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Consequently, Pedroso argues history should only focus on ancient peoples that had birthed the various races that influenced the continent. From all of them, the Aryans or Indo-Europeans were considered the most significant1, seeing as they had birthed the Germans, Slavs, and Latins2.

Pedroso’s concept of Progress helps to supplement these views. The author’s conception, based upon social Darwinism, argues progress is achieved by the termination of the usage of certain technologies, ways of thought or artistic styles, and the substitution of them for newer, more advanced cultural phenomena influenced by the ones left behind3.

One should note, however, that Spengler’s later concept of civilization differs from Pedroso’s, instead meaning: “(…) the organic-logical sequel, fulfilment and finale of a culture (…)”4. To the German author, Civilization was the final stage of society, characterized by the emergence of “(…) strongminded, completely non-metaphysical (…)”5 individuals that would lead their society into decline and inexorable reform. By that measure, Spengler sees Nineteenth Century Western Europe, not as the most developed, ever progressing society Pedroso argued it was, but as the moment Western Culture achieved Civilization.

Hence, a divide between “World-city and province” formed, where the first absorbed political, economic and demographic power, creating urban masses, devoid of tradition, religion and care for metaphysical thought, attitudes that were left behind in favor of an overbearing preoccupation with the capital gain. Such resulted in a drive towards the formation of empires, meaning, towards territorial and capital gain6. One of the cities at the center of this argument is St. Petersburg.

3. Saint Petersburg

3.1. Saint-Petersburg’s physical and social urbanity

After arriving in the city, and even though Pedroso does make several positive remarks about its architecture7, he quickly reveals that he considers its buildings grandiose, yet monotone, arguing the urban center had no historical

1Idem, Compêndio de História Universal, Porto, Livraria Universal de Magalhães e Moniz,

1885, p. 14.

2Idem, Ibidem, p. 15.

3Matos, Sérgio Campos, p.182.

4Spengler, Oswald, Atkinson, Charles Francis (trad.), The Decline of the west: Form and actuality, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1927, p.31.

5Idem, Ibidem, p.32.

6Idem, Ibidem, pp.31-39.

7SÁ, Victor de, “Duas Visões Portuguesas da Urbanização de S. Petersburgo (1780 e 1896)” in Amorim, Inês (ed.), Revista da Faculdade de Letras do Porto - História, Series II, Vol. 8, Porto, Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, 1991, pp.188-190.

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tradition or connection to Russian nationality, having been created by Peter I in an autocratic way, using a pastiche of European styles in its landscape in order to indulge the emperor’s tastes1.

Nonetheless, he presents the reader with a much less negative view of the inhabitants of the city, whose “ethnic type” (their association to a particular race through their physiognomy and clothing2) he was interested in studying. An example of this usage appears when the author describes the “izvóchtcjick", carriage drivers generalized as, large, long-haired, bearded men, downing dark blue coats and the "national Cossack hat", characterized as "lively", "happy" and "easy-going"3, a set of attributes Pedroso associates with all Slavs4. Contrasting it with “(…) the stupid bureaucratic formalism (…)” of Western society5, a mark of racially homogenous cities, unlike St. Petersburg, that brought together people from different areas of the Russian empire.6

Spengler, for his part, focuses on the city’s design, equating it with “(…) the arbitrary planning of a megalopolis (…)”, that demonstrated the czar’s objective: to “(…) force Europe upon Russia (…)”. Built as a “city of the future”,

Saint-Petersburg was a megalopolis that overshadowed and dried up the country7.

3.2. Authoritarianism and civilizational development

Notwithstanding a positive view of the city’s inhabitants, to Pedroso, St.

Petersburg was a city without historical or national roots8, created by a whimsical monarch wishing to assimilate aesthetic ideals from more civilized areas, that he ended up simply copying9.

By the same measure, even though the author argued St. Petersburg shared in Europe’s intellectual development,10 such sharing of cultural values did not extend to include the sharing of economic ones, since, according to him, the city suffered from a feeling of desertification, derived from the fact that Russia’s economy was mostly agricultural, not having yet gone through a phase of economic development Pedroso considered crucial: the movement of workers

1Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Vinte dias na Rússia: impressões de uma primeira viagem, Lisbon, Feitoria dos Livros, 2015, pp.70-72.

2Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.75.

3Idem, Idem, p.63.

4Idem, Idem, p.149.

5Idem, Idem, p.147.

6Idem, Idem, p.76.

7Spengler, Oswald, Atkinson, Charles Francis (trad.), Ibidem, p.101.

8Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.72.

9Idem, Ibidem, p.22.

10Idem, Manual de Historia Universal, Paris, Guillard, Aillaud e cia., 1884, p.383.

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from rural to urban areas, consequently putting Russia at a lower state of civilization than other European countries1.

The debate over whether Russia should or should not abandon her agricul- ture-based economy in favor of an industrial one was common in the country following the Great Reforms2. Pedroso’s answer to the conundrum was that the development of an urban, industrial, working class was not only inexorable but a demonstration of Russia's advancement.

Nonetheless, the writer does argue that such demographic, social and economic changes would create “absenteeism” in rural areas, turning the country into a “(…) tributary to the city, making it wither through the impoverishment of its best option [rural workers], that in most European countries will turn city life into a plethora, pregnant with the most horrible of social issues (…).”3 Hence, it was to be expected that Russia’s cities would come to be invaded by “(…) a wave of the rural population the fields will no longer be able to feed, that will come to greatly grow the vast army of the universal proletariat. That day, however, is so far away that it is yet impossible to see its vague outlines on the horizon of the future of the Slavic race.”4

Spengler, for his part, is more concerned with how distinct the city was from what he considered to be true Russian values, arguing St. Petersburg was a

“pseudomorphosis” that demonstrated the Romanovs preference for “Western” values, and their disregard of “Old Russian” ones. He writes: “Late-period arts and sciences, enlightenment, social ethics, the materialism of world-cities, were introduced (…)”5, even though, before “(…) religion was the only language in which man understood himself and the world. In the townless land with its primitive peasantry, cities of alien type fixed themselves like ulcers - false, unnatural, unconvincing. “Petersburg," says Dostoyevski, “is the most abstract and

1Idem, Vinte dias na Rússia: impressões de uma primeira viagem, Lisboa, Feitoria dos Livros, 2015, p.69. It should be noted that as Smith (See: Smith, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in

Crisis, 1890 to 1928, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp.35-36) explains, although many textile manufacturers preferred to establish factories on the countryside, from 1897 to

1917, Russia’s urban population doubled, reaching more than 25 million people. Indeed, as the author states, in 1914 St. Petersburg had a population of 2.2 million people, making it the

largest city in the world. Nevertheless, although peasant migration fuelled the growth of cities, it was mostly seasonal, with peasants returning to the countryside in time for harvest.

Nonetheless, the rapid growth of the city did lead to overcrowding and miserable living conditions for many. By the same measure, Pedroso’s feeling of desertification could have

come from the referred to seasonality, as we know he traveled in the summer (See: Pedroso,

Zófimo Consiglieri, Idem, p.22).

2Hamburg, Gary, “Russian political thought, 1700-1917” in Lieven, Dominic (ed.), The Cambridge History of Russia, Vol. II, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp.130-

3Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.69.

4Idem, Ibidem, p.70.

5Spengler, Oswald, Atkinson, Charles Francis (trad.), Ibidem, p.193.

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artificial city in the world."1 Hence, everything that came from Petersburg was understood by “true Russdom as lies and poison (…)”2.

The self-destruction of such a system would take place, according to

Spengler, through its own people, who yearned for their “(…) life-form its own religion, its own history (…)”3, in short, a return to truly Russian values and life, based on the country, religion and the soil4. Pedroso, for his part, understands Russian values and the longing for change they created in a different way.

3.3. “Physiological gastronomy” and the character of races

Pedroso starts his theorization on this topic by stating that he understood “physiological gastronomy” to be the relationship between race and food consumption, further arguing that different races, according to their physiological needs, tended to gravitate towards different modes of sustenance. Consequently, he argues Hindus, being “(…) skinny, shy (…)” were able to rely on bowls of rice. Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, seeing as they lived a “(…) hardworking life (…)”, needed “(…) cuts of roast-beef (…)” to survive. Latins, for their part, relied on wine to feed their “(…) brilliant and imaginative spirit (…)” while the Germans “(…) closed and cold, yet profound (…)” spirit could only be fed on beer5. When it comes to Russia, Pedroso’s first comment falls upon “(…) that terrible vodka (…)”, on which he blames “(…) more than half (…)” of Russia’s crimes and illnesses6.

This negative view of certain beverages was not particular to Pedroso, though. As food studies specialists point out, the 1890s were the pinnacle of the

“anti-alcohol fervor”, yet, fermented beverages, wine and beer included, were considered as being connected to good health7.

Nevertheless, although Slavs and Russians in particular, are associated with the consumption of vodka, their referred to positive characteristics are connected to what Pedroso describes as high-quality hearty meals, eaten 7 to 8 times a day, in which he partook in during his summer days in the Russian country, showcasing enjoyment of Russian soups and mushroom stews8. Hence, we will discuss how Pedroso saw Russian rurality, which he considered the deposit of true Russia values.

1Spengler, Oswald, Atkinson, Charles Francis (trad.), Ibidem.

2Idem, Ibidem.

3Idem, Ibidem, p.196

4Idem, Ibidem.

5Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.156.

6Idem, Ibidem, p.166.

7Guy, Koleen M., “Rituals of pleasure in the land of treasures: Wine consumption and the making of French identity in the late nineteenth century” in Belasco, Warren, ScrantoN, Philip (orgs.), Food Nations: Selling taste in consumer societies, New York, Routledge, 2002, pp.40-41.

8, Ibidem, p.156.

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4. Russian rurality

4.1. “The popular soul”: Happiness and Predominance

The first way Pedroso uses the idea of “the popular soul” is by connecting it with "the realization of national aspirations". Such realization, he argues, in a country where public opinion was under scrutiny, could only be achieved through the works of realists authors, who disguised their positions on Russian society through their stories and characters1. They are argued as having, through their writings, fought for the liberation of the serfs and for “future victories”,2 which can be summed up in the concepts of Happiness and Predominance3.

The first of these concepts, we argue, is used by Pedroso in his travel notes in the same way it is in The United States of Europe, a text by Charles

Lemonnier that Pedroso’s friend and well-known federalist, Magalhães Lima4 translated, publishing part of it5 it in the same volume of the republican publication Bibliotheca Republicana Democratica that Pedroso published a translation of a story by Henry Batel6. In such work, the concept is connected to the possible future existence of a federal republican government in all European countries, that would guarantee the happiness of all living under it.7

When it comes to the concept of Predominance, Pedroso shows his interest in the formation of a Republican Pan-Slavist Nation under the power of a democratic Russia, something he argued all Slavs wished for. Indeed, the “aspirations” of “(…) the Slavic world (…)”8 are understood as ideas rooted in ethnicity and present since the inception of it, uniting a race through its shared cul-

1 Idem, Ibidem, p.113. One should note though, that although Pedroso followed ideas connected with social democracy (See: Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Session of June 14th, 1886 in Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Actas de vereação 1886, Vol. 1, Lisbon, Lisbon City Council, [s.d.], p.319.), realist writers such as Dostoevsky denounced them (See: Hamburg, Gary, Ibidem, p.133), meaning that, in many cases, Pedroso applies his own ideas about Realism to these writers.

2Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.114-115.

3Idem, Ibidem, p.109.

4Ventura, António, Magalhães Lima: Um idealista impenitente, Lisboa, Assembleia da

República, 2011, pp.120-122.

5Lemonnier, Charles, Lima, Magalhães (trad.) “Os Estados Unidos da Europa” in VIDEIRA,

Carrilho (dir.), Biblioteca Republicana Democrática dedicada ás novas gerações de Portugal e Brasil, Ano I, Vol. III, Lisboa, Typographia da Europa, 1874, pp.2-38.

6Batel, Henry, Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri (trad.), “A morte de dois inimigos: episodio da guerra franco-alemã in Idem, Ibidem, pp.47-65.

7Lemonnier, Charles, Lima, Magalhães (trad.), “Os Estados Unidos da Europa” in VIDEIRA,

Carrilho (dir.), Biblioteca Republicana Democrática dedicada ás novas gerações de Portugal e Brasil, Ano I, Vol. I, Lisboa, Typographia da Europa, 1874, pp.56-58.

8Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Vinte dias na Rússia: impressões de uma primeira viagem, Lisboa, Feitoria dos Livros, 2015, p.141.

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ture in order to reach political goals in the present1. As Pedroso puts it: “Fractioned under various political sovereignties, separated from each other by indifferent or hostile populations, violently incorporated into foreign states, it is through art and literature, and popular music, that brings their poetic traditions to life, that the Slavs recognize their common heritage and, as brothers, mingle, although not yet able to be part of the same nation, which they wish for. Hence, the Chez from Bohemia; the Polish; the Ruthenian from Galicia; the Slovak from Hungarian; the Polabian from Prussia; the Bosnian in the Ottoman Empire and the Montenegrin, the Serb, the Bulgarian, independent yet mutilated, feel their heart pound with enthusiasm (…) when someone sings one of those songs in which (…) faint yet present, the remembrance of the cradle they all spent their first childhood close to is conserved”.2 This cradle, to Pedroso, is both a literal and cultural one, as we shall discuss.

4.2. “The popular soul” and Mother Russia

First, we must consider the conceptual background to Pedroso’s ideas, which was connected to the assumption several XIXth century anthropologists made that the most rudimentary state of development possible for a given society was the oldest.

Taking that idea into account, many made a connection between peoples considered to be in a lesser stage of civilization in the present and the idea that, by studying them, one could achieve knowledge of the past directly3. Pedroso does this himself, applying “primitivism”4 to the Russian reality. Indeed, when traveling to St. Petersburg and passing through a rural area, he writes that he sees “a few poor villages inhabited by serfs, the last remains of the barbarity of races that were never able to sit at the banquet of civilization”5. Pedroso’s concept of “Mother Russia”, we argue, relies on primitivist premises in order to form the conclusion that all Slavs shared the same culture.

Pedroso’s position does have various connections to Russian thought of the time, particularly to Slavophile ideas. Indeed, much like Slavophiles regarded the West as a “rational counterpart of a truly Christian Russia”, observing Russia through a duality of an “official” (connected to the West) and an

1Leal, João, “The history of Portuguese Anthropology” in Tresch, John (dir.), History of Anthropology Newsletter, Ano XXVI, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania, Vol. XXVI, nº2, Dezembro de 1999, p.18.

2Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.141.

3Viegas, Susana de Matos, Cabral, João de Pina, “Na encruzilhada portuguesa: a antropologia contemporânea E a sua história” in Cunha, Manuela Ivone (dir.), Etnográfica, Vol. 18, nº2, Lisbon, Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia (CRIA), June of 2014, p.314.

4Duarte, Alice, “A antropologia portuguesa. A opção etno-folclorista do Estado Novo” in

Sociedade Portuguesa de Antropologia e Etnologia, Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia, Porto, Sociedade Portuguesa de Antropologia e Etnologia, 1999, p.83.

5Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.53.

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“unofficial” (quintessentially Russian) existence1, so does Pedroso exhibit such positions.

At the start of his work, the author clearly states that he wishes to come to understand the idea of “Matushka Rossia”, hidden under the “official” front of

Russia2. In fact, the unofficial core Pedroso intends to explore is one he associates with Russian rurality, and particularly, with Russian folklore, understood by him as belonging to the whole of the Slavic race. In fact, when staying at the town of Koltsovo, Pedroso participates in a party where folk songs are sung, songs he associates, through a primitivist position, with “pagan legends” and “some mythical chant” of the past3.

This “bounty of inspiration”4, contained in Russian (and hence Slavic) folklore is also found by Pedroso to have a specific locus it hailed from, the place of settlement of the first Slavs: the Volga river5.

Nevertheless, to understand how Pedroso finally connects the idea that all Slavs shared the same culture and hailed, as a race, from the same, almost divine, locale, to Happiness and Predominance we must quickly turn to empirebuilding policies in Russia.

5. Happiness, Predominance, and Mother Russia – rurality, urbanity and empire

Pedroso himself will write, concerning the cultural influence he felt when staying in Koltsovo: “The absorbing influence of the Slav environment operates change with subtlety, without us almost being able to notice! This is the secret to Russia's peaceful but incessant victories through propaganda, everywhere it is exerted. To her dominance through assimilation, much more valuable than her dominance through war, regardless of her colossal armies, no one is able to resist”6.

One can grasp the author stands by the idea that Russia, in order to maintain and grow her empire, should favor peaceful means, based on cultural influence. This was also a common idea in the late-imperial period in Russia. In fact, supporters of “Russianization” argued not only for the inclusion of newly liberate serfs as Russian citizens but for the same to be done to indigenous nonRussian populations7.

1Rutten, Hellen, Unattainable Bride Russia: Gendering Nation, State, and Intelligentsia in Russian Intellectual Culture, Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 2010, p.34.

2Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.20.

3Idem, Ibidem, p.166.

4Pedroso, Zófimo Consiglieri, Ibidem, p.168

5Idem, Ibidem, pp.132-134.

6Idem, Ibidem, p.150.

7Bassin, Mark, “Geographies of imperial identity” in LIEVEN, Dominic (ed.), The Cambridge History of Russia, Vol. II, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p.57.

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There was, however, a racialist justification involved, based on the superiority of European-Russian civilization, which should lead those belonging to it to take on a civilizing mission focused on the empire’s colonial subjects. Russianization was hence based on the idea that the empire’s inhabitants would accept the Russian ethos naturally, voluntarily and peacefully by being exposed to it1.

Pedroso, for his part, argues for the formation of a Pan-Slavic state through the mobilization of cultural values supposedly hailing from the beginning of the Slavic race and still maintained in the rural areas of Russia by its lesser civilized inhabitants. These cultural values, he argues, should allow Russia to bring all the Slavic peoples into her “enlace”2, seeing as she was Mother Russia, who contained the Volga in her, and would hence be able to lead the whole Slavic race to Happiness and Predominance.

Sources and Bibliography

Sources

BATEL, Henry, PEDROSO, Zófimo Consiglieri (trad.), “A morte de dois inimigos: episodio da guerra franco-alemã in VIDEIRA, Carrilho (dir.),

Biblioteca Republicana Democrática dedicada ás novas gerações de Portugal e

Brasil, Ano I, Vol. III, Lisboa, Typographia da Europa, 1874, pp.47-65.

Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Session of June 14th, 1886 in Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Actas de vereação 1886, Vol. 1, Lisbon, Lisbon City Council, [s.d.], pp.291-320.

LEMONNIER, Charles, LIMA, Magalhães (trad.), “Os Estados Unidos da Europa” in VIDEIRA, Carrilho (dir.), Biblioteca Republicana Democrática dedicada ás novas gerações de Portugal e Brasil, Ano I, Vol. I, Lisboa, Typographia da Europa, 1874, pp.1-60.

LEMONNIER, Charles, LIMA, Magalhães (trad.), “Os Estados Unidos da Europa” in VIDEIRA, Carrilho (dir.), Biblioteca Republicana Democrática dedicada ás novas gerações de Portugal e Brasil, Ano I, Vol. III, Lisboa, Typographia da Europa, 1874, pp.2-38.

PEDROSO, Zófimo Consiglieri, Compêndio de História Universal, Porto,

Livraria Universal de Magalhães e Moniz, 1885.

PEDROSO, Zófimo Consiglieri, Manual de Historia Universal, Paris, Guillard, Aillaud e cia., 1884.

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PEDROSO, Zófimo Consiglieri, Vinte dias na Rússia: impressões de uma primeira viagem, Lisbon, Feitoria dos Livros, 2015.

SPENGLER, Oswald, ATKINSON, Charles Francis (trad.), The Decline of the west: Form and actuality, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1927.

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