Astride The Abyss Of War And Revolutions: Articles 1914-1922 - 9780996399272

The present text, "Astride the Abyss of War and Revolutions: Articles 1914-1922" represents 1st English translation and publication of an extensive sbornik/collection of 98 articles (numerically, about 20% of the total corpus of his works) by the eminent Russian religious philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev, regarding societal, political, cultural and religious matters, remaining of great continuing critical importance for our modern world. The historical period covered spans Russia's entry into WWI, the challenges of upholding the war effort, the collapse of the Old Regime under the rot of Rasputinism, and the subsequent two 1917 "Russian Revolutions". First was the "February Revolution", the inherently unstable attempt by wartime Russia to create a democratic republic under Kerensky's Provisional Government, a brief moment of freedom, of "freedom of the word and thought", which in turn was undermined by ideological societal agitation for an ever continued "deepening of the Revolution", not merely political but societal. Berdyaev argues that there can be no true "social revolution" without a radical inner transformation of the human person... The second 1917 "Russian Revolution", the "October Revolution", occurred with Lenin's Bolshevik-Marxist coup. Our text hints at rumours, even then, of Germany's hand in foisting Lenin upon Russia to sabotage the war effort. Instead of freedom, Lenin's Communism proclaimed a "dictatorship of the proletariat". There is a truism that revolutions ultimately devour their makers, whether in 1939 under Stalin, or in the century long revolutionary movements in Russia that saw their ultimate climax and demise in these years.From our text, we detect a growing cloud of darkness descending upon "freedom" in Russia, as the Communists consolidate control and closure of presses throughout 1918 and thereafter. Much of Berdyaev's writings of this period will be published only abroad, with his 1922 banishment from Russia. Our present text may be considered part of the current Centenary interest into WWI, the "Great War", and its tragic aftermath of residual effects that have continued through subsequent traumatic events to quake the quietude of modern life. Amidst the foppish dreams of the "dormant powers of man" are the forlorn dashed hopes of so tragically many...

• | Author: Nicholas Berdyaev
• | Publisher: Frsj Publications
• | Publication Date: Jul 24, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 742 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 0996399275
• | ISBN-13: 9780996399272