A Herzen Reader

62. The Furies [1864]

222 A Herzen Reader and to dishonor oneself. Rhetorical spasms of love for the people are not needed; rather, one must despise the people in the name of a strong state, and demand executions for the glory and strength of the Petersburg administration… Note Source: “Spletni, kopot’, nagar i pr.,” Kolokol, l. 177, January 15, 1864; 18:35–36, 543–45. 1. Herzen has in mind the final pages of Gogol’s Dead Souls.  62  The Bell, No. 177, January 15, 1864. Herzen introduces the image of the three winged goddesses of classical mythology, who pursued sinners with a vengeance.  The Furies [1864] The January 10 issue of Le Siècle,1 speaking about a charming address to Muravyov by Petersburg ladies, asks with astonishment: “Don’t these mothers, wives, and sisters have sons, husbands, and brothers?” etc. O naive Siècle! Don’t they know what kind of beast is the female Russian landowner from Saltychikha2 —jailed in chains by Catherine II—up to… here’s one, for example : an Englishman, very well known and much respected, told the story in London that he was recently at a grand dinner in Moscow and sat next to an old maid (he said her name, which is from a minor princely family), who, displeased with the Polish uprising, said to him, an Englishman: “With all my heart and soul I wish they would string up every single Pole!” It goes without saying that there are many exceptions, but the general type of the charming sex from our democratic nobility, the Russian lady landowner, is a kind of she-wolf who gobbles up ten or twenty chambermaids and servants without the slightest regret, tirelessly, and without rest. There is no way these Furies would have changed in the space of two years. The only thing new in the old maid’s remark is cynicism. In the past they duped foreigners with humane sentiments, but now boast in their presence of energetic measures and homespun patriotism. Here is a job for all the Old Maids and Baba-Yagas3 of our beau monde— to greet in Moscow and Petersburg, with garlands and bouquets, Muravyov, They’ve Gone Completely Out of Their Minds 223 who, it is said, is coming to preside over a new commission for the extinction and destruction of Poland4 . [. . .] Notes Source: “Furii,” Kolokol, l. 177, January 15, 1864; 18:37, 545. 1. Le Siècle was a politically liberal Parisian daily. 2. Darya N. Saltykova (1730–1801), known by her nickname “Saltychikha,” was a famously cruel serf owner, whose 1768 sentence included an hour in the pillory, after which she spent the rest of her life confined to a convent. 3. Baba Yaga is a well-known and fearsome character in Russian fairy tales. 4. At the beginning of January 1864, a committee of five was formed, under the chairmanship of Alexander II, to prepare a land reform plan for Poland.  63  The Bell, No. 179, February 15, 1864. Herzen carried on an emotional polemic with Ivan Aksakov’s The Day, revealing a much harsher opinion of him than did Ogaryov.  They’ve Gone Completely Out of Their Minds [1864] In several Russian newspapers (The Siberian Gazette, The Northern Bee) there is a description of an execution that took place on January 5 in the town of Ostrov. Felix Ambrozhinsky was accused of being a gendarme in the Polish service, executing someone (no name was given), and “providing food supplies to the rebels.” None of this is surprising any more. But listen further: “Along with the troops, Ambrozhinsky’s accomplices were present, gendarmes like him (whose crimes had not yet been investigated), who had to play the role of executioners. After the reading of the sentence, the criminal kneeled, kissed a cross that was held by the priest, said: ‘Forgive me,’ and stood up. The men—accomplices of the criminal—led him to the scaffold [. . .] and performed a task probably familiar to them with the noose.” We address all honest people… We address, yes, we address, for example , you, Mr. Aksakov, publisher of The Day [. . .] yes, we turn to you—you bear a pure and honest name, a name that we are accustomed to respect in your father and to love in your brother—take care with whom you stand and what kind of energetic actions you praise. People whose crimes had not yet been uncovered, were forced to kill their comrade! [. . .] ...