Emigration is always a difficult life step associated with very serious changes in life. Even moving to neighboring country with a similar mentality and language, immigrants inevitably face a number of difficulties. Of course, this is not in vain. In most cases, emigration provides an opportunity to seriously improve the quality of one's life, achieve desired goals, fulfill dreams, and sometimes just escape from some imminent danger in one's homeland. Or simply provide yourself and your children with a more peaceful and richer future.

Pros of emigration: why go abroad

The assessment of a new life always follows from the values \u200b\u200bof a particular person. Consider those vital parameters that moving can improve.

First, it is climate and ecology. If you are unlucky enough to be born on The far north, in Siberia, or in a very rainy region, it is quite natural that one day you may want to move to a warm country, perhaps to the sea or to the ocean. It is no coincidence that many residents of the northern regions of Russia, retiring on an early retirement, buy a house in Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, Bulgaria, Montenegro or Turkey. One cannot but mention the environmental issues. It is difficult to hope for good health if you live in an industrial city with a huge amount of gas emissions into the atmosphere and liquid waste in rivers. Many residents of Norilsk, Nizhny Tagil or Karabash will explain better than many how often they get sick or face allergies. And the life expectancy in these places speaks for itself. As well as a high proportion of cancer, pneumonia and asthma.

Secondly, it is an opportunity to dramatically improve your standard of living. If in Russia, doctors and nurses earn very modest money, then in many countries, such as the USA, Canada, Germany, Israel, this is one of the highest paid professions. You can do what you love, and at the same time be able to buy a very nice house, a couple of premium cars, pay for education for your children and fly on vacation anywhere on Earth. Now compare this picture with any doctor in a Russian district clinic.

But even if you take professions that do not require a long vocational education, it is safe to say that any electrician or plumber will easily feed their family with children in the USA. Without qualifications, you can always go to truckers, and in the same way be able to buy yourself a house, a personal car, and other goods.

Third, security. Whatever one may say, but most regions of Russia, by world standards, are a very dangerous place in terms of crime and the risks of being beaten or killed, simply because someone did not like your face, or did not have enough to buy a drink. Just think about it. The level of crime in Canada, for example, is at least 10 times less than in Russia. Moreover, if something happens there, then most often it is theft or theft of cars, which does not threaten your health in any way. Moreover, all large things and property there are insured. There are regions in Canada where not a single person is killed in a year. And the most serious crimes are committed there on or near Indian reservations, and they almost never offend ordinary Canadians.

Fourth, education and prospects for your children. Your children will be able to grow up in a calm and prosperous environment and receive up-to-date knowledge in any profession they choose. By the way, it is the children of immigrants who are considered the most successful people among all categories of the population in developed countries. They have the drive and desire to take a high place in society, which almost invariably leads them to success, and sometimes to great wealth.

Fifth, you can be sure that your property will always be your property, and it will not be taken away from you by the next reforms or redistribution of property. In Russia and on the territory the former USSR several times, during the 20th century, money, savings and family capital simply burned out. You can live in abundance and, at the end of your life, pass on your savings to your children, who do not have to start from scratch.

Sixth, you will have more opportunities for relaxation and travel. If you settle in one of the European countries, you can travel around most of the European countries by car. If you settle in the USA or Canada, you will have access to all the resorts of the Caribbean, which, in comparison with your new salary, will cost ridiculous money. The Dominican Republic is the analogue of Turkey in the New World. Cheap, great hotels, beaches and entertainment.

Cons of emigration: what you need to remember

Let's be honest and talk about the cons and hardships that most immigrants go through.

First, it will take you several years to fully integrate into society. The first months are almost always euphoria: a dream has come true, a new place of residence seems to be an exceptionally beautiful place, people, on average, are kinder and more welcoming. But, starting from 3-6 months, almost everyone begins a depressive stage associated with personality restructuring and adaptation to new cultural norms, habits, and ways of communication. People and events around you start to get annoying. Cons and shortcomings are striking. Longing for the Motherland, friends and acquaintances begins. Sometimes it's hard to get through, but it goes away. After that, a new, calm and joyful life begins.

Secondly, it is a lowering of social status and the need to start from scratch. With the exception of people who relocate within large international companies, as well as employees in the IT sector, many have to start with simple jobs... Work in a fast food cafe, at a construction site, as drivers and couriers, or at starting office positions, such as receiving calls or meeting guests. Some people find it very difficult to endure this stage. They start to think: I was a big boss or a doctor of sciences. Why am I not appreciated here?

But let's not forget that here you are just one of many foreigners who need to prove their ability to solve problems, get along in a team. After the first odd jobs, 90% of people are already settling in, receiving letters of recommendation and starting to make a full-fledged career. On average, your gap will be 3-4 years. After this period, almost everyone makes up for their previous position in society.

Third, the need to put in a lot of effort. There is a lot to learn foreign language, local traditions, communication methods, laws and regulations road traffic, ways to seek medical attention and many other things. In another country, everything may be arranged quite differently from your homeland. Some people find it hard to keep smiling and having to keep up fleeting conversations - small talk.

Fourth is the need to make new acquaintances and friends. Yes, your friends and family probably won't come with you. Many social connections will completely die out over time, you will lose common interests and subjects for conversation. Someone manage to find a social circle in immigrant circles and local diasporas. Someone finds friends in sports and dance sections, clubs of interest or just among neighbors. Man is a social animal, and even the most unsociable introvert will need at least 2-3 friends.

Instead of unambiguous conclusions

The main thing in the immigration process is honesty with yourself, an honest evaluation pros and cons, your needs and what you are willing to pay for the opportunity to start new life... Millions of people have overcome all difficulties before you. And millions of people will do it after you. Weigh the pros and cons carefully and act decisively. Everything will work out. In addition, there may be several attempts to move. One failure is never the end, and never the final judgment.

The first wave of Russian emigrants who left Russia after the October Revolution has a most tragic fate. Now the fourth generation of their descendants lives, which to a large extent has lost contact with their historical homeland.

Unknown continent

The Russian emigration of the first post-revolutionary war, also called white, is an epoch-making phenomenon that has no analogues in history, not only in its scale, but also in its contribution to world culture. Literature, music, ballet, painting, like many scientific achievements of the 20th century, are unthinkable without the first wave of Russian emigrants.

This was the last emigration exodus, when not just subjects of the Russian Empire, but bearers of Russian identity without subsequent "Soviet" admixtures, found themselves abroad. Subsequently, they created and inhabited a continent that is not on any map of the world - its name is "Russian Diaspora".

The main direction of the white emigration is countries Western Europe with centers in Prague, Berlin, Paris, Sofia, Belgrade. A significant part settled in the Chinese Harbin - here by 1924 up to 100 thousand Russian emigrants were reading. As Archbishop Nathanael (Lvov) wrote, “Harbin was an exceptional phenomenon at that time. Built by the Russians on Chinese territory, it remained a typical Russian provincial town for another 25 years after the revolution. "

According to the calculations of the American Red Cross, on November 1, 1920, the total number of emigrants from Russia was 1 million 194 thousand people. The League of Nations cites data as of August 1921 - 1.4 million refugees. Historian Vladimir Kabuzan estimates the number of those who emigrated from Russia in the period from 1918 to 1924 at least 5 million people.

Short-term separation

The first wave of emigrants did not expect to spend their entire lives in exile. They expected that the Soviet regime was about to collapse and they could see their homeland again. Such sentiments explain their opposition to assimilation and their intention to limit their lives to the framework of an emigrant colony.

Sergei Rafalsky, a publicist and emigrant of the first won, wrote about this: “The brilliant era, when the emigration still smelled of dust, gunpowder and blood of the Don steppes, was somehow erased in foreign memory, and its elite could imagine a change at any call at midnight” usurpers "and the full set of the Council of Ministers, and the necessary quorum of the Legislative Chambers, and the General Staff, and the gendarme corps, and the Intelligence Department, and the Chamber of Commerce, and the Holy Synod, and Governing Senate, not to mention professors and representatives of the arts, especially literature. "

In the first wave of emigration, in addition to the large number of cultural elites of the Russian pre-revolutionary society, there was a significant share of the military. According to the League of Nations, about a quarter of all post-revolutionary emigrants belonged to the white armies that left Russia for different time from different fronts.

Europe

In 1926, according to the League of Nations Refugee Service, 958.5 thousand Russian refugees were officially registered in Europe. Of these, about 200 thousand were received by France, about 300 thousand - by the Turkish Republic. In Yugoslavia, Latvia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Greece approximately 30-40 thousand emigrants lived.

In the first years, Constantinople played the role of a transshipment base for the Russian emigration, but over time, its functions were transferred to other centers - Paris, Berlin, Belgrade and Sofia. So, according to some sources, in 1921 the Russian population of Berlin reached 200 thousand people - it was it who first of all suffered from the economic crisis, and by 1925 no more than 30 thousand people remained there.

Prague and Paris are gradually being promoted to the main roles of centers of Russian emigration, in particular, the latter is rightly considered the cultural capital of emigration of the first wave. A special place among the Parisian emigrants was played by the Don military formation, which was chaired by one of the leaders of the white movement, Venedikt Romanov. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany in 1933, and especially during the Second World War, the outflow of Russian emigrants from Europe to the United States increased sharply.

China

On the eve of the revolution, the number of the Russian diaspora in Manchuria reached 200 thousand people, after the start of emigration it increased by another 80 thousand. Throughout the period Civil War on the Far East (1918-1922) in connection with the mobilization, an active movement of the Russian population of Manchuria began.

After the defeat of the white movement, emigration to North China increased sharply. By 1923, the number of Russians here was estimated at about 400 thousand. Of this number, about 100 thousand received soviet passports, many of them decided to repatriate to the RSFSR. The amnesty announced to the rank-and-file members of the White Guard formations played a role here.

The period of the 1920s was marked by an active re-emigration of Russians from China to other countries. This particularly affected young people heading to study at US universities, South America, Europe and Australia.

Stateless persons

On December 15, 1921, a decree was adopted in the RSFSR, according to which many categories of former subjects of the Russian Empire were deprived of their rights to Russian citizenship, including those who had stayed abroad continuously for more than 5 years and who had not received foreign passports or relevant certificates from Soviet missions in time.

So many Russian emigrants ended up as stateless persons. But their rights continued to be protected by the former Russian embassies and consulates as the RSFSR and then the USSR were recognized by the respective states.

A number of issues concerning Russian emigrants could be resolved only at the international level. To this end, the League of Nations decided to introduce the post of High Commissioner for Russian Refugees. It was the famous Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. In 1922, special "Nansen" passports appeared, which were issued to Russian emigrants.

Until the end of the 20th century in different countries there were emigrants and their children who lived with "Nansen" passports. Thus, Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya-Manstein, the elder of the Russian community in Tunisia, received a new Russian passport only in 1997.

“I was waiting for Russian citizenship. The Soviet did not want it. Then I waited for the passport to be with a double-headed eagle - the embassy offered with the coat of arms of the International, I waited with an eagle. I am such a stubborn old woman, ”Anastasia Alexandrovna confessed.

The fate of emigration

Many figures of Russian culture and science met the proletarian revolution in its prime. Hundreds of scientists, writers, philosophers, musicians, and artists found themselves abroad who could have made up the flower of the Soviet nation, but due to circumstances revealed their talent only in emigration.

But the overwhelming majority of the emigrants had to get a job as drivers, waiters, dishwashers, auxiliary workers, musicians in small restaurants, nevertheless continuing to consider themselves bearers of the great Russian culture.

The paths of the Russian emigration were different. Some initially did not accept soviet power, others were forcibly deported abroad. The ideological conflict, in fact, split the Russian emigration. This was especially acute during the Second World War. Part of the Russian diaspora believed that in order to fight fascism it was worth making an alliance with the communists, while the other refused to support both totalitarian regimes. But there were also those who were ready to fight against the hated Soviets on the side of the Nazis.

White emigrants from Nice turned to the representatives of the USSR with a petition:
“We deeply grieved that at the time of Germany's perfidious attack on our Motherland,
physically deprived of the opportunity to be in the ranks of the valiant Red Army. But we
helped our Motherland by working underground ”. And in France, according to the calculations of the emigrants themselves, every tenth representative of the Resistance Movement was Russian.

Dissolving in someone else's environment

The first wave of Russian emigration, having experienced a peak in the first 10 years after the revolution, subsided in the 1930s, and by the 1940s it had completely disappeared. Many descendants of the first wave of emigrants have long forgotten about their ancestral home, but the traditions of preserving Russian culture that were once laid down are still largely alive today.

A descendant of a noble family, Count Andrei Musin-Pushkin sadly stated: “Emigration was doomed to disappear or assimilate. The old people died, the young gradually disappeared into the local environment, turning into French, Americans, Germans, Italians ... Sometimes it seems that only beautiful, sonorous surnames and titles remain from the past: counts, princes, Naryshkins, Sheremetyevs, Romanovs, Musins-Pushkins " ...

So, in the transit points of the first wave of Russian emigration, no one was left alive. The last was Anastasia Shirinskaya-Manstein, who died in 2009 in Tunisian Bizerte.

The situation with the Russian language was also difficult, which at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries in the Russian diaspora found itself in an ambiguous position. Natalya Bashmakova, a professor of Russian literature living in Finland, a descendant of emigrants who fled from St. Petersburg in 1918, notes that in some families the Russian language lives even in the fourth generation, in others it died many decades ago.

“The problem of languages \u200b\u200bis personally sad for me,” says the scientist, “since I emotionally feel better than Russian, but I’m not always sure about the use of some expressions, Swedish is deep within me, but, of course, I have now forgotten it. Emotionally, he is closer to me than Finnish. "

Many descendants of the first wave of emigrants who left Russia because of the Bolsheviks live in Adelaide, Australia today. They still bear Russian surnames and even Russian names, but their native language is already English. Their homeland is Australia, they do not consider themselves emigrants and have little interest in Russia.

Most of those who have Russian roots currently live in Germany - about 3.7 million people, in the USA - 3 million, in France - 500 thousand, in Argentina - 300 thousand, in Australia - 67 thousand Several waves of emigration from Russia mixed here. But, as polls have shown, the descendants of the first wave of emigrants feel least connected with the homeland of their ancestors.

Emigration in Russia: history and modernity

1. Emigration from the Russian Empire

It is customary to count the Russian emigration from the 16th century, from the time of Ivan the Terrible. It has been established that Prince Andrei Kurbsky can be considered the first widely known political emigrant. In the XVII century. there appeared "defectors" - young nobles, whom Boris Godunov sent to Europe to study, but they did not return to their homeland. However, until the mid-19th century, cases of emigration were rare. And only after Peasant reform In 1861, leaving Russia became a mass phenomenon.

For all that, there was no such legal concept as “emigration” in pre-revolutionary Russian legislation. The transition of Russians to another citizenship was prohibited, and the time spent outside the country was limited to five years, after which it was necessary to apply for an extension of the time. If the refusal and non-return followed, then the person was deprived of citizenship and was subjected to arrest in his homeland, exile until the end of his days and deprivation of property.

It is more correct to divide the pre-revolutionary emigration not according to chronology, but according to typological groups: labor (or economic), religious, Jewish, and political (or revolutionary). Emigrants first three groups mostly went to the USA and Canada, and the fourth to Europe.

Labor or economic emigration in the pre-revolutionary period was the most massive. It consisted mainly of landless peasants, artisans, and unskilled workers. In total for 1851 - 1915. 4.200.500 people left Russia, of which 3.978.9 thousand people emigrated to the countries of the New World, mainly to the USA, which is 94%. It is noteworthy that the overwhelming majority of pre-revolutionary emigrants were, as a rule, immigrants from other countries living in Russia: Germany (more than 1400 thousand people), Persia (850 thousand), Austria-Hungary (800 thousand) and Turkey (400 thousand ).

The number of Russian emigrants who left for religious reasons is about 30 thousand.The largest emigration flows before 1917 were members of various religious groups persecuted for their confessions: the Dukhobors (a sect of spiritual Christians; rejects Orthodox rites and sacraments, priests, monasticism), Molokans ( a sect of spiritual Christians; they reject priests and churches, perform prayers in ordinary houses) and Old Believers (part of Orthodox Christians who have moved away from the ruling Church in Russia after the reforms of the Moscow Patriarch Nikon). In the 1890s, the Dukhobor movement intensified with the aim of resettlement to America. Some of the Dukhobors were exiled to Yakutia, but many obtained permission to resettle in America. In 1898-1902. about 7, 5 thousand Dukhobors moved to Canada, many of them then moved to the USA. In 1905, some Dukhobors from Yakutia also obtained permission to resettle to Canada. In the first decade of the 20th century, more than 3, 5 thousand Molokans left for the USA, they settled mainly in California. Dukhobors, Molokans, and Old Believers largely determined the character of Russian emigration to America at the beginning of the 20th century. In particular, in 1920 in Los Angeles, out of 3,750 Russians living there, only 100 were Orthodox, the remaining 97% were representatives of various religious sects. Dukhobors and Old Believers on the American continent, thanks to a rather isolated way of life, were able to preserve to this day Russian traditions and customs to a greater extent. Despite significant Americanization of life and expansion of English language even now they continue to remain islands of Russia abroad

More than 40% of the emigrants were Jews. The emigration of Jews increased significantly after the assassination of the reformer Tsar Alexander II and the Jewish pogroms that followed. With regard to the departure of the Jews, the Permission for the Jews was issued ... (1880), which allowed them to leave the empire, but punished them with deprivation of the right to return. Jews began to leave, mainly to the New World, and many settled in the United States. This choice not accidental: according to the American Constitution, Jews had the same civil and religious rights as Christians. The peak of Jewish emigration from Russia to the United States occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. - more than 700 thousand people left the country.

Political emigration from the Russian Empire was quite small and was a diverse and complex phenomenon, since it included all the colors of social life in pre-revolutionary Russia. It is extremely conditionally possible to divide the history of political emigration before 1917 into two periods: 1. Narodnichesky, which originates from the emigration in 1847 of the Russian publicist, writer and philosopher A.I. Herzen and ends in 1883 with the formation in Geneva of the Marxist group "Emancipation of Labor "; 2. Proletarian (or socialist) from 1883 to 1917. The first period was characterized by the absence of political parties with a clearly expressed structure and a small number of emigrants (mainly “representatives of the second stage of the revolutionary movement”). The second period of political emigration is much more massive and more complexly structured, characterized by a huge number of diverse groups, societies and parties (the most real) political emigrants. By the beginning of the 20th century, more than 150 Russian political parties operated outside Russia. The main feature of the order of formation of these parties was the formation of parties, first with a socialist orientation, then liberal and, finally, conservative. Russian government tried different ways hinder political emigration, suppress or hinder its "subversive" activities abroad; with a number of countries (in particular, with the United States), it concluded agreements on the mutual extradition of political emigrants, which made them virtually illegal.

The most famous Russian emigrants of the pre-revolutionary period are, perhaps, Herzen, Gogol, Turgenev (France and Germany, 1847-1883), Mechnikov (Paris, 1888-1916), Lenin, Pirogov and Gorky.

The first world War led to a sharp decline in international migrations, primarily labor and especially intercontinental ones (but internal migrations also sharply increased, which is associated primarily with the flows of refugees and evacuees fleeing the advancing enemy troops: their subsequent return, as a rule, only partial). She significantly accelerated the revolutionary situation and thereby made her "contribution" to the victory of the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Mass political emigration began after the October Revolution. People left the country who did not agree with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, who had no reason to equate themselves with the class whose power had been proclaimed.

Let's start, naturally, with the First Emigrant Wave. It is also called the White emigration, and it is clear why. After the defeats of the White Army in the North-West, the first military emigrants were units of the army of General Yudenich ...

Waves of emigration from Russia and the CIS countries

In addition to the White emigration, the first post-revolutionary decade also saw fragments of ethnic (and, at the same time, religious) emigration - Jewish (about 100 thousand people, almost all to Palestine) and German (about 20-25 thousand people) ...

Waves of emigration from Russia and the CIS countries

The beginning of this period should be counted from the era of M.S. Gorbachev, but, however, not from his very first steps, but rather from the "second", among which the most important were the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the liberalization of the press and the rules for entering and leaving the country ...

Historical meaning theory and practice of public charity in the Russian Empire in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries.

At the turn of the XVIII - XIX centuries. in Russia, public charity begins to form into a certain system with its own secular institutions, special legislation appears ...

The historical significance of the theory and practice of public charity in the Russian Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Approaches to issues of public charity are outlined in the socio-philosophical understanding at the end of the 18th century. The main problems raised by thinkers of the eighteenth century are related to the role of the individual in helping ...

The historical significance of the theory and practice of public charity in the Russian Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

2.1 The practice of public charity in the Russian Empire in the late 18th - early 19th centuries The first decade of the reign of Catherine II is characterized by the rise of public thought ...

The historical significance of the theory and practice of public charity in the Russian Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Structure term paper: the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography. The first chapter is devoted to the origins, main categories, concept and functions of charity in the Russian Empire in the late 18th - early 19th centuries ...

The historical significance of the theory and practice of public charity in the Russian Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Comprehensive concept legal support public charity, which arose in the second half of the XVIII century. during the reign of Catherine II ...

Problems of the formation of ideology in Russia

The history of the Russian State passed under the sign of ideology. Short breaks without an idea or with small, private ideas were timelessness, confusion ...

State and development prospects of the pension system in Russia

A retrospective analysis of the problems of modernizing pension provision in Russia contributes to the development of modern mechanisms for their resolution. Provision in old age and due to illness of persons who did not serve the state in Russia until the 19th century ...

Statistical study of emigration flows

There is a long-standing ideological tradition in Russia of an unfriendly attitude towards emigration. Although now there is a turning point in public sentiment and going abroad is beginning to be perceived more calmly ...

The emigration situation in the Stavropol Territory

The current state of the conceptual apparatus of the topic "migration" is characterized by the presence of many problems. Among them - the lack of elaboration of some definitions; the controversy of others ...

In general, a generally accepted scheme of division into periods of Russian emigration after 1917, emigration from Soviet Union... It consisted of four so-called emigration "waves" ...

Emigration in Russia: history and modernity

Russia besides natural resources supplies to the international market its most important strategic resource - people. They are young and educated people, with a high level of income, aged 20 to 40 ...

Migration and emigration in the pre-revolutionary period in Russia

The history of international (interstate) migration and emigration of Russian citizens goes back several centuries, if we take into account the forced flight abroad of political figures back in the Middle Ages. For example: salvation from the persecution of the Orthodox Church and the Moscow grand-ducal power in Lithuania and “among the Germans” at the beginning of the 16th century. Novgorod-Moscow heretics, as well as the transition in 1564 to the side of the Poles of Prince Andrei Kurbsky. His step was dictated by fears for his life associated with the conflict between the prince and Ivan the Terrible over the choice of the main paths of Russia's political development. Kurbsky's political concept consisted in the development of the principles of combining the power of the monarch, the institutions of the order apparatus and the further development of estate-representative bodies, both in the center and in the localities. The point of view defended by Ivan the Terrible was to assert the principle of unlimited monarchy, "autocracy", with the parallel establishment of a tough, forceful regime. The subsequent development of events showed that the point of view of Ivan IV prevailed.

In the "Peter's" era, religious motives were added to the political motives for leaving the country. The process of economic migration, so characteristic of the countries of Central and Western Europe, practically did not affect Russia until the second half of the 19th century, although there are references to Russian settlers in the 16th - 18th centuries. to America, China and Africa. However, these migrations were insignificant in number and were associated with the "call of the distant seas" or the search for happiness. At the end of the 18th century. Russian settlers also appeared in European countries: in France (1774), Germany (in the cities of Halle, Marburg, Jena, etc.), where from the middle of the 15th - 2nd centuries. Russian noble youth began to study.
The main center of Russian political emigration in the second quarter of the 19th century. was Paris, and after the revolution of 1848 it became London, where the "first free Russian printing house" appeared, founded by A.I. Herzen, thanks to which the Russian emigration became a significant factor in political life Russia. A characteristic feature of the "noble emigration" from Russia in the second quarter of the 19th century, which left quite legally, was a relatively high standard of living.
In the second half of the 19th century, after the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. a number of political "criminals" fled from Russia, who settled mainly in London, Bern, Heidelberg, Tulz, Geneva, Berlin. This new emigration expanded social composition Russian political emigration. The bourgeoisie, the commoners, the intelligentsia were added to the nobility.
A special stream of Russian political emigration, which arose after the assassination of Alexander II and the internal political crisis of the 1880s, spanned almost a quarter of a century. The appearance in emigration of one of the first political organizations - the Marxist "Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad", also dates back to this time.
Speaking about the Russians who were abroad in the last quarter of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century, we should first of all mention the economic “settlers”. The reason for their departure was the higher wages abroad. Until the early 1980s, the number of those who left Russia for economic reasons did not exceed 10 thousand people, later it began to grow and in 1891 reached its "peak" - 109 thousand people. In 1894, it fell sharply, which was associated with a trade agreement between Russia and Germany, which facilitated the crossing of the border and allowed for a short time to travel abroad and return. Labor, or economic, emigration in the pre-revolutionary period was the most massive. It consisted mainly of landless peasants, artisans, and unskilled workers. In total, during the period from 1861 to 1915, 4 million 200 thousand 500 people left Russia, of which 3 million 978.9 thousand people emigrated to the countries of the New World, mainly to the USA, which is 94%. It should be noted that most of the emigrants from Russia were not ethnic Russians. More than 40% of the emigrants were Jews. According to the census of 1910, in the United States there were 1 thousand 732.5 thousand natives of Russia, and persons of "Russian origin" - 2 thousand 781.2 thousand. Among the natives of Russia: 838 thousand Jews, 418 thousand Poles , 137 thousand Lithuanians, 121 thousand Germans and only 40.5 thousand Russians. Thus, it turns out that no more than 3% of all persons of Russian origin lived in the United States by 1910. Define precisely ethnic composition labor emigration of the late XIX - early XX centuries. does not seem possible. So, in the United States, Ukrainians, Carpathossians, mainly immigrants from the western and southern provinces of the Russian Empire, from Austria-Hungary (Galicia, Bukovina), Transcarpathia were registered as Russians (or Rusyns). They identified themselves with the Russians and, in a broad sense, with the East Slavic culture. Their descendants have largely preserved this continuity to our time, and most of the 10 million parishioners of the Russian Church in America (American Metropolitanate), numerous Ukrainian and Carpathossian churches are descendants of labor emigrants. In the late XIX - early XX centuries. Russian peasants in America united mainly around church parishes and peasant brotherhoods, mutual aid societies. Among this category of emigrants there were few educated and literate people: they did not write books and memoirs, but through generations they carried love and respect for Russia, preserving the traditions of Orthodoxy, as evidenced by dozens of Russian Orthodox churches built by their hands.
Some idea of \u200b\u200bthe number of Russian emigration in the 19th century. give tables 1 and 2.
However, it should be borne in mind that the data in these tables give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe "subjects of the Russian Empire" and not of the Russians themselves. As mentioned above, the percentage of the latter was relatively small. For example, in 1890-1900. it was only 2% of all those who left. Of those who arrived in Germany in 1911 - 1912. almost 260 thousand people "signed up" as Russians only in 1915, and in 1912 - 1913. from about the same number - 6360 (Vobly KG Departure to earn money in Germany and the Russian-German trade agreement // Proceedings of the South-West department of the Russian Passport Chamber. Kiev, 1924, p. 7). A similar situation was observed in Canada. So, of the former subjects of the Russian Empire who left for Canada, there were actually Russians: in 1900 - 1903. - 11 thousand people, which was 46% of the total; in 1904 - 1908 - 17 thousand (34%), in 1909 - 1913. - 64 thousand (56%), and only in 1900 - 1913. - 92 thousand (Russians. M., 1997, p. 146).
It is necessary to mention one more category of Russian emigrants - those who left for religious reasons. Their number from 1826 to 1905, according to VD Bonch-Bruevich, amounted to 26.5 thousand Orthodox and sectarians, of whom 18 thousand left in the last decade of the 19th century. and in the five pre-revolutionary years. The largest streams of religious Russian emigration before 1917 were mainly Dukhobors, Molokans, and Old Believers. In the 1890s, the Dukhobor movement intensified with the aim of resettlement to America. Some of the Dukhobors were deported to Yakutia, but many obtained permission in 1905 to resettle in America. In 1898 - 1902. about 7.5 thousand Dukhobors moved to Canada, many of them then moved to the United States. In the first decade of the 20th century, more than 3.5 thousand Molokans left for the United States, they settled mainly in California. Dukhobors, Molokans, and Old Believers largely determined the character of Russian emigration to America at the beginning of the 20th century. In particular, in 1920 in Los Angeles, out of 3750 Russians living there, only 100 were Orthodox, the remaining 97% were representatives of various religious sects. The Dukhobors, Old Believers on the American continent, thanks to their rather isolated lifestyle, were largely able to preserve Russian traditions and customs to this day. Despite the significant Americanization of life and the expansion of the English language, even now they continue to remain islands of Russia abroad.
It is impossible not to mention the mass emigration abroad of representatives of national minorities. tsarist Russia in the 19th century. First of all, Tatars, Germans, Poles and Jews. This emigration was largely due to religious reasons. But these flows of emigration are not the subject of this work, since only with a big stretch can be considered Russian (or Russian emigration) emigration of Germans-Mennonites, Crimean Tatars, Poles, most of the Jews and others, although they emigrated from Russia. We do not consider such groups in our work, because they very quickly lost any connection with Russia and Russian culture. Although the scale of such emigration from pre-revolutionary Russia was significant, it was more correct to use the term “resettlement from Russia” in relation to it. It would hardly be justified to regard the Tatar population of Turkey as descendants of Russian emigrants, and they themselves identify themselves not even with the Tatars, but with the Turks. Just as it would be incorrect to consider the American director S. Spielberg and the magician D. Copperfield as representatives of the Russian diaspora on the American continent only on the grounds that their ancestors were from Odessa. It would be very problematic to discover any influence of Russian culture among the descendants of German settlers from Russia in the 19th century in Germany and the USA.
The peculiarity of Jewish emigration from Russia is due to the fact that it includes all possible typologies of emigration: political, labor, religious, national, often intertwined and difficult to separate. Another feature of the Jewish emigration is that a part of it has retained elements of Russian culture and the Russian language for over 150 years. This is evidenced by the large number of Russian-language newspapers, magazines, and organizations created by her that use the Russian language as a means of communication. The beginning of the mass Jewish emigration dates back to the 70s of the 19th century. Moreover, more than 90% of Jewish emigrants went to the United States. In the 70s of all Russian emigrants who arrived in the United States, 42% were Jews, in the 80s they were already 58.2%. The absolute number of Jewish emigrants continues to increase throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. This was largely due to the restriction of the rights of Jews in the 80s. In particular, the introduction in 1882 of the "Provisional Rules" for the residence of Jews in the countryside. They forbade Jews to settle outside cities, acquire property, and lease land. In 1887, Jews were forbidden to settle in Rostov-on-Don and in the Taganrog district, in 1891 - in Moscow and the Moscow region. In 1886 - 1887, decrees were issued restricting the right of Jews to enter gymnasiums and real schools throughout Russia. In the United States, Jewish emigrants settled mainly in the states of the North Atlantic, primarily New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1891 - 1900 234.2 thousand Russian Jews left the United States, which amounted to 36.5% of all Russian emigrants who arrived in the United States. Jewish emigration reached its peak at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1901 - 1910 704.2 thousand Jews arrived in the United States, which amounted to 44.1% of all Russian immigrants. Jewish emigration cannot be classified as labor or temporary. There were practically no re-emigrants among the Jews, i.e. they deliberately tried to find a new home in the country of entry. This is partly due to the peculiarities of the Russian legislation of that period. In tsarist Russia, emigration was prohibited - only temporary travel abroad was allowed. The only exception to this rule were Jews, who, according to the "Rules" of May 8, 1892, received the right to officially leave the country, without the right to return.
About the number of those who left Russia in 1900-1917 and the emigrants who settled in different countries are clearly evidenced by the data given in Table 3.
Political emigration is a complex and diverse phenomenon, including the entire spectrum of social life in pre-revolutionary Russia. Perhaps, there is not a single noticeable trend in the political and social life of pre-revolutionary Russia, which would not have been represented in emigration. Political emigrants from Russia published only in Europe during the period 1855-1917. 287 newspapers and magazines. Another feature of political emigration is its close intertwining and relationship with labor, national and religious emigrants. Such a variety actually defies any classification. The traditional principles of dividing the currents of political emigration into conservative, liberal, socialist, or, noble, raznochin, proletarian emigration, etc. do not reflect the entire spectrum of Russian political emigration. Quite conventionally, two stages can be distinguished in the history of political emigration before 1917: 1. The Narodnik stage, leading its beginning from the emigration of A. I. Herzen in 1847 and ending in 1883 with the formation of the Emancipation of Labor group in Geneva, which united the first Russian Marxists - emigrants (G.V. Plekhanov, P. B. Axelrod, V. I. Zasulich, L. G. Deich and others); 2. Proletarian - from 1883 to 1917. The first, populist stage was characterized by the absence of political parties with a clearly expressed structure and a small number of political emigrants. Basically, these are the People's Will, or, as they are called in Marxist historiography, "representatives of the second stage of the revolutionary movement." The second stage in the history of political emigration is characterized by the formation of a huge number of different groups, societies and parties of political emigrants. Moreover, these are no longer proto-parties, but real parties with a clearly organized structure. The second stage also differs from the first in its relative mass character - colonies of Russian emigrants, editorial offices of the press, party bodies were formed at this time in all large cities Europe. (The main centers of Russian emigration were: Geneva, where 109 Russian periodicals were published during 1855-1917; Paris - 95; London - 42; Berlin - 17). By the beginning of the 20th century, more than 150 Russian political parties operated outside Russia. Characteristic feature The order of formation and stratification of Russian political parties was the initial formation of parties of socialist orientation, then liberal and, finally, conservative.
One of the first political emigrants of the 19th century was a professor at Moscow University V.S.Pecherin (1807 - 1885). In 1836 he left Russia, becoming a political emigrant. Subsequently, Pecherin converted to Catholicism and became one of the most prominent figures in the Redemptor Order, a renowned enlightener in Ireland. He was not a revolutionary, but actively collaborated with Herzen, in particular, Herzen published his correspondence with Pecherin in the "Polar Star". In 1840, the first emigration of M. A. Bakunin began, which ended with his extradition to the tsarist government in 1851. I.G. Golovnin became a defector in 1843 - official russian ministry foreign affairs, who subsequently lived in Europe and America for several decades. Golovnin was also the author of the first revolutionary émigré brochure, published in 1849, "The Catechism of the Russian People."
But, political emigration as a phenomenon begins with A.I. Herzen, who went abroad in 1847. In 1853, Herzen founded the Free Russian Printing House in London. Since 1855 he published the almanac "Polar Star", in 1857 - 67 years. together with NP Ogarev published the first Russian revolutionary newspaper "Kolokol". The first rather large group of political emigrants was made up of the People's Will, who emigrated to escape the repressions of the tsarist government. The most prominent representatives of this movement of political emigrants were P. L. Lavrov and M. A. Bakunin. P.N.Tkachev, P.A.Kropotkin, S.M. Stepnyak-Kravchinsky.
An important event in the history of Russian political emigration was the creation in 1870 by a group of emigrants led by Utin in Geneva of the Russian section of the International. Most renowned organizations populist wing were "Land and Freedom", " People's will"," Black redistribution ". From the Russian foreign press of this period, the journal Vperyod (1873 - 1877), published by Lavrov in Zurich and London, the newspaper of Tkachev "Nabat", published in Geneva and London (1875 - 1881), "Bulletin of the Narodnaya Volya" (1883 - 1886) stand out. , the Geneva newspaper "Grain" (1880 - 1881), London "At home" (1882 - 1883), "The People's Will. Social Revolutionary Review "(1879 - 1885) and others.
In the 70s of the XIX century, the People's Will began to penetrate into America. In the 70s there were already several circles and communities of Russian revolutionary emigrants (the commune of Freya, G.A.Machteta, and others). A notable personality among Russian emigrants in America was the former hierodeacon of the Russian mission in Athens, then an employee of the Free Printing House of Herzen and, since 1864, an emigrant to the United States, Agapiy Goncharenko. He is also considered the ancestor of the Russian press in America. The first political emigrant to the United States was Colonel of the General Staff I. V. Turchaninov, who emigrated there in 1856. Subsequently, he went down in American history as one of the heroes of the war between North and South, in which he took part on the side of the northerners, commanding a regiment. Until the early 1880s, the number of Russian political emigrants in America was extremely small. The flow of political emigrants increased after accession Alexander III... Among Russian political emigrants to the United States of this period, one can name N.K.Sudzilovsky, N. Aleinikov, P.M. Fedorov, V.L.Burtsev and others. In 1893, after the conclusion of an agreement between the governments of the United States and Russia on the extradition of political emigrants, many Russian emigrants were forced to leave the United States or to take American citizenship. Political emigration in the United States, as well as all political emigration, is characterized by a gradual retreat into the background of its populist component and by the beginning of the 1890s the complete dominance of the Social Democrats. In particular, in the 1890s, the Russian Social Democratic Society was active in New York, and a group of Russian Social Democrats in Chicago. The Russian Social Democrats were associated with the Emancipation of Labor group, and later with the Iskra editorial board. The number of Russian political emigrants to America rose sharply after the defeat of the 1905-1907 revolution.
A significant episode in the history of Russian political emigration was the activity of Herzen's friend, high-ranking oppositionist Prince P.V. Dolgorukov. Dolgorukov collaborated with Herzen's "Kolokol", providing information that compromised the ruling strata of Tsarist Russia from his illegally exported archive. Dolgorukov also published his periodicals "Future", "Listok", "Truthful", etc. Here are just some of the publications of Prince Dolgorukov: "The current state of affairs at court", "Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. His character and lifestyle. His wife Maria Alexandrovna ”,“ About what is happening in the Ministry of Finance ”,“ Career of Mina Ivanovna ”, etc.
The beginning of the second, or "proletarian" stage of the formation of the Russian political emigration before 1917 is associated with the creation in 1883 in Geneva of the Emancipation of Labor group. At its origins were the former leaders of the populist movement: G.V. Plekhanov, a member of the Land and Freedom organization and the leader of the Black Redistribution, P.B. Axelrod, Plekhanov's associate in the Black Redistribution, chief Editor Bakunin newspaper "Community", landowner VN Ignatov and others. The group marked the beginning of the Marxist trend in the history of political emigration. Abroad, members of the Emancipation of Labor group published the Library of Contemporary Socialism and the Working Library. The activities of the Emancipation of Labor group prepared the formation in 1898, and the final formation of the RSDLP in 1903, and members of the Emancipation of Labor group Plekhanov, Axelrod, Zasulich played an important role in the formation of the RSDLP. The RSDLP has created the largest, in comparison with other émigré parties and associations, infrastructure of party organizations and groups abroad. In particular, foreign groups of the RSDLP worked in Geneva, Bern, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Boston, Budapest, Lvov, Leipzig, Mannheim, Brussels, Nice, San Remo, Hamburg, Lausanne, Bremenov, Liege, Antwerp, Davos, Copenhagen, Toulouse, Chicago, New York and many other cities in Europe and America. The most famous printed organs of the RSDLP are the newspapers Iskra, Zarya, Vperyod, Proletary, Pravda, Sotsial-Demokrat, etc. In 1908, the center of Russian political emigration moved from Geneva to Paris.
As mentioned above, emigration, especially emigration of the 19th and early 20th centuries, is a complex, diverse phenomenon that does not fit into the Procrustean bed of any classification and systematization. The division of emigrants into political, economic, who left their homeland due to religious oppression, etc. far from covering all the components of emigration. The motives and reasons that prompted a person to become an emigrant are often very individual. And each has its own story. The only thing that unites this community, a group of people called emigrants, is that they all left their homeland for a long time, and sometimes for life.
During the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, many figures lived abroad russian science, culture and just rich nobles. N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, K. P. Bryullov, I. I. Mechnikov and others lived abroad for a long time. The reasons for their emigration are very different. Often this is a search for more favorable conditions for creativity and scientific work, personal reasons. These varied motives were often intertwined.
ZA Volkonskaya left Russia forever in 1829 and settled in Rome, where she lived for about 30 years. Villa Volkonskaya for many years turned into the main cultural center of the Russian diaspora of the first half and mid-19th century. To this day, this villa with a huge garden is called “Villa Volkonskaya”. At Villa 3. A. Volkonskaya creates the Alley of Memories. She erects marble steles in honor of A. Pushkin and N. M. Karamzin, an urn in memory of D. V. Venevitinov. NV Gogol, AI Turgenev, MI Glinka, KP Bryullov, AA Ivanov, VA Zhukovsky and many others were frequent guests at Volkonskaya. Volkonskaya's salon in Rome was one of the most famous in Europe. It brought together not only Russian cultural figures, but also Western Europe. At Volkonskaya's, writers read their stories, poems, plays, composers introduced the public to new works. Concerts were often arranged and operas were even staged. The Villa Volkonskaya also had a huge library and a rich collection of artworks. In February 1915 in Rome - with the aim of helping Russian emigrants and uniting the Russian colony - the A.I. Herzen Society was created. The founders of the society were G.I.Shreider, V.N.Rikhter and other emigrants.
From 1847 until his death in 1883, I.S.Turgenev lived abroad, mainly in France. In 1877, the historian, geographer, member of the Russian Geographical Society, correspondent of the Kolokol magazine MI Venyukov emigrated to France. In the early 30s of the XIX century, the mother and daughter of Vereshchagin, Elizaveta Arkadyevna and Alexandra Mikhailovna, went abroad for permanent residence. A. M. Vereshchagin, Lermontov's cousin, was friends with him during her life in Moscow and was in correspondence. In 1837, A.M. Vereshchagina married Baron Karl von Hugel and has not returned to Russia since then, living mainly in Paris and Stuttgart.
Russian microbiologist, laureate Nobel PrizeI. I. Mechnikov lived in France from 1888 until his death in 1916. Mechnikov in 1888 accepted the offer of Louis Pasteur and headed the largest laboratory of the bacteriological institute in Paris, since 1903 he was simultaneously the deputy director of this institution.
Numerous Russian libraries in many European cities were also centers of the Russian pre-revolutionary emigration. One of the first Russian émigré libraries was the Slavic Library in Paris, founded in 1855 by Russian Jesuits on the initiative of Prince I. S. Gagarin. A significant cultural center of the Russian colony in Paris was the "Russian Library named after I. S. Turgenev ". It opened in January 1875. Its founders were I.S.Turgenev and G.A.Lopatin. In 1883, after Turgenev's death, the library was named after him. In 1902, the “Russian Library named after V.I. N. V. Gogol ". The first were the admissions to the library from the “Club of Russian Artists in Rome” which had ceased to exist. Thus, the library received several thousand volumes. Readings, concerts, debates were often held in the library. The lecturers were P. D. Boborykin, S. M. Volkonsky, V. F. Ern, S. M. Soloviev and others. On Wednesdays, weekly meetings were organized for Russian emigrants in Rome. Library named after Gogol was a non-partisan institution and sought to remain equally accessible to all Russian émigrés, regardless of their political views. The membership fee for library members was 15 francs. Since 1912, the Society of the Leo Tolstoy Russian Library and Reading Room also existed in Rome. Any Russian emigrant who lived in Rome for at least three months could be a member of the Society.
The Slavika Library at the Alexander University in Helsinki possessed the largest collection of Russian books outside of Russia. From 1828 to 1917, she regularly received, by decree of Nicholas I, obligatory copies of all books published in the Russian Empire. In addition, it was replenished not only by legal deposit, but also by donations and personalized gifts. The most valuable of them was the "Alexander's Gift", which came from the son of the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, Pavel Konstantinovich Alexandrov. He donated 24 thousand volumes to Slavika from two libraries - the Great Gatchina and the library of the Marble Palace, consisting mainly of old books of the 17th and 18th centuries. By 1917, there were about 350 thousand book titles in the library.
One cannot fail to mention another large group of Russian people who became involuntary emigrants. These are Russians living in Alaska, who became emigrants against their will - after the sale of Alaska to America in 1867. The parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church also involuntarily found themselves in emigration.
The Russian Orthodox Church in America dates back to the first Orthodox mission in Alaska in 1794. Since the sale of Alaska to America in 1867, the Russian Church in America has been on the territory of another state - the United States. Since that time, its parishioners have been replenished mainly by converted Americans. In fact, since 1867, the ROC in America becomes a Local orthodox Church, i.e. having found "its place", it is in canonical dependence on the ROC. Gradually, churches of the Russian Orthodox Church appear in the original territory of the United States - in San Francisco (1867), in New York (1870), and their parishioners already include all Orthodox Christians living in the USA: Serbs, Greeks, Syrians, immigrants from Austria Hungary, etc. In 1903, the Russian Church in America had 52 churches and 69 chapels. The number of registered parishioners reached 32 thousand people, while there were only 876 immigrants from Russia. In order not to embarrass parishioners who did not have Russian citizenship, the Holy Synod, by a decree of January 27, 1906, allowed the practice of commemorating not Emperor Nicholas II at services, but President of the United States. By 1917, there were about 100,000 registered parishioners and 306 churches and chapels in the American Church. In addition, the Syro-Arab Mission, the Serbian and Albanian Missions belonged to the Russian Church.
Summing up the analysis of Russian emigration in pre-revolutionary Russia, the following conclusions can be drawn. Emigration as a phenomenon and subject of study by historians, demographers and other specialists appears in Russia only from the middle of the 19th century. It is from the middle of the 19th century that one can talk about such concepts as the Russian émigré press, the literature of the Russian diaspora. During the second half of the century before last and the beginning of the past, a fairly large Russian diaspora was formed in Europe and America, with its own infrastructure of emigre institutions, editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, archives and libraries. It should be noted that pre-revolutionary emigration XIX - early XX centuries was the most significant in size, compared with subsequent emigration, the number of people who left Russia during this period exceeds 7 million people. This is largely due to the fact that the pre-revolutionary emigration was longer in time and was not caused by any political cataclysms, in contrast to subsequent emigration. At the same time, emigration in tsarist Russia was not regulated by law. The transfer of Russian citizens to another citizenship was prohibited, and the period of stay abroad was limited to five years, after which it was necessary to apply for an extension of the period, otherwise the person was considered to have lost citizenship, and his property was transferred to the trusteeship, and he himself, returning to Russia, subject to eternal exile. Thus, until 1917, emigration from Russia was semi-legal and in fact was not officially regulated in any way ...
As shown above, in the pre-revolutionary period, labor or economic emigration prevailed. A feature of most emigrants (with the exception of the Dukhobors and Old Believers) was the desire to adapt to a new life as quickly as possible, to find their place in a foreign country. Most of them settled in America.
The February Revolution of 1917 put an end to the "anti-Tsarist" political emigration. In March 1917, the majority of revolutionaries of various political shades returned to Russia. To facilitate their repatriation, even Committees for Homecoming were created. They operated in France, Switzerland, England, USA. But already in November 1917 the opposite phenomenon began to develop - emigration, carrying an anti-Soviet, anti-Bolshevik and anti-communist character. She received the name "White emigration", or "First wave of Russian emigration". It should be dwelt on in more detail, since it was the "First Emigration" that played a significant role in the development and preservation of the Russian national culture, her spiritual roots.
Chapter from the book
"Emigration and Repatriation in Russia"
V. A. Iontsev, N. M. Lebedeva,
M.V. Nazarov, A.V. Okorokov