Description

First English translation of Konstantin Leontiev's landmark 1880 critique of Russian liberalism — with historical footnotes. Diplomat, novelist, and philosopher Konstantin Leontiev (1831–1891) is one of the most prophetic and neglected conservative thinkers of the nineteenth century. In these two landmark articles, published in the Warsaw Daily in 1880 and now translated into English for the first time, Leontiev delivers a devastating diagnosis of Russian liberalism and a bold alternative vision rooted in Byzantine Orthodox conservatism. Writing just one year before the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, Leontiev warned that Russia's imitation of Western liberal democracy was not a path to stability but a road to socialist revolution. Within thirty years of his death, that revolution had arrived. This volume includes: First complete English translation of both articles — Historical footnotes illuminating key figures, legal cases, and cultural references — Foreword introducing Leontiev's life, philosophy, and historical context — Analysis of his famous theory of civilizational decay — flowering, simplifying, collapse. Perfect for readers interested in: Russian history and philosophy, Orthodox Christian thought, Conservative political philosophy, Byzantine civilization and its legacy, 19th century European intellectual history, Prophetic critiques of liberalism and progressivism. Leontiev's argument — that loosening authority produces not responsible citizens but new forms of tyranny, and that sentimental liberalism paves the road to radical revolution — has lost none of its force. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the intellectual roots of Russian conservatism, the Orthodox critique of Western modernity, and the ideas that shaped — and failed to save — Imperial Russia.