Introduction. In the XIX century the processes of agrarization of the Jews were a characteristichistorical phenomenon only for the countries of Eastern Europe, in particular for the Russian Empire, which isa certain phenomenon in the history of the Jewish people of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, the policyof autocracy in general. The modern historiography of the problem, which is presented in the researches of M.M. Shytiuk, V. V. Shchukin, D. Z. Feldman, D. A. Panov, O. Pachkovskaya, Yu. M. Goncharov, L. V. Kalmina, Ya.O. Pasyk and D. Meshkov, is analyzed. Despite the general study of the processes of agrarization of the Jewishpopulation in the Russian Empire, in modern, in particular Ukrainian, historiography, the political aspects ofthese processes require further study.Purpose. To cover the policy of agrarization of the Jews of the Russian Empire; to identify the factors thatinfl uenced the Russian government’s attempts to convert a certain part of the country’s Jewish population intofarmers and analyze their consequences in case of Novorossia, Siberia and the western Russian provinces.Results. The policy of agrarization of the Jewish population in the Russian Empire, carried out by theautocracy with some breaks during 1804-1866, aimed to encourage the Jews to engage in agricultural activities,to turn them into farmers (“free grain farmers”) in a way of colonizing the virgin state and landlord lands of theRussian Empire. If in the fi rst stage (1804-1835) the policy of agrarization of the Jews was characterized by itsuncertainty and some contradictions in solving the problems of the Jewish colonists, in the second one (1835–1866)the Russian offi cials’ position was pragmatic and partly cynical. The local offi cials were skeptical of the policyof agrarization of the Jews, did not believe in its success, but due to the efforts of the Minister of State PropertyCount P. D. Kiselyov and Novorossiysk Governor-General Count M. V. Vorontsov, the processes of the Jewishcolonization covered a large part of Southwestern Russia until the mid-XIX century. However, after the defeatin the Crimean War, the public policy priorities changed. There was taken a course to modernize the country.The processes of agrarization of the Jewish population against the background of the aggravation of the Jewishquestion, especially during the reign of Alexander III, became irrelevant. However, even after the offi cial cessationof the above policy on May 30, 1866, the government made some attempts to resume its long-standing projectand even found understanding among the educated Russian Jews, who believed that a successful experiment toturn Jews into farmers would contribute to the emancipation of the entire Jewish people in the Russian empire.In general, in the late XIX century, in the Russian Empire there were no more than 150,000 Jewish colonists whowere directly engaged in various spheres of the agricultural activity. Although more than 160 thousand Jews wereformally recognized as farmers in the Russian Empire.Conclusion. The policy of agrarization of the Russian Jews proved to be generally successful, although itwas not deprived of certain contradictions, which, for example, were refl ected in the failed project of the Jewishcolonization of Siberia. However, the Russian government’s strategy was clear: to resolve the Jewish question ina way that would gradually assimilate the Jews, which was associated with long-standing religious prejudicesand perceptions of the Jews as a self-isolated ethnocultural group within the state. The Jews did not show aspecial desire to become farmers, even with the persistence of such well-known Russian reformers as Count P.D. Kiselyov. A lack of experience in agricultural activities, uncertainty of conditions, and most importantly, theprospects of living in a non-Jewish environment of the colonies deterred many Jews from participating in thisgovernmental experiment. However, at the time of the cessation of the agrarian policy in 1866 about one hundredthousand Jewish colonists (3% of the total Jewish population of the Russian Empire) became farmers, mastered anunusual practice of the socio-economic life, which can certainly be considered a successful government policy. Itis obvious that this result did not satisfy all the ambitions of the Russian reformers. The Jewish colonists preservedtheir national and cultural identity. However, in the general context, the policy of agrarization of the Jewishpopulation of the Russian Empire, and especially its results, proved that the autocracy tried to integrate Jews intothe socio-cultural space of the empire in its domestic policy. And it succeeded, because despite the fact that inthe second half of the XIX century the Russian government pursued a course of modernization that acceleratedthe country’s industrialization, the Jewish agricultural colonies in Novorossiysk fl ourished, and the notion of theJewish agrarianism became a political argument in the Jewish people’s struggle for their national rights.
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Feb 28, 2021
A.F Khubeshty 
