Clashes between Resettlers and Old-Timers in Siberia on the Eve and during the Stolypinsky Reform: Functions of Social Conflict

Abstract

The article provides a summary of the author’s research of a number of conflicts between peasant old-timers of Tomsk province and immigrants of the late XIX — early XX centuries. It was in this region where the majority of immigrants, who changed the face of Siberia, resettled. The documents dated back to 1880s included information about violent clashes between locals and peasants who moved from European part of Russia. The scientific novelty of the study is that it utilized social research methods to study those phenomena. Seeing a conflict as a function (and not as a disfunction) of the society, the author found major differences between clashes at the end of the XIX century and at the beginning of the XX century. The clashes at the end of the XIX century involved conflicting interests that could not be neglected without causing damage to the development of the country. It prompted the authorities to create a system for regulating resettlement and mitigate any conflicts. The clashes at the beginning of the XX century were caused by the contradictions of the system itself, and did not lead to any substantial changes.