive impact on Russian society. Many revolutionaries sought to emulate the novel's hero, Rakhmetov. Rakhmetov was a character who was wholly dedicated to the revolution. He practiced extreme asceticism, which means living with very few comforts. He was so disciplined that he slept on a bed of nails. He even ate only raw steak to build strength for the revolution. Some scholars argue this novel provided more emotional energy for the Russian Revolution than Marx's "Das Kapital."

Following his arrest, Chernyshevsky faced severe legal consequences. In 1862, he was sentenced to civil execution, which was a mock execution. This was followed by penal servitude from 1864 to 1872. Finally, he was sent into exile in Vilyuisk, Siberia, where he stayed until 1883. He eventually died at the age of 61. His legacy remained significant long after his death.

Many world leaders and thinkers have engaged with his work. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels called him a "great Russian scholar and critic." Vladimir Lenin praised his revolutionary spirit and his advocacy for peasant revolution. However, not everyone agreed with him. The writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky was enraged by the simplicity of his ideas. Dostoyevsky wrote "Notes from Underground" partly as a reaction against Chernyshevsky. His influence even reached China, where Zhou Yang translated his work in 1942. Even the writer Ayn Rand is thought by some scholars to have been influenced by his book.