A Herzen Reader

In general the Russian character shows an Asian tendency to a man­nered servility on the one hand, and a haughty conceit on the other. [. . .]

And why are we so easily offended by a joke, but so strong when we are being scolded from above? Belinsky wondered about that fifteen years ago. Leaf through London's Punch and look at its political cartoons, in which the queen's consort is spared least of all. And what do Victoria and Albert do about this? They look at Punch and laugh with everyone else. That is the best proof of England's maturity. [. . .]

Notes

Source: "O pis'me, kritikuiushchem Kolokol," Kolokol, l. 8, February 1, 1858; 13:189-91, 537-38.

Major-General Alexander Timashev-Bering was Moscow chief of police from 1854 to 1857. Count Arseny A. Zakrevsky was the governor-general of Moscow from 1848 to 1859. Prince Alexey I. Kropotkin was Moscow chief of police from 1858 to i860.

Herzen provides the source: Letters from France and Italy by Iskander.

The third play in the Beaumarchais trilogy about Figaro.

15 ♦

The Bell, No. 9, February 15, 1858. Herzen's lead article for this issue was called "Three Years Later (February 18, 1858)," in which he recalls his 1855 letter to the new tsar (Doc. 5). The work of emancipation had begun, and nothing must stop its progress. State power (vlast') and public opinion were now lined up against the opponents of freedom, so they labored in vain and would be punished by publicity. However, the openness was not without its limits; in 1858, the Russian government took measures to try to paralyze the work of the Free Russian Press, and the Kingdom of Poland was instructed to more effectively halt the transit of revolutionary Russian publications. After Russian agents in Berlin found many booksellers offering Herzen's works, the Prussian government was contacted about ending this practice, and authorities there issued an order forbidding the sale of The Bell in Prussia; in a letter Herzen referred to this as an "arrest of The Bell."

Booksellers were also barred from placing other publications by the author on display in store windows. Foreign Minister Gorchakov ordered a Russian official to approach the government of Saxony, whose own foreign minister asked for translations of some of these works, after which the order forbidding their sale was issued.

Lackeys and Germans Refuse Permission [1858]

[. . . ] By an order issued January 29, The Bell, The Polestar, and Voices from Russia have been banned in Saxony. Prussia established a cordon sani- taire against us some time ago. They say that the Prince of Lippe-Valdek- Sundershausen and Meiningen¹ wishes to take active and energetic mea­sures against us—if that is true, we are lost! [. . .]

They will not stop either the printing or the sale of Russian books with these measures, which serve as a free advertisement for us and give our publications international significance.

Let's explain this once and for all. For us, the cause of Russian propa­ganda is not a whim, a means of entertainment, or a source of income—it is our life's cause, our religion, a piece of our heart, and our service to the Russian people.

We labored without losing hope when there was no expectation of suc­cess. Now, when the Russian minister of foreign affairs and the German minister of the interior acknowledge our power and influence, could we possibly stop?

Be assured that we will not. With hand on heart we swear before all Rus­sia to continue our work until the last heartbeat. It will not cease even with our death. We are not alone, and we will bequeath our printing press to the next generation who will take it up with new strength and new ideas.

The only thing that could stop us is the elimination of censorship in Rus­sia, not the introduction of Russian censorship in German lands.

Do not think that these measures were taken against us; to an equal and much greater extent they were taken against the sovereign. The bureau­cratic and military Masonic orders, having conquered the fourteen-step lad­der that leads to the front hall of the palace, are trying to twist The Bell's clapper with German obstacles so that its sound does not reach the Winter Palace.

The table of ranks is not angered at our theories since we are not profess­ing any at present; we have taken as our motto:

Freedom for the serfs from landowners;

Freedom of the word from censorship;

Freedom for everyone from corporal punishment.

Is this really anarchy, sedition, robbery, rebellion, arson, Sodom and Gomorrah?

They are angry that we have begun to point out individuals. This prevents the conspirators from deceiving the sovereign and robbing the people.

Wishing to bring without fail information to the sovereign about mea­sures that hide the truth from him, for the first time we are sending The Bell in a sealed package to him personally.