The Enduring Enigma of Lev Tikhomirov

The Enduring Enigma of Lev Tikhomirov presents the Western reader with the first comprehensive study of the life and ideas of a revolutionist turned monarchist, one of the most intriguing and neglected thinkers in Russia in the late imperial period. As a young man Tikhomirov was an ardent revolutionary, comrade among others of Vera Figner and Sofia Perovskaya, and he was four years imprisoned by the Tsarist police. He later became the chief theoretician of the People's Will revolutionary group that assassinated Tsar Alexander II in 1881, following which he fled Russia to avoid the gallows and continued revolutionary activity as an émigré in Geneva and Paris. Then came an abrupt reversion in his outlook. He petitioned Alexander III to return to Russia, received clemency in 1888, and afterward became a staunch defender of autocracy and the Orthodox faith.

The Enduring Enigma of Lev Tikhomirov examines Tikhomirov's chief works, all of which came after his return to Russia. Monarchical Statehood (1905) deals with the nature of power and the theory of the State, recalling strongly the thought of Thomas Hobbes, most notably his Leviathan of 1651. The Religious-Philosophical Fundaments of History (1913–1918) is Tikhomirov's justification of Christian revelation and a warning against the rise of atheism, moral autonomy, and the perils inherent in the elevation of man to the place of God. Glenn Cronin's timely intellectual history looks in depth at Tikhomirov's exploration of the nature of good and evil and the rise of dark forces that led to the tragedy of 1917.