14 
LAND & WATER 
May i'>. T()I7 
Petrograd and Moscow 
By Hdouard S. Luboli" 
MDSCOW's recent request to be reinstated as tliej 
capital of Russia revives a claim of very long 
standing;, and reveals that the two main differences 
of opinion in Russia have survived the epoch- 
making' (lays of war ami revolution. As the abandoned 
( apitai. Moscow bases its claim on historical, geographical 
and economic grounds. The argument briefly amounts to the 
assertion that .Moscow, notwitlistanding the removal <>f tiie 
capital to Petrograd, was and remains tiie real capital of 
Russia ; that historical associations and sentiment are in 
favour of its restoration, that its position is the best adaptc<l 
for the requirements of a capital, and that its wealtli. com- 
merce, industry an<l rich surroundings are factors of impor- 
tance in the future development of the country. 
The people of Moscow claim that historical evidence tends 
to prove that the principles opposing autocracy have been 
wrsistently active in their city .since tlio earliest stages of 
heir conception, and assert that the removal of the capital 
() Petrograd was the result of its systematic opposition, 
pspcciallv bv its boyars and nobles, to the assumptions 
of the rulers. It is pointed out that Peter's act in re- 
moving the capital from Moscow had a precedent in his fore- 
fathers' action towards the municipal republic of Great 
Novgorod ; fearing the growth of republican or constitu- 
tional ideas, Peter reduced that great and progressive city 
to the rank of a provincial town. Evidence is also brought 
forward that whilst Kieff and Novgorod— both abandoned 
capitals— never lastingly opposed Moscow's position, Moscow 
has never abandoned its claim. 
The Crowned Revolutionist 
Peter the Great is considered to have been the first monarch 
who o])enly and energetically championed the Petrograd 
inovcmeht. To break with all traditions and in an almost 
revolutionary manner westernize the whole country is 
claimed to be the ideal of this movement. It is admitted 
generally that Moscow opposed " Westernization " with 
all its strength, and that Peter, realising that as long as this 
opposititm remained his ambitious ideas would not make 
lieadway, endeavoured at first to break the old tradition by 
force of example ; but such action strengthened rather than 
lessened the opposition. The revolutionary monarch- - 
or, as M. Anatole Leroy Heaulieu in his book L'Empirc des 
Tsars calls him, " the most imperious of crowned revplu- 
tionists " — who disregarded traditions and prejudices arid 
hated ceremony and set formalities, began also to hate the 
ceremonious, dignified, orthodo.v Moscow, and determined 
to escape the opposing forces by limiting its position 
as a city. The idea was to separate the two mental tend- 
encies, traditional and new, allowing the former to die out. 
Petrograd — calculated to become the centre of the new 
movement, the " window into Europe " and the " model " 
of a European Russia — began to be built. The deter- 
mination of its founder and the great assistance of his followers 
are worthy of admiration. Fighting all physical difficulties 
with dogged persistence, at tremendous cost of life and wealth, 
the city arose. The <]uestion of populating it, however, 
brought Peter again into fierce conflict with Moscow ideas, 
but .so determined was he to succeed that he populated it 
compulsorily. In 1714 heremoved the Senate from Moscow, 
and thus ofhcially Petrograd or St. Petersburg became the 
new capital and, with its jjrowth, the ideal which built it 
i^pread and became a force m the Empire. 
To give a resume of its achievements during the two 
centuries, it is necessary to point out that its founder and his 
contemporary supporters have imbued their descendants 
vith the idea that foreign influences need not necessarily 
Jash with national characteristics, and that reforms, there- 
ore, can be made without regard to e.visting conditions. 
To develop slowlv on certain national lines was considered,, 
broadly speaking, injurious to the whole system. 
The people of Petrograd may be judged by their city — 
i splendid city of cosmopohtan gaiety-, with a population 
which includes foreigners of almost every known nationality. 
It has more than 400 churches, also grand palaces, spacious 
official buildings, wide streets and is', generally, a delightful 
])lacc of abode. It has been the means of making Russia 
an integral part of the European political system, has 
enabled her to take a prominent place in the affairs of 
Europe, and has raised her to her present position. 
Petrograd claims that initiative in commerce and industry 
the introduction of Russian art to the world, and general 
economic and social intercourse with the world, is due to its 
activity. It further claims to have endeavoured continually 
to erase all that is bafl and ugly in Russia, and to substitute 
for it the good and the beaufifid to be found in the earlier 
« ivilised West. We are reminded that in the domain of art 
it was the spirit of Petrograd that put an end to the liyzan- 
tine tradition in ])ainting and in national architecture, to 
replace them with ICinopean art. The etTects of modernism 
obser\'ed throughout Russia and similar results of national 
progress are, it is said, Petrograd's work. 
The removal of the capital did not in an\' way destroy the 
opposition ; on the contrary-, it throve, assuming various 
aspects as time went on. This tendency which we now call 
Moscow has an ancient history, having first manifested itself 
l^'uif to Moscow becoming the capital. It had been advocated 
and nourished by the old democratic sj>irit of Pskov, Nov- 
gorod and other cities, whose inhabitants were compulsorily 
exiled to many parts of Russia. These free men carried 
with them the spirit of freedom wherever^they went, and their 
ideas, associating with others and changing in accordance 
with time and environment, formed a particular and, in many 
ways, peculiar school of thought. Believing that their loss 
of freedom was flue to f lie tyrannical interference of foreigners, 
they evolved the Slavophil ideal. The predominating idea 
observed among the followers of this school of thought is 
" anti-foreignism." On all points, whether small or large, 
this Moscow type of mind opposed foreign influences, the cry 
was " Russia for the Russians. " Naturally as time pro- 
gressed the view became modified, but the idea in its more 
substantial forms remained. 
. People of M0.SCOW admit Petrograd's claim to have raised 
Rus-sia from a semi-Asiatic into a great European Power, 
liut they argue that this was achieved artificially, and that 
the world was impressed more 1)V the artificialdom than by 
the reality. Petrograd's assertion that it is responsible for 
the modern progress of Russia is refuted by Moscow ; on the 
contrary, the latter accuses the former of being responsible 
for retarding progress through the very foregin influence with 
which it was infected. The support of the " Holy Alliance," 
the defence of the despotism of German inonarchs and such- 
like acts, which made Russia the " gendarme of Autocracy," 
are, it is claimed, the results of Petrograd's ideal. 
The dispersion of the Golden-Horde, the establishment of 
an Empire, the election of a Russian prince instead of the 
descendants of the foreigner Rurik, the establishment of a 
National Church, the repeated opposition to autocracy and 
many minor actions, are claimed to have been the achieve- 
ments of the Moscow ideal. This ideal asserts that imita- 
tion of foreign ways and manners are injurious to Russia ; 
it believes that the adoption of Western methods should 
proceed through a system of assimilation, and is always 
eager to j)oint to Moscow as a comparison with Petrograd. 
Revolutionary as Petrograd and its school of thought is, 
Moscow claims to have been always more successful in its 
reforms, that it has produced the bulk of Russia's great men 
and is always looked upon as the reflection of Russia. 
We are also reminded of the co-operative movement, 
which is said to have been inaugurated in Moscow, ancl 
numerous other institutions which are in many ways in 
advance of Petrograd's Western ideas, and have come effec- 
tively to the rescue in time of need. It is asserted that the 
attention of Moscow has been turned to the proper equipment 
of the city to take her place as the centre of New Russia many 
years ago, and that her situation, the centre of the railway 
system of the country serving east and west, entitles her to 
the fulfilment of her request. 
The Slavonic side of the Moscow school blames Petrograd 
for the recent trouljles, for the German influences, for the 
" dark forces," and is proud of the fact that in a time of crisis 
it supplied Russia with men who, though progressive, re- 
mained Russian, anrl have through their influence averted, 
even during and after the revolution, excesses, prevented 
chaos and anarchy, all foreign to Russian temperament, and so 
far successfully crushed all attempts at a counter-revolution. 
On the question of " sea-outlets," so longed for by inland 
countries, it is Moscow and not Petrograd that is in agree- 
ment with Russia's Western Allies, by strongly advocating 
that Constantinople should be placed under Russian control. 
In education Moscow is far in advance, because it has 
striven to give the best educational facilities at home, and 
thus avoid the emigration of its youth to foreign universities. 
No matter, what the political capital may be, the real 
capital of Russia, in my opinion, is the soul of the Slav 
race which will continue in the future to control it< dr-'-tinies 
whether through Petrograd or .Moscow, 
J 
