“Get Lit” Livestream, 4:30 pm ET: A Most Devastating Chapter of Dostoyevsky's "Demons"
Brad and Matt start with "Ivan the Tsarevich," a ferocious prescription for totalitarian politics
“We’ll extinguish desire: we’ll get drinking, gossip, denunciation going; we’ll get unheard-of depravity going; we’ll stifle every genius in infancy. Everything reduced to a common denominator, complete equality.”
When Brad Pearce and I go on a livestream today at 4:30 PM ET, we’ll be starting with what I think is one of the most dramatic and surprising scenes in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Demons.” In part 2, chapter 8 — “Ivan the Tsarevich” — the two dominant revolutionary personalities collide and argue. Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky, the deathly serious, scheming, ambitious son of a never-was pseudo-activist, delivers almost a sermon on the goals and methods of his movement. He is going to “stir up trouble,” but on a grand scale, achieving equality through force. “Only one thing is lacking in the world: obedience,” he says.
Young Verkhovensky is trying to convince Nikolai Stavrogin, the aristocrat whose money and inspirational image is needed to round out the plan. It’s a crossroads moment in the book, but Pyotr’s speech could send chills up the spine of anyone following modern politics — even the politics of last week.
Join us at 4:30 PM ET at:
You can also find us on X, @mtaibbi or @waywardrabbler. See you soon!
This character, Pyotr, makes my guts twist. I struggle to keep reading and not throw my tablet against the wall. Would Dostoyevsky be surprised that his writing hits me this way, a 74 year old female in Memphis, in this year of Our Lord 2026? I should light a candle in front of a Mother of God icon and make a donation.
Hello Matt, seems your Substack channel isn’t functioning properly. First, the links aren’t working like they should: while I was able to watch the July 13th episode of Get Lit on YouTube (where you again had tech problems, as you did for your Twitter Files conversation with Matt B—and that’s not a complaint), the Substack link spits me out into another, almost unrelated feed. Second, where are all the comments?? There’s only one other for this ‘post.’ What’s more, engagement in your comments section is almost non-existent. Even if there are fewer people tuning in than for your previous current events-focused shows, this is strange.