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[[File:East Slavs in Russia 1897.JPG|thumbnail|right|The conception of a triune Russian nation in the [[Russian Empire Census]] of 1897. The map presents data on "Russians on the whole" and their component groups [[Great Russian]]s, [[Little Russians]] and [[Belarusians|White Russians]].]]
[[File:East Slavs in Russia 1897.JPG|thumbnail|right|The conception of a triune Russian nation in the [[Russian Empire Census]] of 1897. The map presents data on "Russians on the whole" and their component groups [[Great Russian]]s, [[Little Russians]] and [[Belarusians|White Russians]].]]
The '''Triune Russian'' '''''<nowiki/>''(Ruthenian)''' '''''<nowiki/>'''people''' ([[Russian language|Russian]] триединый русский народ, [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] триєдиний руський народ, [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] трыядзіны рускі народ) was the idea of the [[Russian people|Russian nation]] in the broad sense that consists of three branches: [[Great Russians]], [[Little Russia]]ns and [[White Russia]]ns. It was the state-constitutive conception in the [[Russian Empire]] and ethnologic mainstream in Russia and most other countries before (and some time after) the [[Russian Revolution]].<ref>Реєнт О. П. [http://histans.com/JournALL/journal/2008/1/11.pdf Українсько-білоруські взаємини у XIX - на початку XX ст.: процес становлення] (укр.) // Головний редактор: В. А. Смолій Український історичний журнал : науковий журнал. — Київ: Інститут історії НАНУ, 2008. — В. 1 (478). — С. 161-169. — ISSN 0130-5247.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}}
The '''Triune Russian'' '''''<nowiki/>''(Ruthenian)''' '''''<nowiki/>'''people''' ([[Russian language|Russian]] триединый русский народ, [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] триєдиний руський народ, [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] трыядзіны рускі народ) was the idea of the [[Russian people|Russian nation]] in the broad sense that consists of three branches: [[Great Russians]], [[Little Russia]]ns and [[White Russia]]ns. It was the state-constitutive conception in the [[Russian Empire]] and ethnologic mainstream in Russia and most other countries before (and some time after) the [[Russian Revolution]].<ref>Реєнт О. П. [http://histans.com/JournALL/journal/2008/1/11.pdf Українсько-білоруські взаємини у XIX - на початку XX ст.: процес становлення] (укр.) // Головний редактор: В. А. Смолій Український історичний журнал : науковий журнал. — Київ: Інститут історії НАНУ, 2008. — В. 1 (478). — С. 161-169. — ISSN 0130-5247.</ref>


==Translation specifics==
==Translation specifics==
In the Russian language, the word ''русский ''(russkiy) is a single adjective to the word ''Русь ''which means the historical region [[Rus' (region)|Rus]]. In the modern era, the two medieval forms of this region's name in [[Latin language|Latin]], Russia and Ruthenia, after a period of interchangeability, became the basis for the terminological distinction between Eastern Slavs in the [[English language]]. The first term primarily designated lands of Eastern Slavs who were subjects of the Tsar (modern [[Russians]]), the second described lands of Eastern Slavic subjects of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the ancestors of modern [[Ukrainians]] and [[Belarusians]]. Also, the term Ruthenian is sometimes used to describe issues concerning the people of medieval [[Kievan Rus']] in order to distinguish them from modern Russians. The Russian language traditionally doesn't have this distinction. For this reason, the Russian expression ''триединый русский народ''{{qn|date=September 2013}} which refers to Rus' and Russia at once, can be translated both ways and is dependent on the historical or the political focus.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}
In the Russian language, the word ''русский ''(russkiy) is a single adjective to the word ''Русь ''which means the historical region [[Rus' (region)|Rus]]. In the modern era, the two medieval forms of this region's name in [[Latin language|Latin]], Russia and Ruthenia, after a period of interchangeability, became the basis for the terminological distinction between Eastern Slavs in the [[English language]]. The first term primarily designated lands of Eastern Slavs who were subjects of the Tsar (modern [[Russians]]), the second described lands of Eastern Slavic subjects of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the ancestors of modern [[Ukrainians]] and [[Belarusians]]. Also, the term Ruthenian is sometimes used to describe issues concerning the people of medieval [[Kievan Rus']] in order to distinguish them from modern Russians. The Russian language traditionally doesn't have this distinction. For this reason, the Russian expression ''триединый русский народ'' which refers to Rus' and Russia at once, can be translated both ways and is dependent on the historical or the political focus.


== History ==
== History ==
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=== Russian Tsardom and Russian Empire===
=== Russian Tsardom and Russian Empire===
[[File:Feofan Prokopovich.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Theophan Prokopovich]]]]
[[File:Feofan Prokopovich.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Theophan Prokopovich]]]]
The upcoming of a new state ideology was connected with the integration of the [[Left-bank Ukraine]] into the Russian state in the second half of the 17th century<ref name="Sinyakov">Синяков С. В. [http://www.novyn.kpi.ua/2011-2/29-filos-Synjakov.pdf Украинская история как пространство современного творчества] (рус.) // Вісник Національного технічного університету України “Київський політехнічний інститут”. Філософія. Психологія. Педагогіка : науковий журнал. — Київ, 2011. — В. 2. — С. 151-158. — ISSN 0201-744X.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} According to Ukrainian philosopher Sinyakov, the unification idea of Ukraine and Russia was not imposed by the Moscow government but was originally Ukrainian. Different initiatives began already at the end of 16th century and the idea strengthened in the course the 17th century.<ref name="Sinyakov"/> The influential [[Kievan Synopsis]], written by the archimandrite of the [[Kiev Caves monastery]] [[Innocent Gizel]], contained the description of the ancient unity of the "Russian peoples". Modern researchers see this work as the beginning of the historical conception of a common [[Old Russian ethnicity]] of Kievan Rus.<ref>Юсова Н. Н. Давньоруської народності концепція // Енциклопедія історії України. У 5 т. / Редкол В. А. Смолій та ін. — Інститут історії України НАН України. — Київ: Наукова думка, 2003. — Т. 2. Г-Д. — С. 275-276. — 528 с. — 5000 экз. — ISBN 966-00-0405-2</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} In the following, Synopsys played the role of some kind of a spiritual constitution of the reunified lands.<ref name="Sinyakov"/>
The upcoming of a new state ideology was connected with the integration of the [[Left-bank Ukraine]] into the Russian state in the second half of the 17th century<ref name="Sinyakov">Синяков С. В. [http://www.novyn.kpi.ua/2011-2/29-filos-Synjakov.pdf Украинская история как пространство современного творчества] (рус.) // Вісник Національного технічного університету України “Київський політехнічний інститут”. Філософія. Психологія. Педагогіка : науковий журнал. — Київ, 2011. — В. 2. — С. 151-158. — ISSN 0201-744X.</ref> According to Ukrainian philosopher Sinyakov, the unification idea of Ukraine and Russia was not imposed by the Moscow government but was originally Ukrainian. Different initiatives began already at the end of 16th century and the idea strengthened in the course the 17th century.<ref name="Sinyakov"/> The influential [[Kievan Synopsis]], written by the archimandrite of the [[Kiev Caves monastery]] [[Innocent Gizel]], contained the description of the ancient unity of the "Russian peoples". Modern researchers see this work as the beginning of the historical conception of a common [[Old Russian ethnicity]] of Kievan Rus.<ref>Юсова Н. Н. Давньоруської народності концепція // Енциклопедія історії України. У 5 т. / Редкол В. А. Смолій та ін. — Інститут історії України НАН України. — Київ: Наукова думка, 2003. — Т. 2. Г-Д. — С. 275-276. — 528 с. — 5000 экз. — ISBN 966-00-0405-2</ref> In the following, Synopsys played the role of some kind of a spiritual constitution of the reunified lands.<ref name="Sinyakov"/>


The first author and ideologist of the conception of a triune Russian people was the Kiev-born achbishop of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and professor of the [[National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy|Kiev-Mohyla Academy]] [[Theophan Prokopovich]].<ref name="Sinyakov"/> He taught that the Russian people is triune just like the title ''Tsar of Great, Little and White Russia''.<ref name="Sinyakov"/>
The first author and ideologist of the conception of a triune Russian people was the Kiev-born achbishop of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and professor of the [[National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy|Kiev-Mohyla Academy]] [[Theophan Prokopovich]].<ref name="Sinyakov"/> He taught that the Russian people is triune just like the title ''Tsar of Great, Little and White Russia''.<ref name="Sinyakov"/>
[[File:Ethnic map europe 1923.jpg|thumbnail|A British ethnic map of Europe (1923)]]
[[File:Ethnic map europe 1923.jpg|thumbnail|A British ethnic map of Europe (1923)]]
According to Russian historian Andrei Marchukov, the triune Russian people constituted the ethnic and cultural center of the Russian Empire. He believes that the multinational Russian Empire can be imagined a spheric circles that surrounded the triune Eastern Slavic state-constitutive nucleus.<ref>Марчуков А. В. Украинское национальное движение: УССР, 1920-1930-е годы : цели, методы, результаты. — Москва: Наука, 2006. — С. 28. — 528 с.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} The prominent historian [[Vasily Klyuchevsky]] supposed that the division of the Russian people occurred in the era of feudal split when it underwent a division in two parts while the Western part later split into Little Russians and Belarusians.<ref>Ключевский В. О. Сочинения: В 9 т. М., 1987. Т. І. Курс русской ис-тории. Ч. І. С. 294, 295-296, 298</ref> Thus, the Old Russian (Old Ruthenian) people gave birth to three branches of the All-Russian people of his time.<ref>Юсова Н. Н. [http://history.spbu.ru/userfiles/RA_Yusova_2010_2.pdf Идейная и терминологическая генеалогия понятия «древнерусская народность»] (рус.) // Rossica antiqua : научно-теоретический журнал. — Санкт-Петербург: Исторический факультет Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета, 2010. — В. 2. — С. 1-53.</ref> The well-known historian [[Nikolay Kostomarov]] also acknowledged the existence of an All-Russian people.<ref>Мысли о федеративном начале в Древней Руси // Собраніе сочиненій: Историческіе монографіи и изследованія. 8 кн., 21 т. — СПб, 1903. — Т. 1, Кн. 1. — С. 24.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}}
According to Russian historian Andrei Marchukov, the triune Russian people constituted the ethnic and cultural center of the Russian Empire. He believes that the multinational Russian Empire can be imagined a spheric circles that surrounded the triune Eastern Slavic state-constitutive nucleus.<ref>Марчуков А. В. Украинское национальное движение: УССР, 1920-1930-е годы : цели, методы, результаты. — Москва: Наука, 2006. — С. 28. — 528 с.</ref> The prominent historian [[Vasily Klyuchevsky]] supposed that the division of the Russian people occurred in the era of feudal split when it underwent a division in two parts while the Western part later split into Little Russians and Belarusians.<ref>Ключевский В. О. Сочинения: В 9 т. М., 1987. Т. І. Курс русской ис-тории. Ч. І. С. 294, 295-296, 298</ref> Thus, the Old Russian (Old Ruthenian) people gave birth to three branches of the All-Russian people of his time.<ref>Юсова Н. Н. [http://history.spbu.ru/userfiles/RA_Yusova_2010_2.pdf Идейная и терминологическая генеалогия понятия «древнерусская народность»] (рус.) // Rossica antiqua : научно-теоретический журнал. — Санкт-Петербург: Исторический факультет Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета, 2010. — В. 2. — С. 1-53.</ref> The well-known historian [[Nikolay Kostomarov]] also acknowledged the existence of an All-Russian people.<ref>Мысли о федеративном начале в Древней Руси // Собраніе сочиненій: Историческіе монографіи и изследованія. 8 кн., 21 т. — СПб, 1903. — Т. 1, Кн. 1. — С. 24.</ref>


Members of the triune Russian nation were commonly regarded as opposed to the category of [[inorodtsy]] (ethnically alien), whose difference from the Russians was recognized easily. On the personal level, Little and White Russians were never discriminated against on ethnic grounds,<ref name="borders">Alfred J. Rieber, Marsha Siefert. Extending the Borders of Russian History // [[Alexei Ilyich Miller Ильич|Alexei Miller]]: [http://books.google.de/books?id=G4YREqrF1vIC&pg=PA234&dq=were+known+as+Little+Russians&hl=de&sa=X&ei=2NUkUoOfKoiYtQbY_4DoBQ&ved=0CFkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=were%20known%20as%20Little%20Russians&f=false A Testament of the All-Russian Idea: Foreign Ministry Memoranda for the Imperial, Provisional and Bolshevik Governments]. Central European University Press, 2003.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} even though claims for a collective identity different from the All-Russian were rejected as attempts to split the state nation. The upcoming of Ukrainian and Belarusian national movements in the late 19th century was opposed by not only by the majority of Great Russians, but also by numerous Little and White Russian intellectuals who had an intensive and long running identity dispute with the separatists.<ref name="borders"/>
Members of the triune Russian nation were commonly regarded as opposed to the category of [[inorodtsy]] (ethnically alien), whose difference from the Russians was recognized easily. On the personal level, Little and White Russians were never discriminated against on ethnic grounds,<ref name="borders">Alfred J. Rieber, Marsha Siefert. Extending the Borders of Russian History // [[Alexei Ilyich Miller Ильич|Alexei Miller]]: [http://books.google.de/books?id=G4YREqrF1vIC&pg=PA234&dq=were+known+as+Little+Russians&hl=de&sa=X&ei=2NUkUoOfKoiYtQbY_4DoBQ&ved=0CFkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=were%20known%20as%20Little%20Russians&f=false A Testament of the All-Russian Idea: Foreign Ministry Memoranda for the Imperial, Provisional and Bolshevik Governments]. Central European University Press, 2003.</ref> even though claims for a collective identity different from the All-Russian were rejected as attempts to split the state nation. The upcoming of Ukrainian and Belarusian national movements in the late 19th century was opposed by not only by the majority of Great Russians, but also by numerous Little and White Russian intellectuals who had an intensive and long running identity dispute with the separatists.<ref name="borders"/>


=== Soviet era ===
=== Soviet era ===
The early [[Bolshevik]]s rejected any conception of the triune Russian people which they saw as an attribute of czarism, bourgeois nationalism and the hostile [[White movement]]. They tried to gain sympathies of nationally-oriented groups by recognizing the Ukrainians and the Belarusians as separate peoples. In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks introduced the policy of [[Korenizatsiya]] in the non-Russian republics which had the specific forms of [[Ukrainization]] and [[Belarusization]].{{Attribution needed|date=September 2013}} By doing this, they hoped to crush the conservative imperial spirit among the Eastern Slavs and to introduce revolutionary [[internationalism]].{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}
The early [[Bolshevik]]s rejected any conception of the triune Russian people which they saw as an attribute of czarism, bourgeois nationalism and the hostile [[White movement]]. They tried to gain sympathies of nationally-oriented groups by recognizing the Ukrainians and the Belarusians as separate peoples. In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks introduced the policy of [[Korenizatsiya]] in the non-Russian republics which had the specific forms of [[Ukrainization]] and [[Belarusization]]. By doing this, they hoped to crush the conservative imperial spirit among the Eastern Slavs and to introduce revolutionary [[internationalism]].


The Stalin era was characterized by a certain revival of some old imperial conceptions, although the status of Ukrainians and Belarusians as separate peoples was not questioned anymore. The Kievan Rus was formulated as a common "cradle" of the Eastern Slavs and the Soviet historians developed the conception of their common ancestor: Old Russian ethnicity.<ref>Юсова Н. [http://archive.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/soc_gum/nzzui/2008_21/240_251.PDF Первое совещание по вопросам этногенеза (конец 1930-х гг.)] // Наукові записки з української історії : Збірник наукових праць. — Переяслав-Хмельницький: ДВНЗ „Переяслав-Хмельницький державний педагогічний університет імені Григорія Сковороди”, 2008. — В. 21. — С. 240-251.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} Clear influence of the pre-revolutionary conception of the triune Russian people can be found in works of the Soviet academician [[Nikolai Derzhavin]] who in 1944 published his monography "The origin of the Russian people: Great Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian".
The Stalin era was characterized by a certain revival of some old imperial conceptions, although the status of Ukrainians and Belarusians as separate peoples was not questioned anymore. The Kievan Rus was formulated as a common "cradle" of the Eastern Slavs and the Soviet historians developed the conception of their common ancestor: Old Russian ethnicity.<ref>Юсова Н. [http://archive.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/soc_gum/nzzui/2008_21/240_251.PDF Первое совещание по вопросам этногенеза (конец 1930-х гг.)] // Наукові записки з української історії : Збірник наукових праць. — Переяслав-Хмельницький: ДВНЗ „Переяслав-Хмельницький державний педагогічний університет імені Григорія Сковороди”, 2008. — В. 21. — С. 240-251.</ref> Clear influence of the pre-revolutionary conception of the triune Russian people can be found in works of the Soviet academician [[Nikolai Derzhavin]] who in 1944 published his monography "The origin of the Russian people: Great Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian".


In the era of [[Nikita Khrushchev]] these views were replaced by a new conception that seemed more suitable for the currect goals: the conception of a [[Soviet people]] (советский народ), а new distinctive unity of people who have common traits.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}
In the era of [[Nikita Khrushchev]] these views were replaced by a new conception that seemed more suitable for the currect goals: the conception of a [[Soviet people]] (советский народ), а new distinctive unity of people who have common traits.


=== Present times ===
=== Present times ===
After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] and the formation of new independet states [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]], the conceptions of either an All-Russian or Soviet people have lost their ideological significance. Instead, the conceptions that deny the trinity or even a kindredship of their nations have experienced rapid development, meeting the needs of [[nation-building]]. However, the conception of the triune Russian ("Ruthenian") people remains in different forms in the political and publicist spheres of Russia,<ref>Дронов Міхаїл [http://ukrzurnal.eu/pdf/uz_2007_01.pdf Ностальгія за Малоросією] (укр.) // Український журнал : Інформаційний культурно-політичний місячник для українців у Чехії, Польщі та Словаччині. — 2007. — В. 1 (19). — С. 32-33.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} Ukraine{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} and Belarus.<ref>Левяш И. Я. [http://ecsocman.hse.ru/data/563/601/1231/019_Levyash.pdf Русские в Беларуси: дома или в гостях?] (рус.) // Социс : научный журнал. — 1994. — В. 8-9. — С. 139-142.</ref> The Russian Orthodox Church supports the conception of "Russian (Ruthenian) world" (''русский мир'') and often speaks about the "reunification" of the triune Russian people, sometimes even seen as the main task for the 21st century.<ref>Крутов А. Н. [http://www.materik.ru/upload/iblock/fe9/fe994cfb101b5073f35c748b5cbfdb41.pdf Воссоединение должно стать ключевым словом нашей деятельности] (рус.) // Страны СНГ. Русские и русскоязычные в новом зарубежье. : информационно-аналитический бюллетень. — Москва: Институт стран СНГ, Институт диаспоры и интеграции, 2008, 8 декабря. — В. 210. — С. 25.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}} At the same time, the trinity conception is regarded as a category from the past century that needs to be renewed by the search for new identities and new unifying impulses.<ref>[http://www.zlev.ru/1314_4.htm Воссоединение русского мира - главная задача на XXI век] // Золотой лев : материалы Круглого стола.</ref>{{qn|date=September 2013}}
After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] and the formation of new independet states [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]], the conceptions of either an All-Russian or Soviet people have lost their ideological significance. Instead, the conceptions that deny the trinity or even a kindredship of their nations have experienced rapid development, meeting the needs of [[nation-building]]. However, the conception of the triune Russian ("Ruthenian") people remains in different forms in the political and publicist spheres of Russia,<ref>Дронов Міхаїл [http://ukrzurnal.eu/pdf/uz_2007_01.pdf Ностальгія за Малоросією] (укр.) // Український журнал : Інформаційний культурно-політичний місячник для українців у Чехії, Польщі та Словаччині. — 2007. — В. 1 (19). — С. 32-33.</ref> Ukraine{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} and Belarus.<ref>Левяш И. Я. [http://ecsocman.hse.ru/data/563/601/1231/019_Levyash.pdf Русские в Беларуси: дома или в гостях?] (рус.) // Социс : научный журнал. — 1994. — В. 8-9. — С. 139-142.</ref> The Russian Orthodox Church supports the conception of "Russian (Ruthenian) world" (''русский мир'') and often speaks about the "reunification" of the triune Russian people, sometimes even seen as the main task for the 21st century.<ref>Крутов А. Н. [http://www.materik.ru/upload/iblock/fe9/fe994cfb101b5073f35c748b5cbfdb41.pdf Воссоединение должно стать ключевым словом нашей деятельности] (рус.) // Страны СНГ. Русские и русскоязычные в новом зарубежье. : информационно-аналитический бюллетень. — Москва: Институт стран СНГ, Институт диаспоры и интеграции, 2008, 8 декабря. — В. 210. — С. 25.</ref> At the same time, the trinity conception is regarded as a category from the past century that needs to be renewed by the search for new identities and new unifying impulses.<ref>[http://www.zlev.ru/1314_4.htm Воссоединение русского мира - главная задача на XXI век] // Золотой лев : материалы Круглого стола.</ref>


According to a nationwide poll conducted in March 2000 in Belarus, 42.6% of the respondents said that they regard Belarusians as a branch of a triune Russian nation.<ref>Nelly Bekus [http://books.google.de/books?id=DiwPRpRYt2kC&pg=PA143&dq=triune+Russian+nation&hl=de&sa=X&ei=39AkUquSH4LNtAbivYCACg&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=triune%20Russian%20nation&f=false Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness"].</ref>{{Better source|reason=citation is from March of 2000. Extremely dated poll considering Belarus only gained independence in 1991. If this represents present times, there must have been polls taken later than over 13 years ago.|date=September 2013}}
According to a nationwide poll conducted in March 2000 in Belarus, 42.6% of the respondents said that they regard Belarusians as a branch of a triune Russian nation.<ref>Nelly Bekus [http://books.google.de/books?id=DiwPRpRYt2kC&pg=PA143&dq=triune+Russian+nation&hl=de&sa=X&ei=39AkUquSH4LNtAbivYCACg&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=triune%20Russian%20nation&f=false Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness"].</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 11:04, 25 September 2013

The conception of a triune Russian nation in the Russian Empire Census of 1897. The map presents data on "Russians on the whole" and their component groups Great Russians, Little Russians and White Russians.

The Triune Russian (Ruthenian) people (Russian триединый русский народ, Ukrainian триєдиний руський народ, Belarusian трыядзіны рускі народ) was the idea of the Russian nation in the broad sense that consists of three branches: Great Russians, Little Russians and White Russians. It was the state-constitutive conception in the Russian Empire and ethnologic mainstream in Russia and most other countries before (and some time after) the Russian Revolution.[1]

Translation specifics

In the Russian language, the word русский (russkiy) is a single adjective to the word Русь which means the historical region Rus. In the modern era, the two medieval forms of this region's name in Latin, Russia and Ruthenia, after a period of interchangeability, became the basis for the terminological distinction between Eastern Slavs in the English language. The first term primarily designated lands of Eastern Slavs who were subjects of the Tsar (modern Russians), the second described lands of Eastern Slavic subjects of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the ancestors of modern Ukrainians and Belarusians. Also, the term Ruthenian is sometimes used to describe issues concerning the people of medieval Kievan Rus' in order to distinguish them from modern Russians. The Russian language traditionally doesn't have this distinction. For this reason, the Russian expression триединый русский народ which refers to Rus' and Russia at once, can be translated both ways and is dependent on the historical or the political focus.

History

Russian Tsardom and Russian Empire

Theophan Prokopovich

The upcoming of a new state ideology was connected with the integration of the Left-bank Ukraine into the Russian state in the second half of the 17th century[2] According to Ukrainian philosopher Sinyakov, the unification idea of Ukraine and Russia was not imposed by the Moscow government but was originally Ukrainian. Different initiatives began already at the end of 16th century and the idea strengthened in the course the 17th century.[2] The influential Kievan Synopsis, written by the archimandrite of the Kiev Caves monastery Innocent Gizel, contained the description of the ancient unity of the "Russian peoples". Modern researchers see this work as the beginning of the historical conception of a common Old Russian ethnicity of Kievan Rus.[3] In the following, Synopsys played the role of some kind of a spiritual constitution of the reunified lands.[2]

The first author and ideologist of the conception of a triune Russian people was the Kiev-born achbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and professor of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy Theophan Prokopovich.[2] He taught that the Russian people is triune just like the title Tsar of Great, Little and White Russia.[2]

A British ethnic map of Europe (1923)

According to Russian historian Andrei Marchukov, the triune Russian people constituted the ethnic and cultural center of the Russian Empire. He believes that the multinational Russian Empire can be imagined a spheric circles that surrounded the triune Eastern Slavic state-constitutive nucleus.[4] The prominent historian Vasily Klyuchevsky supposed that the division of the Russian people occurred in the era of feudal split when it underwent a division in two parts while the Western part later split into Little Russians and Belarusians.[5] Thus, the Old Russian (Old Ruthenian) people gave birth to three branches of the All-Russian people of his time.[6] The well-known historian Nikolay Kostomarov also acknowledged the existence of an All-Russian people.[7]

Members of the triune Russian nation were commonly regarded as opposed to the category of inorodtsy (ethnically alien), whose difference from the Russians was recognized easily. On the personal level, Little and White Russians were never discriminated against on ethnic grounds,[8] even though claims for a collective identity different from the All-Russian were rejected as attempts to split the state nation. The upcoming of Ukrainian and Belarusian national movements in the late 19th century was opposed by not only by the majority of Great Russians, but also by numerous Little and White Russian intellectuals who had an intensive and long running identity dispute with the separatists.[8]

Soviet era

The early Bolsheviks rejected any conception of the triune Russian people which they saw as an attribute of czarism, bourgeois nationalism and the hostile White movement. They tried to gain sympathies of nationally-oriented groups by recognizing the Ukrainians and the Belarusians as separate peoples. In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks introduced the policy of Korenizatsiya in the non-Russian republics which had the specific forms of Ukrainization and Belarusization. By doing this, they hoped to crush the conservative imperial spirit among the Eastern Slavs and to introduce revolutionary internationalism.

The Stalin era was characterized by a certain revival of some old imperial conceptions, although the status of Ukrainians and Belarusians as separate peoples was not questioned anymore. The Kievan Rus was formulated as a common "cradle" of the Eastern Slavs and the Soviet historians developed the conception of their common ancestor: Old Russian ethnicity.[9] Clear influence of the pre-revolutionary conception of the triune Russian people can be found in works of the Soviet academician Nikolai Derzhavin who in 1944 published his monography "The origin of the Russian people: Great Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian".

In the era of Nikita Khrushchev these views were replaced by a new conception that seemed more suitable for the currect goals: the conception of a Soviet people (советский народ), а new distinctive unity of people who have common traits.

Present times

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of new independet states Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the conceptions of either an All-Russian or Soviet people have lost their ideological significance. Instead, the conceptions that deny the trinity or even a kindredship of their nations have experienced rapid development, meeting the needs of nation-building. However, the conception of the triune Russian ("Ruthenian") people remains in different forms in the political and publicist spheres of Russia,[10] Ukraine[citation needed] and Belarus.[11] The Russian Orthodox Church supports the conception of "Russian (Ruthenian) world" (русский мир) and often speaks about the "reunification" of the triune Russian people, sometimes even seen as the main task for the 21st century.[12] At the same time, the trinity conception is regarded as a category from the past century that needs to be renewed by the search for new identities and new unifying impulses.[13]

According to a nationwide poll conducted in March 2000 in Belarus, 42.6% of the respondents said that they regard Belarusians as a branch of a triune Russian nation.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Реєнт О. П. Українсько-білоруські взаємини у XIX - на початку XX ст.: процес становлення (укр.) // Головний редактор: В. А. Смолій Український історичний журнал : науковий журнал. — Київ: Інститут історії НАНУ, 2008. — В. 1 (478). — С. 161-169. — ISSN 0130-5247.
  2. ^ a b c d e Синяков С. В. Украинская история как пространство современного творчества (рус.) // Вісник Національного технічного університету України “Київський політехнічний інститут”. Філософія. Психологія. Педагогіка : науковий журнал. — Київ, 2011. — В. 2. — С. 151-158. — ISSN 0201-744X.
  3. ^ Юсова Н. Н. Давньоруської народності концепція // Енциклопедія історії України. У 5 т. / Редкол В. А. Смолій та ін. — Інститут історії України НАН України. — Київ: Наукова думка, 2003. — Т. 2. Г-Д. — С. 275-276. — 528 с. — 5000 экз. — ISBN 966-00-0405-2
  4. ^ Марчуков А. В. Украинское национальное движение: УССР, 1920-1930-е годы : цели, методы, результаты. — Москва: Наука, 2006. — С. 28. — 528 с.
  5. ^ Ключевский В. О. Сочинения: В 9 т. М., 1987. Т. І. Курс русской ис-тории. Ч. І. С. 294, 295-296, 298
  6. ^ Юсова Н. Н. Идейная и терминологическая генеалогия понятия «древнерусская народность» (рус.) // Rossica antiqua : научно-теоретический журнал. — Санкт-Петербург: Исторический факультет Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета, 2010. — В. 2. — С. 1-53.
  7. ^ Мысли о федеративном начале в Древней Руси // Собраніе сочиненій: Историческіе монографіи и изследованія. 8 кн., 21 т. — СПб, 1903. — Т. 1, Кн. 1. — С. 24.
  8. ^ a b Alfred J. Rieber, Marsha Siefert. Extending the Borders of Russian History // Alexei Miller: A Testament of the All-Russian Idea: Foreign Ministry Memoranda for the Imperial, Provisional and Bolshevik Governments. Central European University Press, 2003.
  9. ^ Юсова Н. Первое совещание по вопросам этногенеза (конец 1930-х гг.) // Наукові записки з української історії : Збірник наукових праць. — Переяслав-Хмельницький: ДВНЗ „Переяслав-Хмельницький державний педагогічний університет імені Григорія Сковороди”, 2008. — В. 21. — С. 240-251.
  10. ^ Дронов Міхаїл Ностальгія за Малоросією (укр.) // Український журнал : Інформаційний культурно-політичний місячник для українців у Чехії, Польщі та Словаччині. — 2007. — В. 1 (19). — С. 32-33.
  11. ^ Левяш И. Я. Русские в Беларуси: дома или в гостях? (рус.) // Социс : научный журнал. — 1994. — В. 8-9. — С. 139-142.
  12. ^ Крутов А. Н. Воссоединение должно стать ключевым словом нашей деятельности (рус.) // Страны СНГ. Русские и русскоязычные в новом зарубежье. : информационно-аналитический бюллетень. — Москва: Институт стран СНГ, Институт диаспоры и интеграции, 2008, 8 декабря. — В. 210. — С. 25.
  13. ^ Воссоединение русского мира - главная задача на XXI век // Золотой лев : материалы Круглого стола.
  14. ^ Nelly Bekus Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness".
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