St. Petersburg has Long History as ‘Cradle of Regionalism,’ Gabriel Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 3 – Many observers dismiss Ingrian regionalism because it includes St. Petersburg within its definition of a future state. Such people are certain that the former imperial center and still northern capital could not possibly be involved with a regionalist effort. But in fact, Liora Gabriel points out, St. Petersburg has a long history as “a cradle of regionalism.”

             A former resident of Petersburg who now lives in Israel says that for most people, Petersburg is either “a symbol and citadel of empire” or “a cradle of revolution” but in no way a place where regionalist ideas could emerge and flourish.  But in fact, it has played a key role in regionalist and nationalist movements (region.expert/spb-regionalism/).

            In the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the northern capital was where key parts of the national movements in the Baltic countries, Poland, and Belarus emerged; and perhaps most important, it was where the two founders of Siberian regionalism, Grigory Potanin and Nikolay Yadrintsev, first elaborated their ideas.

            Consequently, if Ingrian regionalist ideas are now spring in the same place, this may be paradoxical; but it should not be any surprise: their emergence now is part of a longer tradition that all too often is not recognized even by residents of the city itself.