Monthly Archives: March 2014

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The readings for this weekend were all three on very different topics. The first one Manifesto Freeing the Nobility was a brief piece of legislation published by Peter III before his assassination by his wife Catherine. In it he sets the nobles free, in other words he allows them to resume completely independent action and free migration. The next two readings were discussions of Catherine the greats reign. The first one by Isabel De Madariaga revolves around the legislation she writes, specifically the Nakaz and The Statute of Local Administration. Brenda Meehan takes a different tact when examining Catherine the Great. She discuses both the effect of Catherine’s gender on the international stage and the possibility that Catherine may not have had as much power as we assume.

In reading these texts one overarching theme comes to mind, that the nobility of Russia may have had a very complex relationship with the Russian thrown. In 1762 Peter the third sets the nobles free. He did this because he wanted to improve the quality of the serving class. He specifically mentions that any nobles that are not serving their purpose should be cast out. In the next text more support is found in Catherine’s actions, she creates The Statute of Local Administration to separate the nobles a bit from their power and stabilize the populace. All of this implies that the Russian nobles were under the crowns authority. But the last text questions this by asking weather in actuality she was the pawn of a greater scheme.

Militant Suffragist

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Author: Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was British political activist who advocated for women’s suffrage, lead the suffragette movement, and eventually succeeding in winning women the right to vote in Britain. In 1878 she married Richard Pankhurst, who supported and encouraged her activism, and she was known for her militant approach to suffragism.
Context: Militant Suffragist was a speech delivered by Pankhurst in 1913 as part of her speaking tour through the United States. At the time, U.S. suffragettes were beginning to experiment with Pankhurst’s militant strategies, and the women’s suffrage movement was undergoing a period of revitalization.
Language: The language is concise and accessible, and Pankhurst takes the tone of a General addressing her soldiers in preparation for what she dubs a “civil war.”
Audience: Pankhurst’s audience is an assembly of American women’s rights activists and others interested in her ideas on the suffragette movement.
Intent: Pankhurst’s primary intent is to assert her dedication to the women’s suffrage movement and reinforce the severity of the war that women’s rights activists are facing. She maintains that she is not speaking to advocate for women’s suffrage, but rather to fight and possibly die for it.
Message: The message that Pankhurst conveys is one of frankness and gravity. She is intensely determined to fight for her rights and seeks to mobilize American women into doing the same. She emphasizes the the time for advocacy has passed and that women across the world have entered into a period of civil war. Women must be willing to die for their rights or they will never realize them.

Spirituality and Art

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Author: Wassily Kandinsky, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский.  Kandinsky was born in Moscow and attended the University of Moscow where he studied law and economics.  He began his painting studies at age 30 but was fascinated by art from childhood.  He then moved to Munich to pursue his passion for art and painting but retuned to Moscow after the beginning of the first World War. He then moved back to Germany and then on to France where he became a French citizen in 1939.

Context: Du Spirituel dans l’art was written in 1912 right before the beginning of World War I.  The world was at a stand still waiting for the spark that would light the fire and bring about war.

Language: He uses simplistic language that would be easy for anyone to read.  Kandinsky compares art to life and young life and uses such terms as “child” and “still-born”.

Audience: He seems to be writing to the well versed art world.  Even though he writes in a simple style he uses a lot of jargon that most non art enthusiasts would not understand.

Message: He wants to bring to light the lack of the”essential spirt” of nature in art at that time.  Every piece of art is a product of its time and culture.  He disapproved of artists painting for the money or fame.  Art was about divulging the meaning behind the work and to create these works to express ones feelings about life and what goes on in it.  Art is about educating and being able to share those personal thoughts with world.  He then talks about the spirituality and how it relates, and can be compared to, a triangle.

Anarchism: Its philosophy and ideal

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Author- Peter Kropotkin is a  Russian revolutionist and political philosopher. He is also known as a geographer and biologist.

Context- He was born in 1842, and he became a naval officer. When he was around twenty years old, he brought a progress in Russia through his geographical field research around Russia. After he quits a naval officer, he came to strengthen the power as an anarchist.

Language- His writing often includes inquiries about his idea. In particular, he uses some question marks in the middle of each paragraphs.

Audience- He tries to give his idea to ordinary people.

Intention: He tries to argue the necessity of anarchism.

Message- He tries to argue that how much the idea of anarchism is necessary in the society around 1890s. He would like ordinary people to notice that society can be better with the abolishment of social organization such as polices and prisons because they did not play crucial roles in achieving safe society and improvement of men.

 

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

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Author: Born in Moscow in 1866, Kandinsky was fascinated with colors and color symbolism throughout his youth. Kandinsky studied law and economics at the University of Moscow and was later offered a teaching position at Derpt University in Tartu. Being more interested in art, Kandinsky decided to move to Munich to study and perfect his painting skills. Kandinsky went on to become a famous painter and art theorist. During the years of WWI and WWII, he moved between Germany, Russia, and France. Kandinsky died in 1944 in France.

Context: Published in 1912, two years before the outbreak of WWI, Kandinsky was writing in what was still considered to be the Belle Époque period in Europe: the optimistic and progressive time before the horrors of WWI.

Language: The language of Kandinsky’s work is fairly simple and does not contain any complex speech or phrasing. His introduction, in its entirety, is structured in a logical fashion.

Audience: Given that the language is not difficult to understand, Kandinsky wrote to the middle and upper classes. He also may have directed his ideas toward the lower class since art does not require the observer to be literate.

Intent: Kandinsky’s intent was to call attention to the impurities and soullessness of current art in general, artists, and observers. He craved a purification of art’s spirituality.

Message: Kandinsky explained that all art is a child of its age and its preceding generation is unable to be truly recreated. He believed the current cultural mindset was awakening from an era of stark materialism, but emphasized that materialism is still prevalent in most art. Kandinsky explained that observers of art, who neglect the artist’s inner meanings and colors, are left unchanged after viewing a painting. Kandinsky disapproved this wasteful “art for art’s sake.” He also denounced artists for their greed and lust for material reward from their paintings. Kandinsky ultimately believed that the current phase of art is barren and cannot progress until someone, who is capable of leading art to its true potential, emerges from the fray of the materialistic and spiritless current form of art.

Pankhurst and Militant Suffragist

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A: Emily Pankhurst was a British Political activist and leader of the woman’s suffragist movement that took the world by storm in the beginning of the 20th century. She was raised in Manchester, England and was introduced to the suffragist movement (by her very politically active parents) before her tenth birthday. From this time forward, her life was dedicated to getting women the right to vote.

C: This was written in 1913, right around the heyday for womens’ rights activism. At this point in time there were many people fighting for womens rights in both America and England. Over the next 15 years the movement would gain steam, and women would begin to gain the right to vote (among other rights) all across the world.

L: The language used is very inflammatory. Pankhurst refers to herself as a “soldier that has left the field of battle”, referring to the fact that men and women are locked in fierce conflict over these withheld rights. She tells the men that they have two options: to kill all the women, or to give them their rights.

A: This is written to all of the men in America and Britain that are against giving women the right to vote.

I: She wants all of the men to understand what the women are feeling like: very under appreciated and, frankly, looked down upon. She is writing to make sure they understand that she is coming across the aisle and extending an olive branch to the men before she makes very drastic steps in her process. She is offering them the chance to end their conflict now before the disagreement gets ugly.

M: She is telling the men to not let their disagreement go on any further. If they keep on fighting the women, it will hold all of them back, not just the women. If they give the women the right to vote, however, they will all be able to move forward together in peace and harmony.

The Reforming Tsar

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I love the section on page 96 when they talk about the move away from veneration of the tzar and the paper discusses Paul I “Paul I (1796-1801, crazily lurched toward despotism, he was stooped by the most readily available alternative to constitutionalism, assassination)”

Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal (1896)

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Author: Peter Kropotkin was a Russian philosopher, evolutionary theorist, and economist, promoter of anarchy- communism (looks to abolish capitalism, the state, and private property and promote common ownership in production), influenced by Pierre- Joseph Proudhon and John Stuart Mill, wealthy upbringing but rejected his “princely” title at a young age, influenced by republican readings and his time working under Tsar Alexander II, spent time working alongside the International Workingmen’s Association and other anarchist associations and was imprisoned for his activities
Context: Tsar Nicholas II had his formal coronation to Russian leader in 1896, Tsar Nicholas had previously turned down attempts for some democracy and stated that he would do everything to maintain an absolute autocracy
Language: Asks many questions in the beginning to force people to think critically about their society and these issues, his writing is not advanced and is at a level that is easy for most to read
Audience: The common man, he uses his simple language to express to all the issues with the current state of society and how much bettered all would be without certain institutions
Intent: To make people question the institutions of society which they take for granted and assume need to be in place (ex. questioning the usefulness of the police by showing how they have missed opportunities to protect the people)
Message: That men are corrupted by the institutions and that without these unnecessary objects of society there will not be places to harbor “coercion” (ex. that state- run prisons have allowed for many crimes to occur within their walls), believes that institutions only cover up the issues within society and that they do not address the needs of the people, without the institutions people would more easily be able to address the root of human issues and create a better “means for preventing anti-social acts”

Samuel Smiles: Self Help

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Author: Samuel Smiles, Scottish, government reformer. Born in 1812, he was the second oldest of eleven children. His father died of cholera in 1832, but his mother ran a general store and was able to continue to support all of her children. Smiles had a deep admiration of his mother’s work ethic, which influenced his work later in life.
Context: 1882, beginning of the second industrial revolution. He wrote about many of the same things Frederick W. Taylor, but about thirty years earlier.
Language: Fairly easy to read, he does not use very stilted language. The passage is also rather interesting, both content and the way it is presented, making it easier to read and understand.
Audience: Primarily working class, but also includes upper class and government officials. Smiles wrote primarily about the working class, and thus intended his writing to be read by the same.
Intent: To inspire the working class to strive to be better, and to improve themselves. Similar to Frederick W. Taylor, he wanted to eliminate soldiering and improve not only efficiency in industry, but society as a whole.
Message: Individuals cannot be improved through government intervention alone. No law “can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.” In order for society to truly progress, individuals need to improve themselves through self-help and the improvement of society will follow. This is similar to Adam Smith’s idea that the industrialist’s self interest will inevitably benefit the social interest; if all individuals strive to be better through self-improvement, society as a whole will progress and improve.

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management

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Author:  Isabella Beeton (March 12, 1836 – January 1865) started articles for her husband’s magazine when she was only 21 years old.  She died when she was only 28.  Her articles were later compiled as a book.

Context: Compiled in 1861, it was during the beginnings of the Second Industrial Revolution.  Additionally, Women’s rights were continuing to advance.

Language:  Beeton writes in relatively simple language in order to appeal to as many readers as possible.

Audience:  Beeton is writing to as many mothers/ wives as possible, additionally, the readers of her husband’s magazine.

Intent:  Beeton is giving household advice, recipes, and other womanly responsibilities during that time period such as “Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-Maid, Butler,Footman, Coachman, Valet, Upper and Under House-Maids, Lady’s-Maid, Maid-of-all-Work,Laundry-Maid, Nurse and Nurse-Maid, Monthly Wet and Sick Nurses”

Message: Beeton is simply informing mothers and wives of new and interesting techniques on their household duties, as well as new recipes to try in the home.