History of Political Nihilism
In 1842, many Russian dissidents appear to have espoused nihilistic viewpoints. Here is a relevant quote from Russian Nihilist Dmitri Pisarev:
- "Here is the ultimatum of our camp. What can be smashed must be smashed; whatever will stand the blow is sound, what flies into smithereens is rubbish; at any rate, hit out right and left, no harm will or can come of it."
and another one from Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin:
- "the negation of what exists ... for the benefit of the future which does not exist."
Read more about this topic: Political Nihilism
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, political and/or nihilism:
“The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To say “I accept” in an age like our own is to say that you accept concentration-camps, rubber truncheons, Hitler, Stalin, bombs, aeroplanes, tinned food, machine guns, putsches, purges, slogans, Bedaux belts, gas-masks, submarines, spies, provocateurs, press-censorship, secret prisons, aspirins, Hollywood films and political murder.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“Nihilism: any aim is lacking, any answer to the question “why” is lacking. What does nihilism mean?—that the supreme values devaluate themselves.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)