Slavophil project for solving the “Polish question” in the Russian Empire (early 20th century)

Abstract

The actuality of studying the ideology of late Slavophilism is dictated by the need for a historiosophic understanding of interethnic relations in the Slavic world at the beginning of the 20th century, since the current confrontation between the two Slavic countries – Russia and Ukraine – in the territory of Donbas confirms the concept of a spiral development of history that tends to repeat in a modified form. Thematically, Slavophilism has been studied quite fully, but in modern historiography there is no comprehensive analysis of the attitude of the Slavophiles to the “Polish question”. The early 20th century, in accordance with the new socio-economic and political situation in the Russian Empire, compared with the previous period, marked the organizational design of Neo-Slavism – the direction of public thought of a bourgeois-democratic orientation. At the same time, a partial modernization of the Slavophile ideology takes place, taking into account new realities, including international ones. Neo-Slavs and NeoSlavophiles had a common desire to develop the principles of a new Slavic worldview, based on ethno-cultural reciprocity, but different forms of its manifestation. One of the outstanding representatives of neo-Slavophilism is the scientist economist, public figure, publicist S. Sharapov. He prepared materials for the All-Slavic Congress in Russia. His draft resolution of the Polish question contained a considerable amount of rational grain. Remaining a convinced adherent of the autocracy, S. Sharapov acted as a Polonophile, offering a sincere and honest reconciliation with Poland. His epistolary heritage, considered in this article, deserves attention as a concentrated refl ection of the Slavic problem and ways of solving it, taking into account, first of all, the interests of Russia.