What Is to Be Done? (Chernyshevsky novel)

What Is to Be Done? (Chernyshevsky novel) is an 1863 Russian philosophical novel by Nikolay Chernyshevsky that outlines utopian socialist ideas through narrative, polemic, and didactic dialogue. Published in the radical journal Sovremennik, the work became a touchstone for Russian intelligentsia and revolutionary movements, influencing figures across European and Russian political, literary, and intellectual circles. The novel interweaves plot, character study, and theoretical exposition to propose practical answers to social questions of its era.

Plot

The novel centers on a series of interlinked narratives set in mid-19th century Russia in which protagonists seek personal emancipation and social reform. The plot follows Vera Pavlovna, an orphaned woman whose development from constrained ward to independent organizer intersects with the lives of characters such as Lopukhov, Dmitry Kirsanov, and Alexander “Rusanov” who embody competing responses to serfdom, commercial enterprise, and revolutionary strategy. Episodes describe Vera’s marriage to Lopukhov, the operation of the sewing cooperative she establishes, and the moral dilemmas surrounding family, work, and sacrifice; subsidiary episodes portray miners, students, and artisans starting experiments in collective production. Interspersed within the narrative are long didactic sections where characters debate issues of marriage, property, and work, progressing toward a solution that combines household co-operatives, rationalized marriage, and rational egoism as means to social transformation.

Characters

Major characters include Vera Pavlovna, the novel’s protagonist and moral center, and her husband Lopukhov, an engineer and organizer; Dmitry Kirsanov and his brother Arkady, who offer contrasting temperaments and views on literature and social change; and Alexander “Rusanov,” a figure articulating the novel’s programmatic socialism. Secondary characters appear as models of varied social types: factory workers, artisans, intellectuals, and bureaucrats whose names and backgrounds indicate regional variations across Petersburg, Moscow, and provincial towns. Historical personages and institutional references populate conversations, with characters citing leading thinkers and cultural figures of the era to situate their debates within broader Russian and European contexts.

Themes and Political Philosophy

Chernyshevsky develops themes of rational egoism, utilitarian ethics, and utopian socialism, advocating transformation through cooperative labor, emancipation of women, and reconfiguration of domestic relations. The novel advances the idea that personal happiness and social progress are reconcilable through collective enterprise, technical education, and abolition of patriarchal constraints; these positions echo contemporary debates involving thinkers and movements from Nikolai Dobrolyubov to Alexander Herzen and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Literary realism and didacticism combine with socio-economic prescriptions referencing industrial organization, artisan guild practices, and emergent theories of cooperative production. Chernyshevsky’s arguments draw on and respond to intellectual currents represented by figures such as Karl Marx, Mikhail Bakunin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Ivan Turgenev, intersecting with debates in journals, salons, and political circles across Saint Petersburg and European capitals.

Publication History and Reception

Initially serialized and published through Sovremennik under the editorship of Nikolay Nekrasov, the novel reached a wide readership despite subsequent censorship by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and reactions from conservative critics. Contemporary reviews and polemics appeared in periodicals, with responses from literary critics, social theorists, and political activists across Russia, France, Germany, and Britain; these included commentary by Vissarion Belinsky’s disciples and later assessments by scholars in émigré communities. The novel’s legal and political consequences involved trials, exile, and censorship cases that engaged institutions such as the Imperial Russian court system and the Petersburg police. Reception divided intellectuals: radicals praised its programmatic courage while conservatives and some novelists critiqued its didactic tone and perceived instrumentalization of characters.

Influence and Legacy

What Is to Be Done? became canonical among Russian radicals and had profound influence on subsequent revolutionary thought and literature, inspiring activists, theorists, and writers across generations. The novel informed slogans and organizational strategies among populists and Marxists, resonating with later figures such as Vladimir Lenin, whose appropriation of the title for his pamphlet reflects the work’s symbolic power in Bolshevik discourse. Its themes permeated debates in socialist circles, anarchist federations, cooperatives, and women’s emancipation movements, while literary responses appear in works by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov. Internationally, translations and critical studies circulated in Paris, Berlin, London, and New York, contributing to comparative studies linking Russian radicalism with European socialism and utopian thought. The novel’s legacy endures in scholarly discussions about realism, didactic fiction, and the role of literature in political mobilization, and it remains a reference point in analyses of 19th-century Russian intellectual history and the genealogy of revolutionary movements.

Category:1863 novels Category:Russian novels Category:Political novels