When studying the social thought of Russia, it is impossible to go past the 40s of the 19th century, when the ideas of the Slavophiles and Westerners were formed. Their disputes did not end the century before last and still have political significance, especially in light of recent events.
19th century setting
At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia remained a serfdom with a feudal mode of production, in contrast to Europe, where the process of establishing capitalist bourgeois relations began. Thus, the economic backwardness of the Russian Empire increased, which gave reason to think about the need for reform. By and large, they were started by Peter the Great, but the results were insufficient. At the same time, bourgeois relations were making their way in Europe with the help of revolutions, blood and violence. Competition developed, exploitation intensified. Recent facts did not inspire many representatives of domestic social thought. A completely understandable debate arose over the further development of the state, especially since in domestic politics the emperors rushed from one extreme to the other. Slavophiles and Westerners - these are two opposite paths for Russia, but everyone had to lead it to prosperity.
In response to the Slavophil movement
For almost two centuries, a fanatic attitude towards Europe and its achievements has been formed in the circle of the upper classes of the Russian state. Russia was transforming more and more, trying to resemble Western countries. A.S. Khomyakov first introduced to the general public thoughts about the special path of development of our state - on the basis of collectivism, which manifests itself in the rural community. This eliminated the need to emphasize the backwardness of the state and align itself with Europe. Thinkers, primarily writers, united around the theses expressed. They began to be called Slavophiles. Westerners are a kind of response to the above movement. Representatives of Westernism, based on the ideas of
Georg Hegel, saw uniform trends in the development of all countries of the world.
The philosophical foundations of Westernism
Throughout the history of human thought, a question has been posed by
Paul Gauguin: "Who are we? Where from? Where?". There are three points of view regarding the last part. Some said that humanity is degrading. Others - that moves in a circle, that is, it develops cyclically. Still others said it was progressing. Westerners are thinkers who hold the last point of view. They believed that history is progressive, has one vector of development, while Europe overtook other regions of the world and determined the path that all other nations will follow. Therefore, all countries, like Russia, should be guided by the achievements of European civilization in all spheres of society, without exception.
Westerners versus Slavophiles
So, in the 40s of the 19th century, the ideological confrontation "Slavophiles - Westernizers" took shape. A table comparing the main postulates will best demonstrate their views on the past and future of the Russian state.
Ideas of Slavophiles and Westerners| Westerners | Comparison Issues | Slavophiles |
| One with Europe | Way of development | Original, special |
| Backward compared to Western countries | The position of Russia | Cannot be compared with other states. |
| Positive, he contributed to the country's progress | Attitude to the reforms of Peter the Great | Negative, he destroyed the existing civilization |
| Parliamentary monarchy, constitutional order with civil rights and freedoms | The political structure of Russia | Autocracy, but by the type of patriarchal power. The power of opinion is for the people (Zemsky Sobor), the power of power is for the king. |
| Negative | Attitude to serfdom | Negative |
Westerners
An important role in the great bourgeois reforms of the 60-70s was played by Westerners. Representatives of this social thought were not only ideological inspirers of state transformations, but they themselves took part in their development. Thus, Konstantin Cavelin took an active public position, who wrote the note on the release of peasants. Timofei Granovsky, a professor of history, advocated the continuation of the reforms laid down at the beginning of the eighteenth century, for an active enlightened state policy. Around him united like-minded people, which include I. Turgenev, V. Botkin, M. Katkov, I. Vernadsky, B. Chicherin. The ideas of Westerners underlie the most progressive reform of the 19th century - the judicial one, which laid the foundations of a rule of law state and civil society.
The fate of the Westerners
It often happens that in the process of development of a social movement , its further fragmentation, that is, a split, occurs. Westerners were no exception. This applies primarily to the identification of a radical group proclaiming a revolutionary way of making changes. It included V. Belinsky, N. Ogarev and, of course, A. Herzen. At a certain stage there was a rapprochement between the Slavophiles and the revolutionary Westerners, who believed that the peasant community could become the basis for the future structure of society. But it was not decisive.
On the whole, the confrontation of the ideas of the original path of development of Russia, up to the special role of our civilization in the world, and the need for Westernism remained. Currently, the watershed is mainly in the political sphere, in which Westerners stand out. Representatives of this movement advocate integration into the European Union, seeing this as a way out of the civilizational impasse, which they entered during the period of building socialism.