1n 1997 Walter C. Uhler and George Enteen interviewed Russian historian S.V. Utechin. In the initial interview Utechin discussed his encounters with the reknowned philosopher Isaiah Berlin. Now, those discusiions hav been published on You Tube

::::::::

Sergei Vasilievich Utechin, 1921-2004

The extraordinary life of Sergei Vasilievich Utechin, Professor Emeritus of Russian History at the Pennsylvania State University (1969-1984), ended on 11 July 2004 when he died at the Stanford University Medical Center from complications arising from a stroke suffered on 20 May.

S. V. Utechin was born on 18 December 1921 in the village of Tenki, near Kazan'. His father became a teacher and principal after completing a theological seminary education that included Latin, Greek, and Church Slavonic. His father also had been active in the "small deeds" populist movement during the February revolution in Tenki volost' and in delaying the Soviet takeover there until the summer of 1918. His father also steadfastly refused to join the Communist Party. Sergei Vasilievich's mother was a teacher who had studied the higher women's courses at Kazan University, from which she received her diploma in 1917.

Although his parents came under increasing political pressure during the late 1920s and early 1930s, they were heartened by the educational reforms of the early 1930s. Looking back, Sergei Vasilievich credited those educational reforms, especially the return to the classics of Russian literature, for the intellectual and moral survival of his entire generation. Nevertheless, political pressure and the "disappearance" of individuals from Kazan' persuaded the Utechin family to move to Karanganda, Khazakstan during the summer of 1934. Three years later, when Sergei Vasilievich contemplated refusal to join the Komsomol (the youth organization of the Communist Party), his mother asked: "Do you want your father and me to be arrested?" With that warning, he joined.

As one of the Soviet Union's secondary school otlichniki (standouts), Sergei Vasilievich was able to enter the history faculty of Moscow State University in 1939, after an interview, not the oral examination required of less accomplished students. There he studied Russian history under K. V. Bazilevich, a student of S. V. Bakhrushin, who, in turn, had studied under the legendary, V. O. Kliuchevskii (Thus, as a student of Utechin, one might say I'm a descendant of a royal family of historians). Over the course of his life, Sergei Vasilievich would apply his astounding gift for mastering foreign languages to amass encyclopedic knowledge of history, but especially Russian history.

His studies in Moscow were jeopardized in the summer of 1940, when he was summoned to Liubianka (home of the infamous NKVD, The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) for an interrogation that lasted several hours. It led to a failed attempt to expel him (in absentia) from the Komsomol in 1941.

Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 did eventually interrupt his studies and sent him south, where he, nevertheless, came under Romanian occupation in Anapa. On 31 August 1942, Sergei Vasilievich was accused of being the Russian soldier responsible for killing a Romanian soldier (in fact, his poor eyesight caused him to be rejected for military service three times). He avoided execution when another Russian confirmed that he was a teacher, not a soldier. But, two days later, he was confronted by, but escaped from, two drunken German soldiers, one of whom suspected him of being a Jew who should be exterminated. Finally, however, in November 1943 Sergei Vasilievich was captured by the Nazis, transported to a camp in Germany, and forced to labor at the Krupp shipyards while surviving on meager rations designed to cause gradual starvation.

Having survived to see war's end, Sergei Vasilievich heard rumors alleging that repatriated Russians were being imprisoned in Siberia, which prompted him to hide in a Polish camp. Successful at hiding, he then settled in Kiel, resumed his studies, and received a doctorate of philosophy from Kiel University in 1949. During that same year Sergei Vasilievich sought positions in Kiel and Berlin before receiving a scholarship to Oxford University, where he arrived in February 1950. Soon thereafter, however, he returned to Berlin for a few months, during which time he became acquainted with Michael Josselson and Melvin Lasky. That summer he delivered a report about the prospects for freedom in the Soviet Union to the founding session of the Congress for Cultural Freedom.

At Oxford, Utechin became a friend (and informal student) of Sir Isaiah Berlin, but declined his formal invitation to spend a year reading analytic philosophy. Nevertheless, it was precisely Berlin's philosophy of liberty and tragedy, as well as his critique of utopianism, that profoundly influenced Sergei Vasilievich's views and works for the rest of his life.

From 1953 to 1958 Utechin worked for the BBC's foreign broadcast service while laboring on what would become Everyman's Concise Encyclopedia of Russia (London, 1961). From 1958 to 1962, at the invitation of Leonard Shapiro, he lectured at the London School of Economics. In 1963, Utechin's translation (in collaboration with his wife, Patricia) of Vladimir Lenin's What is to be Done? (Oxford, 1963) was published. More significantly, 1963 saw the publication of what was, perhaps, Sergei Vasilievich's most influential book, Russian Political Thought: A Concise History (Dent, 1963.)

In 1965, Utechin moved to Scotland, where he became the editor of the University of Glasgow's journal, Soviet Studies. Between 1965 and 1969 he lectured at many institutions, including the University of Kansas and Indiana University, before accepting a faculty appointment at the Pennsylvania State University.

Until his retirement in 1984, Sergei Vasilievich's erudition and enthusiasm caused numerous unsuspecting and casual students in his classes at Penn State to be "bitten by the bug" of scholarship, as he called it. Some became ardent students of Russian history. I was one of those unsuspecting, but fortunate souls, having studied under his tutelage from 1971 until May 1976 and having served as his graduate teaching assistant during the 1975-76 academic year. Such students found themselves automatically "enrolled" in his ongoing graduate seminar/salon, normally held at his home. There one discussed various topics and issues in English, French, or Russian while fortifying oneself with beverages and "zakuski" (hors d'oeuvres).

Sergei Vasilievich was extremely demanding when it came to historical methods. As his friend and colleague, George Enteen, observed: "His course combined exacting standards as concerns the formal methods of research with a sense of the high purpose and dignity of historical investigation."

In 1984, Utechin moved to Menlo Park, California. It was from there that he devoted his last twenty years of scholarly life to Stanford University, to Russian e'migre' politics as a member of the National Labor Organization (NTS), to visits, lectures, and television appearances in Russia after the fall of communism, to attempts to publish Isaiah Berlin's work in Russia, and to the creation of a virtual university.

Sergei Vasilievich Utechin is survived by his son from his first marriage, Nicholas Sergeevich.

The S. V. Utechin "You Tube" Videos

In November 1996, I visited Sergei Vasilievich at his Menlo Park home. It was during that visit that I learned that he had suffered a few minor strokes (and would soon suffer from macular degeneration). These strokes leant some urgency to his attempt to complete his introduction of Isaiah Berlin to Russia and to establish a virtual university in Russia. When I asked why he was not writing his memoirs, he cited those two higher priorities. However, when I visited him again in June 1997, he agreed to allow me to conduct interviews designed to cover his remarkable life and record them for posterity.

Having obtained the approval that I feared he would not grant, I soon contacted his former colleague at Penn State, Professor George Enteen, and asked him if he would be willing to join me in my project. He eagerly accepted my invitation.

On 16 November 1997, George and I sat with Sergei Vasilievich and began the interviews, which I recorded on a Sony video camcorder. We began with his recollections of his encounters with renowned philosopher Isaiah Berlin. We interviewed Sergei Vasilievich for three consecutive days, and by the end of the third day we had completed Isaiah Berlin and began to question him about his family and early childhood. George and I also interviewed Sergei Vasilievich during July 7-10, 1998, and during August 12-13, 1999. Perhaps a decade ago, the 20-plus hours of video tape were transferred to DVDs and recorded on a hard drive, where they languished until these "You Tube" publications commenced in March 2019.

S. V. Utechin on Isaiah Berlin

To watch and listen to S. V. Utechin discuss his personal knowledge of the life and philosophy of Isaiah Berlin, simply go to You Tube and type in the words, S. V. Utechin. There you will find "S. V. Utechin on Isaiah Berlin 1." On that video, Sergei Vasilievich, often prompted by George, discusses his early encounters with Isaiah Berlin, the rapidity with which he spoke, his organized mind but disorganized life, his work habits, language capabilities, and personality.

"S. V. Utechin on Isaiah Berlin 2" continues these lines of discussion but also contains Sergei Vasilievich's appraisal of Berlin as a historian. In the course of this appraisal, Sergei Vasilievich reveals that it was Berlin's study of Karl Marx and his writings that prompted Berlin to begin thinking about "freedom." (On 31 October 1958, Berlin gave the Inaugural Lecture at Oxford titled, "Two Concepts of Liberty." This important essay was published that same year by Clarendon Press and was subsequently included in a later book from Oxford University Press: Isaiah Berlin: Four Essays on Liberty).

"S. V. Utechin on Isaiah Berlin 3" continues Sergei Vasilievich's elaboration of the thought process that informed Berlin's views about freedom. It's here that Sergei Vasilievich admits that it took him some five years to free himself of the last traces of "Marxist schemes," but even longer (and thanks to Berlin's influence), to free himself of all schemes.

"S. V. Utechin on Isaiah Berlin 4: finds Sergei Vasilievich critically appraising Berlin's classification of thinkers into "hedgehogs" and "foxes" (Berlin borrowed the following phrase from the ancient Greek poet Archilochus, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing"). He admits that his view of history is much narrower than Berlin's and focuses largely on Russia and "the positive and valuable aspects of it." He then spends a few minutes discussing his relationship with another philosopher, Michael Oakeshott.

Mid-way through this video, Utechin finishes with Isaiah Berlin and begins to reminiscence about his fascinating family history -- largely about his grandparents, parents, their way of life, and places of birth in late 19^th century Russia. These specific reminiscences constitute original source material that any scholar conducting research on late 19^th century Russia would value.

Note: I am solely responsible for the production of Sergei Vasilievich Utechin's reminiscences. Thus, I'm solely responsible for the very poor video quality of these first four You Tube recordings of S. V. Utechin on Isaiah Berlin. Initial attempts to enhance the color of these gray, washed-out videos failed. Further attempts will be made in the future. (Subsequent You Tube videos are of better quality, thanks largely to the fact that a room lamp was switched on.)

Note as well: None of the tapes have been edited. The few breaks you might notice occurred because administrative matters needing attention from either George or me caused me to stop recording and then resume recording.

Finally: This article has profited from consultation with George Enteen.

Walter C. Uhler

Authors Bio:
Walter C. Uhler is an independent scholar and freelance writer whose work has been published in numerous publications, including The Nation, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Journal of Military History, the Moscow Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also is President of the Russian-American International Studies Association (RAISA).