JUSTIFICATION OF THE “ORIGINAL RUSSIANNESS” OF THE NORTH-WESTERN REGION IN THE DOMESTIC NATIONAL-CONSERVATIVE DISCOURSE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify and characterize the concept of “original Russianness” of the Northwestern Territory of the Russian Empire, which became the intellectual justification for the policy of integration and de-Polonization of this region in the second half of the 19th century. This concept, which was an integral part of the domestic national-conservative discourse dedicated to the western outlying regions, was developed as an alternative to the Polish version of the historical past of the region in the context of an acute informational and intellectual confrontation, which determined its content and justification. In the article, based on a set of sources of various types of affiliation, including those introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the conditions for the development of this theory are analyzed, the arguments presented by its proponents are identified and considered various discursive practices within the framework of which it was substantiated. The article notes that the concept of “original Russianness” was actively used by such publicists and scholars of a national-conservative orientation as M.N. Katkov, I.S. Aksakov, M.V. Yuzefovich, M.O. Koyalovich, K.A. Govorsky, and others. The article devotes particular attention to examining the rationale for this theory at the regional level, which in the second half of the 19th century was the primary goal of such regional scientific and cultural institutions as the Vilnius Archaeographic Commission, the Vilnius Public Library, and the Museum of Antiquities, as well as historical and ethnographic expeditions undertaken by local Russian public figures. It is concluded that during the period under review, the concept of the “primordial Russianness” of the Northwestern Territory, championed by domestic nationalist conservatives, represented the optimal and only possible ideological justification for the region’s integration under the given situational conditions. This model legitimized not only its presence within the Russian Empire but also the policy of de-polonization and the strengthening of Russian state and cultural principles pursued there.