Can the Historical Trajectory of a Nation be Changed?

Can a small group of people change the history of a nation?

In 1869 Sergey Nechayev wrote the Catechism of the Revolutionary, which is a Russian equivalent of Marx's Communist Manifesto. What is interesting about Nechayev's call to revolution is that he borrows the language of the Church, catechism. Catechism is a set of ideas that shape and change the way people look at the world.

Nechayev's catechism talks about how the Revolutionary should look at the world and act in the world. Nechayev describes the key attribute of the revolutionary, "he is a dedicated man. He has no interests of his own, no affairs, no ties, no possessions, not even a name. Everything in him is swallowed up in a single exclusive interest, a single idea, a single passion - revolution." Nechayev's catechism demands complete and singular devotion from his disciple.

What is the point of the Nechayev's revolution?

Nechayev's catechism says, "The revolutionist scorns all ideology and rejects worldly science... he knows only one science - the science of destruction... For his goal is one - the swiftest and surest destruction of this vile structure." The vile structure he is referencing to is the Government of the Tzar and the Church. To this end he founded an organization called Society of the Axe (also called “Narodnya Rasprava” meaning People’s Retribution). Nechayev's goal presumably was creating peace, but his means was death and destruction.

When a fellow member of the society, Ivanov disagreed with his violent methods. Nechayev along with his comrades strangled him to death. He would later be imprisoned for this murder and die in prison, still singularly committed to the revolution which would eventually happen with the bolshevik revolution 60 years later. This is why historians call Sergey Nechayev, "a bolshevik before the bolsheviks." For the Bolsheviks the ends always justified the means. It shouldn't be surprising that the Russian Revolution resulted in death of many millions.

Nechayev's life is a testament to the idea that a small group of people with singular passion, one they are willing to die for, can and will change history.

In this singular devotion Nechayev was not unlike Paul. Paul was totally devoted to the Gospel, even through so many hardships in life. Though Paul and Nechayev are passionate for their goals, the nature of the goals they are striving for couldn't be worlds apart. Nechayev's goals of seeking to destroy his enemies is the opposite of the way of Jesus of loving enemies. Paul’s goals was to die for the sake of love, following the way of Jesus.

Matthew 26 has an account of Jesus in the Garden of Getsamene when Jesus was about to be arrested, one of his disciples cut off the ear of a servant of the high Priest. Jesus replied, "52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" God's goal in Jesus Christ is to create a kingdom of peace and love. Jesus’ way of of creating a world of love and peace was the way of self-giving love, thus the means and the end were aligned. Instead of fomenting an insurrection against Rome, Jesus died on the cross for the sake of love. Rome did become Christian three centuries later.

The historian Will Durant said, "Ceasar and Christ met in the arena and Christ won." Durant was referring to the Christian who died as martyrs of the faith in the roman arenas. Nechayev's way of attempting to create peace is by use of destructive power. Jesus' way of creating peace is by loving self-sacrifice.

To answer the question we began, Can a small group of people change the history of a nation?

Yes, people can change history if they have a singular passion for an ideal and are willing to die for it. But for this change to result in lasting peace, the means and the ends have to align in a Christlike way. Using coercive power may give short term results. But one cannot use coercive powers of destruction to create lasting peace, case in point Nechayev’s Revolution. One can only use self-sacrificial love of the way of Jesus to create lasting peace.

I think it was D.L.Moody who, "give me 12 Christian men who are completely devoted to God, and I will show you how God changes the world." In many ways, the world was changed by 12 men who were passionate about the Gospel and died for the Gospel, thus changing the world. They changed the world not by using coercive power, but by self-giving love, for thus they were taught by their Master.

Count Zinzendorf, one of the heroes of faith in the 17th century is a great example of a small group of people creating seismic shifts in the world. He provided spiritual leadership to a group of Moravian Christians who were persecuted in Europe. Upon hearing that the Moravians themselves were quarreling among each other, Count Zinzendorf left his comfortable city life and spent a few months praying fervently with each of the families. Then there was a revival in their midst, and they started sending out missionaries world over to serve the marginalized following the self-giving way of Jesus. Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, missionaries from this Moravian community, even attempted to sell themselves as slaves in order to go a missionaires to the slave colonies. Count Zinzendorf's prayerful community became an inspiration for the beginning of the London Missionary Society, which among other things was responsible for saving Botswana from the grips of the ruthless industrialist Cecil Rhodes and, also, building schools in India to make democratize education so that people of lower castes too could access education, without which my own ancestors in Indian may not have had been educated. Modern protestant Christian missionary movement started from this small group of Moravian Christlike self-giving Christians.

Today, as Christians in America, can we change the trajectory of history?

Yes we can, if we will become people who are swallowed up in a single exclusive interest, a single idea, a single passion - following Jesus in his way of self-giving love leading to eternal peace. In as much as we are tempted like Nechayev to resort to coercive tactics of using political power to create change, we will be fomenting more violence. In as much as we prayerfully follow the self-giving way of Jesus we will be participating in creating God's kingdom of love and peace.