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EASTERN PEOPLE ON WESTERN PRAIRIES:
HOW EARLY EASTERN EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS
SHAPED ALBERTA’S FUTURE
—40>—
VICTORIA MCGOWAN:
ABSTRACT
The early twentieth century was a time of significant upheaval in the former
Russian Empire. However, little research has looked at the ramifications of
this upheaval in regard to changes in domestic politics in the international
community. Huge numbers of migrants fleeing the revolution ended up in
Alberta, Canada in the early 20" century, drawn by the promise of cheap
farmland and community. These migrants brought many beliefs and cultural
practices which helped shape and continue to impact the province today. In
particular, rural Alberta’s tendency to have lower education levels and higher
distrust of government involvement in farming stems largely from the early
Eastern European diaspora that settled there. This paper uses photographs
and letters from this wave ofimmigrants in addition to archival sources to show
the long-reaching impact on Alberta, and will argue that this demonstrates
a need to re-examine the long term influence of large migrant diasporas.
The Russian Revolution (also called the October Revolution) began 7
November 1917, after more than a decade of unrest. When the revolutionary
government failed to be recognized by all parties, the brutal struggle of the
Russian Civil War lasted from 1917 until the creation of the Soviet Union in
1922. A great deal of study has gone into the October Revolution, the ensuing
civil war, and the impact of these events on Russia (then the Soviet Union) and
its surrounding satellite states, and how these events helped shape the former
Russian Empire in the twentieth century. While this is a somewhat broader
understanding than many revolutions have been graced with, it is still limited
to the geographical area of its occurrence. However, by examining the flow
of refugees carrying specific cultural and social learnings and traits to North
America, we can see how the Russian Revolution created significant and
lasting changes in other, unrelated cultures. Many of the peasants fleeing the
revolution (including ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Rumanians,
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University of Calgary.
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