The Study of the First Russian Emigration – Themes and Problems.

Catherine Andreyev

In this opening address to the conference, the speaker considered that various problems needed to be addressed by scholars of the Russian emigrations: first the connection between the emigration and Russia itself, second the specific attributes of émigré existence, third the need to understand the dynamics of émigré communities and also the changing political interpretations of their actions.
The first question had been raised in the discussions about the inter-connection of émigré and Soviet literature.  It should be remembered that whereas it is not necessary to accept all the polarities of the debate, it is important to place the specific nature of the émigrés in their own context and not simply to view them as part of Russian culture.
At the same time, scholars need to stress the importance and interest of the emigration.  When faced with scepticism about the emigration, scholars must remember that the life of émigrés was very hard and represented tragedy and failure. Few in the West were interested in the emigration or were sympathetic to its attitudes.  Most émigrés had intended to return to Russia very quickly and when this did not occur they had to adapt to an unfriendly environment.  This meant a change in priorities: if initially Russian refugees thought that they were preserving Russian culture for Russia, later such preservation was linked to their own identity and that of the next generation.  How Russians approached the problem varied from country to country and approaches became polarized with the approach of war.
Scholars are aware of these problems because of the wealth of material relating  to leading personalities within the emigration.  Work remains to be done on the attitudes of the grass roots and coverage is not the same for all countries of the diaspora.  More research needs to be done on émigré publications.  All of this emphasizes the extent to which scholars must portray the idea of change within all émigré societies, both in respect of their host societies and in their relations to international politics.  Scholars of the Russian diaspora  are fortunate to have such a multifaceted subject of study.