Стр. 30 - V

Author : Yu. Bulatov
Professor, Department of World and Russian History, Moscow State Institute (University) of Interna-
tional Relations, Doctor of Science (History)
IT WAS UNDER KIEVAN PRINCE Igor (912-945) that Jew-
ish tradesmen and artisans settled in Kozary, the lower part of
his capital. Merchants whose business interests had regularly
brought them to Kiev formed the core of the new colony. Russ-
ian chronicles contain no information about the newcomers:
merchant colonies were common or even everyday facts of life
in Rus.
IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY known in the history
of Russia as the century of riots, the Jewish question emerged,
for the first time, in Russia's domestic policies. During the Time
of Troubles, the adepts of Judaism reappeared on the agenda
of Muscovites.
The first Romanovs who ascended the Russian throne in 1613 were of the same opinion. The
border guards and the customs officers were instructed to keep the Jews, including Jewish traders,
away from the Moscow State. The authorities declined all requests of the Jewish merchants to
let them temporarily stay in Muscovy to tune up wholesale trade. Those ready to abandon their
faith for another, however, could count on an official residence permit. The royal authorities
were especially well-disposed to those who wanted to be baptized.
The Romanovs banned Jews from the Russian state not only because they wanted to consolidate
Christianity and the morals of their Orthodox Christian subjects; social peace in their possessions,
in Malorossiya in the first place, was their prime concern. According to the Moscow rulers, "the
second advent of Jews to Ukraine after its reunification with Russia (1654) was fraught with
clashes between the local population and these 'aliens'." Indeed, people still remembered how
Ukrainians had been humiliated under Poles and how Jews had insulted their religious feelings.
It should be said that the Russian Jews had obtained civil rights even before the French Revolu-
tion wrote on its banners Liberie, Égalité, Fraternite. The autocrats Romanovs outstripped their
time. The Russian Empire, not France, was the first European state that proclaimed equality be-
tween Jews and other peoples. This consolidated Catherine II's international authority as an en-
lightened ruler; she was appreciated not only by the Jews inside her own country but also outside
it.
There was only one little thing left. Having proclaimed the equality of Jews, the czarist authorities
had to decide how this fairly closed and large group could be integrated into Russian society.
The top officials knew next to nothing about the Jews now living in their country, while the
choice of means and methods was fairly limited. First of all, it was necessary to qualify the Jewish
question either as a national or a social issue.
Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
The Romanovs and the Jewish Question in Russia