The European Idea in History in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A View From Moscow by Alexander Tchoubarian

Author:Alexander Tchoubarian [Tchoubarian, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781135234010
Google: HdJQAwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 21924687
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

13

EURASIA AND EURASIANISM

Eurasianism is, of course, largely concerned with Eurasian studies, so it was naturally among the basic traditions of pre-revolutionary Russian historiography. This tradition – the analysis of the original nature of Russian culture – which dates back to the Slavophiles, had been continued in the studies of prominent scholars such as Nikolai Danilevsky, Konstantin Leontyev, Nikolai Berdyayev and Vladimir Solovyov. However, this tradition was not given prominence in Soviet historiography. Now that there is a growing trend for the revival of old traditions and names and the reappraisal of certain theories, the Eurasianists’ activities, no doubt, deserve special attention. Since the issue of Russia’s true role and identity – whether it belongs to Europe or Asia – has once again become a subject of lively discussion, an extraordinary interest is shown in Eurasianism and Eurasianists.

As long ago as the 1920s–30s, the problems of Russia and Europe, Russia and the East, culture and religion, and the special features of ‘the Russian way’ were analysed by a group of Russian emigrés. Although all those problems were nothing new – they were, in fact, traditional in Russian science – they became especially topical and had a different content in works by Eurasianists. This was partly attributable to the Eurasianists’ historical experience: they regarded the 1917 revolution as a disaster which was followed by the eclipse of Russian culture, making them reappraise the road being traversed by Russia. Many talented researchers, such as P. Savitsky, P. Bicilli, L. Karsavin, G. Florovsky, G. Vernadsky and N. Trubetskoy, took part in the Eurasianist movement.

Why did Trubetskoy, Savitsky and their associates find the term ‘Eurasia’ more suitable than the habitual one – Russia? The term was borrowed from Alexander Gumboldt who had used it to denote the entire territory of the Old World, which included Europe and Asia. When applied to Russia, this term is indicative of its intermediate position between Europe and Asia, the West and the East. Does this mean that Russian culture combines European and Asian elements? Anticipating such an interpretation, the Eurasianists answered this question in the negative, which was only natural if we take into account the multilinear system of the historical process in the world advocated by them, and their apprehensive attitude towards the influence of alien culture. They viewed Eurasia as a special continent, utterly different from both Europe and Asia. According to some Eurasianists, the very term ‘Eurasianism’ implies the idea of a continent situated between Europe and Asia, rather than a ‘central strip’ between them. In that continent Russia’s creative mission consists in giving Europe and Asia access to the ‘principles of genuine life’. Naturally, this does not mean that the Eurasianists denied the influence of European and Western culture on Russia, although their assessment of that influence was rather complicated.

European influence was acknowledged by them, although exclusively in a negative sense (they rejected its positive aspects), and in this respect, the Eurasianists followed in the footsteps of their predecessors, the advocates of Russia’s national originality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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