Исторический проигрыш: Федор Горовой в дискуссии 1968–1972 годов о дате образования Перми

Abstract

On the basis of mostly published materials, the article investigates the socio-cultural context of the 1968 – 1972 debates about the foundation date of the city of Perm. The aim of the research is to clarify the significance of the debate for the self-determination of the affected part of the Perm public. The hypothesis is that it was conditioned by a change in cultural policy in the mid-1960s. The metaphor of the new cultural policy was the image of the small motherland saturated with value content. The idea of a second homeland was supposed to unite the socialist present times with the pre-Soviet past and fill the current ideology with symbols of the past, including the founding date of the city. Two cultural concepts collided in the discussion about the time of Perm's founding: professional and positivist ones presented by university rector F.S. Gorovoy, and mythmaking ideas voiced by journalist B.N. Nazarovsky. F.S. Gorovoy spoke on behalf of the Soviet science of that period, resorting to its accumulated methods. B.N. Nazarovsky appealed to compatriots' sense of dignity, insisting that his origins are from Ural foremen more worthy than those of imperial officials. The result of the ‘duel’ was decided by the Perm public, which was formed in the course of the public discussion – a gathering of active citizens, who expected from the discussion to satisfy their spiritual expectations, namely to create a colorful and convincing, bright myth about the past of the city of Perm. The "cold" academic narrative of F.S. Gorovoy ran counter to the expectations of the public opinion. For this reason, Gorovoy's arguments were ignored. A "Small Motherland" received a residence permit on the territory of Perm. Gorovoy disregarded these shifts in the public consciousness. The discussion about the timing of the city's creation revealed a certain cultural distance between the local intelligentsia and the official doctrine, with its primacy of science, rationality, and other similar properties. As Soviet citizens, Perm intellectuals were willing to trace their ancestry back to the artisans of Peter the Great's era rather than to the officials who flooded the city in response to Catherine the Great's decree. The argument over yesterday was won by the anger of today. The main result of the debates can be considered the revival of a relatively independent public opinion in the Soviet Perm. And it was so strong that it outweighed the professional historical arguments of F.S. Gorovoy.