Формирование и развитие новоградской идеологии Г.П. Федотова

В статье анализируется творческий и идейный путь, проделанный Г.П. Федотовым от членства в РСДРП к критике интеллигентского сознания и религиозной культуре. Отмечается противоречивый и вместе с тем синтетический характер социально-политического мировоззрения Федотова, соединяющего в себе черты христианства и социализма, культурного консерватизма и политического либерализма. Анализируется его «новоградский» проект будущего устройства России.

Formation and Development of G.P. Fedotov's ‘Novy Grad' Ideology

The article examines the creative and conceptual way of Georgy Petrovich Fedotov (1886–1951) from his RSDWP membership to his criticism of the intelligentsia conscience and religious culture. Researchers divide his work into the three periods listed below: the “Russian” one, the “French” one (from 1925), and the “American” one (from 1941). The controversial yet at the same time synthetic nature of Fedotov's socio-political outlook, which combines features of Christianity and socialism, cultural conservatism and political liberalism, is stressed. His project of ‘Novy grad' of the future structure of Russia is analyzed. Fedotov's views did not coincide with the existing ideologies of the Russian emigration; sometimes his articles were regarded as troubling because of their uncertainty. However, the thinker's publicistic works helped him gain the glory of the “new Herzen”. Fedotov was the creator of one of the variants of the “post-revolutionary” ideology. From 1931 to 1939, he, together with I. I. Fondaminsky and F. A. Stepun, was publishing the magazine titled “Novy grad (New City). It was Philosophical, Religious, and Cultural Review, developing the topic of Christian and democratic socialism and trying to overcome intelligentsia consciousness which was a hindrance to religious culture. He sought to combine what was seemingly incompatible: the Middle Ages and humanism, Christianity and socialism, or culture and eschatology. In his works, Christian faith is placed side by side with liberalism and universal hope, while faith in Russia and his love for it gets along with a belief in the “freedom-loving” West. He spoke against both fascism and communism hoping for the triumph of freedom. At the same time, he sought to combine freedom and socialism (considering the latter to be the “prodigal son of Christianity”) and called for its rebirth, which could lead at least to justice, if not to the Kingdom of God on earth. One can say that Georgy Fedotov supported personalist socialism in his concept (due to this fact, he is regarded as a “Christian Socialist”), and saw all the flaws of the market economy and bourgeois democracy. At the same time, he defended the freedom and dignity of the personality, and was a philosopher of culture and its true creator. In connection with the above statements, the thinker is numbered among either the camp of liberalism or that of liberal conservatism. Still, conservatism, even a liberal one, can hardly be regarded as his peculiar trait, despite his enthusiasm for medieval studies and religious culture. He regarded Christianity as a religion of constant creative renewal and edifying, heavily criticizing the forms of conservatism which existed in tsarist Russia, and positively evaluated February while maintaining a negative attitude towards October 1917. He saw the future of Russia as a multiethnic and democratic federal republic. Therefore, in our opinion, “conservative liberalism” would be the most appropriate definition of Fedotov's political philosophy.