Content analysis of the «Slavic Century» journal’s headlines (1900-1904)

The article is an attempt to confirm the author’s hypothesis according to which Pan-Slavism at the beginning of the 20th century evolved from “cultural” and “political” to “cultural and economic”. Seems that introduction of a new definition of “cultural-economic” Pan-Slavism into scientific vocabulary will improve the existing classifications of Pan-Slavism in scientific literature and overcome the dichotomy “Pan-Slavism - Neo-Slavism”. According to it, at the beginning of the 20th century Pan-Slavism evolved into a new ideology, which completely broke with the views of previous generations of Russian Pan-Slavists. In authors opinion, the dichotomy appeared as a result of the long-prevailing Marxist methodology, which interpreted “Pan-Slavism” as a reactionary ideology, and “Neo-Slavism” as a “democratic and emancipative” movement. However, such conclusions seem to be a simplification, and the denial of the genetic connection between “Pan-Slavism” and “Neo-Slavism” leads to a thought that there is a “gap” between ideas of generations of ideologists of Pan-Slavism. Such conclusions are not quite correct. To confirm the author’s hypothesis according to which Pan-Slavism at the beginning of the 20th century evolved from “cultural” and “political” to “cultural and economic”, content analysis of the “Slavic Century” (1900-1904) journal’s headlines, notes and annotations was conducted. This journal was chosen as the main object of study, because due to censorship bans in Russia, the “Slavic Century” journal, which was published in Vienna, was the only independent platform where important debates about the fate of the Slavs and the Slavic idea took place. These debates predetermined further transformations within the ideology of Pan-Slavism. The main point of the article is “Neo-Slavism” is only one form of Pan-Slavism. Three categories were used for the content analysis: politics, economics and culture. Total amount of observed headlines is 805 for four years of publication (1900-1904). The results of the content analysis showed that “political” topics occupied 6% (54 articles) of the total number of headlines, “economic” topics - 12% (96 articles) and “cultural” topics - 28% (228 articles). Total, “cultural and economic” topics were devoted to 40% of the total number of analyzed headlines that is more than any other topics combined, which fully confirms authors hypothesis. In conclusion, stress that at the beginning of the 20th century Pan-Slavic ideologists started to pay more attention to the issues of economic rather than political integration. However, their attitude to the cultural methods of uniting the Slavs remained strong. On the whole, the results of the content analysis made it possible to legitimate a new scientific term, expanding the existing Pan-Slavism classification in the literature - “cultural and economic Pan-Slavism”. This term seems to be the most correct, as on the one hand, it emphasizes the continuity of the line of Russian cultural Pan-Slavism, and on the other hand, it highlights its main difference - the predominance of economic issues. The introduction of the new scientific term “cultural and economic Pan-Slavism” allows us to overcome the dichotomy “Pan-Slavism -Neo-Slavism” that takes place in Russian science literature.

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