EAST EUROPEAN NATIONALITIES AND EUROPE

Nationalities in Russia: an Excellent Example of a European  Problem.

Народность в России: необыкной Премьерn всеевропейского вопрос

Les nationalités en Russie: un exemple excellent d'un problème européen. 

Nationalitaeten in Russland ein ausgezeichnetes Beispiel einer europaeischen Probleme.

1.     Nationalities in the Empire

Hostile propaganda, starting from XIX Century, described Russia (not differently, from this point of view from Austria and Turkey) as a “Prison for the Peoples”. This negative stereotype was never been abandoned, either during the Sovietic Period, nor even today, albeit both the Bolsheviks and Elcin’s Russia had made, in fact, remarkable efforts for solving the “National Question”, in a way which cannot be described as prejudicially inconvenient for minority peoples, both the ones of Eastern Europe and of Northern Asia. On the contrary, one could even object that the choice of both the USSR and of the Elcin period was the one to foster and emphasize the role of “Republics”, from one side consolidating “Nationalities” which were, originally, just at their beginning, and, from another, privileging the “secession right” to the geopolitic interest for unity. Many people, not just in Russia, but all over the world, have found that this overwhelming role given to smaller nationalities has fostered disputes, and even wars, like the ones in Caucasus. 

Present-days Russia’s Constitution has included multiculturalism into its foundations. Russia's constitution is one of the few constitutions in the world expressly mentioning multiculturalism. Multiculturality has been a standing characteristic of Russia since the first phase of its history, the “Kievskaya Rus’”. Already at the times of the largest extension of the latter, the States of the Velikij Knjaz included Variags, Slavs, Finns, Turks (Qipqaq, Khazars, Cumans, Pechenegs).Even the "Slovo o Polku Igorevo", Russia's national epic, is filled with references to the Turkic Polovesian People.

Starting from the conquest of the Kazan Khanate in 1522, Russia had always had the problem to arrange the government of minority peoples annexed to the Empire, starting from the Tatars, which were the first ones to be subdued. Already the policy of the Tsar towards such minority nationalities was characterized by a large amount of ambiguity. Certain moments of decentralization, such as, for instance, the ones at the creation of the Tatar Khanate of the Kerimov, or of the autonomy of the Zaporozhie Cossaks and the Khanate of Crimea, and, finally, the policy of Catherine II at the occasion of the Legislative Commission, coupled with excesses of centralization, like the case of the Oprichnina, of the forcced conversion of Tatars, of the russification campaigns in Ukraine, Poland and Georgia.The recent disputes with Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Chechnia, find all their far away roots in ancient events, such as the Rebellions of Razin, Mazepa and Pugachev, or the wars of Chamil.

Apart from Poland, which fought during the whole XIX Century for its independence, it is with the 1905 Revolution that the national movements of the different ethnic minority really started to enter into contact with the idea of the auto-determination of nationalities, as preached by the Austro-Marxists of Bruno Bauer, and which had been the basis of the decentralization of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

During World War I, the conquests of the German Armies, an, later on, of the White Armies and of the Allied Forces, permitted to nationalist governments to be set up in Finland, in the Baltic States, in Bielorussia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Urals and Central Asia.

In reality, the problematics of historical Russian “Nationality Policy” does not differ very much from the one of the others historical  empires (such as the Sacred Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire), which collided with the new idea of independent “national” States based essentially on a common popular language.

So, also there we experience the emergence of new, ethnic and religious nationalisms, such as the ones of Bohemia, of the Netherlands, of Italy, Hungary, Croatia, of Greece, of Serbia, of Romania, of Bulgaria, of Albania, of Arabia,of Tibet, of Xin Jiang and of Mongolia. Also here, we can see the progressive emergence of a “core nationality”, which does not include just the former “core folk”, but was the result of a beginning of “Melting pot”. From another point of view, the dialectics between the “core” melting pot and its peripheries is vivid in several European “Nation-States”, what show a degree of ethnical differentiation, not dissimilar from the one of some “empires” (as, for instance, in Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Baltic States  and Georgia, where "minorities" amount to very high percentages of the poplulation, even surpassing 50%).

2.     The Sovietic Nationalities Policy

The Sovietic Nationalities Policy was influenced by Austro-Marxism and by Panturkism, and in its turn, influenced Yugoslav federalism (Alexandre Marc, Jovan Djordjevich), and even the “autonomies movents” in Western Europe (such as, e.g., the “Carta di Chivasso” and the concept of the “Autonomous Regions” and “autonomous Provinces” in the Italian Constitution, and, hence, the one of "Comunidades Autònomas" in the Spanish one. The Baku Congress, of 1^st September 1920, marked a turning point in the Sovietic politics of nationalities, because it persuaded the Bolsheviks that national minorities were an essential and necessary part of the Leninist Project of “Socialism in a Sole Country”. Moreover, thanks to the “Nationalities Policy”, Soviet Russia hoped to reverse, in its own favor, the traditional risk of destabilization of minorities by foreign powers. In fact, Russia presented itself, at the Baku Congress, as the defender of the oppressed nationalities worldwide, and, especially, in Asia.

During that period, Russia entertained a friendly relationship with the Chinese nationalist party GuoMingDang, forcing the Chinese Communist Party to merge, for a certain period, with that party, and, in any case, to maintain a sort of alliance with it up to the end of World War II.

The nationalities policy, whose supreme expert in the Communist Party was Josef Stalin himself, maintained the same degree of ambiguity which had reigned during the Tsarist period.From one side, the Soviets, for persuading break-off Republics, like Ukraine, Belarus and Caucasus, to join the new Sovietic Union,  went on fostering a policy of autonomy of such Republics, encouraging, i.a., the establishment of specific national ruling classes, of national government bodies and of a national language (which often did not exist  beforeas such and was created expressly); from another side, they went on utilizing Russian (or Russian speaking) political personnel, including, into each republic, important foreign minorities (including ethnic national minorities) and fostering large scale migrations among the different republics.

So, in practice, the life of the Republics remained always “split” between local, fledging, national identities, and a strong presence of the Soviet Communist Party, of the Soviet Centralized State, of many and many minority citizens and “Soviet citizens”, which in “intra-community lives” spoke Russian.

So, a certain degree of conflictuality between Republic and the center never ceased to exist, and it was only the totalitarian rule from the center which guaranteed that Republics could hold together, developing along a consistent political and economic path

BETWEEN RUSSIA AND EUROPE

Center-Eastern Europe at the Time of the Livonia War

Poland, Sweden,Belarus,Baltic States, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, had tight contacts among them in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
По́льша,Шведска,Беларус,Приба́лтика,Украи́на,Молдова,Турция  были тесно связанные в XVII и XVIII веке
Nel XVII e XVIII Secolo, Polonia, Svezia, Bielorussia, Paesi Baltici, Ucraina, Moldova e Turchia erano strettamente interconnesse
Aux Siècles XVII et XVIII, la Pologne,  la Suède,la Biélorussie, les Pays Baltes, l'Ucraine, la Moldavie et la Turquie étaient étroitement enchevetrées
In den XVIIen und XVIII Jahrhundert, waren Polen,Schweden,Belarus,Baltikum, Ukraine, Moldova und die Tuerkei, dicht miteinander gebunden. 
 

During and after the Mongolian domination, different parts of the Russian territory were subjected to the determinant influences of other, European and Asiatic, Kingdoms, and, in particular,Tataria,  Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden and Turkey, so further increasing the cosmopolitan character of Russia.

1.     German Knights

Simultaneously with the Mongolian attack, also the German Knights of the Holy Cross tried to subdue the Novgorod Republic. However, Alexander Nevsky succeeded to defeat and to expel them by the battle of the Peipüs Lake.

The contacts with Germany continued nevertheless, thanks to the membership of Novgorod and other Northern Towns in the Hansa, thanks also to the family connection between the Russian princes and German aristocracy, thanks to the presence of a German heritage in the Baltic States, and, finally, thanks to the important immigration into Russia of German settlers, especially under the kingdom of Catherine II.

2.     Lithuania

During the Mongolian invasions, towns in the Western part of Kievskaja Rus, such as Novohradec, Brest, Mogilev, Minsk, were exposed to the influence of the Lithuanian princes. The latter, being still heathen, were exposed to several pressures to convert. As a consequence, there is, in Lithuanian history, a long-lasting trend toward Christian influences. The latter found their expression, in a first step, in the adoption of Greek Orthodox Faith and of Church Slavonic; later on, in the adoption of Catholicism and of Latin.

In the same time, the South-Western territory of the Kingdom of Halić fell under the influence of the King of Poland.

During the XV and XVI Centuries, the whole territory of present-days Belarus and Ukraine became part of a “Lithuanian Great-Duchy”, which, with its Orthodox Faith and its Slavonic language, could be considered as a sort of replica of the previous Kievan Rus’(and in fact, was still denominated also al “Zemlia Russka”).

3.     Poland

However, the personal union (Polish-Lithiuanian Rzeczpospolita) which, in the form of Unia Lubelska, transformed itself into a Polish hegemony, substracted force to Lithuania, and, hence, also to its previous Orthodox character. Ukraine became a part of the Polish Crown; Catholicism, Latin and Polish gained momentum.

During the period of the “Riots” (“Smutnoe Vreme”, Poles tried even to subdue Russia, arriving at conquering the Moscow Kremlin.

During that period, the Orthodox part of the former Great-Ducky of Lithuania, presently part of the Polish Crown, fell under the control of the Cossacks (the Hetmanate). In a first stage, the Cossack Hetmans governed this region (which stretched between Ukraine and Belarus) on behalf of the Polish King. However, at a certain moment, Hetman Chmel’nicky pretended to get a full autonomy from Poland, and, therefore, was attacked by the same. Chmel’nicky tried to resist Poland with the support of the Tatar Crimea Khanate and of the Ottoman Empire, but the Khan allied with Poles, so that Chmel’nicky was obliged to address himself to Russia.

As a consequence of the lack of success of the Polish tentative, the Muscovite Prince gained further influence also in Ukraine, and, during the XVII Century, with the Jaslav Convention and the Andrusovo Treaty, Kiev became a part of the Muscovite State. This situation gave rise to a growing Ukrainian influence in Muscovy, thanks also to the high level of theological development reached in Kiev’s Seminary.

4.     Sweden

Once the Polish influence finished, another threat was felt by the fledging Russian State: the power of the Kingdom of Sweden.

Following to the Reform and the Religious Wars, Sweden, during the Thirty Years War, had become able to reunite around it all Scandinavian States, more the Baltic States and the North of Germany, becoming a European great power.

Within this framework, the Swedes tried also to extend their power, from the Baltic territories, to Ukraine, across the previous lands of the Lithuanian State, thanks to the alliance with Hetman Mazepa, who tried to become independent from Poland, Russia and Turkey.

Also this tentative was unsuccessful. On the contrary, Paul the Great succeeded in defeating  the Swedes in Poltava and even to conquer all the stretch of Swedish territories on the Baltic, presently corresponding to the St. Petersburgkaja Oblast, to Estonia and Latvia. However, the Swedish influence on Russia did not cease with the Nordic Wars, but, on the contrary, went on also in the following centuries. In fact, in the Baltic States, besides the previous German aristocracy, originating from the German Knights of the Holy Cross, also a Swedish upper class had been created, which influenced the cultural life of the country and of Russia in general. For instance, the Admiral Vrangel’, one of the leaders of the White Russian Army during civil war, was of recent Swedish origins. Later on, in 1809, one of the reasons for the secession of Finland from Sweden, and the accession of the same to Russia, had been that Count Bernadotte, which, under French influence, had been appointed, by Napoleon,  as the King of Sweden, did not guarantee to maintain, to Finnish aristocracy (which was, in fact, nationally Swedish), the privileged guaranteed, under the previous dynasty, as the outcome of the “Constitution” of the “Borga Estates”.

So, Swedish-Finnish legal régime was “transferred” into Russia together with the Grand-Duchy of Finland, so constituting a basis for the reforms prompted later on, for the whole Empire, by Prince  Czartoryski.

This historical period had been also of paramount importance for the formation of the Finnish culture. At the moment of the passage of Finland from Sweden to Russia, and of the creation of the “Grand Duchy of Finland”, the need was felt to create a Finnish culture, instead of relying uniquely on the culture of Sweden, which had been, for the past, the almost sole culture of Finland. In fact, the ancient Ugro-Finnic population had been subjected to the Christian Swedes since the XIV Century, and did not have either a literary language, or a literary tradition.

At that moment in time, Lonnröth, going on the same path as Herder with Latvian ancient poetry, traveled intensively across Carelia, a Russian province inhabited by Finns, where he collected, from the voices of peasants, ancients legends, that he unified into the “Kalevala”, the national epos of the Finns. In so doing, he followed the same path of Macpherson, who, for his “Ossian”, collected Irish popular songs, unifying them into only one poem, and, then, pretending they were “Scottish”.

On the other side, the work of Lonnröth arouse an interest also on the other part of Botnia, in Estonia, where the Kalevi Poeg was composed, an epical cycle connected with the Kalevala.

5.     The Ottoman Empire

Whilst all these transformations were under way in the northern parts of Russia, in the South-Eastern part of it, and also in Ukraine, the influence of the Mongol and Tatar “Great Khans” had left place to the one of Turkey.

Both the Khanate of Crimea and the Nogai Horde had become vassals of the Ottoman Empire. This Turkish/Islamic influence is perceivable already now in those territories. In fact, all the Cis-Caucasian area was inhabited, together with Cossacks, by various smaller peoples, many of them, like the Daghestani and the Chechnyans, of Islamic faith. This area, formerly occupied by Tatars and by Mongols, Islam was often of recent date (like, for instance, in Ingushetia). For this reason, the cultural language was even Arabic, and the connections with Arabia were frequent.

These Islamic populations contributed heavily to revolts, including, i.a. to the one of Pugačiov, who, on the other side, had even an Arabic secretariate for drawing appeals and legislative instruments in that language.