ABSTRACT
Nationalism in the East has long been considered to be different from nationalism in the West. By placing Decembrist thought in the context of liberal nationalism, this chapter shows that the so-called Decembrists brought the civic idea of the nation to Russia and used it, without changing its meaning, as the source of legitimacy for their attempt to transfer power from the tsar to the people. The Decembrists were members of secret societies, the most important of which became known as the Northern Society and the Southern Society. In his famous book, Die nationale Gedankenwelt der Dekabristen, Hans Lemberg placed the Decembrists in the context of modern nationalism. This was an important contribution to the scholarship on the Decembrist movement, which had previously been seen in the framework of constitutional, liberal or revolutionary ideas. The Decembrists used the city republic of Novgorod and its popular hero Vadim the Bold as symbols of ancient Russian liberty.
