N. Berdyaev on the Essence and Fate of the Russian Revolution

The article examines the attitude of the famous Russian thinker and public figure N. Berdyaev to the events and processes of the Russian revolution of the early 20th century. The author shows N. Berdyaev’s perception of these revolutionary events from the point of view of their participant and eyewitness, and also reveals the process of understanding by the great Russian philosopher the grandeur and scale of this social phenomenon. At the same time, the author especially emphasizes that N. Berdyaev considered the revolutionary changes taking place in Russian society not as something external, detached from his own personality. In this case, N. Berdyaev himself was, as it were, a part of these changes. Revolutionary events, as well as their various interpretations by contemporaries, pass through his very personality and become a direct part of his own worldview and perception of the world in this historical era. Understanding them, N. Berdyaev highlights the general and the specific in the revolutionary time, of which he was a contemporary and eyewitness, in comparison with other historical periods, also marked by upheavals and crises. He considers the positive and negative aspects of revolutionary changes and analyzes the multifaceted essence of the revolution as a special historical phenomenon, with its essential features closely connected with the historical past and present of Russian society.