About two episodes of a debate between “Rech” and “Novoye Vremya”: Literature between ethics and religion

The article considers the letters of V.P. Burenin, A.S. Suvorin and newspaper articles to investigate two episodes of a debate between the newspapers “Rech” and “Novoye vremya” in 1906 and 1911 regarding antisemitism. It is shown that the literary section of “Rech” was, at first, only discovering its own voice and attitude to “Novoye vremya”’s publications. In his response to S.I. Smirnova’s feuilleton “Black Hundred” (1906), A.S. Izgoev attributed her justification of the pogromists to her deceitfulness and loyalty to the authorities. When A.S. Suvorin’s newspaper published an antisemitic piece in 1911, signed by A. St-n A.A. Stolypin, it caused a public protest by P.S. Solovyova, Z.N. Gippius, D.V. Filosofov and D.S. Merezhkovsky, who described antisemitism as offensive to the dignity of the Russian people. The protest resulted in an exchange of articles, where M.O. Menshikov asserted the futility of the intelligentsia’s struggle against public outrage, while Merezhkovsky claimed the anti-Christian nature of antisemitism. His article “Nationalism and religion” presented the articles of “Novoye vremya” as an example of belligerent nihilism and atheism. The literary section of “Rech” refined its stance on the publications of “Novoye vremya” over time: initially it had a general political nature, assuming a humanistic aspect by the beginning of the 1910s. The writers participating in “Rech” stood up for a discriminated social group and publicly admitted responsibility for its persecution.