In 1863, a Russian writer named Nikolai Chernyshevsky wrote a novel called "What Is to Be Done? Some Stories about the New People." The novel was mocked by the Russian intellectuals of that day when it was published. However, it had a different effect on young people and for this matter, the book became one of the most destructive book in history.
Compared to the Fyodor Dostoevsky, Cherynshevsky was no literary genius. Yet, he was able to stir the hearts of the people who read his utopian novel, What Is To Be Done.
The story presents the story of a young woman about to be married off to an older man but was rescued by a young socialist doctor. They lived together with a set of rules that ensure each of their privacy and independence. However, the woman fell in love with another man and in order to give way to their relationship, the young doctor faked his death and went to America.
At first sight, the novel looked like another ordinary novel with a good amount of romance, tragedy, joy, and other elements. However, this novel also sparked two destructive ideologies in modern history.
The book introduced the idea of the phalanstery, a communal where people are free to hold property in common and share profits to any business the communal has. If this sparked something familiar in your mind, then you are right. Before Lenin started the communist revolution, he confessed that he read Cherynshevsky's book five times and it stoked the fire in his heart.
Another philosophy that Cherynshevsky introduced in that book was rational egoism, the belief that "rational action maximizes self-interest." This was the same philosophy Alan Greenspan used when he deregulated the financial industry believing that these market players will self-regulate when they pursue their self-interest. But history tells us how wrong Greenspan was.
Cherynshevsky might not have expected how his novel, scoffed by the intellectuals, would have greatly influenced two destructive instances in history. And once again it has been proven that the pen is mightier than the sword.
