HISTORICAL MISSION, IMAGE AND FATE OF THE FIRST RUSSIAN EMIGRATION
Annotation
The article is devoted to the phenomenon of the first “wave” of Russian emigration. Emotional and psychological factors of emigration are analyzed. The main catalyst of the events of the February and October revolutions of 1917 is defined: it was The First World War. Data on the scale and geography of the “Russian exodus”, its prominent representatives and key groups are given. The internal policy of the Bolsheviks against the background of the Civil War made life in the country for future emigrants difficult and often dangerous. Russian emigrants were not united on the issue of political beliefs, as opposed to adherence to Orthodoxy and hatred of Bolshevism. Emigrants’ personal experiences against the backdrop of existential catastrophe prompted them to recreate “their own” Russia in a foreign land. All this contributed to the intellectual part of the Russian emigration’s understanding of its historical and cultural- moral mission. The emigrants believed in the soon inevitable fall of the USSR. In their desire to bring closer the “liberation” of the country from Bolshevism, many of them consciously became collaborators, realizing that behind this was the destruction of Russian civilization, unlike Russian patriots- antifascists. Russian emigration as a phenomenon cannot be idealized, but it should be recognized as unique. Its experience, heritage and sacrifice made it possible to realize the commonality of destinies and, consequently, to bring closer the future reconciliation and reunification of the Russian Diaspora with historical Russia.
Keywords
Russian emigration, Russian Abroad, first “wave”, culture, self-awareness
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The study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 25–28–00927, https://
rscf.ru/project/25–28–00927/; Russian Christian Academy of Humanities named after Fyodor
Dostoevsky