Transforming Russia's image

One important function of French in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia, besides those functions we have examined in preceding chapters, was to project a certain image of the expanding Russian Empire and the emergent Russian nation to other European peoples who, lacking knowledge of Russian, had access to little or no unmediated information about the country. This essentially propagandistic function of Russian francophonie had both a cultural and a political dimension. The French language was a medium through which to publicize abroad the achievements of Russia's new secular cultural elite. It also served as a vehicle through which sovereigns and patriots could defend Russia's polity and society against their detractors. However, French could just as well be used by opponents of the Russian regime as by supporters of it, in order to broadcast grievances, enhance solidarity among equally discontented compatriots, and more generally contribute to debate about Russia's relationship with Europe. Thus, from the age of Nicholas I, French eventually served as a tool for Russian writers at different points on the political spectrum, loyalists and opponents alike, as they tried to win over to their point of view both a European public and members of Russia's own political, social, and intellectual elites.

Russian attempts to influence European public opinion began as early as the first half of the eighteenth century, even before French had established itself as the most prestigious foreign language at the Russian court and among the aristocracy. As Russia emerged – in the conception of Enlightenment thinkers – from the ‘darkness’ of pre-Petrine Muscovy and came to occupy one of the foremost places among the European nations, its image became a crucial issue for Europeans concerned about the empire's growing power and, above all, for Russians themselves. Russians understood that their admittance to the concert of European nations depended not only on the actual state of Russia's society, economy, armed forces, sciences, belles-lettres, and arts but also – perhaps even more – on public perceptions of them in Europe.

Public opinion in the West, in the eighteenth century, was already being formed to a large extent by the press, especially the Francophone press.