Slavophils’ Idea of Peter I and His Reforms and the Interpretation Thereof by the Slavophils’ Opponents

Abstract

The article offers a historiographic review of the works that deal with the interpretation by the Slavophils of the figure of Peter I and his reforms. The author analyzes the works of A.S. Khomyakov, I.V. Kireevsky, K.S. Aksakov, Yu.F. Samarin and others, who were the first in Russian cultural sphere who publicly criticized the activity of Peter I. At the same time Slavophils never denied the historical validity of Peter’s reforms and never supported any return to the standards and practices of pre-Petrine time. The author also examines the interpretation of the emperor’s image by the authorities and the Westerners. Special attention he pays to the works of V.G. Belinsky, who played a special role in the attempts to discredit the Slavophils, and in particular, in the shaping of their image as retrogrades and opponents to any reforms. The author stresses that the disputes of Slavophils and Westerners regarding Peter I exposed their fundamental differences in the views of the Western culture exclusiveness and the possibility of forcible reforms.