The Reorganization of Society, the Re-Creation of Human

The Collapse of Illusions

Abstract

Two social goals are analyzed that emerged one by one and later existed simultaneously: the reorganization of society and the re-creation of man. The idea of social reorganization appeared in Russian philosophical literature for the first time at the end of the 18th century. Till the 20s of the 20th century, it was presented in the works of almost all Russian authors of the “first row,” namely: D.I. Fonvizin, A. S. Griboedov, A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.S. Leskov, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, A.M. Gorky, A.A. Bogdanov, A.P. Platonov. After October, the communist government no longer needed social reorganization, and therefore, with the help of the “engineers of human souls” detachment, it set the goal of “forming a new Soviet man.” The primary means to achieve it were fear, age-old obedience, and forced labor as the most critical education instrument. The labor was destined to stop Adam's sin and damnation and to become a joy and fullness of being. The ideologist of labor service was L.D. Trotsky, one of the leaders of October. Furthermore, 70 years later, the final attempt to “create a new man” as a part of the “socialism with a human face” was made by the last leader of the Communist Party, M.S. Gorbachev, just before the USSR collapsed. And also without result. Over time, from the end of the 18th century to the end of the 20th century, the goals and means of solving the problem of social reorganization and creating a new man did not change. However, the problem was not solved initially and remained unsolved in the end.