Problem of nations genesis in the liberal social thought in Russia of the 19th century

The liberal trend in the Russian national discourse is formed in the 1840s -1850s within the pro-Western ideology. V.G. Belinsky determined the basic approaches to the national question used by subsequentmajority of liberal thinkers. He postulated the stages in the formation of the nation, passing the phases of the tribe - the people - thenation. The main features of the population (the system of spiritual values, language, customs, traditions) shaped and changed in thecourse of its development under the influence of objective, natural factors. But at the same time, nationality (ethnic group) - a deep connectionbetween people - existed since the advent of human as a rational being. Liberal views on the national question in the 1850-1870s developed largely within the public school. Chicherin interpreted a people in two ways - ethnographic and legal. In the firstcase it was nationality - a group of people related by the natural origin and spiritual unity. Scientists determine the language as anoutward sign of this unity. Here one can speak about how people use the concept of nationality. Gradovsky treats the development ofnations as an ethno-political process. The formation of nations in Europe seems incomplete until the formation of a democratic society.In the interpretation of Miliukov, ethnicity became a social group, which specifically supports the integrity of such a unique and necessarytool for continuous mental interaction as language, and was drawn up for a constant supply of uniform mental skills, regulatoryaccuracy and repeatability of the phenomena of this interaction. Miliukov saw the development of the nation as the evolution of socialcohesion, using the same algorithms and tools, and when it was created, in which a certain periodicity was traced. Thus, the representationof Russian liberals about the nature and attributes of the nation underwent a major transformation in the second half of the 19thcentury. First of all, a noticeable departure from idealism was seen in the views of Belinsky. The existence of immutable spiritual substancewas ruled out of the characteristics of the nation. The process of formation of nations in the treatment of Chicherin obtained anatural-historical character. Miliukov was the successor of the ideas; Gradovsky departed from the interpretation of the nation as thehighest stage of development of ethnos and supported the view on the nation as an ethno-political phenomenon. But this approach didnot mean ignoring the objective criteria of national identity. His supporters insisted on the need for a common territory, a common language,cultural space, and other objective conditions for the beginning of social interaction, leading to the gradual emergence of a senseof solidarity, reborn in the realization of national unity.

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