“National Indifference” of Elites and the Dynamics of Peripheral Nationalisms in the Russian Empire in the Early 20th Century

The concept of “national indifference” was introduced by historians of the Habsburg Bohemia in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. describes the inability or unwillingness of ordinary people to support nationalist movements or exclusively identify with a promoted national community. In essence, it emerges when nationalist activism becomes widespread. This article proposes applying the concept of national indifference to the history of the western borderlands of the Russian Empire while broadening it to encompass the strategic resistance of elite groups in Bessarabia, Western Krai, lands of former Kingdom of Poland and the Baltic gubernia. Motivated by conformism, fear for their status, and a desire to avoid exacerbating ethnic conflicts in ethnically heterogeneous provinces of the Empire, these groups consciously resisted the efforts of nationalist activists for ethnic mobilization. The elites of Bessarabia and the Krajovians of the Northwestern Krai were also frightened by the threat of further marginalization in the nation-states that were to replace the empire according to the nationalists' plans. These groups consciously resisted the efforts of national activists to mobilize along ethnic lines. Applying the concept of “national indifference” gives additional opportunities to overcome the narrow perspective of national narratives.