A British literary editor has suggested that the Russian novelist would appear on RT today. We imagined what he might have to say about the modern West<\/p>\n
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the great 19th century Russian author of \u2018Crime and Punishment\u2019, the \u2018Idiot\u2019, and \u2018The Brothers Karamazov\u2019, was a counterintuitive thinker who could have appeared on RT. That\u2019s the opinion of Times literary supplement editor Martin Ivens who, in a piece for Bloomberg arguing against censorship of Irish author Sally Rooney in the UK, mentioned the Russian great.
\nThe suggestion is not without merit. Dostoevsky knew persecution, famously spending ten years in Siberia, four of which were in captivity and another five in military exile having completed his initial present sentence in February 1854.
\nRooney is a best-selling author who has publicly taken a stand to back Palestine Action, a group whom it is illegal to support, and about whom it is illegal to make public gestures of support in the UK. British police have made hundreds of bizarre arrests of elderly protesters holding signs supporting the group. Her books have been banned in Britain.
\nIvens has used his platform in the Times Literary Supplement to highlight how Russian writers often assume the status of prophets. In his Bloomberg piece he reaffirmed that censoring literature is counter-productive and only serves to feed resentment against the mainstream already in the body politic.<\/p>\n
Portrait of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881).<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0Getty Images \/ Bettmann \/ Contributor <\/p>\n
However, his suggestion that Dostoevsky could appear on RT inspired us to inquire as to what topics the great man might hold forth on in 2026.
\nOn Europe
\nLike many since, Dostoevsky viewed Western Europe with a complex mix of cultural admiration and affinity, moral revulsion, and spiritual anxiety. His experience in captivity \u2013 where he was subject to a mock execution \u2013 is said to have destroyed his faith in secular humanism. He argued that discarding God led to a moral chaos where \u201ceverything is permitted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cConscience without God is a terrible thing; it can stray into the depths of immorality\u201d<\/p>\n
He also predicted that attempts to build a so-called paradise on earth through rationalism and secularism alone would inevitably lead to political tyranny.On the EU\u2019s crisis
\nDostoevsky would likely and emphatically make the case that Western European leaders have by now displayed a total political bankruptcy and that Western Europeans should renounce materialism and seek meaningful social relations. The riots engulfing major European capitals, and the unfettered profiteering and immigration that have given rise to such tensions, are a symptom of the malaise of the Western European mind. Forcing humanity into rationalist conformity will only lead to extreme bloodshed, he claimed.<\/p>\n
Protesters destroy a car during demonstrations on October 17, 2026, Paris, France.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Carl Court \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
\u201cStarting from unlimited freedom, I arrive at unlimited despotism\u201d<\/p>\n
On liberalism\u00a0Dostoevsky, would have undoubtedly lamented the emergence of the European Union as a bureaucratic bearer of so-called liberal values. He would have highlighted how his book \u2018Demons\u2019 predicted the so-called democratic deficit that characterizes the EU \u2013 a tiny, largely unelected bureaucratic elite unreachable to the regular population who are stripped of freedoms.<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, July 8, 2025, France.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Philipp von Ditfurth \/ picture alliance via Getty Image <\/p>\n
He would have called the Covid-19 pandemic a brutal event in the restriction of human experience.
\nAbandoning God and zealously attempting to replace spiritual authority with a moral relativism where everything is permitted will only lead to social and spiritual collapse, Dostoevsky believed. He would have stoutly defended the emphasis and respect for traditional values in popular Russian culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Westernizers have placed themselves above the people as a paternalistic intelligentsia, rejecting the people\u201d<\/p>\n
He also enjoyed the mess, and this is where he probably would\u2019ve got into trouble with Brussels. The EU notoriously\u00a0wishes to regulate everything, where Dostoevsky emphasized the irrational and fundamentally spiritual nature of human beings.On techno-fetishism
\nHe foresaw the loss of grace in the world and its replacement by either authoritarian Catholicism, rational individualistic Protestantism, or indeed technological fetishism. Artificial intelligence in this respect may have represented the apotheosis of his foreboding.
\nSimilarly, Dostoevsky rejected the idea that humans could be rendered calculable and rational beings in their entirety and in that sense would undoubtedly have been horrified at the creeping legislation and legalization of everyday life.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman nature acts as a whole, with everything it possesses, consciously and unconsciously\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Union\u2019s Digital Services Act, which allows the behemoth to interfere in the local elections of member countries, would represent such a bureaucratic and legalistic invasion. He would\u2019ve taken a strong stand against the nullification of anti-systemic narratives but would also have emphasized that such political and authority and overreach was inevitable given the collapse of religion and morality.
\nDostoevsky would have been as much energized as he would have been horrified by developments in 2026. Were he to be with us today it\u2019s highly likely his voice would contribute to the choir of outspoken and brave commentators who make the channel what it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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