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Restricted Communication addresses linguistic regimes in the Russian Empire’s western borderlands—a region encompassing modern-day Poland, Right-bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. It also engages with broader historiographical debates and demonstrates that identifiable factors—the Russian mental map, the hierarchy of the Empire's enemies, and pressure by non-Russians—shaped a framework within which officials had to navigate their policies. By addressing debates about the Romanov nationality policy and revealing tensions between imperial and nationalist strategies, Darius Staliūnas provides new insights into the interplay of empire, language, and processes of identification in modern European history.
"Restricted Communication is a major contribution to understanding imperial Russia on the eve of its collapse."
— Mikhail Dolbilov
"A novel and ground-breaking monograph, well written and based on meticulous archival research’"
— Tomasz Kamusella
Darius Staliūnas is Chief Researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of History. His academic interests include Tsarist nationality policy, ethnic conflicts, and places of memory in Lithuania and beyond. He is the author of Making Russians: Meaning and Practice of Russification in Lithuania and Belarus after 1863 (2007), Enemies for a Day: Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish Violence in Lithuania under the Tsars (2015), and Lithuanian Nationalism and the Vilnius Question, 1883–1940 (2015).
Contents
Acknowledgments
Note to the Reader
Abbreviations
A Map of the Western Borderlands
Introduction
Chapter 1: Schools
Chapter 2: The Religious Sphere
Chapter 3: Educational Associations
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index