Thank you for not shooting us... 100 years ago, the “philosophical ship” left Russia

Ivan Zubov

Russian social networks remind us that exactly one hundred years ago these days, in September-November 1922, the so-called “philosophical ships” were sent from Russia to Europe, which took away the flower of Russian humanities, including philosophical. Thus, the Bolsheviks expelled the best thinkers of Russia from the country.

Some steamships sailed from Odessa and Sevastopol heading for the Turkish Constantinople (now Istanbul), others from St. Petersburg - for the German Stettin. However, scientists left their homeland not only by sea, but also by trains - to Latvia and Germany. True, the Soviet government paid for the tickets for the steamships, but they spent money on the trains themselves. According to the recollection of the philosopher and sociologist Fyodor Stepun, who also became a passenger of such a ship, “the deportees were allowed to take: one winter and one summer coat, one suit, two pieces of any underwear, two day shirts, two night shirts, two pairs of underpants, two pairs of stockings. Gold items, precious stones, with the exception of wedding rings, were prohibited from export; even pectoral crosses had to be removed from the neck. In addition to things, it was allowed, however, to take a small amount of currency, if I am not mistaken, at 20 dollars per person; but where to get it, when a prison was supposed to be kept for its storage, and in some cases even the death penalty ... "

According to various sources, then a total of 228 or 272 people left Russia together with family members.

But they could shoot...

Journalist Alexei Belyakov writes about this in his blog:

“Yes, it was not just one voyage - just the combination of “philosophical steamer” became a metaphor. The symbol of Russian tragedy.

All these scientists, professors were dissatisfied with something. There is no particular harm from them, they are not military men, not terrorists - but they spoiled the mood of the Bolsheviks.

Trotsky spoke in the sense that they could have been shot, but they showed humanism. (Thank you, Lev Davidovich, your comrades-in-arms will not show humanism to you after twenty years.)

So the philosophers Berdyaev, Karsavin, Bulgakov sailed away. The sociologist Pitirim Sorokin sailed away. Sailed designer Vsevolod Yasinsky. A lot of people got away. The color of science, the intellectual elite.

And here's the funny thing: the philosopher Ilyin, the idol of the current government, was also expelled.

In 1928, the emigrant Ilyin wrote an article "On Russian fascism." In fact, such a compact "mein kampf". How important it is to be a fascist. "The spirit of Russian fascists is patriotic, strong-willed and active."

The very same ships went to different seas. The adventures of other passengers are still ongoing ... "

Russia never learned lessons from the past

Analyst Dmitry Travin , for his part, points out that, “the current Russian government seems to have specially guessed with its“ events ”for the“ anniversary ”. This week many of our intellectuals are going abroad on "philosophical" planes, cars and almost even donkeys. During the First World War, a future passenger of the “philosophical ship” could write: “But the great war must also have creative historical tasks, it must change something in the world for the better, for a more valuable being.” These, alas, are the words of Nikolai Berdyaev, an outstanding thinker and conscientious person, judging by the totality of his works. Such thoughts about the usefulness of the war were quite compatible with the regime that involved Russia in the First World War (although Nicholas II and his comrades, of course, thought simpler). Therefore, for philosophers, parting with the Motherland fell on the years of the Bolshevik terror.

Today I do not know a single thinking and conscientious person who could write such a phrase. And although the total number of bastards whose thoughts are devoted only to money and a career is still large, this difference is of great importance and gives some hope. We should still learn lessons from the nineties!”

The new "philosophical ship" is in no way inferior to the old one

Meanwhile, the scale of the current exodus from Russia is also amazing. Experts agree that only after the announcement of mobilization about 700 thousand people left the country. Of these, 200 thousand left for Kazakhstan. That is, in just a couple of weeks, Russia immediately lost half a percent of its population! At the same time, it is the most economically active and successful part of it. Moreover, after all, members of their families will probably also go after that, which will make the overall picture even more gloomy.

And despite the fact that some of them, perhaps a third or half, will return, all the same, in terms of the destructive impact on the human capital of Russia, this picture can be compared precisely with the very exodus of the Russian intelligentsia 100 years ago, which ended just "philosophical ship".