JEWISH ECONOMIC PHENOMENON IN SIBERIA, 1880 - 1910s: REGULARITY OR OCCASION?
L.V. KALMINA
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies SB RAS, 6, Sakhyanova str., Ulan-Ude, 670047, Russian Federation
Keywords: Сибирь, Забайкалье, евреи, ссылка, торговое предпринимательство, мобильность, проникающая сила, рыночная конъюнктура, гильдейское купечество, золотопромышленность, ремесло, Siberia, Transbaikalia, Jews, exile, trading entrepreneurship, mobility, penetrating power, market rivalry, guild merchants, gold mining, handcraft
Abstract
Jews in Siberia had a status of exiles for the most part: the law prohibited the followers of Judaism to leave the boundary of a settled area. However, despite the adaption difficulties in an alien region, Siberian Jews in the second-third generation occupied strong positions in local economics taking leading roles in some industries and replenishing the ranks of local merchants. The article objective is to reveal the reasons of such fast ascent of Jews to the local economics, peak. Was it only a lucky occasion for them or the result of some regularity? The research source base includes five regional archives giving the possibility to trace the process from the exiled status to regional business elite representatives, and reference publications at the edge of the XIX - XX centuries estimating Jewish firms’ state in the Siberian economic space. Analyzing these material the author came to the following conclusions. Siberia changed its status during the investigated period. The concept of its economic development envisaged territorial raw material resource,s transformation into military-strategic and trade-industrial base at the Eastern imperial boundaries, for which the transfer of its economy to capitalist rails became necessary. For that reason the regional authority encouraged business initiatives independently of their origin. The exiled, including Jews, began to be regarded as a colonization resource. Having many centuries of experience of activities under the market economics, conditions, the Jews naturally integrated into transforming Siberian economic structure. Due to their ability to take into account the balance of supply and demand and establish economic relations, they quickly took the leading positions in Siberian colonial industries - trade and mining. Jewish business, inherent features, such as industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit, willingness to take risk, readiness to settle for less, at least in the beginning, allowed the former exiles to take their place among regional business elite.
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