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The First Step (essay)

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The First Step
Tolstoy eating a vegetarian breakfast
AuthorLeo Tolstoy
Original titleПервая ступень
LanguageRussian
SubjectVegetarianism, animal rights
GenreEssay
Published1891
Publication placeRussian Empire
Media typePrint

"The First Step" (Russian: Первая ступень) also known as "The Morals of Diet",[1] is an 1891 essay by Russian author Leo Tolstoy that advocates for vegetarianism. Originally written as a preface to the Russian translation of Howard Williams' 1883 book The Ethics of Diet, the essay also touches on themes of anarchism and pacifism. In the piece, Tolstoy argues that adopting a vegetarian diet is a necessary first step toward moral development, drawing on religious, ethical, and psychological reasoning to support his claims.[2][3]

Content

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According to South African novelist Imraan Coovadia, writing in 2020, the essay opens with a vivid depiction of a pig being slaughtered by a butcher, a scene Coovadia describes as characteristic of Tolstoy's style of "plainness and force."[4] Although centered on the rights of animals, the essay also adopts a distinctly religious tone, urging readers to practice self-abnegation, fasting, and renunciation of worldly pleasures.[5]

Ronald D. LeBlanc of the University of New Hampshire notes that the essay is structured in two unequal parts: the first focused on religious and ascetic justifications for vegetarianism, and the second on humanitarian and ethical arguments.[6] Tolstoy also asserts that vegetarianism strengthens one's ability to control sexual impulses, a claim that has been criticized by modern psychologists as "pseudo-erotic."[7]

The essay concludes with a psychological argument, asserting that the act of killing and consuming animals numbs human sensitivity to compassion, pity, and empathy for others.[8]

Legacy

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"The First Step" was considered instrumental in encouraging Mohandas Gandhi to maintain his vegetarian diet.[9] According to Charlotte Alston, a lecturer at Northumbria University, Tolstoy had planned to establish a vegetarian journal in 1893 with the same title, The First Step.[10]

The essay was first translated into English in 1900 by Tolstoy's regular translators, Aylmer and Louise Maude,[11] and again in 1905 by Leo Wiener.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Tolstoy, Leo (1900). The Morals of Diet; Or, The First Step. Free Age Press.
  2. ^ Tolstoy, Leo (2015). Christian, R. F. (ed.). Tolstoy's Diaries Volume 1: 1847-1894. Faber & Faber.
  3. ^ Meaney, Carron A. (2013). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Taylor & Francis. p. 334. ISBN 9781135930028.
  4. ^ Coovadia, Imraan (2020). Revolution and Non-Violence in Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Mandela. Oxford University Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780192609090.
  5. ^ Glants, Musya; Toomre, Joyce Stetson, eds. (1997). Food in Russian History and Culture. Indiana University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780253211064.
  6. ^ LeBlanc, Ronald D. Slavic Sins of the Flesh: Food, Sex, and Carnal Appetite in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction. University of New Hampshire Press. ISBN 9781584658245.
  7. ^ Rancour-Laferriere, Daniel (1998). Tolstoy on the Couch: Misogyny, Masochism and the Absent Mother. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 116. ISBN 9781349147793.
  8. ^ Orwin, Donna Tussing (ed.). Anniversary Essays on Tolstoy. Cambridge University Press. p. 56.
  9. ^ Martin Green, William C. Green (1983). Tolstoy and Gandhi, men of peace: a biography. Basic Books. p. 8. ISBN 9780465086313.
  10. ^ Charlotte Alston (2013). Tolstoy and His Disciples: The History of a Radical International Movement. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 9780857724786.
  11. ^ Leo Tolstoy (1900). The First Step: An Essay on the Morals of Diet, to which are Added Two Stories. Translated by Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude. Albert Broadbent. p. cover.
  12. ^ Colm McKeogh (2009). Tolstoy's Pacifism. Cambria Press. p. 218. ISBN 9781604976342.
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