CRITICS AND ILL-WILLERS IN THE FATE OF THE CHUVASH EDUCATOR I.Ya. YAKOVLEV

Abstract

The article highly appreciates the importance of the activities carried out by the Chuvash educator Ivan Yakovlevich Yakovlev. However, the author believes that without analyzing the difficulties, obstacles and attacks of slanderers that the great educator of the Chuvash people had to go through, the scale of his personality and his perseverance in achieving his goal cannot be worthily appreciated. That is why it is important to remember those facts of his biography that give the opportunity to understand the historical situation in which I.Ya. Yakovlev had to act.
 
 The purpose of the article is to consider the main facts from the biography of I.Ya. Yakovlev, testifying to the desire of ill-willers to hinder the great educator in his noble activities, which forced him to distract from pressing matters in order to resist undeserved criticism.
 
 Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the article is made by the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency, as well as a set of general scientific and special historical research methods that made it possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of archival and memoir sources.
 
 Study results. At the beginning of his activity I.Ya. Yakovlev was criticized as a follower of N.I. Ilminsky, and was accused of separatism and nationalism. After the revolution of 1905–1907, a slanderous campaign in the press began, aimed at reducing his authority among the Chuvash, which was associated with Yakovlev’s anti-revolutionary position. In 1917–1919, he was accused of a counterrevolutionary character, the All-Russian Special Commission for Combating Counter-revolution opened a case against him, Sabotage and Speculation and he was forced to resign from the post of inspector at Simbirsk Chuvash school. In 1922 Yakovlev was forced to leave Simbirsk. In the 1930s, he was accused of Russification and excessive religiosity. “Yakovlevism” was declared a negative phenomenon in the Chuvash culture. It was only in the late 1940s that an objective assessment of I.Ya. Yakovlev’s enormous contribution to the education of the Chuvash people came to the fore.
 
 Conclusions. During his long life, I.Ya. Yakovlev was accused of separatism, nationalism, counterrevolutionary activities, and russification. After some time, these accusations look unfounded. He stood up, and today Ivan Yakovlevich is a recognized patriarch whose merits to the Chuvash people are beyond doubt. Paying tribute to these merits, one should not forget what difficulties, bad-mouthing and attacks of slanderers he went through on the way to his noble goal of educating the Chuvash people.