"Open Letters of the Armenian Intelligentsia" (translated from Armenian) - Garegin Nzhdeh

Garegin Nzhdeh's article "Open Letters to the Armenian Intelligentsia" (translated from Armenian), timed to coincide with the 120th anniversary of the author's birth, is devoted to a critical reflection on the spiritual and political crisis of the Armenian people amid the geopolitical upheavals of the first quarter of the twentieth century — the massacre of Western Armenians, the loss and subsequent partitioning of Armenia, and the crisis-ridden state of the diaspora.

Introduction and Methodology
The author chooses the form of an open letter to the national intelligentsia, combining publicistic fervor with a philosophical-analytical method of reassessing historical events. The epigraphs ("to criticize is to suffer in one's soul," "I speak of sins, not of the sinner") set the tone of harsh yet constructive self-examination.

Key Thesis
The article's central thesis is that the causes of the Armenian people's national catastrophes lie not so much in external circumstances as in a deep-seated psychological flaw within the people themselves — a habit of relying on outside patronage, "political begging," and a refusal of independent state will.

The Geopolitical Vulnerability of Soviet Armenia
Nzhde analyzes in detail the strategic position of the newly formed Soviet Armenia:
• its small territory (28,000 sq. km) and population;
• its encirclement by hostile Turkic-Tatar peoples;
• the absence of any program of self-defense and armament;
• the risk of a swift dissection of Armenian territories and the joining of Turkish and Azerbaijani forces.

Philosophy of War and Peace
The author sets forth a concept according to which peace between nations is merely a temporary truce rather than a stable condition: states act out of their own interests, not out of fidelity to treaties. Weak and peace-loving peoples, in Nzhde's thinking, become the victims of the stronger, since progress demands self-defense through inner strength.

Critique of National Self-Awareness
A substantial part of the article is devoted to a psychological analysis of the Armenian "philistine consciousness":
• the tendency to explain failures by external causes;
• a "Christian" blind faith in the patronage of Europe;
• the transformation of the people into a "political beggar" seeking compassion instead of struggle;
• the ruinous split into pro-Russian, pro-Western, and other orientations, which weakens the unity of the nation.

The Problem of National Pessimism
Nzhde emphasizes that the narrowing of Armenia's territory to a "native corner" and its incapacity to accommodate the scattered diaspora give rise to a state of national pessimism, which he regards as a deadly disease of the spirit requiring immediate overcoming through honest self-criticism.

Conclusion
The article's key conclusion is the necessity of a fundamental reassessment of the spiritual foundations of Armenian political life: the rejection of a psychology of dependency and begging, and the attainment of confidence in one's own strength and initiative as the condition for building genuine statehood. Only through the acknowledgment of one's own guilt and the mobilization of inner resources, Nzhde believes, can the Armenian people avoid a slow, "peaceful" annihilation and secure their historical survival.