Nacjonalizm Stalina
Stalin’s Nationalism

Summary/Abstract: In the article, the author attempted to verify opinions about the nationalist character of Iosif Stalin’s views. He analysed these elements of Stalin’s views, which could have been linked with Russian nationalism, such as how Stalin treated Russia’s history, the image of the Russian nation, its special status and historical role, and russification projects. Appeals to national values, tradition and patriotism were used as instruments serving to mobilise society for the redevelopment of the country in the course of a ‘top-down revolution’, consolidate the people in the face of the growing threat of war, and increase the legitimacy of the regime. In the 1930s, Stalin paid attention primarily to the creation and development of the Russian state, centralisation of state power, the formation of the Russian Empire and its international role. It was the Russian state and not the Russian nation that was the object of his interest. Most clearly, nationalist influences were evident in how Stalin perceived the Russian nation and assigned it a special status. More and more, Stalin attributed outstanding qualities and merits to the Russian people, constituting an argument for its unique position among other nations of the USSR – as ‘the first among equals’ and even the ‘guiding force’ of the Soviet society. Stalin was convinced that only the Russians could ensure the coherence and effectiveness of the multinational Soviet state; he saw them as the most numerous and the most developed, most historically prepared for such a role. Stalinist russification was imperial rather than nationalist in the traditional understanding of Russian pre-revolutionary nationalism. Stalin’s views were characterised by state-centrism rather than nationalism, and content that could be considered manifestations of nationalism was treated instrumentally by him.

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