IMMIGRATION OF JEWS FROM RUSSIA
The mass-movement of the Russian Jews to the United States began in
the first year of Alexander III's reign. Though in this year the
number of Russian Jews entering this country amounted to a little over
three thousand, the immigration grew so rapidly and in such
proportions that at the end of thirty years, more than a million
Russian Jews had been admitted to the United States.
An examination of the figures of the Russian Jewish immigration for
the thirty years[63] reveals that it is a movement of steady growth.
The Russian Jewish immigration falls practically into two periods; the
first culminating in 1892, the second culminating in 1906. Considering
it by decades,[64] we find that the movement is one of geometrical
progression. In the first decade, from 1881 to 1890, 135,003 Russian
Jews entered the country, 12.1 per cent of the total Russian Jewish
immigrants. Between 1891 and 1900, 279,811 Russian Jews entered,
constituting 25.0 per cent of the total. In the last decade, from 1901
to 1910, there entered 704,245 Russian Jews, or 62.9 per cent of the
total.
The annual variations are, nevertheless, considerable and largely
explainable by the special conditions in Russia that have influenced
the lives of the Jews throughout this period. At the beginning of this
period, in 1881, the immigration of Russian Jews was small. The
_pogroms_ of 1881-2 were reflected in the sudden rise in 1882 to
10,489 immigrants, more than three times the number of the preceding
year. The immigration of this year was rather a flight than a normal
movement. The great majority of the immigrants were refugees, fleeing
from massacre and pillage.[65]
In this year Russian Jewish immigration began its upward course.
Another high point was reached in 1887 with 23,103 immigrants, when
the educational restrictions and the expulsions that followed a strict
application of the May Laws indicated a renewal of the policy of the
Russian government.
The rumors of new restrictions that marked the beginning of the
nineties, and the opening of the second decade of Alexander III's
reign, were followed by the wholesale expulsions from Moscow. The
immigration in 1891 of 43,457 and in 1892 of 64,253 Russian Jews--the
latter the highest number reached in two decades--reflects this
situation. Nearly a tenth of the total immigration entered in these
two years.
The direct effect of the administrative activity of this year and
especially of the Moscow expulsions upon the Russian Jewish
immigration is seen in the number of Russian Jews who entered New York
during the months closely following these expulsions.[66] For the
first five months of 1891, the immigration averaged approximately
2,300, evidently a normal figure for this decade. It reached its
lowest in May, when 1,225 Jews entered the country. In June, two
months after the order of expulsion, the number of immigrants jumped
to 8,667--a six-fold increase--which up to this year was the largest
number of Russian Jews entering this country in one month. This
figure was surpassed in the immigration of August and September. Out
of a total of 60,261 Russian Jews who entered in 1891, 11,449 came the
first five months from January to May, and 40,706, or more than three
times the previous immigration, came the next five months from June to
October. The following five months there came only 16,832, less than
half the number of immigrants of the months of June to October. And,
finally, taking the year as a whole, there came over 60,261 Russian
Jews in 1891, the year of the Moscow expulsions, as compared with the
28,834 Russian Jews who entered in 1892, when no exceptional
circumstances occurred to affect their immigration tendency.
The six years from 1893 to 1898 were relatively mild years for the
Russian Jews. The change of rulers in Russia and the comparatively
lenient attitude shown by Nicholas II toward the Jews in the beginning
of his reign resulted in a less stringent administration of the
special Jewish laws. The financial depression in the United States
which began in 1893 and embraced this period, was an additional
influence in diminishing the flow of Russian Jewish immigrants. The
fall, however, was not as large as the existence of unfavorable
economic conditions in this country might lead one to expect. For in
spite of it, Russian Jewish immigration resumed the rate it maintained
in the years before 1891. From 1893 to 1898 there entered this country
110,815 Russian Jews as against the 107,378 Russian Jews who entered
in the six years from 1885 to 1890.
Another rise began in 1899. Economic depression, revolutionary
terrorism and anti-Jewish propaganda paved the way for a great
inpouring of Russian Jews to the United States. The Kishineff massacre
of 1903 sent thousands of Jews in veritable flight to the United
States, a fact which is reflected in an immigration of 77,544 Russian
Jews in 1904, the greatest number up to this year. With the beginning
of the Russo-Japanese war, the outbreak of the revolution and, above
all, of the Jewish massacres the immigration rose in 1905 to 92,388.
In 1906, a year of _pogroms_, it reached the number of 125,234, the
highest in the entire period--and in 1907, 114,932, the second largest
immigration. The diminution in the numbers in 1908 reflects largely
the relative change for the better that took place in the situation in
Russia, with the beginning of parliamentary government, as well as the
panic conditions in the United States of the preceding year. How great
still was the impulse to leave is shown by the fact that in spite of
the panic of 1907, the number of immigrants for 1908 was 71,978. The
great rise of the immigration from the United Kingdom during these
years was also due to the number of Russian Jews that came to the
United States by way of England. In all, during these five years which
form an epoch in contemporary Russian Jewish history, there streamed
into the United States half a million Russian Jews, constituting more
than two-fifths of the total immigration for the entire thirty years.
Of special significance is the part the Jewish immigrants play in the
total Russian immigration to the United States.[67] By far the largest
group of immigrants coming from Russia are Jews. For the entire thirty
years they constituted 48.3 per cent of the total Russian immigration.
As a general rule, the proportion of the Jewish in the total Russian
immigration rises during the critical periods of these thirty years.
Thus in 1891, the year of the Moscow expulsions, the Jewish immigrants
constituted 91.6 per cent of the total immigration from Russia, and in
the following year, under the same influences, 78.8 per cent. The
years 1886 and 1887 are also signalized by the great proportion of the
Jewish immigrants, who formed 79.2 per cent and 75.1 per cent,
respectively, of the total Russian immigration for these years. In the
last decade, when the Jewish participation in the total immigration
had become relatively lessened, the three years which represented the
climax of the movement, 1904, 1905 and 1906, show a higher relative
proportion, 53.4 per cent, 50 per cent and 58.1 per cent,
respectively, than the average for the decade or for the entire
period.
Considering the proportions by decades,[68] we find that of the total
of 213,282 Russian immigrants entering in the decade from 1881 to
1890, the Jewish immigrants contributed 135,003, or 63.3 per cent. Of
a total of 505,280 Russian immigrants in the decade from 1891 to 1900,
the Jewish immigrants numbered 279,811, or 55.4 per cent. In the last
decade, from 1901 to 1910, of a total of 1,597,306 Russian immigrants,
the Jewish immigrants were 704,245, or 44.1 per cent. The diminishing
importance of the Jewish in the total Russian immigration, in spite of
the fact that the former shows so great an increase, is due to the
rapid growth of the immigration tendency among the other races in
Russia, especially in the last decade.
Nevertheless, a closer examination of the relative participation by
the various peoples of Russia in the immigration from that country
from 1899 to 1910[69] shows that the Jews maintain their position of
predominance, contributing a larger proportion to the total Russian
immigration than any other people throughout this period, except in
1910, when the Poles contributed a slightly higher proportion to the
immigration of that year. The Polish contribution is next to that of
the Jews, attaining its maximum at a point where the Jewish
immigration is at its lowest, relatively, in the twelve years.
The preceding sufficiently indicates the abnormal extent of the
Russian Jewish immigration but its intensity may be judged further
from the fact that though the Jews in Russia were less than
one-twentieth of the total Russian population, they formed nearly half
of the Russian immigrants to the United States. In other words, they
were represented in the Russian immigration by more than eleven times
their proportion in the Russian population. As, however, the
emigration movement of the Russians proper is directed chiefly to
Siberia, we may limit the comparison to the Pale, where the Jews are
overwhelmingly concentrated, and where they constitute more than a
tenth of the total population. Even with this limitation they were
represented in the immigration to the United States by more than four
times their proportion of the population.
Another method of judging the degree of intensity of the Russian
Jewish movement is to compare the proportion the number of Jewish
immigrants for a period bears to the total Jewish population in
Russia--their rate of immigration--with that of the other Russian
peoples represented in the immigration to the United States. The rate
of immigration of the Jews is by far the highest among the peoples of
Russia. From 1899 to 1910 the Jewish immigrants to the United States
constituted on the average one out of every 79 of the Jewish
population in Russia.[70] The Finnish immigrants constituted one out
of every 191 Finns, the Polish immigrants one out of every 200 Poles,
and the Russian immigrants proper one out of every 11,552 of the
Russian population. The relative position of the Jews is thus
strikingly indicated. The rate of immigration truly becomes an index
of the economic and social pressure to which the Jews have been
subjected for a third of a century. This rate of immigration for the
Jews, moreover, shows large fluctuations in the twelve years from 1899
to 1910.[71] Of every 10,000 Jews in Russia there came to this country
on the average for the twelve years from 1899 to 1910, 125 Jews. From
1899 to 1903 the annual rate of immigration was much lower than the
average. In 1904, with the beginning of the critical years, the annual
rate rose to 152, and in 1905, to 181. It reached its climax in 1906,
with 246, almost twice as large as the average for the entire period.
It fell slightly below this in 1907 with 226. In 1908, there was a
great fall to 141, though the rate was still above the average for the
period.
The movement of the Russian Jews to this country in the last thirty
years is seen to be steadily rising and to reach enormous dimensions
in the last decade. The Jews are more largely represented in the
movement from Russia than any other people, and predominate
practically for the entire thirty years. The rate of immigration is
abnormally high, as compared with that of any other of the immigrant
races from Russia. For the most part the Russian Jewish immigration
reflects the unusual situation confronting the Jews in Russia.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] _Cf._ table IX, p. 162.
[64] _Cf._ table X, p. 163.
[65] Sulzberger, _The Beginnings of Russo-Jewish Immigration to
Philadelphia_ (Philadelphia, 1910), pp. 125-150.
[66] _Cf._ table XI, p. 163.
[67] _Cf._ table XII, p. 164.
[68] _Cf._ table XIII, p. 164.
[69] _Cf._ table XIV, p. 165.
[70] _Cf._ table XV, p. 165.
[71] _Cf._ table XVI, p. 166.