Tracing One Anonymous Letter: Land Leasing by Jews in Right-Bank Ukraine in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2020.04.061Keywords:
Volyn Case, Jews, leasing, land, Ukrainian peasants, Right-Bank UkraineAbstract
The purpose of this article is to clarify the issue about the role of Jews in land leas in the provinces of Right-Bank Ukraine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism and science. The implementation of the research strategy led to the use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis), historical (historiographic, historicalgenetic, chronological) methods.
Scientific novelty. The analysis of original historical sources and scientific literature was carried out and it was found out that, contrary to the anti-Semitic policy of the Russian Empire, which manifested itself after the reform of 1861 and had a reflection, in particular, in the adoption of legislative acts prohibiting Jews from owning and leasing land, they were still active participants in agricultural relationship. A microanalysis of the Volyn Case was carried out and it fully confirmed the illegal lease of the land by Jews. The nobles leased out the whole or partially their estates, using the frontmen from "the Christian", mainly nobles, or under the guise of executing the duties to governors (estate managers) by Jewish leaseholders. Numerous data on similar practices in the Kyiv and Podillia provinces have been also given.
Conclusions. The provided data have shown that the Jewish entrepreneurs had taken over an important niche in the agricultural sphere – land leasing – and became powerful competitors to Ukrainian peasants in the struggle for it. As a result of it, as well as a number of other reasons, a large part of the Ukrainian peasantry developed negative attitudes towards Jews. Since no official statistics are available, as land leases were made on the basis of secret and illegal agreements, the further investigation of the issue is seen in the defining and analysis of new empirical facts about land leasing by Jews in Right-Bank Ukraine and other regions of Russian Empire.
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