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[Elvina Cannizzaro]

Alexander Mikaberidze is Professor of History and Ruth Herring Noel Endowed Chair at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. He holds a degree in international law from Tbilisi State University (Republic of Georgia, 1999) and a Ph.D. in history from Florida State University (2003). After working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, he taught European and Middle Eastern history at Florida State and Mississippi State Universities and lectured on strategy and policy for the U.S. Naval War College. Dr. Mikaberidze specializes in the 18th-19th century Europe, particularly the Napoleonic Wars, and the military history of the Middle East. He has written and edited some two dozen titles, including the critically acclaimed The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History (Oxford: oxford University Press, 2020).

pogrom of Russian origin, meaning "devastation" or "riot"; although it is most often associated with anti-Jewish violence, it in fact applies to mob attacks against the person or property of any religious, racial or national minority

As detailed in the following chronology, throughout Russian and Soviet history the Jewish population was the subject of official policies of isolation, control or forced assimilation. Successive "Jewish policies" were influenced by a number of factors including general religious and nationalities policies, external considerations and the personal traits of the leaders of the time. In the late 15th century, for example, Tsar Ivan IV, "the Terrible" (1533-84), imposed a series of residential restrictions on the Jewish population (Basok and Benifand 1993, 11). This policy was echoed in Catherine II's creation of the Jewish Pale in the 1790s and, later, Stalin's efforts at population control. At the same time, because the leaders were usually unclear as to their intentions for the country's Jews, legislation was often inconsistent from regime to regime, and even during the same administration.

Popular or "grassroots" anti-Semitism has also shaped the history of Russian/Soviet Jewry, at times erupting into violent pogroms. Such episodes appear to be more likely during periods of political and economic turmoil and, according to one interpretation, when nationalist organizations are political allies of government (ibid., 6).

The partitioning of Poland among Russia, Prussia and Austria brings 900,000 "new Jews" into the Russian Empire. Because of the increased population, expulsion is no longer seen as a viable solution to the "Jewish question" (Sawyer 1979, 104; Skoczylas 1973, 3).

Catherine II creates the Pale of Settlement which stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea in the western part of the Empire; Jews are forbidden to live outside this area (Insight on the News 21 May 1990b, 17; Basok and Benifand 1993, 11).

Alexander I (1800-1825) introduces the "Regulations Regarding the Jews". The existence of the Pale is re-affirmed, although some Jews are permitted to leave for limited periods (Sawyer 1979, 105). While local political rights are curtailed, Jews are permitted to send their children to any school in the Empire. Jews are encouraged to voluntarily enter the field of agriculture, but at the same time 200,000 to 300,000 Jews are ordered expelled from Pale villages. The latter order is repealed in 1808 (Pinkus 1988, 15-17).

Nicholas I passes a series of regulations governing Jewish life. Jews are recruited into the military for the first time (1827); the government attempts to abolish the kahal (Jewish community administration) (1844), although this proves impossible to implement (Lowe 1993, 34-35; Sawyer 1979, 105). The broadest legislative initiative, the "Jewish Regulations" of May 1835, serve as the legal basis for the direction of Jewish affairs until 1917. The Pale is reduced in size and precisely defined; Jews are required to register with authorities under fixed family names; Jews leaving the country without permission forfeit their nationality and are not permitted to return (Pinkus 1988, 18-19).

In the early years of Alexander II's reign, his regime is characterized by relatively liberal policies, including those dealing with the country's Jewish population. Some residential and educational restrictions previously imposed on Jews are removed (Basok and Benifand 1993, 12).

The assassination of Alexander II on 1/13 March 1881 [ Until the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia used the Julian calendar, which was a number of days behind the Gregorian calendar used in the West - twelve days in the nineteenth century and thirteen in the twentieth.] brings his son Alexander III to the throne and ushers in an era of repression and reaction for the entire population. At the same time, popular anti-Semitism is on the increase. Over this two year period, anti-Jewish violence is reported in more than 200 Jewish settlements (Basok and Benifand 1993, 15; Lambroza 1987, 256-59).

The government establishes a series of "Temporary Regulations" to administer the Jewish population; they remain in force until 1917. According to these regulations, later known as the "May Laws", Jews are forbidden to settle, build or purchase houses, or own or use land outside of the cities and towns of the Pale, or to conduct trade on Christian holidays (Lowe 1993, 66).

The governments of Alexander and his successor Nicholas II continue to restrict the lives of the Jewish population. A quota system is established limiting the number of Jewish entrants to academic institutions; Jews are expelled from the country's major cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kharkov (Lowe 1993, 70-75).

The residential restrictions appear to have been successful in concentrating the Jewish population. The 1897 census reveals that 94 per cent of the empire's Jews live in the Pale (Schwarz 1951, 10-11). The 4.9 million Jews in the Pale account for 11.6 per cent of the area's population; elsewhere, Jews account for less than one-half of one per cent of the country's total population of 85.1 million (ibid., 11).

Anti-Jewish violence surfaces again in the Pale. One of the most violent pogroms occurs in Kishniev, Moldova, on 6/7 April; more than 40 Jews are killed and hundreds of others are wounded. Smaller towns such as Smela, Rovno, Sosnowiec and Gomel are affected, as is the major Jewish centre of Odessa (Lambroza 1987, 266; Pinkus 1988, 29).

The first of what are later to be known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are serialized in the publication Znamia. Claiming to prove that Jews are involved in a conspiracy to dominate the globe, they are actually forgeries prepared with the help of the Russian secret service (Baron 1964, 66-67).

A new series of pogroms erupts at the same time as the 1905 Revolution against the government of Tsar Nicholas II. The chief organizers of the pogroms are the members of the League of the Russian People; founded in 1904, its members are commonly known as the "Black Hundreds" (Baron 1964, 67).

Nicholas II is forced to establish a constitution in response to the 1905 Revolution. The short-lived October Manifesto promises to bestow civil liberties to the Russian people, although there is no mention of equality before the law or equal rights for the country's nationalities (Dubnow 1920, Vol. 3, 126-27). The "Jewish question" is not mentioned (Baron 1964, 71).

The anti-Semitic tenor of the period is characterized by a number of blood libel cases (accusations of Jews murdering Christians for ritual purposes). One of the most famous is the two-year trial of Mendel Beilis, who is charged with the murder of a Christian boy (Lowe 1993, 284-90). The trial is showcased by the authorities to illustrate the perfidy of the Jewish population (Pinkus 1988, 30).

A popular revolution brings a liberal Provisional Government to power. On 21 March/3 April, the government removes all "discrimination based upon ethnic religious or social grounds" (Korey 1978, 90). The Pale is officially abolished. The removal of the restrictions on Jews' geographical mobility and educational opportunities leads to a migration to the country's major cities (Insight on the News 21 May 1990b, 17).

The Bolshevik Party seizes power from the faltering Provisional Government. Lenin and Stalin, the current and future leaders, both deny the concept of Jewish nationality and believe that the Jewish population should be assimilated (Problems of Communism Jan.-Feb. 1980, 20). At the same time, Lenin sees anti-Semitism as not only theoretically contrary to egalitarianism, but also as a hindrance to the assimilation process (Sawyer 1979, 23).

The new Bolshevik government proclaims its "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples [Nations] of Russia," promising all nationalities the rights of equality, self-determination and secession. Jews are not specifically mentioned in the declaration, reflecting Lenin's view that Jews do not constitute a nation (Sawyer 1979, 14-15).

The RSFSR Council of Ministers issues a decree "On the Separation of Church from State and School from Church". The decree deprives religious communities of the status of juridical persons, the right to own property and the right to enter into contracts. The property of religious communities is nationalized; religious tuition in educational establishments is banned; religion can now be taught or studied only in private (Soviet Jewish Affairs Autumn-Winter 1990, 27).

The Commissariat for Jewish National Affairs is established as a subsection of the Commissariat for Nationality Affairs. It is mandated to establish the "dictatorship of the proletariat in the Jewish streets" and attract the Jewish masses to the regime while advising local and central institutions on Jewish issues. The Commissariat is also expected to fight the influence of Zionist and Jewish-Socialist Parties (Korey 1978, 79; Pinkus 1988, 58-59).

The Jewish section of the CPSU (Evsektsia) is established for the Party's Jewish members; its goals are similar to those of the Jewish Commissariat. The Evsektsia is at the forefront of the anti-religious campaigns of the 1920s that lead to the closing of religious institutions, the break-up of religious communities and the further restriction of access to religious education (Survey Jan. 1968, 77-81). To that end a series of "community trials" against the Jewish religion are held. The last known such trial, on the subject of circumcision, is held in 1928 in Kharkov (Rothenberg 1978, 172-73; Levin 1988, 78-80). At the same time, the body also works to establish a secular identity for the Jewish community (Pinkus 1988, 62).

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