The theme of the "Great War" in the interaction of Russian government of admiral A.V. Kolchak and the Central Carpatho-Russian Council (1918-1919)
The Carpatho-Rusyns (Rusyns) which is located in Russia were drawn into armed confrontation between the "reds" and "whites", after the beginning of the Civil War. The Central Carpatho-Russian Council was created In October 1918 at the Congress in Chelyabinsk. The organization had the purposes - "liberation of the Ciscarpathian Rus from the Austro-Magyar yoke and its reunification with Russia" and "protection as national cultural and material interests of all Rusyns". The Russian government of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, which came to power November 18, 1918, considered the Rusyn's national movement as an ally. Both sides had the common goals - a reunion of all the Russian land and the revival of the Russian state. The purpose of the research is to identify the role played by the deployment and reproduction of the themes and images of the "Great War" in the interaction of government of Admiral A.V. Kolchak and the Central Carpatho-Russian Council. Authors analyzed materials of the newspaper ("Karpatorusskoe slowo"), which was published by The Central Carpatho-Russian Council. The narrative about "Single Indivisible Russia", was considered on the basis of this periodical's materials. This narrative was formed the value-symbolic space of the newspaper. Idea "of the unity of the all Russian people" was the main theme of the narrative about "Single Indivisible Russia". This idea was based of the heroic past of the Ciscarpathian Rus - "the land, where began the history of Russia". The political discourse of the White Siberia presented the First World War as a specific starting point, backbone, structuring the political space. Besides, the "Great War" played the significant role in the construction of the new political identity, based on the national, sovereign and patriotic values and the memory of the former glories of Russia. The Central Carpatho-Russian Council also actively addressed to this subject. All history of Ruthenian (Rusins) appeared in a form of continuous struggle for preserving their national identity, which culmination was the World War, turned into a disaster for the population of Ciscarpathian Rus. The adversities of war which fell upon Galicia were considered as a test of fidelity of Carpatho-Russian to the idea of ail-Russian unity. The victory over the "Teutonic-Magyar barbarians" meant, apart from everything else, - a triumph of justice and law over an outrage and violence, thereby, Ciscarpathian Russia ruined during the war, would already "vivify" in a new quality - as a part of United and Indivisible Russia. In such a manner, the story about "Single Indivisible Russia" scattered through many newspaper texts, leaflets and propaganda brochures, represents the specific political narrative, possessing its own scenario of expansion of the subject and its representation, the steady actantial scheme, and the determined sequence of a material feed. In such a situation, the theme and images of the "Great War" had been an integral part of the narrative of "Single Indivisible Russia", and their actualization took place in the context of representation of the ideas of all-Russian and Slavic Unity. The narration of "Single Indivisible Russia" was a form of understanding, ordering and organization of historical experience and an institutionalization on this basis of a new image of the world. The subject and images of "Great War" were included in the structuring of the political space of White East, built according to the semantics-ideological opposition "friend-or-foe", on the one side there were the Omsk Government and the national movement of Carpatho-Russian, and on the other side - the Central powers, Ukrainian "independentists" (Ukrainian separatists) and the Bolsheviks.
Keywords
The Central Carpatho-Russian Council, political narrative, The Russian government of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, Carpatho-Rusyns (Rusins), Siberia, World War I, Civil War in Russia, политический нарратив, Центральный Карпаторусский совет, Российское правительство адмирала А.В. Колчака, карпа-тороссы (русины), Сибирь, Первая мировая война, гражданская войнаAuthors
Name | Organization | |
Shevelev Dmitry | Tomsk State University | shev-dn@yandex.ru |
Konev Kirill | Tomsk State University | konev-k-92@rambler.ru |
References

The theme of the "Great War" in the interaction of Russian government of admiral A.V. Kolchak and the Central Carpatho-Russian Council (1918-1919) | Rusin. 2014. № 3 (37). DOI: 10.17223/18572685/37/12