Lev Tolstoy’s non-resistance in the context of the Silver Age, Russian revolution and Russian emigration. Part 1

The article is devoted to the consideration of the genesis of L.N. Tolstoy’s ideas about “non-resistance to evil by violence” in the context of Russian thought of the 19th century, on the one hand, and to the retrospective perception of “non-resistance” in the era of the Silver Age, during the years of the revolution and the Civil War, and then in emigration, on the other hand. On the basis of Tolstoy’s religious and philosophical articles, the works and statements of prominent Tolstoyans, as well as the testimonies of contemporaries, the author will try to recreate the cultural background of Tolstoyism and answer the questions: to what extent was “non-resistance” demanded by Russian society at the end of the 19th century? what psychological and cultural-philosophical practices did Tolstoy’s “non-resistance” bring to life? The author comes to the conclusion that Tolstoy’s ideas should be followed in dynamics: from the treatise “What is my faith?” to the article “Non-doing” and anti-war articles of the beginning of the 20th century. In the situation of the Russian-Japanese War, Tolstoy does not speak as confidently about non-resistance as before. Symbolist culture and philosophical schools of the 20th century radically reread Tolstoy. It is significant that D.S. Merezhkovsky and L. Shestov are not at all concern his “non-resistance”: they are more interested in the writer’s understanding of God and goodness. The World War and revolution forced Russian intellectuals to take a new look at the idea of “non-resistance” and to talk about Tolstoy’s ideological influence on the current events. The last rereading of “non-resistance” refers to the first years of emigration (I.A. Ilyin). Both in the “red” and in the “white” environment, Tolstoyism was recognized as untenable and by the end of the 1920s it was finally put into the archive.