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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, 1 University of Calgary. + 39 +
