The representation of anarchist doctrines in Dostoyevsky's novel "Demons". : From revolutionary utopia to nihilist ideology

Abstract

This paper analyzes the representation of the doctrines of Russian anarchist theorists such as Mijail Bakunin and Serguei Nechayev in the novel by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky “Demons”, especially in two passages of the work: Shigaliov's speech and the murder of the young Shatov by the comrades of his anarchist group, which show how the anarchist revolutionary utopia turns into a nihilist ideology, as well as the subsequent influence of this nihilist dialectic in some revolutionary movements of the 20th century such as Bolshevism, which, in their attempt to create a just utopian social order, become terrorism and dystopia, or in the words of Claudio Magris in a “terrorist messianism”.