The Problem of Nationhood
 “…
nationality… as well as nationalism, are
cultural artefacts of a particular kind” (4)
 How
is Russian national identity to be
“created”?
 What
are the individual problems that Russia
faces in defining itself?
 Create
a new Russian identity on the
basis of the Russian Federation, formerly
the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative
Socialist Republic)
 Develop an economy.
 Invent a system of government.
 Define international relations with
partners and neighbours.
One nation? Or multinational??
 “One
language, one people, one religion”
 Adopted
in Baltics, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia
 Write
out the Soviet period; rewrite history as a
victim narrative.
 Problems
 Ethnic
of minorities ignored
differences lead to war in Moldova,
Azerbaijan, Georgia
 Symbolic
official language: Belarusian,
Russian second
 Practice “on
the ground”: Russian spoken
 Ukraine: effectively
official language
bilingual, but one
 The
 One
dual identity of the Soviet citizen
language of communication: Russian
 Widespread
study of the cultures of the other
peoples
 All
should know their native language and
culture and Russian language and culture.
 Continues
the Soviet model of dual identity
 Integrate
the common Soviet experience,
Russian language as the unifying factors
 Limited
recognition of multiconfessionality
 Limited
regional ethnic dominance: Tatarstan,
Chechnya, North Caucasus
 Limited
status of regional languages
 State
system of government
 Historical narrative
 Heroic figures from the past
 Religious identifiers
 Language
 Cultural figures
 Literature, music, art
 State symbols
 Holidays and popular customs
 Amalgamated
elements of preRevolutionary Russia and Soviet Union
 Alexander Nevsky’s victory over German
knights in 1242
 Victory over Napoleon in 1812
 World War I and White Army generals
 The victory in Europe in 1945
 The first man in the Cosmos
 Many
cities and streets given back their old
pre-Soviet names (depending on local politics)
 Tsaritsyno
– Stalingrad – Volgograd
 St
Petersburg – Petrograd – Leningrad – St
Petersburg (but still in the Leningrad oblast!)
 Tver
– Kalinin – Tver BUT: Kaliningrad remained
(formerly Königsberg, Germany)
Pre-revolutionary Russian symbols
return: the two-headed eagle, the new
anthem taken from Glinka, the Russian
tricolor flag.
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Eltsin Changes the Anthem To music by Mikhail Glinka
Unofficial lyrics to ”Be Glorious, Russia!" by Viktor
Radugin
Be glorious, be glorious, motherland-Russia!
You passed through the centuries and the
thunderstorms
And the sun shines above you
And your destiny is bright.
Above the ancient Moscow Kremlin
Waves the banner with the two-headed eagle
And the sacred words resound:
Be glorious, Russia – my fatherland!
 In
2000 Vladimir Putin returns to the
original (Soviet) anthem with new words.
 Compare
the words of the anthems:
which is more appropriate for the new
state?
 Was
the change a good move?
 Peter
the Great: great transformer of
Russia
 Yury Gagarin: first man in space
 Admiral Kolchak (leader of White
resistance to Bolsheviks)
 Marshal Zhukov: Second World War
general
 Actors
 Film and theatre directors
 Russian sportsmen
 Monument
the Great
to Peter
 Monument
to 2nd
World War General
Zhukov
 Great World War
leader
 Commanded the
White forces
against the Reds
 Executed by the
Bolsheviks in
Irkutsk in 1920
I
… still stands in many
city centres!
Here, on Lenin Square
in front of the Finland
Station in St
Petersburg
 His
plays become
very popular, many
films based on his
short stories
 Great
revolutionary
theatre director
 Murdered
on Stalin’s
orders in 1940
 Bolsheviks
persecuted religion in early days:
priests shot or imprisoned, churches
destroyed.
 Brief
thaw during WWII.
 Until
the 1980s religious practices discouraged
through the workplace, Communist Youth
League (komsomol).
 Russian
Orthodox Church (ROC) profoundly
infiltrated by the KGB: many preferred the
Baptist and other underground movements.
 1988: celebration
 Church
of 1000 years of Christianity.
services shown on TV for the first time.
 1990: Aleksii
II becomes patriarch of ROC.
 1990
Law on Freedom of Religion; reinforced
by the Russian Constitution of 1993.
 Russia
invaded by American evangelists – Billy
Graham, the Mormons, etc.
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During his term,
presided over a revival of
the ROC, close ties with
the Russian state.
Built ties with branches
of the ROC abroad.
Encouraged the
reconstruction of many
churches.
Succeeded as Patriarch
by Kirill of Smolensk.
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Popular Orthodox priest
of church outside
Moscow.
Sermons, books,
teaching, attracted and
baptized many
Probably too popular,
also of Jewish origin.
9 September 1990 –
murdered with an axe in
the forest walking to his
parish.
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… favors the role of the Russian Orthodox Church as an
“inseparable part of the all-Russian historical, spiritual, and
cultural heritage” and mentions the state’s recognition of Islam,
Buddhism, Judaism, and other religions and local beliefs
"traditionally existing in the Russian Federation.”
It makes … distinctions between religious formations.
First, between “religious organizations” which are granted all the
rights of a legal entity, and “religious groups” which can carry out
their activities within the limits of a whole range of restrictions.
Second, between local and all-Russian religious organizations
which differ in scope and mode of their operations. It also
introduces a special category of “foreign religious organization”
which cannot have its “representatives” in Russia unless invited by
a Russian religious organization with permission of the Russian
federal government.
 Up
to 20 million, but
about 5% practising.
 Concentrated in
certain republics:
Tatarstan,
Bashkortostan,
Caucasus republics,
e.g. Chechnya.
 President Kadyrov of
Chechnya constructs
a huge Mosque in the
capital Grozny.
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Difficult relationship with
ROC.
John Paul II unable to
visit Russia.
Recently visas for foreign
Catholic priests refused.
Catholics become
object of extreme
nationalists rallying
around the ROC – along
with Jews, Caucasians,
homosexuals.
(Right) The Catholic
church in Tver, defaced
swastikas and star of
David.
 Is
the emphasis on Russia and the ROC
compatible with a multinational and
confessional state?
 Given
the religious revival in the FSU, will
the Russian government be able to
manage a state with compact, non-Slavic
and non-Orthodox Christian minorities?