The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF

conception of Panslavism as formulated by the Slavophils of the last century. Their failure was due to their turning their back upon Western Kurope, thus encountering the bitter opposition of all the Western elements in the Russian and Slav society and character. They attempted to base civilisation upon Autocracy, which means rigid, unchangeable order, and also upon democracy, which means infinite progress and perpetual change. In the life of Western Europe, they saw only one tendency, that of extreme rationalism. ‘This tendency, by excluding every divine principle from the life of man, appears to be profoundly atheistic. It is the denial of religious faith and of mystic knowledge, the exclusive acceptance of science, belief in progress, positivism, and rationalism. According to it, religion is a prejudice; there is no mystic insight into the hidden things. From it we get the democratic principles of the sovereignty of the people and the ethics of utilitarianism, or the consecration of egoism. From it we also get the idea of class-war, the contempt of tradition and an exclusive tendency to a purely intellectual education.” 4

In revolting against the West the Slavophils took refuge in Christianity, but failed to recognise that Christianity is the religion of Aryan Kurope. Even the Parish Land-Commune is an institution through which have passed nearly all

1 A. Yastchenko, The Réle of Russia . . . tn Inter-Racial Problems.

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