War, Progress, and the End of History, Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ: Three Discussions

In the garden of one of the villas that nestle together under the foothills of the Alps, and gaze into the azure depths of the Mediterranean, there happened to meet together this spring five Russians.

The first was an old General, a man of war from his youth. The second was a statesman, enjoying a hard-earned rest from the whirl and turmoil of politics — him I shall henceforth call the Politician. The third was a young Prince, whose strong democratic views and thirst for reform had led him to publish a large number of more or less valuable pamphlets on moral and social progress. The fourth was a middle-aged Lady, very inquisitive and greatly interested in humanity at large. And the last, another gentleman, of somewhat uncertain age and social position — ^whom we will call Mr. Z.

At the frequent discussions which took place among them I myself was a silent listener. Certain of these discussions appeared to me to be particularly interesting; I therefore took care to write them down while they were still fresh in my mind. The first discussion was started in my absence and was provoked by some newspaper article or pamphlet on the literary campaign against war and military service, a campaign originated by Count Tolstoy and now being carried on by Baroness Zutner and Mr. Stead. The Politician, questioned by the Lady as to his opinion of this movement, characterised it as being well-intentioned and useful. This statement immediately called forth angry remarks from the General, who began to sneer at the leaders of this anti-war crusade, calling them ironically the true pillars of statesmanlike wisdom, the guiding stars on the political horizon, and dubbing them the three “whales” of the Russian land. To this latter remark the Politician rejoined: “.Well, there may be other fishes besides.” This, for some reason, greatly delighted Mr. Z., who, as he subsequently stated, made both opponents agree in regarding the whale as a fish. He even made them give a definition of what a fish is, viz., an animal, belonging partly to the Admiralty and partly to the Department of Waterways. I think, however, that this is a pure invention of Mr. Z. Be this as it may, I am unable to reconstruct the beginning of the discussion in the proper manner, and as I do not venture to evolve it out of my inner consciousness, after the manner of Plato and his imitators, I commence ray chronicle with the words uttered by the General, just as I joined the company.