S. Yes. It is almost ready. And there will be a tower on it.

D. The High Tower?

S. Yes.

D. Very tall?

S. The public will probably say that it is too tall. That is, for an ordinary house.

D: I'm going to see this tower early tomorrow morning.

Henrik Ibsen. "Builder Solnes"[9]

It is no secret to anyone that Marxism, the same Marxism that until recently seemed to be such a harmonious, organically integral and satisfying world outlook, is experiencing a serious crisis. A few years ago the intellectual and social life of the advanced section of Russian society revolved around the disputes between the Marxists and the Narodniks, now the centre of gravity has shifted and the disagreements between the critical and orthodox trends within Marxism itself are coming to the fore. Now the motives of theoretical work for him were not criticism of the Narodnik trend, but self-criticism and the need for further development of the world outlook. In Western Europe this crisis is usually confined to Bernstein's well-known book, but it may be clear from my exposition that the new critical trend is not necessarily Bernsteinism in the proper sense of the word, and in any case cannot remain simply Bernsteinism.

I want to consider the present ferment in Marxism from an unusual point of view, I want to connect it with the crisis in the entire world outlook of the nineteenth century. It should be clear to anyone who looks intently at the complex soul of modern intelligent man, at his deep moral demands, at modern trends in the field of philosophy and art, that we live in an era of spiritual ferment. Only a person hypnotized by some dogma can deny this. The stereotyped progressive worldview of the recently passed century has fallen into a dumb alley and there is nowhere else to go on the previous path. It is necessary to revise current formulas and look for new ways. I take the liberty of stating categorically that the song of positivism, naturalism, and hedonism has been sung, and that the struggle for idealism is proclaimed along all lines, the struggle for a more joyful and luminous conception of the world, in which the highest and eternal demands of the human spirit will be satisfied.

In philosophy, the unsatisfactory nature of positivism as a world view began to be understood, Plato's traditions were resurrected, and the eternal rights of metaphysical creativity were recognized; in art there is a reaction against the departed naturalism that kills all beauty, and in modern symbolism[11] the romanticism of the best artistic creations of the past is being revived; eudaimonism, hedonism, and utilitarianism[12] declare themselves bankrupt in the solution of the moral problem, the desire to establish the absolute value of the good is noticed, and the idealistic idea of "natural law"[13], which has long been suppressed, despite its enormous historical merits, is resurrected. This intensified interest of modern man, and especially of the "advanced" man, in questions of philosophy, art and morality is very characteristic. Every deep soul feels itself unsatisfied in its best needs and bears the burden of the duality of the transitional epoch. Of course, one can meet many well-fed "positivists" who are not tormented by spiritual hunger, who do not understand the aspirations of Faust, but not such people are in the forefront of every historical epoch. The bourgeois, philistine spirit still lives in the progressive masses, and the great work of spiritual regeneration lies ahead. It will become clear later that I have little to do with Brunetière's statements, etc., about the bankruptcy of science. Positive realistic science, fundamentally alien to all romanticism, is great and immortal, it is the main acquisition of the nineteenth century, it is the eternal contribution of the bourgeois epoch to the treasury of the human spirit, and no encroachment on it is possible.

In order to make a socio-political diagnosis of the spiritual aspirations to which I have referred, it is necessary first of all to unravel one historical misunderstanding. This historical misunderstanding says: theoretical idealism is connected with reactionary social desires, with practical materialism; practical idealism and progressive aspirations can only be associated with theoretical realism or materialism; The inclination towards metaphysics almost suggests the idea of social dishonesty, since metaphysics is the world view of the ruling classes. This misunderstanding has great power over the average progressive person; This crude prejudice inspires very, very many people with a superstitious fear of those inquiries which everyone should consider the most sacred, without which life is empty, grey and meaningless. The modern progressive is terribly afraid of certain words, he breaks his soul in the name of a discoloring pattern, he will not dare to admit that at times he longs to look at life from the point of view of eternity. It will seem monstrous to future centuries that there was a time when spiritual poverty was almost proud, and spiritual wealth was considered best to hide at the bottom of one's soul. Let us try to discover the historical roots of this misunderstanding, which at one time was a useful lie, but now can only be harmful, since it hinders the creation of a new man for a new society.

In the life of peoples, there are epochs that are called "epochs of enlightenment". Here the human mind comes into its own, throwing off the shackles of authority, and begins a merciless criticism of the dogmatic worldview of the past, of obsolete religious and social ideas, of superstitions and prejudices that stand in the way of the further development of human society. The "ages of enlightenment" often put forward as their theoretical slogan "materialism," revolutionary materialism, which is a weapon in the struggle against darkness in the name of light, and to be a materialist in such epochs often means to be an idealist. The reactionary forces of society hide behind idealist words, and progressive forces fight against these words, covering up their idealist content out of natural psychological reaction with materialist words. Thus, for example, the medieval scholastic-theological world view and the social forces hiding behind this world view strenuously exploited the terminology of absolute idealism, and the philosophers of the Enlightenment epoch of modern times had to direct their critical arrows against all theoretical absolutes in order to shake medieval scholasticism and the way of life based on it. The greatest of the epochs of enlightenment was experienced by France in the eighteenth century, and no epoch counts in its ranks so many great thinkers, no one has produced such a brilliant literature. The task ahead was great: to crush medieval society and the medieval worldview. I think that the philosophy of the French Enlightenment thinkers of the eighteenth century, with its materialism directed against medieval absolutism, still exerts strong pressure on the progressive man of our time. A similar Enlightenment epoch was experienced by Germany, as a more backward country, only by the 40s of the XIX century, its exponents were L. Feuerbach and the Left Hegelians. Criticism of theology was the main motive of the "materialism" of that time, and humanistic aspirations put an idealist stamp on it. In Russia, the 60s were the "era of enlightenment". Chernyshevsky and Pisarev are our "enlighteners", under the banner of materialism they fought against the darkness of pre-reform society in the name of freedom of thought and human dignity. And now we must revere in Chernyshevsky and Pisarev not "materialism," in which there was nothing original and nothing of value for our time, we revere their "Enlightenment idealism." Our publicists of the sixties fought against metaphysics, because it was defended by conservatives, they fought against the cult of beauty, because the feudal nobility with their publicists, novelists, poets, and poetics clung to it. They were historically right. Their materialist lie, for all its philosophical inconsistency, contained a tremendous practical truth.

So it was in the past, but what about now?

In the nineteenth century, the mutual relations of social forces changed, the revolutionary fervor of the "Third Estate" cooled down, it ceased to be a "people" and became a "bourgeoisie," showing its exploitative claws. The creative forces of the bourgeoisie, having done great critical work in the last century, are beginning to be exhausted, and the character of its ideology has changed dramatically. She turned out to be incapable of positive spiritual work. The bourgeois epoch of history is marked by a lowering of the psychic type of the human personality, a narrowing of its spiritual horizons. The ruling bourgeoisie, by turning life into a shop, kills all idealism, it kills it in life, in philosophy, in art, in morality, in politics, and clings only to positive science, as necessary for its practical interests. It levels out any bright individuality, eradicates beauty and aspirations to comprehend the mystery of existence. The revolutionary materialism of the last century, with its idealistic fold, is replaced by positivism with its philosophical moderation and accuracy. Positivism, as a requirement for the application of the scientific method in all fields of knowledge, is eternal; Science can only be positive, and a religious or metaphysical solution of scientific questions is inadmissible. Positivism, as a philosophical worldview, seems to be of little value: it spiritually humiliates a person, recommends abstinence in response to the innermost demands of the human spirit. Metaphysical idealism is banished by the bourgeoisie from the intellectual life of mankind because of its practical uselessness. In art, the bourgeoisie asserts realism and creates its extreme manifestation, naturalism. Naturalism faithfully reflects nineteenth-century society in all its ugliness. Beauty is expelled from the art of the ruling classes, since it does not appear in their lives and art is reduced to protocol, the theorists of naturalism propose to turn artistic creativity into a branch of experimental science[17]. Idealism is banished from human experience, and art is powerless to reproduce it. In the 18th century, hedonism fought against the authoritarian criteria of good and evil, and this was its right to exist. In the nineteenth century this idealist current disappeared from the theory and practice of the triumphant class, and a utilitarian view of life was put forward, the view of the shopkeeper, which knew no higher moral beacon than the income and expense book. The moral life of bourgeois society, which revolves around profit, provides little food for idealistic constructions, and ethical idealism finds no place in the depths of this society. The eighteenth century put forward a profound idealist idea of "natural law" and relied on it in the political struggle; This idea has been debunked by the evolutionists of our century, and liberal opportunism has become the trend of mainstream politics. In a word, side by side with social bourgeoisness, we must recognize the profound spiritual and cultural bourgeoisness of nineteenth-century society, a bourgeoisness that discolours life and lowers its value.