Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/458

432 feel that references to Bismarck and to that statesman's policy make Struve's arguments in favour of "Great Russia" more congenial and more democratic. His identification of state and nationality is extremely characteristic. Struve's ideas are too closely akin to Uvarov's official nationalism, and he is thus led to construct a barrier between the liberals and the socialists. The liberals themselves recognised this, and disowned Struve, though the latter could appeal to the authority of Pestel.

It was very natural that after the granting of the constitution the question of nationality should bulk so largely. Political freedom necessarily signifies the freedom of the nationalities, and constitutionalist Russia has therefore to face the problems which have remained unsolved in Austria-Hungary since 1848. Nationally, linguistically, and racially, Russia is the least unified state in the world. The Polish question and the Jewish question have always been acute; to these are superadded the Finnish, the Ruthenian, and other national problems. The fact that the dominant nation does not even command a majority throws a new light upon the old question of centralisation versus autonomy and federation.

The radicals, following Carlyle, may despise the duma as "National Palaver," but, after all, parliament is a school of languages; the tongue that has been mute under absolutism can now make itself heard; public utterances in parliament, in electoral meetings, in political associations, and the like, is a new and integral part of constitutionalism. Thus in Russia, as elsewhere, the constitution has made the language question a matter of practical politics and has aroused general interest in the problem.

In Russia, as elsewhere, we find that the problem of nationality is interconnected with other questions of primary importance. In the multilingual areas, above all, nationality is not merely a political question, but is an economic and social question to boot. For example, the Polish question and the Little Russian question have agrarian aspects; the exceptional treatment of the Poles and the Jews necessarily affects the economics of agriculture, for neither Pole nor Jew can acquire land (cf. § 68). Again, the problem of nationality has ecclesiastical and religious aspects; the Poles, the Finns, the Germans, the Caucasians, etc., do not belong to the