under which the Jews exist in our country. Nearly all of them, upward
of five millions, live within the Pale of Settlement, which comprises
fifteen governments and Poland, and only six per cent. live outside of
this territory. Within the Pale, Jews are not allowed to buy or take
on lease real estate outside the towns and townlets, which
circumstance makes it impossible for them to become farmers. This, in
connection with the limitation of residence, has naturally resulted in
a peculiar character of the Jewish occupations. It is characteristic
of the part the Jews play in Russia's economic life that nearly
seventy-three and eight hundredths per cent. of them are forced to
seek employment in the country's commerce and industry. Of the entire
Jewish population throughout the Empire, only two and four tenths per
cent. are engaged in agriculture, four and seven tenths per cent. in
liberal professions, eleven and five tenths per cent. in personal
service (domestic service etc.); the rest, minus the persons without
any definite employment are forced to seek for means of livelihood in
the field of commerce (thirty-one per cent.), industry (thirty-six and
three tenths per cent.), and transport (three per cent.) In the same
way works the artificial congestion of the Jews in the cities: only
eighteen per cent. live in the villages of the Pale of Settlement,
while the rest--more than four-fifths--toil in the towns and townlets.
Such a one-sided distribution of Jewish labour would not be a negative
phenomenon if it were possible to spread it uniformly over the entire
country. For, backward as Russia is industrially and commercially, the
Jews would easily find a place in the fields of endeavour which suit
them best and would greatly benefit the country by furthering the
process of its industrialisation. Under present circumstances they are
crowded in one place and overburden the commerce and the industry of
the Pale of Settlement. As a result, the struggle for existence among
them is so keen and desperate that in some sections they are
undoubtedly on the way to degeneration. In the West, Galicia and
Roumania excluded, the Jews are well represented in the wealthy
classes; in Russia an overwhelming portion of them are proletaries,
"free like birds," poverty-stricken people who literally do not know
to-day by what they are going to live to-morrow. Heart-rending
pictures are painted by impartial observers of the life of the Jewish
poorer classes, of all these tradesmen, factory workers, petty
merchants and peddlers. They literally starve and cripple both mind
and body in the slums of cities and towns. The natural result is that
in their eager search for means of livelihood they are forced to have
recourse to all sorts of expedients. Hence, all this talk about the
"criminal features" of the Jewish character and their propensity for
financial speculation, which propensity is, however, easily forgiven
and even encouraged in the "true-Russian" representatives of our
commercial interests. On the other hand, the Jews lower "the standards
of living" by offering their services often at a very low price. Thus
a peculiar "social anti-Semitism" comes into being, in Russia as well
as in the countries of Jewish immigration,--a phenomenon not unlike
the movement against "yellow labour" in the United States and in the
Australian Federation. There can be no doubt that the artificially
restrained field of application of Jewish labour is alone responsible
for the unspeakable condition in which it is forced to exist. In spite
of the exodus of a large mass of Jews from Russia, which bears analogy
to the emigration of the Irish people from their native
country,--upward of one and a half million Jews left Russia between
the years 1881 and 1908,--the remaining millions seem to be doomed to
starvation and degeneration. The popular tales about Jewish wealth are
most emphatically contradicted by impartial facts. Of the emigrants
who reach the shores of America the Jews are the poorest. A Scotch
emigrant coming to the United States brings on the average $41.50, an
Englishman $38.70, a Frenchman $37.80, a German $28.50, while a Jew
brings the sum of $8.70, the smallest of all, far below the general
average, which is $15.00. Consequently, if any real danger at all
threatens the aboriginal Russian population, it is precisely the cheap
labour of the congested Jewish masses, and the more the Jews will be
oppressed the worse it will be for the Russian workman! For the
employer will always give preference to cheaper labour. It is evident,
therefore, that the present treatment of the Jews is really not
dictated by the native Russian population, and that the democratic
argument is but a false pretext. The Russian labour market, while
congested in the Pale, is scarce in other sections. That the economic
life of Russia, as a whole, suffers from it is obvious.
In this connection, another point is worthy of our attention.
Contrary, to the popular idea of the Jewish greed, the Jews are
usually satisfied with a lower rate of interest on the capital
invested, since what they are after is the bare means of livelihood.
In this fashion they lower, to a considerable extent, the capitalist's
profits, a circumstance which cannot fail to irritate the Gentile
capitalists. Consequently, all this comes to competition of capital,
and it is significant that the fiercest anti-Semitic outcries come
from the capitalistic classes. Let us not forget that the early
pogroms at Odessa were caused by the agitation of the Greek merchants
who feared for their commercial ascendency.
What has been said so far demonstrates with sufficient clearness that
the anti-Semitic economic policy is detrimental to the economic
organism of Russia as a whole. The true interests of our country
demand that Jewish labour and Jewish means should be given complete
freedom of application. Russia will only gain from such a change of
policy toward the Jews. Anti-Semitism, from the economic standpoint,
is nothing but a tremendous waste of the country's productive powers.
Here is another aspect of the question. Whether the Jews as a race are
to one's liking or not, is a question of individual taste, the
solution of which cannot be allowed to influence the sane economic
policy of a state. This must be guided by objective data. As a matter
of fact, the Jews constitute more than one third, thirty-five per
cent., of the commercial class in Russia. If we believe our country's
prosperity to be bound up with the process of its progressive
industrialisation, we must admit that the part the Jews play in
Russia's commercial life is tremendous, that to a considerable degree
they handle her entire commerce. All that hinders the untrammelled
manifestation of the Jewish economic energies is harmful to Russia's
economic organism.
"If there were no Jews now in Russia, it would be necessary to invite
them, in the interests of both the commercial and industrial
development of the country, just as they were more than once invited
for the same purposes in the past." This conclusion, reached by a
student of the Jewish question in Russia, is eminently and profoundly
true. The opinion of an individual student may not appear
authoritative, but it has been many a time endorsed by social groups
and organisations. We need not go far back into history to find facts
of this sort. In 1912 at the time when the customary fair was in full
swing, the Governor of Nizhni-Novgorod showed an unusual zeal in
persecuting the Jews. This was in all probability connected with the
Duma pre-election campaign. The "Society of the Manufacturers and Mill
Owners of the Moscow Industrial Section," an organisation which is
rather far from being liberal in its opinions, saw fit to interfere in
its own interests. A memoir dealing with the prohibitive measures
directed against the Jews was composed and presented, through the
president of the Society, Mr. Goujon, to the chairman of the Council
of the Ministers. Here is a quotation from this memoir: "In the
economic life of the country the Jews play the part of middlemen,
placed between the producer and the consumer of goods. In the
Northwestern, Southern, and Southwestern provinces this function is
almost exclusively that of the Jews. To isolate under such conditions,
the commercial and industrial population of a considerable section of
the country from the centre of its manufacturing districts is
equivalent to inflicting a tremendous loss not only on the Jewish
merchant class but also on the many millions of the non-Jewish
population.... To isolate the village from the town, the towns of the
West and South from the towns and villages of the Centre and the East,
is to disturb intentionally the economic life of the country, to
undermine credit and depreciate the people's labour."
That is the opinion of the Moscow manufacturers. Well aware of the
real needs of the country, and unwilling to sacrifice their commercial
interests to anti-humanitarian mottoes, they expressed their fear that
the actions of the administration would hinder the realisation of the
harvest and that the "stocks of goods would find neither consumers nor
buyers nor energetic middlemen to the extent to which they otherwise
would have."
The Jewish people has grown to be a living part of Russia's economic
organism, and the blows which are directed against the Jews affect in
an equal, if not a greater, degree the mass of the aboriginal Russian
population. We do not intend to discuss here the Zionistic dreams and
aspirations of the Jews. One thing is clear to us, namely, that a
complete exodus of the Jews from Russia would be greatly detrimental
to her economic development. The Western world understands this truth
very well. Werner Sombart in his work _Die Zukunft der Juden_ (The
Future of the Jews) reaches the following conclusion: "If by a miracle
all the Jews would decide to-morrow to emigrate to Palestine we (the
Germans) would never allow them to. For it would mean a catastrophe in
the field of economic relation, not to speak of other fields, such as
we have never as yet experienced and which would probably cripple our
economic organism forever."
But we, Russians, give little thought to such questions. As late as
the year 1914 we did not hesitate to inaugurate new restrictive
measures, which it took the great trial of this War to stop.
Whoever has our economic welfare at heart, whoever dreams about the
mighty development of our country and of its real emancipation from
foreign influence,--inasmuch as this is generally possible,--must
understand that anti-Semitism is the worst foe of our economic
prosperity, that, in short, the Jewish question is a Russian
question. Full rights for the Jews, equal with those that the rest of
the population of the Empire enjoy, are an indispensable condition for
our peaceful cultural development. Only on that basis can we achieve
the broad ideals which have come into prominence in this tragic
struggle with German imperialism.
* * * * *
THE WAR AND THE STATUS OF THE JEW
_Prince Paul Dmitriyevich Dolgorukov, a prominent leader of the
emancipatory movement in Russia, was born in 1866. He is one of
the founders of the Constitutional Democratic party, and for a
while he stood at the head of the Central Committee of this
party. He was a member of the Second Duma, where he represented
the city of Moscow._
THE WAR AND THE STATUS OF THE JEW
BY PRINCE PAUL DOLGORUKOV
The storm that has recently swept over our country brought to light a
series of conditions which have been weighing down upon the Russian
nation for a good many years. These conditions on account of their
long duration have come to be considered as something habitual. The
impossibility of their further continuance, at least in their present
form, has suddenly become quite apparent.
The first among these is the existing attitude toward peoples whose
fate is closely interwoven with the fate of Russia. The need for a new
policy toward the Poles has been recognised officially and solemnly.
The hour for settling the Jewish question has also struck. The
contrast between the duties and responsibilities of the Jew toward the
state and his position in the country where he is deprived of all
rights and privileges has always existed; during the war this
contradiction has become so pronounced that it is impossible to
overlook it any longer.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews are shedding their blood for Russia,
while at home they are deprived of such elementary rights as other
Russian subjects could lose only when convicted of crime. When a
population of six million occupies such a position, the fact is bound
to make itself felt in all walks of life; but what the war has made
supremely clear is the limitations to which the Jew is subjected as to
his right to choose freely his place of residence and to give his
children an education.
The so-called "Pale of Settlement," Poland and the southwestern
section, constituted the arena for the early operations of the war.
The tradesmen, the merchants, all people of any means were ruined; the
poor workman was left without a crust of bread. The invading foe
forced both these groups to flee. Where were they to flee? The
simplest solution that presented itself was for them to go into other
cities of the "Pale." But the burden of the war was felt there also.
The chief bread-winner of the family had gone to war; both industries
and trades were crippled. Emigration, the safety valve of poverty, was
now impossible. Into the midst of this suffering came pouring in the
refugees from the border regions, on the one hand, and on the other,
the exiles from Germany and Austria, where they had previously found
food and shelter, and whence they had now, so to speak, been thrown
overboard.
The economic rôle of such an element, hungry and unemployed, is easily
appraised. Small wonder, then, that such a condition should become
absolutely unbearable; starvation has become a common occurrence, and
many prefer suicide to asking for alms. And should some of these care
to ask for aid there is no one who could offer it, since the local
population cannot cope with the need that has so suddenly swooped down
upon them.
Russia is a vast country, as is the soul of the Russian. Enough land
and bread exists for all its children. Many have relatives who would
welcome the refugees and exiles into their homes for the time being;
many could earn their livelihood. But in accordance with the existing
regulations the authorities must observe that no one who has not the
right of residence should come without the "Pale." The absurdity of
such regulations becomes more apparent when applied to participants in
the war. Thousands of wounded Jewish soldiers are scattered all over
Russia, many outside the "Pale." Their own may not come to stay with
them nor even visit them. Should one of these wounded die, his people
are deprived of the privilege of paying their last respects to him;
unless they choose to violate the law and remain during the visit in
hiding without registering their arrival.
The conditions under which the Jewish child may be educated are at
present fraught with similar difficulties. A great number of
educational institutions in the south and west are now closed. The
parents are recommended to transfer their children to other cities--in
which case the local schools have been allowed to accept Jewish pupils
in excess of their regulation percentage. But the possibility of
utilising this privilege in institutions outside of the "Pale" is in
its turn combined with the "right of settlement," which condition
certainly limits the application of this privilege. With this
exception, all other educational institutions of higher and middle
grades, strictly observe the usual percentage and the drawing of lots,
on the basis of which the Jewish students are accepted. These
limitations have become especially conspicuous, because the war has
completely done away with the possibility of entering the universities
of Germany and Austria, to which the Jewish youth flocked prior to the
war.
Another question arises: Where should the Jewish students, who have
begun their studies at a foreign university, now turn? In vain do they
knock at the doors of the higher institutions; these remain closed to
them, in spite of the fact that there are many vacancies there. They
cannot get back to the universities of either Germany or Austria. Thus
must they waste years of persistent effort and vast amounts of energy,
and very many of them will not be in a position to continue their
studies, and subsequently serve their own country, which is so sadly
in need of educated men. Are all these discriminations against Jewish
people essential for the _great Russia_, which is now called upon to
free nations and peoples from a foreign tyranny?
The complete abrogation of all national disabilities must pass through
our legislative institutions, but the loosening of the existing
limitations is a measure which it is perfectly possible to take at
once.
* * * * *
JEWISH RIGHTS AND THEIR ENEMIES
_Professor Maxim Maximovich Kovalevsky, one of the greatest
Russian sociologists, was born in 1851. Owing to his political
convictions, he had to leave Russia. In 1901 he founded in Paris
the Russian Higher School of Social Sciences, the faculty of
which consisted of exiled Russian scholars and political
emigrants. In 1905 he came back to Russia, resumed his University
work and took an active part in the political movement. In 1906
he was elected to the Duma and in 1907 to the Imperial Council.
He died in 1916._
JEWISH RIGHTS AND THEIR ENEMIES
BY MAXIM KOVALEVSKY
If the question should be put as to who at present stands in the way
of Jewish equal rights and who demands still further limitations of
the Jews' participation in both military and civil service, the answer
is that no one class follows a more systematic and more definite
programme in this connection than the League of United Nobility. In
the year 1913 one of their conventions made the following
recommendations, recorded in a volume published in the name of the
league, and here quoted literally:
"I. Jews and converted Jews should not be allowed to serve in the
army and navy either as regular recruits or as volunteers, nor
should they be admitted to military schools.
"II. Jews and converted Jews should not be allowed to take part
in the electoral conventions of the Zemstvos.
"III. Jews and converted Jews are not to be permitted to serve in
the Zemstvos.
"IV. Jews and converted Jews are not to be permitted to serve in
any municipal capacity.
"V. Jews and converted Jews should not be permitted to enter the
civil service.
"VI. Jews and converted Jews should not be included in the lists
of jurors; they may not be appointed or elected to serve in
courts, they may not practice as either advocates or attorneys."
These recommendations are clearly at variance with the trend of
Russian legislation throughout the reigns of Peter the Great,
Catherine the Second and Alexander the First. Peter the Great called
into the service of the Russian government all subjects irrespective
of their nationality or religion. His fellow champions were
representatives of different nationalities such as Bruce, Bauer,
Repnin, Menshicov and Yaguzhinsky. As to Catherine the Second, our
code of laws still retains the expression of her wish that all the
peoples of Russia, each according to the precepts of its religion,
should pray to the Almighty for the welfare of its rulers, and should
all be equally benefited by its government.
In his "Principles of the Russian Governmental Law" Professor
Gradovsky says: "In the reign of Peter the Great there were no general
regulations concerning the Jews." Measures against the Jews date from
the reign of Catherine the First. During the reign of Catherine the
Second, little was added to the existing array of limitations. In the
districts in which the first Partition of Poland found them, the Jews
at that time enjoyed almost all the rights of the native Russian
citizen. Although the Empress recognized the "Pale of Settlement"
created in the reign of Peter the Second, she, nevertheless, stretched
its boundaries to include not only Little Russia but also the
Vice-Royalty of Ekaterinoslav and the province of Taurida, wherein the
Jews were granted all rights of citizenship. In the "Regulations
Concerning the Jews" published in 1804, in the reign of Alexander the
First, the principle of equal civil rights for this nation is brought
out in Article 42. "All the Jews in Russia," says this article,
"whether residents or new settlers or foreigners coming to transact
business are free and are to be under the protection of the law on a
par with other Russian subjects." In commenting upon this article,
Professor Gradovsky writes that this is clearly an attempt to fuse the
Jewish nation with the rest of the Russian population by giving the
former definite civil rights.
Only during the last year of the reign of Alexander the First were
some measures adopted whereby the "Pale of Settlement" was narrowed
down because of a certain sect of "Sabbathists," closely related to
Judaism, which had greatly increased in numbers, particularly in the
provinces of Voronezh, Samara, Tula, and others. According to the
"Regulations Concerning the Jews" of 1835, enacted in the reign of
Nicholas the First, the Jews retained the right to own all kinds of
real estate, with the exception of inhabited estates and to deal in
all kinds of merchandise on the same basis as the other citizens,--of
course, only within the "Pale."
It is noteworthy that at this time the Jews were allowed to attend
governmental schools of all grades, and that graduates from these
were granted certain privileges. It is only toward the end of the
reign of Nicholas I that the government adopts a system of limitations
relating to the Jews, without, however, restraining their right to
attend the governmental educational institutions. On the 31st of
March, 1856, an imperial edict was issued ordering a revision of the
existing regulations relating to the Jews. Therein it is clearly
stated that the purpose of this revision is to conciliate these
regulations with the intention of the government to fuse this people
with the native population of the land. During the entire reign of
Alexander II no limitations existed for the entrance of Jews into the
Universities and the other educational institutions. On the contrary,
according to Gradovsky, the limitations within the "Pale" did not
apply to persons desiring to obtain a higher education, namely to
those entering the medical academy, the universities, and the
Institute of Technology. Gradovsky refers to the continuation of the
"Code of Laws," of 1868. The book was published in 1875, while this
freedom was in full swing. Within the "Pale," the Jews had equal
commercial rights with other citizens. Until the Polish rebellion of
1863 the Jews were permitted to own real estate, not only in cities
but also in rural districts. After the rebellion this was forbidden to
them as well as to the Poles. The foreign Jew could come to Russia
freely and register on the same foreign passport as would be required
from any other citizen of that country.
From what has been said, it follows that many of the limitations,
which at present weigh down upon the Jews have been created only
recently. The present reign, too, was begun with measures favoring the
Jew. In 1903, in spite of the fact that the Jews, in accordance with a
law which was confirmed in 1872, were forbidden to live in villages
even within the "Pale," two hundred of these villages were turned into
towns, and later fifty-seven more were added to this number. The
measure rendered these places legally habitable by the Jews. On August
11, 1904, a law was passed wherein it was emphatically stated that
Jews who were graduates from a university were to be permitted to live
freely everywhere in the Empire. But since the repression of the
revolutionary movement, this privilege has become a pretext for the
restriction of the admittance of Jews into higher educational
institutions.
From the viewpoint of the interests of the Russian state, the existing
disabilities of the Jews are detrimental both to our economic life,
and to the mutual relations among our citizens; they also work havoc
upon the progress of education as well as upon the raising of the
general level of our culture. Measures limiting a portion of the
population in its rights to acquire property, to obtain an education
in middle and higher state schools, to assume the responsibilities of
a judge or of a lawyer, and, in general, restraining its freedom to
pursue a professional career--are clearly irreconcilable with the
promises given us in the manifesto of the 17th of October, 1906.