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Do you agree with Marquis De Custine's characterization of Russia?
Marquis de Custine was a French author from the 19th century. He was born after the French revolution and he wanted to find reasons in support of autocracy and against representative government. However his travels to Russia only made him appalled at the extreme despotism and dysfunction he witnessed there. He was mystified, even terrified by Russia as an entity. Many described his views as hyperbolic and racist. He wrote about his experience in the book La Russie. Some quotes from there:
In Russia, everything you notice, and everything that happens around you, has a terrifying uniformity; and the first thought that comes into the traveler's mind, as he contemplates this symmetry, is that such entire consistency and regularity, so contrary to the natural inclination of mankind, cannot have been achieved and could not survive without violence. . . . Officially, such brutal tyranny is called respect for unity and love of order; and this bitter fruit of despotism appears so precious to the methodical mind that you are told it cannot be purchased at too high a price.In Russia, everything you notice, and everything that happens around you, has a terrifying uniformity; and the first thought that comes into the traveler's mind, as he contemplates this symmetry, is that such entire consistency and regularity, so contrary to the natural inclination of mankind, cannot have been achieved and could not survive without violence. . . . Officially, such brutal tyranny is called respect for unity and love of order; and this bitter fruit of despotism appears so precious to the methodical mind that you are told it cannot be purchased at too high a price.In Russia, the government rules everything and vitalizes nothing. The inhabitants of this vast Empire, though not calm, are dumb. Death hovers over every head and strikes at random -- it is enough to make one doubt divine justice. Mankind there has two coffins: the cradle and the tomb. Mothers must weep for their children at birth as much as at death.The political regime here would not survive 20 years of free communication with Western Europe. Pay no heed to the boasting of Russians; they confuse splendor with elegance, luxury with refinement, policing and fear with the foundations of society. . . . Up to now, as far as civilization is concerned, they have been satisfied with appearances, but if they were ever able to avenge their real inferiority, they would make us pay cruelly for our advantages over them.https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/w...-else-new.htmlThe people and its ruler are in harmony here. The Russians make themselves witnesses, accomplices and victims in these prodigies of willpower and would not repudiate them even to resurrect all the slaves whose lives are forfeited as a result. However, what surprises me is not that one man, nourished on the idolatry of his own person, a man described as all-powerful by sixty million humans (or near-humans) whould undertake such things and carry them through. What does surprise me is that among all the voices testifying to the glory of this single man, not one rises above the chorus to speak for humanity against the miracles of autocracy. You can say of the Russians, both great and small, that they are intoxicated with slavery.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/...ation-of-mutes
As someone who admires Russia as a nation, I must say that many of the observations he made about it probably have some truth to them. I think Russia's greatness is more a product of its massive size and oil reserves than the ingenuity of the underlying civilization which has been victim to tyranny for most of its history.
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Originally Posted by Dorian
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