me
to Russia to live, where his talents would be valued at their true
worth. We can then readily understand how Dostoyevsky, in his
"Memoirs of an Author," had the right to say that the European
socialistic-democrats had two countries, first their own, then
Russia.

The Russian writers who gave themselves up so passionately to this
influence,--still so new even in Europe,--not able to support their
political ideal, with a press, as it were, gagged by the censor,
engaged in the struggle along the line of customs. They attacked the
prejudices which clog the relations among men, and rose up against
family despotism and the inferior position of women from a civil and
economic point of view. But, between 1860 and 1870, when the
enfranchisement of the serfs reduced the power of the censor, all
that had been confined in the souls of the Russians burst forth.
Chernishevsky wrote economic articles on capital and on the
agricultural community; he studied the system of John Stuart Mill,
from which he deduced his socialistic conclusions, and his
reputation grew immediately at home and abroad. He became a leader
of thought among the new generation.

At the same time, the young critic Dobrolyubov, author of an
analytical study of Russian customs, "The Kingdom of Shadows,"
called the "intellectuals" to a struggle for the rights of the
oppressed people, and was ready himself to "drain the bitter cup
intended for those who have been sacrificed." Also at this time
there appeared the poet Nekrasov and the satirist Saltykov. The
former, a profound pessimist, described in his best verses the
bitter fate of the lower classes; the latter with his sarcasm
scathed bureaucratic arbitrariness, while from abroad was heard the
free ringing of "The Bell,"--a paper founded by Hertzen,--which
seemed to be announcing that freedom was coming. Two articles by the
poet Mikhailov on the situation of women started a vast movement.
The women soon filled the lecture-halls of the university, and the
class-rooms, and organized a veritable campaign to defend their
rights in the name of the principle of liberty. All the partisans of
democracy or socialism applauded them. The agitation became general;
it seemed as if they wanted to make up for lost time by this
tremendous activity; everywhere Sunday schools were started and
public libraries opened; workingmen's associations were formed on
socialistic principles, and the ardent younger generation spoke to
the