Shattered dreams of freedom. Reflections on N. Gerasimov’s book “Kill the State in Yourself. How Rebels, Philosophers and Dreamers Invented Russian Anarchism” (Moscow, 2024)

Abstract

Gerasimov’s book “Kill the State in Yourself” brings back to modern culture a huge stratum of half-forgotten libertarian thinkers of early twentieth-century Russia: mystical anarchists, Christian anarchists, anarchobiocosmists, and many others. At the center of their work: rebellion, dream, and freedom in all spheres of culture, from philosophy to religion, from science to artistic practices. While some of the figures discussed in the book seem redundant and many others are lacking, thе study, which is of interest to both specialists and the general reader, using archival sources and referring to many contemporary issues and currents of relevant culture, opens a panorama of Russian libertarian thought in its diversity, richness, and variety.