Russian Subjects Research Articles

Great Britain in 1801: before the Signing of the Peace of Amiens (According to Reports of the Priest of the Russian Embassy in London, Yakov Smirnov)

In the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI) reports are stored of the priest of the Russian Embassy in London Ya. I. Smirnov (1754—1840) in the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs (GKID) during the first half of 1801, giving new information to learn not only activities of the British government in a specified period of time and the formulation of Cabinet policy towards Russia and other countries, but the peculiarities of domestic life, and the circumstances of the stay there left during the break in relations in the years 1800—1801 Russian subjects, both civilians and military sailors. Smirnov’s reports to St. Petersburg proved to the representatives of the highest authorities that neither Russia nor any other country would be able to talk to Great Britain from a position of strength. It would be better for continental monarchies if it were their ally. But in this case, if we keep in mind the stable nature of the Anglo-French antagonism of the late 18th — early 19th centuries, London would require entry into the war on its side. Understanding this and relying on information received including from Smirnov, Alexander I in 1804 he proposed to Prime-Minister William Pitt the Younger an Alliance based not on immediate benefits, but on the principles of re-establishing (on a new basis) a “balance of power” in post-war Europe that guarantees peace and stability for all States, large and small. As for the peculiarities of the development of Anglo-Russian relations in the first half of 1801, it is worth paying attention to the fact that Smirnov in November 1800 reported to St. Petersburg about the existence of a “General plan” of the British to counteract the countries that signed the Convention on armed neutrality (“Northern League”). Subsequently, he informed the Russian authorities in detail and accurately about all the movements of the British squadrons. Knowing this, we can correct the established statement in Russian historiography that the measures taken by the British in relation to the ships of the countries participating in the hostile coalition were absolutely treacherous and unexpected for them. On the other hand, the priest insisted on showing his high-ranking recipients that during the most difficult period of the Anglo-Russian breakup, Russian goods are traded on the London stock exchange, even without raising the price. This was to prove that the British were interested in maintaining mutually beneficial trade and would never break with Russia themselves. Economic relations will become a solid basis for the political union of the two countries during the reign of Alexander I.

A methodology for computing and assessing the transport accessibility index: The Russian Federation subjects case study

Subject. This article examines the set of economic relations and problems emerging within the spatial development of settlements and constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Objectives. The article aims to develop key indicators and methods for assessing transport accessibility, potential market capacity, taking into account socio-economic characteristics, geographical location and the level of connectivity of areas. Methods. For the study, we used the methods of economic, statistical analysis and synthesis, comparison, and the k-means method. Results. The article proposes a system of cost-benefit equations for economic agents, and criteria, and a methodology for assessing the Transport Accessibility Index. Based on the clustering of Russian subjects by k-means, the article describes four groups of regions by level of transport accessibility. Conclusions and Relevance. The practical use of the approach presented to assess the Transport Accessibility Index will help form the basis for management decisions aimed at improving efficiency in the planning of spatial development and assessing the socio-economic effects of the proposed measures. The developed Transport Accessibility Index should be used as part of the analysis and monitoring of the effectiveness of infrastructure expenditures affecting changes in the transport accessibility of settlements within individual regions (municipalities).

Exceptional Subjects: Koreans, Settler Colonialism, and Imperial Subjecthood in the Russian Far East, 1860s–1917

AbstractThis article traces debates and policies of the Russian imperial administrators toward the Korean population in the Far Eastern provinces of the Russian Empire. Koreans were initially treated as de facto members of the peasant estate, and in the 1890s many were granted the status of Russian subjects. Yet the rise of settler colonialism and a nationalizing empire from the 1880s, and especially after the Russian revolution of 1905, complicated the issue of Korean subjecthood and led to policies that excluded Koreans from the regulations normally applicable to peasants, such as the right to increased land allotments. At the same time, the neotraditionalist approach to the management of difference in the empire was still present in the 1910s, albeit never clearly articulated to compete with the nationalizing idiom.

ASSESSMENT OF REGIONAL MORTGAGE INEQUALITY: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF METHODS AND RESULTS

The article focuses on the study of the problems of assessing regional mortgage inequality in the Russian Federation. Based on an analysis of the experience of Russian and foreign economists and regionalists in the field of spatial inequality, possible approaches to assessing the disproportions in the regional mortgage market development are investigated. Calculations were carried out using the differentiation coefficient for extreme values of regions, fund coefficient for extreme groups of regions, log-normal distribution according to the 90/10 method, variation coefficient, Lorentz concentration coefficient and Gini index, Theil coefficient, as well as a differential indicator (author's development) of the development level of the housing mortgage lending system (HML) in the region and some other indicators. An economic interpretation of the calculation results is given. The significant variability of the various methods of estimation results is shown. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the approaches and their results, a substantiated method for assessing regional mortgage inequality was carried out. Statistical methods, including multivariate analysis, as well as expert assessment, were used as the methodological base of scientific research. The theoretical and practical significance of the study lies in substantiating the expediency of using the differential indicator proposed by the authors, characterizing the development level of the HML system in specific regions, to solve the problems of assessing the mortgage inequality of Russian subjects.

Research on Teacher Transformation and Development of University Russian Subject Connotation Construction based on Task-driven Computer Model

Computer technology is an intelligent technology which integrates knowledge, operability and practicability in the new era. It has the characteristics of large development ability, strong practicality and wide application range. With the rapid progress of computer technology, students’ learning thinking and structure system have changed greatly. The traditional Russian teaching mode has been unable to meet the needs of students’ learning[1]. In the current situation, the construction of Russian subject in university is urgent. At the same time, scholars believe that professional teachers should also make corresponding transformation progress with the addition of computer model teaching technology. On the other hand, experts put forward task driven teaching model. The emergence of this model can greatly enhance the construction of Russian discipline.

Decontextualization of History: Fantasmic Rebuilding of the Soviet Past

This article is devoted to a specific case of identification with the Soviet past, when the latter is not given in mobile and individualized forms of a personal, family or social group memory, but in the canonized form of a socially recognized cultural representation. The article analyses different phenomena in contemporary mass culture (films and television series) and also considers the tendencies of official historical politics. Although contemporary post-Soviet nostalgia may be described as a secondary identification with the cinematic representation of one or another era the conceptual nostalgic framework through which post-Soviet society is often considered must be corrected. This article proposes the correction can be made via the following thesis: the modern Russian subject (en masse) is no longer nostalgic for the Soviet past, instead nostalgic identification is stylistically mediated by the characteristic modes of their representation in the cinema of the corresponding eras. We should talk about a kind of fantasmic identification, mediated by the specific modes of their cultural representation.
 Keywords: history, nostalgia, melancholia, soviet past, post-soviet subject

«Русская историография» Н.Л. Рубинштейна и вопрос о месте истории Западной Руси (России) в рамках общей русской истории

“Russian Historiography” of N.L. Rubinstein is one of fundamental works on the history of Russian historical significance which importance for native history is great and diverse. The focus of the issue examination in this article is the absence in Rubinstein’s work of practically any materials on the history of the “Great Duchy of Lithuania”, “Lithuanian-Russian State”, “West Provinces”, etc. In this sense we come across a paradoxical situation when the fundamental research on the comprehension of Russian history development ignores and gives no explicit answer to the total number of above listed subjects, their interpretation and their place in various concepts of Russian history. The author of the article attempts to explain the situation relying on the general concept of Rubinstein’s “Russian Historiography” demonstrating the absence of problematization of Russian historical process subject and its limits, constraints and consequences of the “transparency” of the subject, in particular, the possibility of manifold functioning of the general scheme suggested by Rubinstein depending on the specific political context.

Genetic variants in glutamate cysteine ligase confer protection against type 2 diabetes.

Oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at genes encoding glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic (rs12524494, rs17883901, rs606548, rs636933, rs648595, rs761142 at GCLC) and modifier (rs2301022, rs3827715, rs7517826, rs41303970 at GCLM) subunits are associated with susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. 2096 unrelated Russian subjects were enrolled for the study. Genotyping was done with the use of the MassArray System. Plasma levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione in the study subjects were analyzed by fluorometric and colorimetric assays, respectively.The present study found, for the first time, an association of SNP rs41303970 in the GCLM gene with a decreased risk of T2D (P = 0.034, Q = 0.17). Minor alleles such as rs12524494-G GCLC gene (P = 0.026, Q = 0.17) and rs3827715-C GCLM gene (P = 0.03, Q = 0.17) were also associated with reduced risk for T2D. Protective effects of variant alleles such as rs12524494-G at GCLC (P = 0.02, Q = 0.26) and rs41303970-A GCLM (P = 0.013, Q = 0.25) against the risk of T2D were seen solely in nonsmokers. As compared with healthy controls, diabetic patients had markedly increased levels of ROS and decreased levels of total GSH in plasma. Interestingly, fasting blood glucose level positively correlated with oxidized glutathione concentration (rs = 0.208, P = 0.01). Three SNPs rs17883901, rs636933, rs648595 at GCLC and one rs2301022 at GCLM were associated with decreased levels of ROS, while SNPs rs7517826, rs41303970 at GCLM were associated with increased levels of total GSH in plasma. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding glutamate cysteine ligase subunits confer protection against type 2 diabetes and their effects are mediated through increased levels of glutathione.

Interleukin 17A gene polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Interleukin 17 plays a key role in the immunopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and serves as a link between activation of innate and adaptive immune cells, whereas its increased expression may represent one of the causes for uncontrolled inflammation and formation of immunopathological reactions. Among members of the interleukin 17 family, most studied is IL-17A, which is characterized by peak biological activity. IL-17A is one of the important immune mediators able to induce production of other pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and promote recruitment of inflammatory cells, such as monocytes and neutrophils, into inflamed organs. IL17A gene contains a number of polymorphic sites, wherein single-nucleotide substitutions particularly at position the -197G/A may affect its expression level. Here in case-control study we retrospectively examined contribution of genetic polymorphism at the -197G/A position within the IL17A gene. Allele-specific PCR was used to iderntify the -197G/A polymorphism in IL17A gene in groups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy donors of the Russian ethnic group. Our study was made within a framework on assessing immunogenetic component for rheumatoid arthritis in ethnic Russian subjects in the Chelyabinsk Region. Prevalence of IL17A gene alleles and genotypes obtained in the work is in agreement with the Hardy– Weinberg equilibrium, and is characterized by rather high frequency of allele replacement (40%), which is typical for Caucasoid populations. Thus, it was found that interpopulation differences are characteristic of such gene polymorphism shown not to be associated with predisposition to rheumatoid arthritis in ethnic Russian subjects in the Chelyabinsk Region. Women with RA in our study were found to display certain changfes in frequencies of alleles and genotypes formed due to single-nucleotide substitution in IL17A gene at position -197G/A. However, in women such features cannot be considered as additional risk factors for developing RA. Allele -197*G, homozygous genotype -197G/G may be considered as markers of late-onset for the first RA attack in women. Analysis on distribution of SNP -197G/A alleles and genotypes within the IL17A gene showed that such polymorphism is of low value predictor likely being more associated with some RA clinical variants, but not with predisposition to RA development.

Развитие взаимодействия международных и российских субъектов транснационального капитала

The article considers the characteristic features of the development of interaction between international and Russian transnational capital subjects, which appear in raising national corporations to a transnational level, in the penetration of leading world’s firms in the national spheres of investment, production and distribution of goods on labor markets. Consequently, the development of relations between national companies and transnational corporations (TNCs) in the domestic economy has features that distinguish them from devel-oped countries. Currently, the tendency of Russian TNCs integration into the production chains of international corporations in developed countries as a supplier of raw materials has been formed and consolidated. Thus, the relations of Russian multinationals with world corporations and the state are formed according to their own structure. However, the quality of relations between Russian subjects of transnational and national business lags significantly behind those relationships that are realized in the international system of transnational capital.

ACTUAL PROBLEMS IN ASSESSMENT OF THE REGIONS' INVESTMENT POTENTIAL

The analysis of existing methods for assessing the investment potential of Russian regions has shown that there are a number of problems with an objective assessment of the investment development of regions. The using of the regions’ investment potential assessing methods without taking into account the factors of municipalities’ investment development raises doubts about the results’ objectivity. In this work the authors set a goal to assess the influence of individual factors on the Russian regions’ investment potential by calculating the index of municipal districts’ investment opportunities, which allows to identify problems with investment development of the region. The research is based on economic-mathematical modeling by the Russian subjects’ official statistics information with the Cherepovets municipal district of the Vologda region as example. The research allowed us to determine the impact of investment processes in municipal areas on the Russian region’s investment potential. In particular, to determine that the process of investment development in municipal areas depends on several fundamental factors: in most areas there is intraregional labor migration, which affects the objectivity of the municipal areas labor potential’s assessment. Thus, the proposed method of evaluating the investment opportunities index of municipal districts is an effective tool for analyzing the development of Russian regions’ investment potential, it can be used as a management tool, and also allows us to identify problem areas in the investment processes of region. The results of the research can be used in analyzing and monitoring the Russian Federation subject’s investment potential, determining the needs for further investment development of individual municipal districts of the region.

М.М. Сперанский: у истоков российского либерализма

The purpose of this work is to identify the role and significance of M. M. Speransky as the founder of a theoretically sound, holistic and systemic liberal doctrine in Russia. The article uses such methods of scientific research as the historical method, the retrospective method, and the hermeneutical method. The question of the founding fathers of Russian liberalism, which ideologically has a serious impact on all spheres of modern public life, continues to be quite controversial in the historical and political science literature. From the research position of the author of the article, it is M. M. Speransky stands at the origins of Russian liberalism. During the were identified the most important theoretical parameters of the richest philosophical, political, legal heritage of Speransky, on which were based all the ideologues of Russian liberalism, till our days: the adoption of Western political experience, a focus on the formation of civil society in Russia, the need for government guarantees the rights and freedoms of the individual, etc. these parameters are presented as individual subsections, at the end conclusions and generalizations. The article also provides information about the personality of M. M. Speransky, the most important stages of his biography and political and legal activities. According to Speransky, the effectiveness of ways, methods and forms of Russian transformations increases with the skillful borrowing of Western experience, gradual "grafting" of useful elements of the legal system and political culture of the advanced countries of Western Europe. He saw his political mission as the reorganization of Russian absolutism and potential despotism into a form of constitutional monarchy based on the separation of powers and subordination to a single ("root") law. The "root law" should provide for the interests and aspirations of all the main elements of society, and the rights and freedoms of all Russian citizens will be firmly respected. This will also ensure a response from the bottom up, an increase in social activity of the population, the development of social and individual self-activity, and the emancipation of entrepreneurial talents. M. M. Speransky justified the relationship between the development of liberal trends and the need to form a full-fledged civil society in Russia. The importance of M. M. Speransky gave social mobility for the successful development of society, defended the facilitated opportunities for intersectional movements of Russian subjects.

Региональный парламентаризм в современной России: сущность и политическое значение

The paper analyzes modern Russian regional par-liamentarism on the basis of a systematic method and determines its actual political role. Its main fea-ture is an active role of the legislative and repre-sentative bodies in the political process, its real abil-ity to identify problems and solve them. It is pro-posed to classify Russian regional parliamentary systems on such grounds as the type of regional legislative bodies, the correlation of political forces, and the formal and informal role of the Parliament in the political life of the regions, including local politi-cal customs (specifics). It is concluded that, on the one hand, regional parliamentarism in modern Rus-sia is characterized by increased pressure from the executive power, but, on the other hand, there are a number of functional elements of representation in the political systems of Russian regions and trends in the effective functioning of parliaments are ob-served. The study identified and characterized two grounds for classifying Russian regions: the type of Parliament of Russian subject and the real im-portance of Parliament in the process of making political decisions in modern Russia.

Основні наукові підходи щодо осмислення моделі мовної політики як політологічного концепту

Scientific approaches to understanding the of language as a political science concept are studied, which are: circle, based on which this is built, the components of which are a single whole, consisting of separate sectors, which are political networks interconnected by political science contexts , ie cause-and-effect relationships; institutional, which includes the Institute of the Head of State, parliament, government, court, political parties, local governments, NGOs, civil society and others. institutions; network, which makes it possible to find out which political networks make up the model, which at the stages of formation and implementation of language by different administrations and states, is subject to change; geopolitical, which clarified that the subjects of Russian and others. political parties and public organizations aim to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, relying on the Russian language, which should receive official / state status, and the Russian population, which, according to some Russian politicians and scholars, is not a national minority in the post-Soviet states, in particular in Ukraine, and the indigenous nation; ideological, which is a system of conceptually designed political, legal, religious, philosophical ideas, views and ideas on political life, which reflect the interests, worldview, ideals, moods of people, society, political parties, social movements and others. actors that constructively or destructively influence the structure of the model; value, which is closely related to the language, ideology, self-consciousness of the subjects of language policy, their political culture, verbal and political behavior; synergetic, which helps to analyze the through the prism of the interaction of its parts, which is essentially constructive or destructive; postmodern, the product of which is multiculturalism, democracy, the decline of communism, globalization, decentralization, etc., which determine the verbal, real and symbolic behavior of politicians, some of which slow down the implementation of language and negatively affect the development of its model. Emphasis is placed on understanding the model of language policy as a political science concept, which consists of political networks and political science contexts that connect its parts into a complex structure that interacts on the principle of circle. The concept of hermeneutics is defined, which is the basis of the hermeneutic circle as a phenomenon and concept, the basis of which is: knowledge of language and morality, which regulate the behavior of language policy; understanding the content and significance of political science contexts and political networks of the language model; political science knowledge, which is used to study laws, programs, scientific works, historical and political sources, political decisions and phenomena that we study, analyze linguistic and political situations and processes. It is proved that each of the approaches used to understand this is important, because they all together help to consider its structure and find out that its constructive or destructive nature depends on the regime prevailing in the state, ie the form of government and ideologies that differently affect the implementation of language policy, the formation of this complex structure and its development.

Percevoir de l’argent grâce à la barbe ? L’impôt sur la barbe et l’économie de l’État russe au début du xviiie siècle

This article is the first in existing scholarship to examine Peter the Great’s famous decree on the taxation of beards from an economic perspective. Through an analysis of the decree in conjunction with other aspects of Russian state financial policy at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it argues that Peter had counted on this tax to replenish the Treasury at a critical moment when state resources were on the brink of complete exhaustion as a result of the gruelling Northern War with Sweden combined with a twofold drop in the value of the rouble. Based on new archival evidence, the study demonstrates the untenability of this policy, on the one hand due to Peter and his advisors’ over-optimistic assumptions about the prosperity of their Russian subjects (the beard tax was unreasonably high), and on the other, because the government overestimated their administrative capacity to implement the decree throughout the realm without provoking resistance.

«Повелено мне киргиз кайсацкой народ с калмыцким примирить, чтоб оные оба народы между собою жили в согласии». К деятельности В. Н. Татищева на посту руководителя Калмыцкой комиссии. Первая половина 1740-х гг.

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of administrative and political work carried out by the Russian authorities in the border South-Eastern gubernias to settle differences between the Kalmyks and the Kazakhs in the mid-18th century. In the 1730s, a part of the Kazakh tribes entered into allegiance of Russia, but this did not eliminate all causes of their conflicts with other Russian subjects. The historiography has not paid much attention to relations between the frontier peoples. Published sources do not touch upon this topic; thus, many important facts related to the activities of the Kalmyk Commission (1741–1745) have been overlooked by the scholars. Documents from the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia permit to eliminate this gap in the historiography. They may be used in a comprehensive analysis of the Russo-Kalmyk-Kazakh relations in the mid-18th century. The article draws on them to describe measures taken in 1741–42 by the head of the Kalmyk Commission, Astrakhan Governor V.N. Tatishchev in order to promote peace between the Kalmyks and the Kazakhs. His correspondence with the Kazakh khans and starshinas, the governor of the Kalmyk Khanate, the office of the Orenburg Commission and the local administration is analyzed. It is noted that he was forced to tackle the issues of return of prisoners and of stolen livestock and prevention of raids. V.N. Tatishchev’s work for preparation of the Kalmyk-Kazakh peace congress is underscored. The article analyzes the behavior of the Kazakh nobility and concludes that the nobles were unwilling to attend the congress, preferring not to bind themselves with personal obligations. New documents are being introduced into the scientific use, that permit not only to clarify the nature of relations between the Kalmyks and the Kazakhs in the 1740s, but also to give an idea of the principles and mechanisms of diplomatic and administrative work of central and local authorities in promoting peaceful coexistence of different peoples within Russia.

Документы Латвийского государственного исторического архива о положении граждан Германии в Риге в начале Первой мировой войны

The article discusses the information potential of the documents from the Latvian Historical Archive for studying policy of the Russian government towards subjects of adversary states in the First World War. Citizens of Germany and Austria-Hungary who were in Russian regions, where at the beginning of the First World War the martial law was imposed, were subject to administrative deportation to the Central and Eastern gubernias of the Russian Empire as prisoners of war. This problem is being studied mainly on the basis of documents from the central archives, which does not permit to reconstruct the complete picture of what had happened. The article analyses the lists, petitions of deported German citizens, correspondence of police officials, statistical data, and orders of the administration of the governorate of Livonia. Drawing on these documents, it studies social and age composition of the deportees, reconstructs courses of action of the gubernia government. It is noted that petitions of deportees have a strong emotional impact, as they draw pictures of difficult life circumstances of those forced to leave their place of residence and travel far into Russian lands. The emotional intensity of these documents needs to be balanced by using record keeping documents. Lists of deportees have notations on canceling of deportation for various reasons; they permit to introduce into scientific use statistics on the number of deportees. The archival documents suggest that the practice of deportation of adversary state subjects was not a standard procedure. At request, many of them were given a brief reprieve, some received permission to return to Riga later. By the winter of 1914-15, within German and Austrian subjects there were exuded categories of persons not to be subject to deportation (Czechs, Slovaks, French, widows who had previously been Russian subjects, their minor children, persons of over 60 and the sick).

Gevorg Tiratsyan

Gevorg Tiratsyan was born on September 18, 1926, in the city of Chetatea-Alba, Romania. He was born to the family of the noteworthy pedagogue, Artashes Tiratsyan. In his school years, he was able to learn a number of European languages aside from the main subjects of history, Armenian, Russian, and Romanian. In 1945, he was admitted to the Department of History at Bucharest University. Shortly after, the Tiratsyans family repatriated to Armenia. In 1948, G. Tiratsyan was already a second-year student at Yerevan State University’s Department of History. After graduating, he was accepted into the PhD program in 1952, with Boris Piotrovski as his advisor. The internationally recognized scholar, Hovsep Orbeli, and the prominent representative of the orientalists of Leningrad, Camilla Trever, significantly influenced the wide-range of the future archaeologist’s scholarly interests.

From Cotton and Smoke: Łódź — Industrial City and Discourses of Asynchronous Modernity 1897–1994 by A. Zysiak K. Śmiechowski K. Piskała W. Marzec K. Kaźmierska J. Burski (review)

REVIEWS 179 activities grew steadily. Trade promotion, for instance through the Tasmanian International Exhibition in Hobart in 1894–95, or efforts to improve the popular image of Russia, mostly in cooperation with various Eastern orthodox churches, became more important. Until the Russo-Japanese war, Russia was seen as a potential threat to the British Empire in the Asia-Pacific region. By contrast, Russian weakness coupled with the rise of Japan after 1905 as the dominant power in the geopolitics of the region changed perceptions of Russia in Australia. This was not lost on the then consul-general, Matvei Matveevich Gedenshtrom (not to be confused with the Russo-Swedish explorer of Siberia of the same name): ‘The enemy is Britain’s ally Japan’ (doc. no. 100). From 1914–17, with the British and Russian empires now allied against the Central Powers, Russia’s last consul-general at Melbourne, Alexander Abaza, busied himself facilitating the return of Russian subjects to Russia or their enlistment in the Australian forces. He also sought to extend Russian official protection to Austro-Hungarian ‘Slav subjects’ resident in Australia. Abaza, who hailed from a Moldavian noble family, readily continued to serve the Provisional Government after February 1917 but resigned at the end of the year on the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd. He was the last official Russian representative at Melbourne until Australia and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations under the very different conditions of the next world war in 1942. This is a very useful and expertly edited collection of diplomatic sources — complemented by a detailed introduction on the sources, their selection, transliteration and on Russian civil service ranks — that will be of use to anyone studying imperial Russian policy in the Pacific region or Australia’s internal development in the late nineteenth century. School of History T. G. Otte University of East Anglia Zysiak, A., Śmiechowski, K., Piskała, K., Marzec, W., Kaźmierska, K., Burski, J. From Cotton and Smoke: Łódź — Industrial City and Discourses of Asynchronous Modernity 1897–1994. Wydawnictwo Universytetu Łódzkiego, Łódz and Kraków, 2018. 308 pp. Illustrations. Figures. Tables. Notes. Methodological appendix. Bibliography. Index. Zł44.90: $60.00:£47.00 (paperback). Two years ago I visited Łódź, which I had remembered from the early 1990s as a grey and rather depressing place. Since then the city has changed tremendously. As a newcomer its interplay of historical traditions appealed to me — as predatory industrial hub described in Reymont’s Promised Land, SEER, 98, 1, JANUARY 2020 180 as the epitome of plan-oriented and monumental socialism and shambles of post-1989 capitalism and gentrification of the recent past. But the people I met — a taxi driver, a local grocer and inhabitants of a rotting tenement house — confused me as they all elaborated on the compromised past, and having learnt where I come from, expressed their envy of my hometown Gdańsk, which they perceived as far more attractive. Citizens of the ‘Polish Manchester’, and the former ‘city of cotton’, seemed to be tired of the Sisyphean task of rolling a boulder up the modernity hill. This remarkable city is the focus of a group of sociologists and historians who have carried out extensive research on press discourses about urban development and the drive for modernity from 1897, when the city was recorded as the fifth largest in the Russian empire, to the early post-Soviet years. Łódź, located right at the geographical heart of contemporary Poland, stands out from most European cities, being both insular and hyper-modern. This study seeks to demonstrate how global ideas combined with Poland’s idiosyncrasies, the violent historic turns of the twentieth century, local policymaking and mass readership to produce principal concepts at ground level. The book comprises four chapters, each one following discourses from different pioneer periods, from late nineteenth-century industrial development through to Polish independence and the beginnings of a socialist city, to post-1989 capitalism. Despite some repetitions and minor inconsistencies, the book is surprisingly cohesive both in concept and narration. It is well-based in the current methodology of historical sociology and intellectual history, and the historical contextualization is impressive in its clarity. Implementing the metaphor of...

«Не позволять простому народу… ежегодное и бесцельное шатание заграницу». Записка тайного советника А. И. Темницкого о русских паломниках на Восток. 1910 г.

The article introduces a note about Russian pilgrims, written by the privy councillor A. I. Temnitsky on January 26, 1910. The original text is stored in the files of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire. Substantial analysis of the source accompanies its publication. The document is being introduced into scientific use for the first time with minor abbreviations that do not affect its style or content. The identity of the note’s author has not been established; it is known that Temnitsky owned land in the Minsk gubernia and lived in Kiev for a time. The article is to characterize this source on the pilgrimage policy of the Russian Empire found in the archival file “Correspondence on transportation of pilgrims and on pilgrims’ daily routine en route to Jerusalem, 1897-1914.” The hypothesis about the crisis of the pilgrimage policy of the Russian Empire on the eve of the First World War has been tested with traditional methods of historical science: comparative, historical, problem-chronological, retrospective. The note of Temnitsky enables to correct the existing ideas on pilgrimage practices of the Orthodox believers from the Western gubernias of the Russian Empire. The document offers a different view on the Russian pilgrimage policy of the early 20th century, undermines the researchers’ arguments that it was the conservative part of that Russian society that supported the activation of pilgrimage activities in Russia. The publishers underscore the value of the suggestion made by Temnitsky: Russia should have its own chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and extend the activities of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission to Egypt. The publishers conclude that Temnitsky’s note gives researchers an alternative point of view on the organization of Russian pilgrimages on the eve of the First World War and demonstrates systemic problems in the implementation of the Russian pilgrimage policy that contrast with increased statistics on the entry of Russian subjects in Palestine.