Political Dostoevsky, while not a Marxist, agreed with some of
Karl Marx's criticisms of Europe. A believer in
Pan-Slavism, Dostoevsky disliked European culture for its corruption and criticized those of his countrymen who tried to imitate it.
Religious During his travels, Dostoevsky observed both Protestants (in England) and Catholics. He believed that the
Anglicans were "proud and rich... pompously and seriously [believing] in their own solidly moral virtues and in their right to preach a staid and complacent morality." Meanwhile, Dostoevsky thought Catholic priests used charity to manipulate the poor into conversion. Elsewhere Dostoevsky argued that
Orthodoxy was superior to both, protecting, but not forcing, unity within the church.
Social Dostoevsky's observations about English and French national characteristics reverse those of most travelers during his era. He suggests that the French are hypocritical as well as irrational, also considering the France populace to be repressed by the presence of the French secret police. The English, conversely, are proud. Well-to-do Englishmen consider themselves too elevated to attend to the plight of the poor, who are desperate and violent. ==Literary significance and criticism==