Bethink Yourselves! is an anti-war article by Leo Tolstoy, written in 1904 after the start of the Russo-Japanese War.
Contents
The article begins with a general assessment of the war:
Again, unnecessary suffering, unprovoked by anything, again lies, again general stupefaction, brutalization of people.
Tolstoy refuses to believe that the war is not happening in a dream, but in reality, so much does it contradict the postulates of both the Russian state religion – Christianity, and the principles of Buddhism – the main religion of Japan, according to Tolstoy. Both religions, as Tolstoy points out, prohibit murder. Calling war “the greatest crime in the world” and “the murder of brothers”, he points out that only “centuries of violence and deception” have led people to recognize war as a “valiant deed”
Tolstoy places the blame for deceiving people on “enlightened people who are ready to preach war, to promote it, to participate in it and, what is most terrible, without exposing themselves to the dangers of war, to incite it, to send their unfortunate, deceived brothers to it”.
Each chapter of the article, with the exception of the last, consists of two parts. The first part presents the opinions of various thinkers about the war. In the second part, Leo Tolstoy expresses his own attitude and analyzes the causes of the war. In his opinion, the cause of the war is the government ideology, which, under the guise of patriotism, instills hatred towards other peoples. Along with politicians and diplomats, journalists play a significant role in unleashing the war, justifying the militaristic ideology. The salvation of humanity from wars lies in establishing true religion in people, a hidden moral principle in each person, requiring love for one’s neighbor and service to him, and, as a consequence, refusal to participate in military actions.
Publication
Due to the impossibility of publishing in Russia, the article was released as a separate brochure by the Svobodnoe Slovo publishing house in England, translated by Vladimir Chertkov and published in the British newspaper The Times on June 27, 1904, after which it was distributed in many countries and quickly translated into other foreign languages.
In Japan, the article became widely known thanks to its translation into Japanese and publication in the Heimin Shimbun newspaper. According to Ujaku Akita’s memoirs, it influenced the young Japanese of his time. Impressed by the article, Akiko Yosano wrote the poem “Do not give up, my beloved, your life …”, which became a monument to anti-war Japanese poetry.
In Russia, it was first published in 1906 by the Obnovlenie publishing house as a separate brochure, and was immediately confiscated, and again in 1911 as part of the complete works of Leo Tolstoy in volume 36, and the volume was also confiscated.
Assessment
It caused a stormy response from Bernard Shaw, Anatole France, Thomas Hardy, the newspaper The Daily News and many others. In Russia, newspapers (Moskovskie Vedomosti, Grazhdanin) expressed indignation at the publication of the article and its content.
