Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psychology, called Karamazov Brothers Dostoevsky the best novel of all time. For me, too, the novels The Karamazov Brothers, The Stupid, The Gambler, and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were some of the best novels of my life.
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Apart from the literary, philosophical, and psychological aspects of Dostoevsky’s novels, we also see sociological theories in Dostoevsky’s works. For example, Dariush Mehrjui, looking at the same novel by the Karamazov brothers, wrote a book entitled “The Intellectuals of the Vicious and the Great Inspector” published by Hermes, which is an interesting analysis of totalitarianism.
In my opinion, the book of the Karamazov brothers is more than a book from which we can understand the structure of “fascism”.
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What is fascism?
Fascism is a system of government that is both anti-liberalism and anti-socialism! It is anti-liberalism because it advocates an authoritarian state that interferes in all spheres of social life, and it is anti-socialism because fascism advocates an extremism of nationalism that is more like racism, while internationalism is one of the central tenets of Marxism-socialism.
Another characteristic of fascism is that it places the state in the place of religion. Fascism considers the government a sacred position as if the government is the manifestation of divinity on earth!
The most famous fascist regimes of the twentieth century were the “Mussolini” regime in Italy, the “Hitler Nazism” in Germany and the “Franco military regime” in Spain.
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In this article, I want to talk about this aspect of the Karamazov Brothers. In Dostoevsky’s book The Karamazov Brothers, we encounter five figures of the Karamazovs:
1- Karamazov is the father of the symbol of the corrupt and aristocratic aristocracy, a clown who is immersed in lusts but dominates others because he has wealth.
2- Ivan Karamazov is a symbol of utilitarian technocrats. He seeks an opportunity to steal Karamazov’s father’s wealth free of charge.
3- Dmitry Karamazov is a symbol of a sentimental nation. He is passionate about his emotions and emotions and turmoil are around his neck. He has nothing to do with epistemic wars or power struggles. But if the father confronts his feelings, he breaks his head and thinks of killing him.
4- Alexei Karamazov is a symbol of duty. Those who have gone beyond themselves and are concerned about the suffering and happiness of others. Alexi puts on the priest’s clothes when they need to, and when the circumstances change, he takes off his clothes, leaves the monastery, and walks among the people.
The scene where Alexi is bitten by Dimitri’s guilt is a sign that the perpetrators are supposed to be the victims of the same nation that is working for his suffering and happiness!
5- “Smerdyakov” (stink!) Is the fifth prominent figure in the Karamazov family, the illegitimate child and servant of Karamazov’s father. Although he is the only one who is unconditionally obedient to his father Karamazov, in the end he is the only one who stains his father’s blood! Smerdyakov is the symbol of the Lumpen-proletariat class, a group of thugs to whom the corrupt aristocracy identifies and ultimately takes power from the corrupt aristocracy.
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Several groups are involved in creating a fascist process:
1- A corrupt aristocracy that has no means left but money, and therefore needs a servant without any reason.
2- Utilitarian technocrats who question the legitimacy of a corrupt aristocracy but refuse to pay.
3- an emotinal nation that pursues its own riots, madness and greed and runs behind the flag of anyone who promises to help it.
4- The stinking Smerdyakov or the thugs who fill the place left by the utilitarian technocrats!
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Why did I reach out to the rule of fascism from the novel of Karamazov brothers?
Because it is Ivan Karamazov who proposes the thesis of the state as a religion. He is a theorist of fascism without knowing that fascism comes with the lamp of the proletariat and drives him mad.
At the end of the Karamazov brothers’s novel we see the fate of a society that has fallen into fascism: the father (corrupt aristocracy) has been killed, Smerdyakov (the lampoon) has committed suicide after the murder of his father,
Ivan (the vicious intellectuals) has gone mad, and Demetrius Life imprisonment is hardened by deeds! He is the only Alex who has lived free and is still free and is still thinking about Dimitri’s freedom.
Dr. Mohammad Reza Sargolzaei – Psychiatrist
Translated By: Negar Kolkar
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PS:
“Lumpen” stands for “Lumpen Proletariat” It means “raging proletariat”. The term was first used by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their second joint book (German Ideology: 1845). In this and his later works, they considered the “lumpen proletariat” as a “subclass” in society which, unlike the “bourgeoisie” and the “proletariat”, has no role in production and in the margins of society through dubious means such as “fraud”, “mediation”, “Smuggling” and “begging” make a living.
Marx sees this social group as dependent and petty-bourgeois and aristocratic, and therefore considers them counter-revolutionary.
For more information on the Marxist analysis of social classes, I suggest two articles, “The Collective Unconscious of the Petty Bourgeoisie” and “Is Feminism Possible Without Socialism?” Also read on this site.
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