Masaryk and Slavophilism. Masaryk’s analysis of the dualism of West-ernism and Slavophilism in Russian thought

Abstract

A prominent and permanent theme in T. G. Ma­saryk’s lifetime work was the so-called Russian and Slavonic question. Masaryk drew on his extensive knowledge of cultural, economic and political situation in the individual Slavonic nations and maintained a critical distance from all forms of Pan-Slavism and Neo-Slavism throughout his scientific and political career. On the basis of his personal experience, he decided to respond critically to contemporary Russophylia and Slavophylia in Czech thought and politics. When Masaryk first visited Russia in 1887 and then again in 1888, he had already been well acquainted with the Russian culture and lifestyle. His third visit to Russia took place in 1910 and the fourth in 1917–1918. Before the outbreak of World War I, Masaryk expressed his opinions on Russia in his Russia and Europe (1913), his most extensive work. In this work, his long-term relationship to the Russian culture, history and thought culminated and he proved his knowledge of Russian cultural and political situation. The immensely valuable content of the text is still topical and can serve as a basic textbook for the study of Russian intellectual history. Trying to find the essence of Russian thought, Masaryk criticized the two fundamental aspects of Russian intellectual life – extreme conservatism (theocracy) and extreme anarchism (nihilism, terrorism). Masaryk’s analysis of Russian intellectual situation relates to considerations of political aspects of the Slavonic issue and represents a clear rejection of Pan-Slavism as well as the Slavophylic theses of liberty from politics and people’s unity without liberty.