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EASTERN PEOPLE ON WESTERN PRAIRIES...
the census grouped together and listed as "true Russians," made up about
two thirds of the total population in the pre-revolution Russian Empire.
The remaining third was composed of no less than nineteen ethnic groups
— this number was probably higher however, as ethnicity was determined by
language spoken in the census, and multiple ethnic groups sometimes shared
one language." Most of these ethnic groups had a lower social status than true
ethnic Russians, and thus already had a structure of living in small villages of
the same shared ethnicity. In Bessarabia (now part of Ukraine) for example,
groups of German, Russian, and Ukrainian speakers lived separately, and
only rarely, if at all, needed to communicate with each other. This established
culture of living in small culturally similar groups and communicating only
within those groups — or other groups of the same nature when there were
shared kinship ties — was transported to Alberta.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 was an attempt to create mass political
and societal change within Russia. Though the revolution failed to install
new governments, it led to the creation of the State Duma, a multi-party
system, and a constitution in 1906. These changes however were made mostly
disingenuously, and did not markedly change daily or political life for most
Russian citizens. This was especially true for peasants and minority ethnic
groups, who often lacked the education to actively partake in political life.
Though of course there were many causes of this first failed revolution, as
with any revolution, there are two particularly relevant here. The first was
the dissatisfaction with agrarian reforms that had been enacted following the
abolishment of serfdom. Peasants could technically now own land, but only as a
village, and a peasant could neither mortgage nor sell their own land, effectively
tying them as permanently to the land as they had been as serfs.” Strangely,
under the provisions of the Emancipation Act that had liberated peasants from
serfdom, peasants actually had access to less land than they had worked when
they were serfs despite laws allowing peasants to purchase land from nobles,
drastically decreasing agricultural output and rendering growing enough food
even for their own family difficult.'* They also had the added burden of paying
communally into the village coffers for village mortgages, even if they could not
make use of said land or had not approved of the village purchase. In addition,
wages were often too low to make these required payments and purchase
food, farming equipment, and supplies, causing extreme unrest amongst
rural peasant groups.” This unrest translated into riots, protests, and reduced
agricultural output as peasants chose to seek work rather than farm, in order to
4 Tbid.
Sidney Harcave, The Russian Revolution, London, Collier Books, 1970, 19.
Maureen Perrie, The Russian Peasant Movement of 1905-1907: Its Social Composition and
Revolutionary Significance, Past & Present, Vol. 57 (Nov. 1972), 123.
Harcave, The Russian Revolution, 20.
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