Tag: White Army
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Forged in War
The White émigré Ivan Solonevich (1891-1953), author of Popular Monarchy, saw firsthand how the “moderate” ideology of liberalism led to national collapse, revolution and tyranny in Russia in the aftermath of the First World War. An agent of the White underground and Soviet prison camp escapee, Solonevich knew monarchical sovereignty as the force that upheld…
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On Power and Death
As expressed in this 1928 essay, Russia’s philosopher of national renewal Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin (1883-1954) understood well the nature of power and authority. Power, he saw, descended from God and due to the great weight of its responsibility shared close proximity with the other world, with death. A traditional elite responsible for defending its people…
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War & Justice
The White émigré military analyst Anton Kersnovsky (1907-1944) outlines cases of just war as well as the ultimate goal of using force. While he recognizes war as an instrument of policy, Kersnovsky also conveys a profoundly Orthodox Christian worldview in his rejection of modern Clausewitzian expediency and its terrible 20th-century offspring. Militating against materialism, Kersnovsky…
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The Just Cause
Even in the darkness of revolutionary terror and enslavement, White Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin (1883-1954) believed in the sacred mission of his people, one to be achieved through suffering and repentance, spiritual strength and discipline. Here is a 1928 letter he addressed to his comrades in emigration, assuring them that one day a new Russia,…
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The Russian Way of War
Anton Antonovich Kersnovsky (1907-1944) was a soldier by nature; at the mere age of 13 he was fighting for the White Army against the Bolsheviks in Russia’s south. Emigrating to France, the young man would become a prolific commentator and analyst on military matters and wrote The Philosophy of War in 1936. Eschewing classic European…
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Ivan Ilyin: The White Army
Speech delivered by Ivan A. Ilyin in Berlin, November 19th, 1923 (The 6th Anniversary of the Russian Volunteer Army). Translated by Mark Hackard from the text “Rodina i My”; italics are from the original. One of the most genuine and spiritually significant victories accomplished in the history of man is the triumph of the Russian…
The Soul of the East 