Methodological discussions of Soviet and Polish historians in the second half of 1950s on problems of history of Russia and Poland in the first half of 19th century: An Episode from the history of the Institute of Slavic studies of Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The paper focuses on discussions of Soviet and Polish historians on problems of history of Poland and Russia in the Late modern period. It was exemplified in the debate that took place in the Institute of Slavic Studies in April, 1957 over the second volume of the “History of Poland”, that had been prepared by Polish historians. The discussion reflected some fundamental problems: the crisis of the feudal serfdom system, the genesis of capitalism, the Polish nation-building process, the history of Polish liberation movement and Polish culture in the end of the 18th — the first half of the 19th centuries. The whole discussion was very productive both for Russian and Polish historical science, as it contributed to the elaboration of new methods and theories of studies of history.