The Cattle Revolt. A Letter from a Little Russian Landowner to His St. Petersburg Friend (To the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of M.I. Kostomarov and the 100th Anniversary of the First Publication of "The Cattle Revolt") (Introductory Article by O.V. Ya

Abstract

In the satiric phantasmagoria by M.Kostomarov presented the ruthless criticism of nihilistic, authoritarian and anti-humanistic tendencies of Russian revolutionary movement of 1870. In the allegorical images of social “animals” author showed the inevitability extinction of those times revolutionary practices and also the governmental control that run counter to moral-ethical and humanistic principles of human life.
M.Kostomarov’s parable represents the moral and humanistic rethinking of the negative reception of the terroristic and authoritarian practices in the anti-nihilistic novels in 1860–1870s. Author as opposed to anti-nihilistic works formulates, advances and tries to answer the question of the most likely outcome of nearest social future after the revolution dream comes true. The story of phantasmagoria appears as a peculiar
forerunner of the plot of the well-known dystopian novella “Animal Farm” by English writer George Orwell – the famous critic of the Soviet totalitarianism.