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Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky's purpoted quote "что не доделал русский штык – доделает русская школа"

In the part about the Russification of Poland and Lithuania the above quote is mentioned as being attributed to Muravyov.

It can be translated as: what the Russian bayonet didn't complete - the Russian school will complete. (more or less. or "the Russian school will finish")

However, I've searched around on the internet and did not find a serious source mentioning a work/letter/etc where Muravyov said it. I found this article by Nasha Niva in which the author says they believe it is a quote from Ivan Petrovich Kornilov, a prominent Russian official in Lithuania in the 1860s. However the article also doesn't mention hard evidence, saying that his memoirs are in the "national library" – I presume the author means the Belarusian one?

I found this article from some humanity studies journal (it doesn't have a Wikipedia page) which attributes the following quote to Kornilov:

Русская пропаганда, действующая через школы, церкви, администрацию, делает своё дело; она возбуждает в массах ясное сознание и убеждение, что здешний край − исконно русский, что здесь колыбель русского государства и Православия… Русский язык и русская вера перестают называться холопскими; русского языка не стыдятся как прежде, а польским не щеголяют. Русское образование сильнее русского штыка.

Translation: Russian propaganda, acting through schools, churches, administration, is doing its job; it arouses in the masses a clear consciousness and conviction that this region is primordially Russian, that here is the cradle of the Russian state and Orthodoxy... The Russian language and Russian faith cease to be called servile; Russian language is not ashamed as before, and Polish is not flaunted. Russian education is stronger than the Russian bayonet.

One can only notice the similarity. This quote has a notably less "offensive" tone. The stated source for the quote is Корнилов И.П. Русское дело в Северо-Западном крае: Материалы для истории Виленского учебного округа преимущественно в Муравьёвскую эпоху. 2-е изд. Вып. первый. СПб., 1908.

I'm also not 100% certain of its veracity – I didn't find a digital version of the quoted source.

It seems that this quote is mentioned in a fair amount of books and publications (in Russia and Belarus), at least according to my humble google searches. The first one seemed to be mostly in articles and personal blogs, and I found nothing that points to a hard source.

Note that both quotes are "exploitable" for controversial topics in the present day, one being used by Belarusian nationalists to underline cultural oppression, portraying Russian schools as mankurt factories, and the other used by pro-Russians. For instance, I found a book mocking "small-town nationalists" for using the first quote.

I didn't remove the quote from the section. I'm curious to hear feedback on what I wrote here. --Spafky (talk) 16:51, 9 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Spafky:, you are absolutely right, that "bayonet quote" is a fake. It was added more than 10 years ago, which appears to be the very first time it showed up on the web. Then it was incessantly spread all over Wikipedia and the web. It was unsourced and remained unsourced for over 10 years, which is very disrespectful to the readers of Wikipedia.

Some editors are occasionally trying to add "references" to support that "quote", but even simple investigations show that the sources they provide do not contain that "quote" at all - neither on the provided pages nor anywhere else in those books, not even slightly close in meaning to that "quote". It's time to get rid of that nonsense!

However, the quote you provided is composed of three incomplete quotes, from different places in the very same book. Here are the original ones, in pre-revolutionary Russian orthography:

Русская пропаганда, дѣйствующая чрезъ школы, церкви, администрацiю, дѣлаетъ свое дѣло; она возбуждаетъ въ массахъ ясное сознанiе и убѣжденiе, что здѣшнiй край искони русскiй, что здѣсь колыбель русскаго государства и православiя, что, если губерниiи около Москвы называются великою Россiею, то здѣшнiя губернiи имѣютъ полное право называться первоначальною древнею Россiею. [Russian propaganda, acting through schools, churches, administration, is doing its job; it arouses in the masses a clear consciousness and conviction that this region is primordially Russian, that here is the cradle of the Russian state and Orthodoxy, that if the provinces around Moscow are called great Russia, then the local provinces have a perfect right to be called the original ancient Russia.]

— Ivan Petrovich Kornilov, Kornilov, I. P.: Russian Cause in the Northwestern Krai (St. Petersburg, 1901), A.P. Lopukhin's Press, pp. 85-86.

Русскiй языкъ и русская вѣра перестаютъ называться хлопскими, варварскими русскаго языка не стыдятся, какъ прежде, а польскимъ не щеголяютъ, полонизмъ, осаждаемый отвсюду пробуждающимися нравственными силами, видимо ослабѣвает. [The Russian language and Russian faith cease to be called servile, barbaric; Russian language is not ashamed of as before, and Polish is not flaunted; Polonization, besieged all around by awakening moral powers, is apparently getting weaker.]

— Ivan Petrovich Kornilov, Kornilov, I. P.: Russian Cause in the Northwestern Krai (St. Petersburg, 1901), A.P. Lopukhin's Press, p. 147.

Русское образованiе сильнѣе русскаго штыка. Въ какiе-нибудь 4 года русскiя школы сдѣлали болѣе для образованiя народа и ослабленiя полонизма, чѣм войска въ десятки лѣтъ. [Russian education is stronger than the Russian bayonet. In about 4 years Russian schools did more for the people's education and weakening of the Polonization than troops in tens of years.]

— Ivan Petrovich Kornilov, Kornilov, I. P.: Russian Cause in the Northwestern Krai (St. Petersburg, 1901), A.P. Lopukhin's Press, p. 147.

In addition, the source can be found here and here (other edition).

As you see, those quotes are about opposing the imposition of the Polish language among inhabitants of the Northwestern Krai, not about oppressing the Belarusian language.

Alexschneider250 (talk) 10:36, 29 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think this quote should be moved to the Belarus section. The modern Belarus formed most of the Northwestern Krai and it's clear from the quote that he was writing about the East Slavic population. It's still an example of Russification as it was the Russian language that replaced Polish. Alaexis_¿question? 21:29, 30 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

“Form of cultural assimilation” change to “Form of genocide”

Russification as a state policy fulfills at least 3/5 acts defined as genocide (one is sufficient to be labelled genocide). Namely, killing members of the group, causing serious physical and mental harm, and imposing living conditions intended to destroy.

”Cultural assimilation” does not adequately reflect the systematic cruelty of this state imposed process. 85.83.243.13 (talk) 08:00, 30 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Russification or Russianization

Google ngram shows that the word Russification orders of magnitude more frequent. - Altenmann >talk 04:44, 3 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The literature also always says Russification, I don't think I've ever heard Russianization. JungleEntity (talk) 23:42, 8 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Russian Empire

Just putting this here in the hopes someone a bit more knowledgeable than me will give the Russian Empire more of a section here. I know it's mentioned in the beginning of the History section, but it is woefully under-written and barely goes into depth the suppression that was present in Russian Empire Ukraine and Belarus. JungleEntity (talk) 23:44, 8 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Russification of Georgia, Armenia etc.

Given the fight going on in Georgia between the pro-russian government and protesters, the article probably should get a section on the history of the Russification of Georgia and other Caucasus peoples (Azerbaidjan is but one of them). Thewolf37 (talk) 02:06, 8 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely makes sense to add such sections, if you can create a draft that would be great. Alaexis_¿question? 10:52, 8 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]