A forerunner of the movement was
Pyotr Chaadayev (1794–1856). He exposed the cultural isolation of Russia, from the perspective of Western Europe, and his
Philosophical Letters of 1831. He cast doubt on the greatness of the Russian past, and criticized
Russian Orthodoxy for failing to provide a sound spiritual or theological basis for the Russian
intelligentsia. He extolled the achievements of
Catholic Europe, especially in rational and logical thought, its progressive spirit and its leadership in science and on the path to freedom.
Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848) was the dominant figure. He worked primarily as a literary critic, because that area was less heavily censored than political pamphlets. He agreed with Slavophiles that society had precedence over individualism, but he insisted the society had to allow the expression of individual ideas and rights. He strongly opposed Slavophiles on the role of Orthodoxy, which he considered a retrograde force. He emphasized reason and knowledge, and attacked
autocracy and
theocracy. He had a profound impact on the younger generation.
Alexander Herzen (1812–1870), was the son of a nobleman who promoted Belinsky's ideas after his death in 1848. He was influenced by
Voltaire,
Schiller,
Saint-Simon,
Proudhon, and especially
Hegel and
Feuerbach. Herzen started as a liberal but increasingly adopted socialism. He left Russia permanently in 1847, but his newsletter
Kolokol published in London from 1857 to 1867, was widely read. Herzen combined key ideas of the French Revolution and German idealism. He disliked bourgeois or middle-class values, and sought authenticity among the peasantry. He agitated for the emancipation of the Russian serfs, and after that took place in 1861 he enlarged his platform to include common ownership of land, government by the people and stronger individual rights. ==See also==