Literally: We shall live with thee like panski (Polish lords); these people are friends to us; whatever to thy soul is pleasant I shall attain it all with them. ↩
Here too Chernyshevsky shows himself as a prophet. The electric light is now a fact. The day of aluminum is yet to come; when it comes, as come it will, the world will be revolutionized. ↩
Comment on this epic vision is hardly necessary. But those who object to idealized socialism as presented by Chernyshevsky must be both enchained by selfishness and the slaves of Antichrist. Only he who is selfish can wish that the best that he wishes for should not be shared by all the world; and how many millions and billions of dollars, how many lives of labor and sadness, are wasted every year because each family and each man and woman is trying vainly by himself to do what might be done better, more easily, and more happily by systematic union. The great corporations which pour useless wealth into the hoards of the few monopolists who control them, the great bazaars which are now seen in all our cities, point to what, in the future, will be the physical salvation of the world. The great hotels and flats are but the practical realization of the homes of the men and women of the future. But is Chernyshevsky after all such a rabid radical? Is not his ideal what all men want when they pray for the coming of the kingdom of Heaven?—not the republic of Heaven, by the way. ↩
Eight cents. ↩
Uglanai. Literally, by corners, referring to the custom of putting a number of people into one room. ↩
Rotmistr, or shtabs-rotmistr, titles taken from the German army; it gives personal, not hereditary, nobility. ↩
“Laid hens for him” in the original. ↩
Beréïtor. ↩
Zhukóvsky was the tutor of Alexsander the Second, and the author of many popular poems; among others, the national hymn, “God save the Tsar.” The Gromoboï was the thunderbolt, personified as a horse. ↩
Vot kak. ↩
Literally, to be a noble (dvoryanin). ↩
Dō svidánya. ↩
On Easter Sunday, which comes in Russia twelve days later than in the West, it is the custom among the people, especially among the peasantry, when they meet, to say, “Kristos voskres” (Christ is risen), to which the answer is made, “Voïstinu voskres” (He is risen indeed). It is also permissible to bestow kisses promiscuously, and many avail themselves of this privilege wherever a pretty girl gives them occasion. The Russian peasant believes that Christ is actually on earth during the six weeks of Easter. ↩
Literally:
Forth went the young (girl)
Out the new gate,
Out the new, the maple,
Out the grated (gate).
“Own father is stern
And unmerciful to me,
Does not let me divert myself
With a bachelor fellow to sport.
I don’t heed (my) father;
I shall amuse the young (fellow).”
Literally: Five sázhens, or about thirty-five feet. ↩
Starikashka, affectionate diminutive of starik. ↩
Golubótchek. ↩
Literally,
Many beauties are in our aūls.
Stars gleam in the darkness of their eyes.
Dearly loves them, enviable fate.
But the young man’s will is happier.
Don’t marry, young fellow.
Heed me.
Literally:
The moon rises
Both quiet and calm.
But the soldier lad
Goes to battle.
He loads his gun,
And the girl tells him,
My dear, boldly
Trust thyself to fate.
These last six lines are in the Malo-Russian dialect; almost every noun a diminutive. The last two lines read literally, And the little shonkárka has black little brows. Hammered little heel-rings (podkivki). ↩
Colophon
What Is to Be Done?
was published in 1863 by
Nikolay Chernyshevsky.
It was translated from Russian in 1886 by
Nathan Haskell Dole and Simon S. Skidelsky.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Jason Livermore,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2017
for
Wikisource
and on digital scans from the
Internet Archive.
The cover page is adapted from
Her Mother’s Voice,
a painting completed circa 1901 by
William Quiller Orchardson.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.
The first edition of this ebook was released on
February 24, 2025, 5:27 p.m.
You can check for updates to this ebook, view its revision history, or download it for different ereading systems at
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Uncopyright
May you do good and not evil.
May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
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