Vol 17, No 1 (2018): RUSSIANS WORLDWIDE

The article considers the problem of the cultural heritage of the Russian colonization of the north-eastern part of the Pacific region.The authors examine the influence of the Russian culture on the life of the indigenous population of Russian America after its sale in 1867. The study demonstrates the borrowings of the traditional elements of everyday life, the customs of the native population, the Russian legacy in the place-names and languages of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, and other problems. One of the key issues of the study is the preservation and prevalence of the Russian language, as well as of the Russian-language periodicals in the region.The article contains newspapers data, eyewitnesses’ recollections, materials of authoritative investigations on this issue, etc. The authors come to conclusions that after 1867 the Russian language remained widespread only in the Russian-Creole population centres: Sitka, Kodiak, Kenai Peninsula. In the rest of Alaska,the language was quickly ousted and replaced with English. The indigenous population adopted several elements of everyday life from the colonists, mostly furniture, tools, clothes. By the early 20thcentury, the most part of these things had been replaced by more modern American objects. After 1867 the Russian Orthodox Church remained one of the few forces to be able to preserve the Russian culture in the region. In the 1870s and 1890s, there were extensively opened new parishes and Russian-language schools. However, in the early 20th century the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church considerably decreased due to the policy of accelerated Americanization and the emergence of Catholic and Protestant missions in Alaska.

The article considers the main problems of the history of the Russian emigrants on the basis of studying the Russian and Polish archives in the context of the contemporary Russian and Polish historiography. There are identified and critically comprehended the materials of the key assets in the Polish archives. The article sums up the intermediate results of the study of the history of Russian emigrants in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Poland. The purpose of the article is to identify the weak points of this section of the Russian historiography, as well as the characteristic of the basic directions of the Polish historiography in the section “Emigrantology”. The comparison of the directions of the development of the first-wave émigré history in both countries based on the comparative analysis of the main researches of the modern Russian and Polish historiography allows outlining a number of underexplored questions. The authors faced the challenge of giving a sampling, but the most representative picture of the comparative studies in this section of the Russian and Polish historiography. The authors’ attention was primarily paid to the historical and historical-cultural works, rather than to the researches on legal issues. As a result of the comparative review, there are a number of conclusions. In particular, it was noted that the Russian historiography is not able to conduct comprehensive studies due to the sheer lack of trained personnel (knowledge of the history of the Republic of Poland, Polish-Soviet relations and the Polish language). At the same time, the Polish historiography has reached a qualitatively new level of research, as evidenced by the establishing of the new educational and scientific specialty (Emigrantology), a part of which is the academic module on the history of the Russian emigrants in Poland.

The article considers the relevance of studying the Russian community in Spain in the context of Russia’s foreign policy and the development of globalization processes. The author considers the factors of the increase of the Russian-speaking community of Spain at the turn of the 21st century, highlights the key demographic and social parameters of the Russian community in Spain. The article reveals the positive influence of the expansion of the Russian-Spanish cooperation in the sphere of culture and economy in the 2000s on the process of institutionalization of the movement of the Russian compatriots in Spain for the preservation of their cultural and language identity and on the promotion of the Russian culture in Spain. There are distinguished the most important aspects of the social life of the modern Russian-speaking community of Spain: revitalization of joint cultural work of the Russian diplomats, of the representatives of the Russian business in Spain and figures of the foreign Russian community; participation of foreign compatriots in the development of the Russian-Spanish relations at the regional level, including the national republics of the Russian Federation; increase of the share of the Russian-language press, electronic media and social networks in the Spanish information space, etc. The author reveals the role of the Russian compatriots’ community in Spain in the increase of the dialogue of cultures and civilizations, in the international interaction in the educational and economic sphere. There is also analyzed the influence of globalization on the evolution of the socio-cultural image and institutional structure of the Russian diaspora in Spain in the 1990-2000s.

The author of the article introduces for the first time a large number of facts characterizing the demographic processes: birth rate, death rate, natural increase of the Russian population in Udmurtia in 1958-1996 (There are no available data only for 1981). The article shows that in the first half of the 1960s there was a sharp decline in the birth rate of the Russian population in the republic. In total, in 1960-1965 it reduced by 1.6 times. Most likely, the reasons for the fall in the birth rate are due to the worsening of the socio-economic situation in the country. In this regard, there enhanced intrafamily birth control, for example, there were more abortions. In 1969-1983, the number of births in the republic was growing. A small decrease in the population occurred only in 1973, 1977, 1979. In the 1980s there were two sharp rises in the birth rate: the first one occurred in 1983, the second - in 1986-1987. From 1988, there began a continuous decline in the birth rate of the Russian population in the republic, due to the transformation of the country. From the mid-1960s the death rate of the Russian population in the republic began to increase, and for two decades there was a steady growth (except 1972 and 1980). In 1985-1986 it declined, particularly in 1986, which was largely due to the anti-alcohol campaign. In 1992 the natural increase virtually stopped. From 1993, the death rate exceeded the birth rate throughout the republic. In total, in 1958-1996 (except 1981), the natural increase of the Russian population in Udmurtia amounted to 206842 people. According to the census data for 1959-1989, the Russian population of the republic increased by 186446 people. This suggests that in the second half of the 20th century, the Russians were leaving the republic rather than coming there.

The article examines the peculiarities of the functioning of the judicial system in the White South of Russia during the 1920s. This period is characterized by a significant departure from the previously proclaimed principles of the ideology of the “White movement”, which were replaced by the so-called “left-wing policy with the right hands”. The author comes to conclusion that due to the reduction of the territory occupied by the White armies (the borders of the Crimea and North Tavria (Tauride Governorate)), it became possible to more closely monitor the work of the local judicial system. The White leadership proclaimed its policy of combating all violations of law, the absence of legitimate methods of government, the rule of the so-called “machine gun right”, in which it was the decisions of the military which became the major ones, they prevailed over all civilian legislative acts and institutions. General Wrangel and the Government of the South of Russia, led by Alexander Vasilievich Krivoshein, the former tsarist minister, managed to achieve some changes for the better. There increased the role of the Governing Senate and the importance of prosecutor’s supervision; the activities of the magistrate courts began to recover. The work of counterintelligence agencies was put under prosecutor’s supervision. Court martial got legal limitations, the Red Army soldiers were pardoned. However, it was not possible to completely overcome the dominance of military justice over civil one and to achieve significant changes in the political and legal system in the conditions of the ongoing Civil War. This became one of the reasons for the weakness of the White rear and the failures of the South Russian White movement.