Belarusianism in the Context Stolypin’s Nationalism

Abstract

The article examines the political potential of the two programs and practices of nation-building at the beginning of the twentieth century associated with all-Russian and Belarusian national movements. The all-Russian project was formulated by the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire P.A. Stolypin. He proceeded from the idea of gradual and inevitable erosion of the estate system and democratization of the social system of Russia. Stolypin envisioned the creation of the political nation, the core of which would be the Russian people, quite traditionally understood as the trinity of Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians. According to Stolypin, the creation of the Russian nation led not to the restriction of the rights of ethnic minorities, but to their gradual expansion in the future, but on condition of loyalty to the state system and the national development of Russia. Until 1917, Russian nationalism in the Northwest region was much more influential than Belarusianism. The latter was represented by only a small circle of «Nasha Niva» journal supporters. Unlike Stolypin’s project, Belarusianism had no impact on any significant part of the local population.