I always wanted to write this one. The current events and the importance of non-violence seem relevant. I also wanted to show how the true American classics was discussed very far away.

::::::::

(Article changed on December 23, 2012 at 09:24)

Intermission.    Did they really read it in Russia?

As far as I remember from my childhood   Uncle Tom's Cabin was translated into Russian first somewhere in 1880s as a Russian tribute to the   US Civil War. Then it was   republished and retranslated   many times, especially during the Soviet period as   a recognized American classic. American readers would be surprised to find out that   all references to Jesus Christ, gospels and prayers   had been   painstakingly translated and included into all those editions. Most of   the editions   were   illustrated, supported by the appropriate historical narratives and   reality comments. I am pretty sure Harriet Beecher Stowe    would be   totally satisfied with the treatment extended to her book in the  far- away Russia.

The book was   designated as a summer    reading   for the    children in the 7-8^th   grade. The US movie   Uncle Tom's Cabin was a must-see in English classes of the same levels.   Children would   be sent   en masse to watch   that movie on a field trip. Soviet Russia was officially fiercely   internationalist; racism was considered a   crime. At the same time the   term "Negro' was   not considered    an insult because it was a traditional   definition of    the people from Africa in Russia. On the contrary, the term   "Black' is   considered a negative connotation in Russian language   whether used as a noun or an adjective.   Sometimes   terms "black- skinned'   for Africans and "red-skinned' for American Indians   were used in Russian   everyday literature. Old   books   had   one more definition "An Arap' (not Arab), which   attributed   primarily to the story by Alexander Pushkin " The Arap of Peter The   Great'. Alexander Pushkin (the portrait   attached),   maybe the most revered person in Russia, a literary genius and as famous as Leonardo Da Vinci, was   on his mother's side a descendant   of the Ethiopian boy, presented as gift to Czar Peter. That boy   became a Russian Admiral and   a count. His name was Abraham Hannibal.

It was common   to discuss summer books   in Russian inner -- city schools. In case of this book   the discussion would happen in the History   room with   portraits of   the   great   historical figures   on the walls, among them Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln   Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain. Children at 13-14 would be the senior   young   pioneers with   red ties   on their uniforms. It was customary    for   everyone to have the book in question or   share it with the    nearest person. The teacher would   monitor   the discussion   by going from topic to topic to cover the whole spectrum of the issues.

The Discussion.

Teacher:   Order, please.   We will   discuss today   the   very famous book. Anyone here wants to   tell us why   is it so famous?

Olya: I know. It was the book   which ignited the Civil War in   the US.   It was published   somewhere in   the 1850s and the   war started in 1861 between the Northerners which were primarily industrial and did not have slavery and Southerners who were more agricultural and   had slavery as an institution.

Teacher; Who won that war?

Kolya: The Northerners won.   The were led by   President   Abraham Lincoln. He also passed a   proclamation which freed all the Negro slaves from bondage.

Teacher: Interesting. What great event happened in our country in 1861?

Sasha:   The serfs were freed.

Teacher: Yes, the serfdom was abandoned in 1861.   That year   is   considered   a starting year   of the   Russian Industrial   Revolution. When the Civil War in the US   broke out Russia actively supported the Union.   We all know about Russian officers which volunteered for the cause and fought in the ranks of the Union Army. They mentioned this book as their source of inspiration. So   who   can   tell us in one sentence what is this book about?

Sasha:   I'll try, It is the story of the path of the slave family to freedom.

Teacher: Very good. Any   such   stories in our literature?

Olya: Not that I know of. We do   have   novels and stories about the serfdom.

Kolya: Yes, like Radishev's   " Traveling from   St. Petersburg to Moscow". That one though   is different.

Teacher: How?

Kolya:   Radishev's   story   is from much more earlier times.   Also,   in Russia    it was feudalism and   serfs, peasants came with the landownership   when land belonged to the   nobility. Nobility was a   relatively small group of people with   significant privileges, the ruling elite. Russia was an Empire.   But even they   had   to abolish the  serfdom in 1861 because   it   became unsustainable. Meanwhile,   US was a democracy; they proclaimed   themselves being enlightened and   had slaves at the same time, bought and sold.    Sounds like an anomaly.

Natasha: That's true.   In the book   Eliza, George and   other members of the family seek refuge in Canada.   Canada   was   an English colony and it did not have slavery.

Teacher:   Well, that means some kind of a specific arrangement for black people.   Apparently, they were brought to the US as   slaves and   remained that way after the US Revolution. They were excluded from the citizenship, so to speak.   Why?

Kolya:   In the book   a slave- owner St. Clare   tells about it.   He   defines slavery as    some kind of a convenient arrangement for everyone   interested: for   white planters who owned   the Negroes and could use them as   cotton   harvesters and servants, for   the   commerce system which benefited   from   buy- sell   roundabout, for the Northern companies and banks   which could use   the Negroes as   commodities- they were rather expensive    for that time.   Owning people was a symbol of prosperity; in the US   prosperous people were defined by their wealth.

Teacher; So it was about money. We agree on that. Now, which characters you like or dislike in the book?

Nina:   I think, the book has several very deep characters, the ones that evolve   and   many rather shallow ones,  created   there just to prove the point.   Such   characters like Uncle Tom, Augustine St. Clare, his cousin Ophelia,   George and Elisa, Cassy, Evangeline and   Simon Legree are   more "lively' than Shelby, Marie,   slave- traders and   many others.

Teacher: That's interesting. Why a little girl is   a   deep character?

Natasha; I think I know.   Evangeline   is perfectly natural.   Girls her age are very much like that when they are   brought up    by loving   fathers. I know such families. In fact,   the father's influence   is very important. Eva really loves   Tom and others- she does not   make a difference between the races and also influences others that way.

Kolya. Yes, and Shelby is just a good man, Marks is just a villain like on   the illustrations. Legree   though is a   sort of   an antagonist to Tom.

Teacher:   So Tom is a protagonist, a   driving character. Why?

Nina: He is consistent.   He   evolves, acquires   knowledge but does   not change as a personality.   Whatever Tom does   he does naturally -- he   is   intrinsically   and perfectly   honest whether he   saves Eva or    refuses to flog a woman Lucy. He   has internal dignity.

Teacher: Do we have such characters in   the Russian literature? Who can   give us an example?

  Sasha: I was   trying to find something and   the   only one I found was Savelyich   in   the Pushkin's   "The Captain's Daughter".   He was also a   middle- aged serf who was commandeered by his master to accompany the   young   man, the son of the family to serve as   an officer to the army. That   serf   in fact nursed the young man   to adulthood as if he was his own.   During the   service an serf uprising   took place, a ferocious, powerful revolt and   that man, a slave, really could join the insurgents and be free. He instead not only stayed with his   young   master but offered his life for him.

Teacher: Yes, and   you might have noticed that when we discussed that book we did not    consider him as   some kind   of a retard or   brainwashed person who did not want to be free. That was something else.

Nina.   He loved   his young   man   like a son.   That made him equal to   him, slave or not.   Savelyich was   already free from his point of view because the sole purpose of his life was to   be with that young man. His duty   was his honor.   BTW, in  the Pushkin's book that young man also   put   his life on the line for Savelyich; they   became   inseparable.

Teacher: Like Scipio and Augustine St. Clare, right?

Sasha. Yes, and Tom too. If   Augustine had gone to war, Tom would be   with him.   I consider   that even if there was a Negro uprising, Tom would have   tried to save    Augustine and his family.

Teacher: Ok   how about Simon Legree? Would Tom try to save him if there was an uprising?

Natasha.   Yes, I think he would.    How many times he rejects violence, you   cannot even count.   We here   know that   non-violence does not mean weakness.    Even if violence is   necessary we here   never considered it as something   good.

Teacher: But our teachings, those red ties   on you, they are associated with bloody struggle for equality, the overthrow of   oppressors,   the Civil War here which was very bloody and unjust, the   sacrifice for people to be equal and not to be slaves.

Nina: Yes, that's why in the book George Harris represents that active, more revolutionary person who   makes   his own destiny.   But    Tom made his choice willingly, as a free man and   he   actually endured   much more   than George to stick to   his guts. At the same time his influence was overwhelming. There seem to be two kinds of courage, equally paramount: the   one that   calls to fight and the one who tells you to   stay firm on what you are. The first is more   admired   but the second is more noble.

Kolya; I think we   are avoiding   something: Tom was very religious.   We here   do not understand it but   it does seem that for him   Christ was not just   God;   He was   Tom's only connection to Humanity.

Teacher: We know from the history of our country that many truly religious people were very progressive- they considered that true piousness    was to be   in serving people.   We here   declined   religion as   an opiate for masses but only   due to the fact that     it was actively used to fortify oppression.    Historically both     here and in the West religion was used by the ruling classes to   help them to oppress people spiritually.   As Inquisition was used   by Spaniards against the   rebellious   Holland,   here, in Russia   the rebels from the so-called "military settlements' were excommunicated.   Examples are numerous. In Tom's times   in the US the Bible   was interpreted by white preachers as the     one which   justified slavery.

Nina: So there were two Gods in the US -- one for the   whites   and one for   the black- skinned?

Sasha: Yes, as soon as the   whites    would never   go to the same Church as the   black -- skinned. I think     that   as soon as St. Clare defined slavery as "coming from the devil'   it is a message in the book that   the   a lot of   white people   lost their way and the only true Christians were in fact   Uncle Tom and those   who helped him or other runaways.

Teacher: if we believe that message, than it is   no wonder the book ignited the fire that lead to war. But   also if   that is   feasible,   what is that unusual in Uncle Tom? Something we   had met before in our history and our   real people, something   we learn. Don't you feel uneasy   when you read   about such character whether fictional or real?

Natasha:   Yes, that is when you read about   that person and try to   imagine thyself in his   or   her place and   realize that you would not be able to achieve    such level of   a feat, such high   raise of spiritual perfection. We here call them heroes or   "provozvestniki' -- the drivers for the future.

Teacher: Good call, But our country is   very ancient and    we have other words   in our language   maybe more suitable   for Tom's times   if we consider   the religious upbringing of his; something   more relevant to his environment. We   don't use these words anymore   but others still do. Anyone   knows   a word?

Kolya; I think I know.   There is only one word   for    a person depicted. He is   portrayed as   a Saint.

Teacher:   Very good, folks.   There   is no more slavery as a legal institution in the world, it is abandoned   and we owe that to   those who fought against slavery on all worlds and continents and in all times, whether Hungarian, Russian, Haitian, French or American. That evil is the same   everywhere and   we all are brothers and sisters in that struggle. I guess we have our own saints too. Those   are not   the ones from religion though   but   rather   from the Human Spirit.   It is a true   Holy   Spirit from wherever it descends.

Authors Bio:

The writer is a retired engineer