The Nationality Policies Of The Russian Empire From The 19^th To The 20^th Century

Nationality issues are very important because they affect greatly the future of both the nationalities and the country. Whether the relations among different nationalities are harmonious or not influences directly the stability and development of the country. It is well-known that Russia is a multinationality country, with the relations among different nationalities being complicated. Russia's nationality problems have existed for quite a long time. The research on the nationality problems of Russia is not only valuable to Russia, but also referential for the development of nationality relations and the establishment of nationality policies in our country.This research first analyzes the formation of Russian empire and the appearance of Russian nationality problems. After the establishment of Russian autarchy, Russia went on the road of external expansion. With new territories and nationalities merged into Russian empire, the problems caused by Russian government's policies towards those nationalities began to stick out. Before the early 19th, Russian government gave top priority to internal and external security as far as nationality policies are concerned. In order to ensure the security and stability of the conquered territories, Russian government adopted cajoled policies to those territories. The original state of the conquered area was sustained, which was realized compulsorily by armed forces to some extent. After the conquered territories retained stability, Russian government implemented flexible and cautious policies. It pushed forward integrative policies in cooperation with the local non-Russian nobles. The nationalities ruled by the integration policies are mainly Ukraine and White Russia.At the beginning of the 19th, the mergence of Poland and Finland into Russia changed Russia's nationality problems substantially. As these two regions had ever existed as independent or autonomic countries which owned long-lived national traditions and well-developed national cultures, their affiliation caused troubles for Russian empire in settling national ideology and uniting all the components of the empire. Russian regime chose to practice integration of administration and Russianizaition of languages. The trend of integration was reflected by the punishment of Poland uprising from 1830 to 1831. In spite of this, there was no substantial change in Russian government's policies toward other nationalities during Nicholas I's patriarchate. Preserving social stability and cooperating with non-Russian nobles are the basic directions for Russia's nationality policies.In this period, the colonization activities carried out by Russia empire in the early stage were still continuing. As expansion towards European regions at that time was not profitable, Russian government turned its sight to Asia, for which the occupancy of Caucasia and middle Asia were examples. The traditional policies to guarantee the security and stability of the occupied area necessarily played an important role in the bordering area. However, because of the Polish uprising, although Russian government adopted a series of punishment measures, some signs of self-governing were left in the Polish land: the special status of the Polish nobles was preserved, Polish took the dominant position in Polish bureaucracy; Polish language was still used in the writing of come-and-go documents. This shows that Polish language, Polish culture and Polish nobles took important positions not only in the Polish kingdom but also in the western provinces. Therefore, we can see that in the earlier half of the 19th century, the policies of integration and Russianization rose up, while it was not until the later half of the 19th century that the policies were deployed comprehensively.After entering the second half of the 19th century, influenced by the modernization of Russian empire and the nationality movement of the non-Russians, Russia empire began to adopt the policies of administration integration and language Russianization in full swing, because the modernization of the empire was closely related to the systemization and uniformity of Russia's laws, administration, and social institutions. These policies were pushed forward from the western regions of the empire. Almost all the non-Russians in the western regions were subjected to the policies. However, the ways and levels of severity to complement the policies were not the same to different nationalities.The Poland revolution in 1863 made the Russian government aware that only through the most rigorous punishment and repression and effective Russianization policies could the Polish people be forced to give in. Therefore, after the revolution, the Russian government began to develop policies to lead the divisions of administrative regions of the Polish land on to the road of integration, and to reform the Polish administration system according to that of the empire. The special position of Poland kingdom was abated."Poland Kingdom"was even renamed as"Vistula Bordering area". Although the land reform in 1864 in Poland was more beneficial to the Polish farmers than that in Russia to the Russian counterparts, the aim of the Russian government was to make the farmers in the western regions independent from the Polish nobles so as to weaken the economic position of the Polish nobles. At the same time, the Russian government carried out Russian land tenure vigorously in the western regions to increase the amount of land owned by the Russian nobles so as to push the Polish nobles aside. The Polish language was replaced by Russian in secondary and higher education. In middle schools, the students were even required to admire Catholicism theology. To Ukrainian and White Russian who were regarded as western Russians since the ancient time, the Russian government even denied their existence, held back and suppressed their cultural awakening movements.The nationalities in Baltic Sea and Finland area became subjected to Russia's integration policies in succession after that of the Poland. Before the Polish uprising in 1863, Czar government refused to remove the special position of Baltic province. Later, with the deterioration of the relation between Russia and German and the springing up of Russian social nationalism,"Baltic Issues"were brought forward. Many political commenters believed that the special position of Baltic province should be abolished. As a result, since the 1880's, Russian empire began to implement integration and Russianization policies to Baltic region. It continued to strengthen the suppression towards Lutheran church, and to replace Teutonic with Russian in schools and administrative organs. In 1888, the Baltic police institution was transformed according to the Russian style. The reforms in laws in 1889 made Russian the compulsory language to be used in litigation proceedings. In order to enhance the influence of Russians in the bordering area, the department of interior affairs regulated that the government posts in Baltic province should be given to Russians with preference. By this way, the Russian government quitted the cooperation with the Teutonic nobles in the administration affairs of the bordering area, trying to enhance its own position and influence in Baltic region; which can be regarded as a necessary road chose by the Russian government to sustain national integrity and unification.After Poland and the Baltic was Finland. The implementation of the integration policies in Finland was several decades later compared with that in Poland, because the nationalities swallowed by Russian empire brought many problems to the Russian government. By the end of the 19th century, Czar government began to take up policies to limit Finland autonomy. In order to establish nationwide legislation system, the Russian government enacted February Proclaim in 1899. In 1901, the new conscription law was promulgated, as a result of which Finland armies were disbanded, and Finland people should go to Russian armies in commission. The language legislation in 1900 statuted that before 1905, Russian should be the business language in the senate, departments directly controlled by the central government, and provincial government of Finland. The laws enacted on June, 17, 1910 destroyed the active principle that Russian empire and Finland differ from each other in legislation, which stroke the most hardly against the laws that ensure Finland autonomy.The integration and Russianization policies were not as strongly implemented in the eastern regions as in the western regions. In the eastern regions, Russia owned a strong sense of Euro centrism superiority and took up the mission of civilization spreading. The Russian government continued to pursue the tradition of pragmatism in policy establishment except for that on border security. Besides, the Russian government hoped to bring the remote large area into the embrace of Russian empire through immigration and other policy measures.After the 1860's, the Russian government's integration policies were gradually exerted in Caucasian region. The Russian government tried very hard to strengthen Russian people's influence in the bordering area in religion and immigration policies. In 1881, it abolished the post of the Governor which held discretionary powers. In order to make the local people Russianize, the department of interior affairs stipulated that Armenia religion schools were prohibited to be opened outside churches and monasteries, and Russian should be taught in Church schools, Russian geography and history should be taught in Russian. Later, the Russian government's policies met with Caucasian people's resistance. Under the influence of the revolution, Nicolaâ…¡reset the post of the Governor. And the Russian government's policies went back to the traditional flexible pragmatism.In central Asia, the administration statutes in 1867 and 1886 contributed to erect the administrative system that unifies army and politics in central Asia. Under this system, the Russian government adopted"non-interference"policies to the local Muslems to avoid undesirable influence of the whole Muslem on Russia. In the end of the 19th century, the migration of Russian farmers to the bordering area became a new factor in the nationality policies. Battles between the migrated Russians and the local residents for land started. In order to carve up land for the migrated Russians, the government resurveyed the land occupancy conditions of Kazak people in the grassland region. The most fertile land was given to the migrated Russians. Kazak people were even driven out to uncultivated area. This behaviour turned Kazak grassland and the central Asia into flammable powder flask.To sum up, since the first half of the 19th century, the Russian government took up the policies of strengthened repression and accelerated integration towards non-Russian nationalities, which differed from the traditional ones. Then in the 1860's, the nationality policies changed to integration in administration and Russianization in language and culture. The rigorous repression of the Poland revolution in 1863, Alexanderâ…¡'s integration reform, and Alexanderâ…¢'s reaction measures, etc. were all methods of the Russian government to strengthen Russianized unification. The aim of the nationality policies of the Russian government is to integrate the non-Russian bordering regions with Russian empire in administrative system and social culture, and to integrate totally the non-Russian nationalities into Russian empire. However, it has been proved that the Russian government has not realized its original objectives. Until the crash of Russian empire, it has not resolved its complicated nationality problems.