The Newspaper Na Granitse (Stantsiya Pogranichnaya) in the Political Consolidation of Russian Emigration in the Manchurian Empire

Abstract

The article focuses on the role of the newspaper Na Granitse (On the Border) in the process of political consolidation of the Russian emigration in Manchu-digo. The newspaper was published in 1935–1940 by the branch of the Bureau for Russian Emigrants in the Manchurian Empire (BREM) at the Pogranichnaya Station of the North Manchurian Railway (NMR). The newspaper was controlled by the group of B. N. Shepunov, who closely collaborated with the Japanese intelligence services. The analysis of newspaper materials shows, the editorial board of the Na Granitse promoted the ideas of effective anti-communism, Russian monarchism and Orthodoxy in combination with the idea of the community of emigrants with the peoples of the Manchurian Empire in building the foundations of Manchurian statehood. The main object of propaganda was the emigrant youth, united as part of several organizations operating on the eastern line of the NMR. Propaganda, along with other tools used by the administration to influence emigration, did not contribute to deep transformations of the consciousness of emigrants, including young people, but led only to external adaptation – ideological and political mimicry.