Essays on Historical Optimism

The article summarizes the debates that unfolded at a round table on Boris Mironov’s three-volume “Russian Empire.” The author notes that the experts approved the generalizing nature of the research and its keen academic polemics and relevance, and highlighted the magnitude of the work, as well as the encyclopedic character of the research through source study and theoretical, factual, and historiographical coverage of the material. According to A.A. Cherkasov, the round table clearly showed that the Marxist approach has lost not only the monopoly and popularity, but also the trust of the majority of researchers. The concept of civilization has aroused considerable skepticism. The theory of modernization received universal recognition from the participants. They unanimously evaluate it as pragmatic and workable, and they consider that its application is a trend in modern national historiography and note the topicality, importance, relevance, and validity of its choice for an explanatory model of Russian history by the domestic historical community. The author notes the existence of a wide consensus among those participating in the discussion. They unanimously agreed that Russia is a normal world power, the vector of its development is European, its achievements and successes in the field of modernization are undeniable, but undervalued and often completely ignored. The discussants acknowledged that Boris Mironov was able to reconstruct the main modernizing trends of the country’s history objectively and convincingly and to discredit the persistent negative myths and to create an objectively positive image of Russia. Thus, the “Russian Empire” contains neither falsifications nor simplistic positive or negative assessment and conclusions. The consensus suggests that a new objective-positive paradigm of the history of imperial Russia has taken shape in Russian historiography