Lavrov, Peter Lavrovich

By origin a nobleman . The father, Lavr Stepanovich, is a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812 , a personal friend of A. A. Arakcheev , a retired colonel of artillery. Mother, Elizabeth Karlovna (nee Gandvig) - from the Russified Swedish kind. He received a good home education, from childhood he spoke French and German (in the circle of his reading - books from his father’s French library). In 1837 he entered the artillery school in St. Petersburg (1837–1842), where he was considered the best student of academician M. V. Ostrogradsky . After graduating from college in 1842, he was left with him as a tutor. Independently studied the literature on social sciences, in particular, he became acquainted with the works of utopian socialists, wrote poems and showed exceptional ability in mathematics and a craving for knowledge in general, without which

man is nothing ... he is naked and weak in the hands of nature, he is insignificant and harmful in society

- From diary

In 1844, after graduating from senior officer classes, he left the school at the tutor of mathematical sciences, which marked the beginning of his military teaching career at the St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy (from 1858 - colonel and professor of mathematics), at the Konstantinovsky Military School (from 1860 observer). During the Crimean War, he was under Narva , although, as he wrote in his autobiography (from a third person), "he did not take part in any military actions." ^[1] In 1847, Lavrov married the titular counselor Antonina Hristianovna Loveyko (sister of General A. H. Kapger ), who was a beautiful widow with two children, which deprived him of material support from his father. The need to support a large family (Lavrov had only four children of his own) and an acute lack of salary compel him to write special articles for the Artillery Journal and earn money by tutoring. After the death of his father (1852) and his elder brother Michael, material life becomes more secure.

Lavrov studied the newest European philosophy, published his poems with A.I. Herzen in the collection Voices from Russia, participated in the work on the Encyclopedic Dictionary, published a lot on a wide range of issues: philosophy, sociology, history of social thought, problems of public morality , art, literature, public education.

In 1860 his first book, Sketches of Questions of Practical Philosophy, was published. Lavrov believed that the moral personality inevitably comes into conflict with an unjust society. The ideal society in relation to the individual can be a system based on the voluntary union of free and moral people.

In the 1860s he took an active part in literature and social work and in the student movement, became close to N. G. Chernyshevsky , was a member of the first " Earth and Will ". After the assassination attempt of D.V. Karakozov on Alexander II, he was arrested, found guilty of “spreading harmful ideas”, “sympathy and being close to people, known to the government for his harmful direction” ( Chernyshevsky , Mikhailov and Professor P.V. Pavlov ), and In January 1867, he was sentenced to exile in the Vologda province ( Tot'ma , Vologda , Kadnikov ), where he lived from 1867 to 1870 (see ^[2] . In Totme, he met A.P. Chaplitskaya, a Polish national, arrested for participating in Polish uprising of 1863-1864 , which became his common-law wife (died in 1872).

In the link Lavrov wrote the most famous of his work - "Historical Letters". The “Historical Letters” called for “critically thinking” and “energetically striving for truth personalities”, first of all for young people, to wake up, understand the tasks of the historical moment, the needs of the people, help them realize their strength and start creating history with them. the fight against the old world, mired in lies and injustice. “Historical Letters”, being a socio-political work, came out when the revolutionary intelligentsia, especially the youth, was looking for new ways to apply their forces to participate in the liberation of the people: N.G. Chernyshevsky’s hopes for a popular uprising after the abolition of serfdom were not justified; The “theory of realism” by D.I. Pisareva with her cult of natural science did not promise quick results; The conspiratorial activities of the “Narodnaya Vracha” S. G. Nechaev were used by the government to discredit the “nihilists” . Therefore, in an atmosphere of the late 1860s - early 1870s. This work of Lavrov was a “thunder strike”, one of the ideological motivators for the practical activities of revolutionary intellectuals. .

In 1870, with the help of G. A. Lopatin, he fled to Paris , where he contacted the Western European labor movement and joined the First International . In order to organize assistance to the besieged Paris Commune, he traveled to London , where he met K. Marx and F. Engels . In 1873–1877, he edited the magazine “Forward” and the two-week newspaper of the same name (1875–1876), the organs of the direction of Russian populism, the so-called “laurism”, headed by Lavrov. After the assassination of Alexander II, he approached the People's Volunteers and, in 1883–1886, edited the Bulletin of the People’s Will with L. A. Tikhomirov .

In July 1889, at the congress of the Second International , the Gnchak party authorized the revolutionary P. Lavrov as its representative ^[3] .

The last years of his life, Lavrov, without breaking ties with the revolutionary movement (edited Materials for the History of the Russian Social Revolutionary Movement), devoted to writing theoretical works on the history of human thought: “ Tasks of understanding history ” and “Key moments in the history of thought”. In his legacy, not fully revealed (825 works are known, 711 letters; about 60 pseudonyms are revealed), - articles in the Russian legal press, political poems, including the well-known “ New Song ” (text published in the newspaper “Forward!” , 1875, No. 12 of July 1), later called “Working Marseillaise” (“Denying the Old World ...”), which A.A. Blok called among the “very bad poems rooted in the Russian heart ... you can’t tear it apart with blood ... " ^[4] .

Lavrov died in Paris; buried in the cemetery of Montparnasse . His last words: “Calling ... live well. It ends ... my life ends. ”

Granddaughter of P. L. Lavrov Kopyleva (Rosenfeld) Olga Emmanuilovna (1875–1939) is a Russian writer. She learned about the death of her grandfather, being in exile for left convictions. In memory of him, she began to sign her literary works with the pseudonym O. Mirtov .

According to his philosophical views, Lavrov was an eclectic who tried to combine the systems of Hegel , Feuerbach , F. Lange , Comte , Spencer , Proudhon , Chernyshevsky , Bakunin , Marx into one teaching. The main feature of his mosaic worldview was positivistic agnosticism . From the point of view of the official Soviet philosophy, the populists in the person of Lavrov took a step back from Chernyshevsky - from materialism towards positivism ^[5] .

As a historian and sociologist, Lavrov was an idealist and subjectivist . He evaluated the process of historical development from the point of view of a subjectively chosen moral ideal. History is ultimately made of its own free will by an educated and moral minority (“critically thinking individuals”). Therefore, the first task of revolutionary leaders is the development of a moral ideal, the implementation of which they should strive for in their practical activities. To his ideal, Lavrov gave the following formulation: “The development of the personality in the physical, mental and moral respect, the embodiment in public forms of truth and justice” .

Moralizing and academic nature of the socio-political program of Lavrov made him the leader of the right wing of the Russian revolutionaries of the 1870s, stipulating the creation of a number of groups of his followers, for example, “Bashinets” . The subsequent revolutionary upheaval led to Lavrov's rapid loss of his popularity and the transfer of hegemony in the revolutionary movement to Bakunism . Calling for the unity of all socialist trends, Lavrov sought to incorporate into his system and elements of Marxism . Despite this, Lavrov’s socialism was typically of a Narodnik character (the doctrine of the special ways of Russia's development, of the peasantry as the bearer of the socialist ideal, etc.). However, the connection of the laurists with the international labor movement, their great attention to the work among the urban workers led to the fact that the laurism played a certain role in the training of personnel for the first social democratic circles in Russia.

Attitude to art

In matters of art, Lavrov initially (in the 1850-1860s) was in the position of pure art. In 1870–1880s, Lavrov began to appreciate art from the point of view of its content to the ideals of the revolutionary intelligentsia (the article “Two Old Men”, 1872, - about V. Hugo and J. Michelet , and others), without ceasing to talk about forms. The reactionary art is recognized by them not only harmful, but also not having aesthetic value. Lavrov was one of the first to study the revolutionary and working poetry (the article "Lyrics of the thirties and forties" - about Herwegh , Ab. Elliott and others, 1877).

In the 1890s, Lavrov takes the standpoint of denying art as an independent superstructure: the only task that, in his opinion, remains behind art is the “decoration of vital and scientific needs”. This dynamic of Lavrov's views on literature made itself felt in articles devoted to the phenomena of Western European literature (in addition to the mentioned articles - “Laocoon“ Lessing ”, 1860,“ Michelet and his Witch Doctor ”, 1863,“ G. Carlyle ”, 1881,“ Longfellow and Shakespeare in our time (1882), which are also of interest in that they reveal the literary-critical method of Lavrov. Denouncing the writer for “the absence of passionate and lively participation in the interests and issues of the present” (the article “Longfellow”), Lavrov was mainly based on the work of such socially inclined authors as V. Hugo , G. Herwegh , U. Whitman, and others, giving they are not devoid of social and political severity characteristics.

Lavrov was a nobleman who left his class and went over to the side of the peasantry . The noble past introduced into the populist ideology of Lavrov a peculiar note - the theory of paying the debt to the people for their privileged position and their ancestors.

• Experience the history of thought. T. 1. - SPb .: Knowledge. 1875

• Bogatov V. V. The philosophy of P. L. Lavrov. - M., 1972;
• Vodovozov V. V. Lavrov, Pyotr Lavrovich // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Rusanov N. Lavrov, Essay on his life and work // Socialists of the West and Russia. - SPb, 1908.
• P. L. Lavrov: Sat. articles. - PG: Kolos, 1922.
• Engels on P. Lavrov and P. Tkachev, with a preface by Ryazanov // Under the banner of Marxism . - 1922. - May - June.
• Plekhanov G.V. Our differences // Collected Works. - T. II.
• Plekhanov G.V. On the question of the development of a monistic view of history // Collected Works. - T. VII.
• Plekhanov G.V. On social democracy in Russia // Collected Works. - T. IX.
• Gorev B. Lavrov and Utopian Socialism // Under the banner of Marxism. - 1923. - № 6-7.
• Fritsche V. Lavrov and pure art // Under the banner of Marxism. - 1923. - № 6-7.
• Kozmin B. Tkachev and Lavrov // Militant materialist. - Prince. I. - M., 1924.
• Ladokha G. Historical and sociological views of P. L. Lavrov // Russian historical literature in class coverage - M., 1927. - T. 1.
• Knizhnik-Vetrov I.S.P.L. Lavrov. - M., 1930.

• Lavrov P. L. Selected works on socio-political issues in 8 volumes. - M., 1934-1935.
• P. Lavrov. Philosophy and Sociology: In 2 volumes. - M .: Thought, 1965. on the website Universe
• About revolutionaries as “critically minded individuals” (from “historical letters”)
• Historical letters
• P. L. Lavrov. Poems / Poets Democrats of the 1870-1880. - L .: "Soviet Writer", 1968
• Report by P. L. Lavrov at the Paris Congress of the Second International
• Working Marseillaise to Lavrov
• Paris Commune March 18, 1871 (inaccessible link) - L .: Surf, 1925
• Lavrov in the memoirs of contemporaries
• Paramonov B. Russian European Peter Lavrov
• Itenberg B. Ivan Turgenev and Peter Lavrov.
• B. Stoyanov Anarchism and P. L. Lavrov 1920
• Lavrov on the website of the People's Will
• Lavrov on the website Krugosvet
• Works P.L. Lavrova on the website of the Tver Diocese .