Origin of Russian Communism

by Nikolai A. Berdyaev and Nicolas Berdyaev

Book Overview

Nicolas Berdyaev's The Origin of Russian Communism is a pivotal work that delves into the dual nature of Russian Communism--both international and distinctly Russian. Berdyaev emphasizes the importance of understanding the national roots of Russian Communism, shaped by Russia's tumultuous history and Eastern spiritual makeup. The book navigates through the formation of the Russian intelligentsia, Russian socialism and nihilism, narodnichestvo...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472060341
• ISBN13: 9780472060344
• Release Date: September 1959
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Historical insight

I would suggest that R.M. French's translation is not so much dry as a close translation of the Russian. In this I keep in mind the indeterminancy of translation (Quine) and that "Understanding a sentence means understanding a language." (Wittgenstein) This is a period piece and reading it, even in translation, is entering into the mind of a person living in another cultural world. What feels dry is really a "mind-shift" -- even in the structure of the English. Notice even the structure of the sentences feels more Russian than English: (p. 7) "Already in the fourteenth century there existed" follows precisely the word order in the Russian.Beyond this the main issue concerns the purpose of reading Berdyaev. It seems to me that this is a history of philosophy exercise. However, I am aware that many contemporary Russians consider him to be their favorite philosopher. It certainly would take reading him to find out why and doing this should give us some insights into the hopes and dreams of many of our contemporary Russian friends.

Crucial to understanding Russian culture

This book, although very hard to read is very detailed and indepth. I would read Berdyaev in conjunction with other writers of Russian cultural history such as Richmond and Vassilieva. Then if you need more indepth research or understanding of a particular cultural characteristic then I would go back to Beryaev and really dissect it.