The Attempt to Re-evaluate the Personality of S.G. Nechaev in Soviet Historiography in the 1920s. Background and Context

Abstract

The article raises the problem of re-evaluation of the personality of the radical revolutionary S.G. Nechaev in a positive way in the early Soviet historiography and literary studies of the 1920s. It is stated that as an introduction and necessary background to the issue, it is necessary to consider how Nechaev was treated in the Russian revolutionary underground, as well as how his personality and ac­tivities were perceived by the classics of Marxism – K. Marx, F. Engels and V.I. Lenin. The latter should be a kind of tuning fork and a mandatory reference point for Soviet researchers. It is established that with a general negative attitude towards Nechaev in the radical underground, he was also characterized by a cer­tain ambivalence: many Russian revolutionaries positively assessed Nechaev’s energy and will, his dedication to the revolutionary cause. At the same time, Marx and Engels assessed Nechaev extremely negatively, which is largely ex­plained by the fact that they were then fighting with M.A. Bakunin in the Inter­national and perceived Nechaev as his closest associate. They conducted their polemics with Bakunism and Nechaevism mainly not on moral grounds, but from the point of view of organizational issues and the effectiveness of political tactics. Their approach to the problem of morality and morality in general is briefly analyzed. The author also analyzes the only surviving evidence about the attitude of V.I. Lenin to Nechaev, which has come down to us through V.D. Bonch-Bruevich. He notes the weak points of this testimony, which do not allow us to treat it with absolute certainty. At the same time, he says that it is also not worth dismissing them as obviously doubtful and unreliable, and the ques­tion of Lenin’s real attitude to Nechaev remains open.