Nationalism ideas of V.G. Belinsky's researches

According to V.G. Belinsky, the historical destiny of Russia, its national features were appreciably defined by a geographical position. Being between the Europe and Asia, Russia suffered influence of these civilization centres, which were clearly allocated and opposed as two historical ideals. V.G. Belinsky was convinced that Russian people concerned the European nations. Statehood, customs, faith were the acknowledgement of that. The Asian influence was realized through Horde's Yoke, but "the backwardness" touch had external character, without mentioning spiritual bases of the people. Therefore when Peter 1 directed reforms to Europeanization, he broke only customs, but did not contradict national spirit. V.G. Belinsky according to Gegel's gradation divided all people in "historical" - those who developed together with the progress and were its engines. They have acquired the national status. The "unhistorical" people could not become subjects of progressive development and remained "tribes", they got to an orbit of influence of the "historical" people and entered into their states. Great-Russians are the historical people. In this respect, V.G. Belinsky also connected transition with Peter's 1 transformations, which have generated the Russian empire and Russian nation. According to V.G. Belinsky, these two events were united by logic of history. He underlined that the Russian empire was the national state of the great-Russian people, monolithic and viable. By the right of "the historical" people, great-Russians have united Lithuanian, minor-Russians and other «unhistorical people» who did not have any prospects on independent development. Their inclusion in the structure of Russian state was the natural process of submitting to general historical laws. The «unhistorical» caused minor-Russians to stop at the stage of a tribe and did not develop in the nation. V.G. Belinsky certainly sympathized with heroic struggle of the Zaporozhye Cossacks against the Crimean khans and Poland; but believed that Ukraine had no chances for the victory and formation of an independent state, not only under the influence of an adverse geopolitical arrangement, but, first of all, as a result of primary absence of potential. Мinor-Russia could become only a part of the state created by another nation, and became a part of the Russian empire only due to a happy change of external circumstances. V.G. Belinsky treated this event as certainly positive for minor-Russians. Now they could develop in the tideway of great Russian culture, being acquainted with the culture of the world. The future of minor-Russians connected with great-Russians coincided with the world tendency of strengthening of international communications and was a sign of the general progress. Thus, V.G. Belinsky assumed that Russia, remaining multinational empire, would keep domination of Russian national element in a state system, language and culture.

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