Fetishism of the word
Fetishism of the word

Summary/Abstract: A traveler and scientist who personally knew several members of Tsar Nicholas II’s government, Ossendowski spent the years of the October Revolution in Russia and Siberia. Below we reprint chapter 24, parts of chapter 25, and the Conclusion of The Shadow of the Gloomy East (Cieƒ ponurego Wschodu: za kulisami žycia rosyjskiego, Warsaw 1923), translated by F. B. Czarnomski (NY: Dutton, 1925, pp. 187–190, 196–198). In January 2008, SR reprinted chapter 22 of the same book dealing with Witte, Stolypin, and Goremykin. Ossendowski’s texts combine a keen sense of detail with an ability to generalize, and they offer a view of Soviet history based on eyewitness experience. Except for a few spelling changes nothing has been added or taken away from the text. Some of the Asian localities we have not been able to identify: their spelling was left unchanged. The “Engelhardt” mentioned in the text possibly was Vasilii Engelhardt, a scientist and historian who died during the Great War. Ed.

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