The paper discusses Dostoevsky’s insight into the oxymoronic meta-
physics of the Russian revolution. The keys to it are contained in two of Dosto-
evsky’s works. The first is Demons with Kirillov’s idea of self-deification in death
intended to fill the gap left by the proclaimed absence of God. The second is Notes
from the House of the Dead, where Dostoevsky depicts the Russian peasants as
people for whom even such notions as freedom, happiness and honor are expressed
in monetary terms. The Russian revolution was created by people of Kirillov’s
persuasion; yet this ideal was offered to people whose teleology was firmly rooted in
the earthly life. The interpenetration of these worldviews resulted in the initial
victory of the revolution, but the dominance of the peasant Weltanschauung with its
earthly teleology ultimately led to the collapse of the communist project a few
decades later.

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• Fyodor Dostoevsky and the contronym that was the Russian revolutio