The Russification of Jews

A major issue within the internal politics of the Russian government concerns the Russification of populations in our remote regions who follow different religions and are of other ethnic backgrounds. Everyone among us currently agrees that disunity and animosity toward diverse elements within Russia’s population cannot and should no longer be tolerated. Serious measures must be taken to unite the Russian body politic into one harmonious whole and, at the same time, give the actually Russian element of the population the place of privilege that, according to justice and the indisputable logic of history, it should occupy. The consensus among the Russian people, no matter which party they belong to, ends there. As to the immediately subsequent question—in what way can one reach this desired goal of national unity for Russia’s people?—opinions vary significantly. [ . . . ]

Only the freedom and equality of citizens—regardless of their foreign descent and religious orientation, which are of no significance to the state—create unity of social interests, and consequently, political unity for the population. Meanwhile, the ruling element, by virtue of its magnitude and superior spiritual development, is to be elevated, in contrast to those who artificially promote and support themselves by external means. [ . . . ]

Moving on from these general thoughts to the application of the principle of Russification to the Jews specifically, it is not difficult to note that the currently dominant views among the best elements of our society and in our press, regarding the character and direction of Russian politics with regard to foreigners in the western provinces, fully apply to the Jews as well. In comparing Russian Jews of today to what they were just fifteen years ago, we notice the following curious phenomenon. Over these fifteen years, Jews went very far to achieve citizenship and, alongside this, Russification. While formerly—neither among Russian society, nor among the Jews themselves—there was not even a thought about the possibility of Jews being considered Russian citizens, a fairly large class of Jews now exists who insistently assert the privilege and right to be considered Russian people and citizens of Russia; and Russian society itself is becoming increasingly accustomed to the thought that Jews should carry all the obligations and utilize all the rights of Russian citizenship. But to what do we owe this positive change? Is it to the general liberal beginnings, lying at the basis of fundamental reforms that were carried out in Russian life by the current tsarist regime, or to the Russification of the western provinces? To this question, one can definitively answer that the main factor in the civilization of Jews and their merging with the ruling population is the impulse in the Russian state and society, which should justly be called not “narrowly national” but “generally humanist.” Even before the Polish revolt affected current views about the question of Russification, at a time when the intention was to satisfy the constantly growing intellectual and material needs of Jews, as well as other classes of the Russian population, Jews were the first to consider themselves not only people and citizens, but also Russian people and citizens of Russia. And this should come as no surprise.