Scritti di guerra e di pace in Russia. Alle origini del pacifismo russo

Resumen

This article examines the history of Russian pacifism from its origins, from the first experiences of the 17th and 18th centuries up to the treatise of Vasiliy Malinovsky Reasoning on Peace and War (1803). The discussion highlights the Western sources of inspiration (from the Abbé de Sainte-Pierre to Rousseau, Bentham and the Christian-Reformed thinkers) and analyses the concept of “just peace” developed by Malinovsky also in light of the historical events of the early nineteenth century (primarily the Napoleonic wars). The discussion, after brief references to the Decembrists, focuses on a little-known work by Alexander Pushkin dedicated to the concept of “perpetual peace” inspired by Rousseau’s interpretation of the writings of Saint-Pierre, and then moves on to trace some lines of the genesis of Tolstoyan pacifism already in his early works, such as The Tales of Sevastopol and the prose dedicated to the war in the Caucasus.