Вопросы истории и культуры

северных стран и территорий

------------------------------------

Historical and cultural problems

of northern countries and regions

 

Научные статьи

 

Этнография

 

Lubov A. Maximova

(Syktyvkar, Russia)

Victor A. Semenov, Prof.

(Syktyvkar, Russia)

 

Komi mentality in historical context

 

The mentality of any people is composed of a set of factors and, as a whole, depends on a level of ethnicity. Thus, at a tribal level, identity of fellow tribesmen was based on mentality of patrimonial gods and tribal legends, and at the subsequent stages of any people’s formation - on governmental mechanisms or on the similar factors providing stability of society.

Undoubtedly, in the process of development of any ethnos there is a change of ethnic consciousness. To a certain degree, these changes depend on the influence of foreign ethnic environments with other models of cultural adaptation. For the Komi people a basis of ethnic consciousness, as well as for other peoples, is the feeling of their ethnic identity, ethnic solidarity. At the contemporary level of the Komi mentality, the language and undoubtedly the political system have a special value for the formation of an ethnic unity. The traditional spiritual culture, to which respondents frequently refer, is probably not a real mechanism of functioning of the ethnos but a tribute to the historical memory.

At the same time, at the modern level of life of the Komi ethnos, interethnic marriages, foreign cultures’ influences and the state policy as a whole render essential influence on the washing out of ethnic consciousness of Komi. So according to sociological surveys, 57.7 % of urban population and 65.7 % of rural residents identify themselves unambiguously with their own ethnos [1]. According to the surveys made by the authors of the report during the previous ten years among students of Syktyvkar, the majority of children from interethnic marriages (Komi and other nationalities) identify themselves as Russians even though one of their parents is not of Russian origin. In our opinion, the similar ethnic situation is closely interconnected with the history of formation of the Komi people. While stating the tasks for research in this aspect, it is necessary to formulate some issues, allowing detail general background of the problem. It is finding out and choosing sources that make it possible to track the basic stages of formation of the ethnos and to find out their own ethnic names and the names given by the environment.

Being the most widespread sources for consideration of the above-mentioned problem, it is accepted to involve the data of linguistics, ethnology and archeology. Thus, it is necessary to note, that correlation of the data received by these sciences is not always possible. Nevertheless, even now it is possible to speak about several stages of formation of the Komi people.

Genetic ancestors of Komi appear, for certain, in the early Iron Age from the territory of the Kama regions. Such resettlements would repeatedly take place later on. So-called ancestor culture ("ananjinskaya") was closely connected to the Scythian world (Iranian, according to their language). As a whole, that substrate layer was basic for peoples of the Perm language group that included contemporary Komi, Komi - Perm and Udmurts. These assumptions happen to be true according to the data of linguistics. Thus, in all languages of the Perm group there is a number of symbols going back to the Scythian-Iranian cultural contacts and marking a certain level of consciousness. Rather generally, it is possible to produce the names of some of those concepts - a house (‘gort’), a person (‘mort’), a soul (‘ort’) as well as a lot of other cultural definitions, including the names of mythological beings - Voipel, Yoma, Gundyr. It is possible to refer as well the names of some pets, dairy products, metals, etc to the similar borrowings. It is typical that the metals, animals and products named in reality appeared in the Komi culture much later than in the language. Nevertheless, the similar phenomena convincingly showed that ancestors of Komi developed in the common historical way on the background of cultural contacts with the environment.

The very historical formation of the Komi ethnos, probably, should be connected with the first mention of the Perm people in the early Russian chronicles [2], in the unit where the peoples paying tribute to Russia are listed. However, this ethnonym is not fixed in the historical memory of the Komi people. Probably it is connected with the fact that formation of the actually ethnic territory occurred later. At the same time, the connection of the chronicled "Perm" with the subsequent tribes mentioned in the Novgorod chronicles is doubtless. L.N. Zherebtsov pointed out the following tribal groups: Permyaki Pinezhskie, Permyaki Udorskie, Permyaki Vymskie, Luzskaya Permtsa, etc. Connection between the "Perm Vychegodskaya" and the Vym archeological culture is convincingly shown in E.A.Saveljeva's archeological materials [3]. The ethnonym "Perm" is not ethimologized convincingly. According to the most common assumption, this is a borrowing from the Vepsky "pera maa" (the back ground). Connection of the ethnonym with the legendary Biarmia as a whole is not supported by the sources.

It is remarkable that according to the archeological data, the basic population in the XI-XIVth centuries lived in the basin of the Vym, which testifies to mass resettlement of some compact ethnic group from another territory. Various sources show that this district was in the basin of the  Kolva. Such an assumption, according to the linguistic data only, was stated back by V.A.Lytkin.

It is indicative that the existence of Perm Vychegodskaya is connected to involvement of the Komi territory in the sphere of political and economic interests, first of all, of the old Russian and then of the Moscow state. It is remarkable that after the Christianization of Komi at the end of the XIVth century, they began to refer the burial grounds of their ancestors to the legendary "chud". Similar ideas still exist, though all Finno-Ugric peoples were called “chud” by Russians. In the context of activity of the old Russian and Moscow state, Komi were involved as conductors for Russian military people since the way after the “yarlyk” went through those grounds to Karakorum, to Pechora - after ore, and then and to Siberia [4]. Actually, formation of the Komi people coincides with the Christianization, and it was the event that initiated that formation. A significant step in that direction was creation of the Zyryan alphabet by Stefan of Perm, which helped to write prayer books. It is non-randomness that modern researchers refer Komi to the Old-Writing peoples. The chronicled Perms become known in history under the name of “Zyryane». In Russian chronicles from the end of the XIVth century, we can see "Syryane", “Seryane”, “Siryani”, etc. That very ethnonym ethimologizes neither in Russian nor in the Komi languages.

The fact of appearance of "new people" and their self-identification with a certain ethnonym was an impact for self-identification of Komi as well. Trans-Ural Komi still name themselves Zyryane, demonstrating the difference from the Komi living in the territory of the Komi Republic. An important factor in formation of the Komi mentality could be the opposition between Moscow and Novgorod because of their power in the territory, with Moscow and Novgorod residents burning the churches founded by Stefan of Perm, and the natives were the first ones to suffer. Undoubtedly, the Perms having been converted into Christianity, with creation of the Perm diocese in the center of their land, were consolidated around it and considered any encroachment as hostile.

After creation of the Moscow state, the interest in the Komi land, nevertheless, weakened, since interests of the new state unit were directed towards Siberia, which possessed more powerful economic resources. The way over there, after conquering the Volga and Kama regions, appeared more convenient than the way by the Northern rivers and Northern Ural.

In that context, the pressure of the Russian centralized state weakened as well, and Russian migrant farmers considered the extreme conditions in the North to be not too much attractive.

At the same time, on the contrary, for the same reasons, outflow of local population to Siberia began [5].

These factors had a different significance for the Komi mentality. On the one hand, the geographical outlook enlarged, intercultural contacts grew, and on the other hand, the interethnic consolidation became stronger. The latter circumstance resulted in weak influence of the Russian-speaking center and in absence of russification.

Thus, it is necessary to note, that in the whole, the Komi territory was not far away from political interests of Moscow. Komi peasants were recruited in "cossacks" in Mangazeya (Siberia), as well as in Totma, and in the Skopin - Shuisky's armies for struggle against Poles. Up to present time, near Syktyvkar, there is Komi village "Monastyr", where a significant part of its inhabitants has the surname Shuiskys. The following significant stage of formation of the Komi mentality was connected to development of capitalism in Russia, which demanded a significant inflow of labor to large cities. Thus, in the Komi territory, iron manufacturing, mining crafts (a grinding stone), and lumbering developed. Those kinds of activities demanded expansion of the spheres of education, which were carried out through ecclesiastical schools, and then through Zemstvo schools. It is natural that teaching there took place in Russian. At the same time, there were textbooks with Komi - Russian bilingual as well. According to the data of A.I. Teryukov, by the end of the XIXth century, more than 10 grammar-books and dictionaries on the Komi language were published in different countries of the world. Komi peasants joined naturally the Russian culture. For example, Stepan Nalimov made balalaikas for the orchestra of Andreev, and for that, he received a golden medal at a world's fair in Paris. V. Nalimov, K. Zhakov, and P. Sorokin became professors of the Moscow and Petersburg universities. Many of them went through a good scientific school in Finland, later on because of that fact, they were unreasonably victimized, or simply forgotten. Paradoxical though it was, the original formation of the Komi mentality happened to be related to the revolution of 1917. In our opinion, in many respects that splash in national consciousness was inspired by Lenin's decree "About the right of the nations to self-determination, up to separation ". There were a number of people to carry out that decree. Back at the end of the XIXth century, the Komi peasants were recruited in the army because of mobilization. They participated in the Russian-Japanese war, and then in the First World War. With their returning to poor Komi villages, where there was no arable land and timber cuttings were limited, etc, the protest moods considerably amplified. By 1917, the share of Komi intellectuals, who would gravitate all the time towards "revolutionary changes" in Russia, also increased. By that time, the whole Komi territory was shattered, and for the imperial administration it did not matter, as all filing in the authorities was done in Russian. Komi territorially was included in the Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Vyatka provinces. In March 1918, the First congress of the Ust-Sysolsk Council of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ deputies made a suggestion "to allocate the Zyryan people into a special administrative unit according to their ethnographic borders with the right of legislation, except for army, external relations, and a coin" [6]. In 1921, the Russian government made the decision about formation of the Autonomous region of Komi. It is typical that again there appeared a new name of the people - "Komi", as if it were the counterbalance to the period of the imperial autocracy, which russianized national minorities. Nevertheless, despite significant contradictions with the Arkhangelsk center, Zyryanization of the territory started. Office-work began to be practiced in the Komi language, teaching Komi in elementary classes was also introduced. Subsequently, the struggle for a new alphabet whether in Latin, or in Cyrillic, or in the new Molodtsov grammar resulted in victimizing numerous participants of that discussion, and Cyrillic won, though "i" was left behind by Latin up to nowadays. At that time, the scientific and enlightening "Society of studying the Komi territory" which issued the magazine "Komi мu" and "Izvestiya" was organized. In the areas, the organization "Komi Kotyr" appeared, it was promoting consolidations of the Komi people. In 1929, the Komi area went under the administration managerial control of the Northern territory, with its center in Arkhangelsk. The magazine "Komi мu" was closed as nationalistic. The Stalin’s period of construction of socialism where there would be not nationalities but only proletariat and the poorest peasantry started. In 1937-1938, all organizers of the Komi autonomy and their supporters - Komi intellectuals – were subjected to repression. The main ideologist of the Komi autonomy, D.A. Batiev, was executed by shooting. In peasants’ houses, up to present time, there are group photos of delegates of various congresses where eyes of "enemies of people" are scratched out with a knife. Thus, the most important stage of formation of the Komi mentality was likely to end. To tell the truth, according to the Stalin’s demagogy, the Komi area received the status of an autonomous republic, and its capital Ust-Sysolsk was renamed Syktyvkar that meant the same - "city at the mouth of the river Sysola". The policy of denationalization continued after the Second World War as well. In 1960s, textbooks in the Komi language ceased to be issued. The Komi - Russian dictionary being published at that time contained a significant amount of Russian concepts. Thus, even at rural schools, the Komi language began to be taught as auxiliary, and at town schools, it dropped out of the curriculum. It is possible that such situation was connected not so much to purposeful policy of the state, but to the changed demographic situation. If in 1920s, Komi made up the majority of citizens of the Komi  autonomy, in 1950-60s – the significant minority. During the same period, a big number of Komi peasants moved to cities and settlements of lumberers. For some decades, the whole generation, which speaks good Russian, has grown, but they speak poor Komi and have no command in the written literary language. It’s nonrandom that for the urban Komi who do not speak their native language, the insulting name "kydya-roch" (literally " Komi - Russian") became actual. At the same time, as we consider it, whereas the rural Komi remain speakers of the Komi language, and in this sense - keepers of their ethnos, the urban Komi act as bearers of mentality. Thus, the basic force struggling for the national mentality is concentrated in Syktyvkar, where the Institute of  History, Language and  Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Komi Pedagogical Institute, National Drama Theatre and other similar establishments are located.

Those forces were the basic component in struggle for Komi "revival". During disintegration of the USSR when Yeltsin declared that all national formations can take as much sovereignty as they can, in the context of realization of this policy, the movements "Komi kotyr", "Izvatas" and "Udorasa", which aspire to independent mentality different from the main ethnos, have revived. It was through the efforts of these organizations that the First congress of the Komi people who aspired to take functions of the lower chamber of the State Council of the Komi Republic was held. Among numerous, frequently utopian decisions, the most important were the decisions about imparting the Komi language the state status and reviving national schools [7]. This resolution was realized by the decision of the State Council of the КR "About the two state languages ". According to this decision, in all streets, shops and public institutions, bilingual inscriptions appeared. For officials, Komi language training courses were organized. At the same time, such lessons–games were introduced in children's establishments but it didn’t lead to appreciable successes. During the same time, broadcasting in the Komi language on radio and TV broadened. Thus, the Komi intellectuals recollected their pre-revolutionary name "Zyryane", in contrast to the Soviet system. For some years, the newspaper "Zyryanskaya zhizn" was published, nowadays closed, and the national magazine "Art (Lad)" introduced the section "Zyryan studies". At the same time, in new passports, the entry "nationality" disappeared as well as pages in the Komi language. Perhaps, national reforms have ended with all that. Such reforms are not encouraged by the new constitution of Russia according to which the federal principle of formation of the state is based upon mythical subjects of federation but not upon the national principle as in the former constitution. The right-defending movement for the rights of the Komi people having appeared did not receive significant support of the majority of the Komi people as the latter were concerned about the worsening economic situation, loss of social privileges, etc., instead of political ambitions of "the passionate Komi". On this wave of national expectations for the happy today, the latest democratic elections of the Head of the КR were held and resulted in victory of a new candidate of the Komi nationality. Komi people ware delighted, and the Russian-speaking population was in panic. Everyone worried in vain, since it was Moscow that won. The Kremlin vertical of authority became stronger and the head of a national formation is appointed by the Kremlin. It is from there that they measure the incomes received by the republic, but according to the Moscow way of understanding.

It is possible that the similar policy will urge forward the national movement or it will finally strangle and level interethnic distinctions. Both Komi and Russians will speak English. Moreover, there are rumors about the next territorial integration as though the experience of 1920s taught us nothing. At the same time, we should not forget that formation of ethnic consciousness is based upon mechanisms of self-development, which are not quite revealed and respond both to acculturation and to interethnic influence, which not only leads to the loss of " patrimonial memory "but also to formation of a new social mechanism named “people” possessing the ability to sustainability and the further development. Thus, we should not forget that the Komi mentality during the whole history of its development was composed within the framework of the Russian statehood.

 

 

1. Shabaev, Yu.P. Kharakter etnicheskoi identifikatsii u komi i komi-permyakov // Finno-ugorskie narody: problemy etnicheskoi i yazykovoi identifikatsii. – Syktyvkar, 1999. – p. 13-15.

2. Povest vremennykh let, Saint-Petersburg, 1910, volume 1,  310 p.

3. Saveljeva, E.A. Vymskie mogilniki 9-14 vv. Leningrad, LGU, 1987.

4. Zherebtsov, L.N. Istoriko-kulturnye vzaimootnosheniya komi s sosednimi narodami: 9 – nach. 20 v. – Moscow: Nauka, 1982. – 224 p.

5. Zherebtsov, I.L, Saveljeva, E.A., Smetanin, A.F. Istoriya Respubliki Komi. Syktyvkar, 1996.

6. Ibid.

7. Gagieva, A.K. K voprosu o formirovanii sistemy nepreryvnogo natsionalnogo obrazovaniyz v Respublike Komi // Obshchie problemy prepodavaniya yazykov: prepodavanie russkogo yazyka finno-ugorskoi auditorii. Syktyvkar, 1998, p. 75.

 

© Lubov A. Maximova

© Victor A. Semenov

 

 

 

Журнал создан в сотрудничестве с Министерством регионального развития Российской Федерации

 

 

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