“The Privilege of Backwardness” and the Challenges of Modernization: Narodnichestvo through the Methodology of A. Walicki

Interpretations of Narodnichestvo proposed by the outstanding Polish historian of Russian philosophy, Andrzej Walicki, were analyzed. The main source of the study is represented by the book “The Controversy over Capitalism: Studies in the Social Philosophy of the Russian Populists”, which has not been translated into Russian, as well as by his other works. The relevance of the research is determined by a methodological impasse in the study of Narodnichestvo, which is traditionally reduced either to agrarian socialism or to a revolutionary movement, thereby preventing the identification of its genuine philosophical content. The ideas formed within the ideological framework of Narodnichestvo, as interpreted by Andrzej Walicki, were examined and reconsidered. The methodological approach of the Warsaw School of the History of Ideas was employed, within which the reconstruction of the immanent logic of the development of philosophical concepts in their cultural and social context is carried out. Through the application of this method, Narodnichestvo is reconstructed not as a socio-economic doctrine or a political practice, but as an integral philosophy of history. It is demonstrated that Narodnichestvo constitutes an attempt to respond to the challenges of modernization in a peripheral country, within which a critique of linear progress, the development of the subjective method in sociology, and the search for non-capitalist alternatives of development are combined. It is established that the key features of Walicki’s approach include the analysis of the polemics between Narodnichestvo and Marxism, as well as the identification of the internal connection between the ethical and philosophical foundations of the subjective method and subsequent economic programs. Particular attention is devoted to the analysis of Polish messianism and its influence on Narodnichestvo. It is emphasized that Walicki’s concept allows Narodnichestvo to be interpreted not only as a complex ideological formation, but also as a phenomenon situated within the broader European context of debates on progress, whereby Russian philosophy is presented as an integral part of world philosophy. It is concluded that, despite the debatable nature of certain theses, this approach may be considered significant for contemporary scholarship, as it provides a relevant analytical framework for examining the problems of peripheral development under conditions of globalization.

EDN ILOULG