Historical and cultural contexts of Poles' attitudes towards the inhabitants of Siberia

Poles have been presented in Siberia ever since Russia began to colonise the land. In order to understand their attitudes and demeanour towards the inhabitants of Siberia, including both indigenous peoples and Russians, it is important to bear in mind that the word "Poles" has meant vastly different cultural qualities over that period spanning several hundred years. Historians have addressed the social differences among Poles coming to Siberia and the diversity of places (regions) they were coming from, with a particular emphasis on the varied circumstances in which these people arrived and stayed in Siberia. However, they have not given sufficient consideration to the important issue of how diverse the Poles were in terms of identity, and how their cultural identity influenced their relationship with the indigenous population. Nation-building processes within Polish ethnic groups led to the establishment of a strong Polish national identity as early as in the XV century. That nation, however, consisted mainly of nobility. While open to nobles of different ethnic origin, it was reluctant to accept other Polish social groups due to its class exclusivism. As a result, a large proportion of the ethnographically Polish population continued to associate their identity with ethnicity rather than nationality. A breakthrough occurred in the aftermath of the January Uprising (1863-1864), when the gentry ultimately lost their ability to lead the nation. The reasons were twofold: the gentry's inability to overcome class exclusivism, and the destruction of their economic potential (considered a national treasure) by the partitioning powers. Paradoxically, by striking against nobles' estates, the occupying forces contributed to the strengthening and rapid development of Polish national identity, since gentry was replaced by the intelligentsia as the nation's leadership class. Within half a century, the change in leadership helped extend Polish national identity to all social groups, and allowed the Polish nation, devoid of its own state at the time, to reach a geographical apogee on all its borders. Nevertheless, even at the beginning of the XX century, there still existed sizable groups of ethnographically Polish population whose identity was more ethnic than national. Polish researchers dealing with issues of nationality emphasised as early as in the 1920s and 1930s that cultural identity is not a state, but rather a process, and that the manner in which group identity is organised has a profound impact on the group's (or its members') attitudes towards a culturally different environment. Taking into account the varied cultural and historical contexts, this paper pays special attention to the manner in which the cultural identity of each group of Poles and the identity processes occurring within it have translated into the group's attitude towards the inhabitants of Siberia. The author believes that the entire history of Polish-Siberian relations should be revisited in order to take into account that particular aspect. Arguably, this is important not only to the understanding of the past, but also to the understanding of the current and the improvement of the future Polish-Russian relations.

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