Romanticism and Russia - Essay Example

April 19, Romanticism and Russia I. Romanticism Romanticism is an intellectual movement in Europe that has been since the late 18th century. It was usually used in the fields of literature and the arts, but they also contributed to society and human behavior. The basic premise of Romanticism is that everything cannot be explained by reason or logic. Romanticism also upholds the fact that the human emotion is pure and expressing it was important. This was a reaction to the previous movement which is Enlightenment. Enlightenment emphasizes the power of logic and the scientific method over anything else. The romantics, on the other hand, looked for deeper and more meaningful meanings other than numbers and the like. The romantics are more sensual and more rooted to conveying human emotion (Moscovici, 3). And in contrast with the Neo-Classicists, the Romanticists in not just an observer to the creations of the divine but now a creator of fragile meaning and beauty. Romanticists also point out the frailties of the human beings, hence, the common themes of depression and despair on romantic literature (Moscovici, 9). It also asserted the importance of the individual and personal experiences, making a unique hero, because promotes originality. Examples of this would be Frankenstein and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Romanticism also posits relativism in all aspects. There are no absolute truths unlike in Classicism or Enlightenment. For romantics, there is no right and wrong, even in aspects of morality, but each society was encouraged to make their own sets of rules . According to the Romantics, the theories of Enlightenment prevent emotions and creativity, turning man into a robot and man must liberate himself from these chains – through romanticism. Romanticists are also socially involved, as well as politically (Melani). However, they were also a bit aloof as they often distance themselves from the public, preferring to live in far flung areas. As noted, these romanticists express their own thoughts and feelings and as noted earlier too, this period was happening almost in the same era when the French Revolution also took place (late 1700s). Many authors tried to uphold romanticism in the revolution and the revolution, also partly owes some of its principles on Romanticism. With this, artist took stands, wrote works with highly politicized subjects. In other countries, like Germany for example, romanticism boosted nationalism by letting nationalism have an intellectual anchor. Romanticism links various branches of knowledge, from art and humanities to social sciences, psychology, politics and in philosophy . II. Russian Revolution There are two Russian Revolutions. The first one was in 1905, but it did not really gain momentum and failed to revolutionize the government, so to speak. This essay will focus on the 1917 revolution. The 1917 revolution transformed Russia into the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic from monarchy. This had two phases, one led by the peasants and the other phase led by the Bolsheviks (Palmer, Colton and Kramer, 725). The 1917 happened during the last phases of the World War 1. The World War 1 happened in 1914 and Russia was in it. Most of their resources were put on the efforts for the World War 1 and many soldiers died. On March of 1917, when it was said to be one of the coldest and snowiest winters in St. Petersburg, many people were starving as the weather kept them from city markets (Banks, et al, 535). Workers, most of them hungry, lined up for hours just to get bread. These workers are quite impoverished compared to the Russian monarchy. They have very little money and they hope to spend it on little loaves of bread out in the cold (Banks, et al, 535). The people protested yet again (just like in 1905, Bloody Sunday) when the skies cleared. For four days, people went out in the streets of St. Petersburg and shouted statements like “Down with the government!”, “Down with war!” and even shouts of “Bread!” (Banks, et al, 537). The tsar, Nicholas Romanov II, sought help from their soldiers and police to pacify the crowds but the soldiers, with their disappointment on the war, joined the crowds. This turned the protests into a revolution. The tsar was not around St. Petersburg when this happened, and when he was on the way to St. Petersburg via a train, the angry workers stopped his train. On March 15, 1917, Nicholas II gave up his position. After sixteen months, he and his whole family were executed, ending the rule of the Russian Monarchy. After the March revolution, however, the Duma chose several leaders for Russia but the problems still continued (Palmer, Colton and Kramer, 731). Then, a political party called the Bolsheviks came into the picture. The Bolsheviks were led by a son of a school inspector, of upper-middle class origins, by the name of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. He was a very sharp thinker and studied to become a lawyer. However, he stopped because he had become a revolutionary (Palmer, Colton and Kramer, 725). The Bolsheviks planned a socialist government for Russia, which was inspired by Marxism. Lenin promised the Russians, “Land, Peace and Bread.” With the support of the soldiers, the Bolsheviks overthrew the Duma in November 1917 (Banks, et al, 536). Then the Bolsheviks began having peace talks with Germany, allowed workers to have control on the factories, and used the farmland of the nobles. Lenin made several enemies, namely the nobles and factory owners. Ultimately, the Bolsheviks gained control over all of Russia and transforming it into the first communist nation, owning all private property and crushing religion so that all loyalty would be focused on the government. Basically, the main reason why the Bolsheviks prevailed is because their enemies were so disunited and they were easier targets, as compared to the Bolsheviks which is a single group. The Bolsheviks are also passionate about their goals and they were terrorizing people by example – murdering a lot of Whites (their enemies, the nobles). And lastly, they controlled the factories and the rails. They basically controlled the resources and rationed them to the people. When they have the resources, the power was on them, and they won. References: Banks, James; Beyer, Barry; Contreras, Gloria; Craven Jean; Ladson-Billings, Gloria; McFarland, Mary; Parker, Walter. World: Adventures in Time and Place. New York: MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print. Melani, Lillia. Introduction to Romanticism (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html). Brooklyn College, CUNY. 12 February 2009. Web. 20 July, 2011. Moscovici, Claudia. Romanticism and Postromanticism. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2007. Print. Palmer, R.R.; Colton, Joel; Kramer, Lloyd. A History of the Modern World. New York: McGrawHill, 2007. Print. Read More