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The Russian Famine of 1891-92 in Tambov Province

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The Russian Famine of 1891-92 in Tambov Province A province in crisis: the Russian famine of 1891-92 in Tambov Province Bartley Rock UCL Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD in History 2 I, Bartley Rock, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in my thesis. ____________________________________________________________ 3 Abstract This thesis examines what the response to the 1891-92 famine by the provincial authorities of Tambov province tells us about the role of the province and, more generally, about how the imperial Russian state functioned in the late nineteenth century. Contrary to the dominant historiography about Russian provinces, they were not chaotic and incapable of responding to a crisis. Under-resourced and with severe structural and strategic limitations, Tambov’s officials nevertheless performed to the best of their abilities, driven by a strong sense of moral and provincial responsibility. The tension between arbitrariness (proizvol) and legality (zakonnost’) that created a flawed and fragmented structure also provided for the flexibility that offered a partial solution. Tambov province repurposed the ad hoc structures, either created within the province or imposed by St. Petersburg, to meet its own needs as the crisis developed. Tambov province was not merely a passive actor in relation to the imperial ‘centre’, but instead innovated within certain boundaries while the relationship between provincial and uezd institutions often mirrored that of the centre and the provinces. Over five chapters this thesis explores the relationships between centre and province and province and uezds, via the two concepts of dialogue and ‘provincial identity’. A comparison between institutional decision making and the reality of the crisis on the ground shows that Tambov province was a far from passive place in which uezd and provincial officials used the relief effort to develop and articulate a strong sense of provincial identity. 4 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS), the Royal Historical Society and the University College London Graduate School for their generous provision of travel grants which made archival research possible. I am also especially grateful to the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies for awarding me the UCL – SSEES Excellence Scholarship which proved invaluable. I would like to pay special thanks to my supervisor, Professor Simon Dixon, for his invaluable advice, support both academic and pastoral, time and patience. I would also like to thank my external examiners, Professor Janet Hartley and Professor Stephen Lovell, for taking the time to read my thesis and providing extremely useful feedback and constructive criticism; this thesis is all the better for their input. Thanks are owed, too, to the various staff in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), Russian National Library (RNB) and the Russian State Library (RGB) for giving freely of their help and time to a foreign researcher. A special thank you must be said to the various staff at the State Archive of the Tambov Oblast’ (GATO); without their assistance this thesis would not have been possible. Their friendliness went far beyond what was required and I have very fond memories of my time there. I must also thank Pavel Shcherbinin and Nina Tsintsadze, for agreeing to assist me, giving me several guided tours of Tambov city and allowing me to take copies of a number of items of vital material. I am indebted to your kindness. I would also like to thank Tavi Kladivo-Kosák for valuable input during the entire process. 5 As a thesis is a long and intense project, there are many friends to thank and this is by no means an exhaustive list. It is hard to overemphasise the level of support, advice, warmth and friendship that David Turner, Chris Nicholson, Elizabeth Harrison and Keith Moynihan O’ Brien have provided over the past four years. Brian Wallace and Stephen Kerrane provided a welcome relief from work and, as two of my oldest friends, helped keep me grounded. Philipp Q. H. Köker has been a great source of support, coffee breaks, jokes and general advice throughout. Eleanor Janega not only fed me frequently but has been a great source of personal support when it was needed during the more difficult times. Since submission, Jo Edge has been a rock of support and a true friend, helping me through the viva, corrections and more. Jennifer Keating was my archive and lunch buddy in Moscow, helping me deal with the sense of isolation and has graciously read several rough chapters and helped share problems over the ‘delights’ of the UCL Refectory’s chicken/fish dishes. I spent a month of long days in the archive and library in St. Petersburg with James White; his decency, humour, helpfulness and common desire to discuss research in SPb’s dingier bars was a huge source of comfort. Lucinda Critchley and Katie Monk were always at the other end of the phone to provide assistance. My oldest friends, John Prendergast, Ciara Coleman, Ronan Swan and Sarah Gubbins, were always willing to help or simply listen, no matter what they doing and even if they were living very far away. A final last word must go to my family; my parents and my sister Catherine. This thesis would simply not have been possible without them and their love and support. They have always encouraged me to pursue research and supported me throughout, even when it got difficult. This thesis, then, is dedicated to them. 6 Abbreviations American Historical Review AHR Cahiers du monde russe (et soviétique) CMR Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Tambovskoi Oblasti GATO Journal of Economic History JEH Khlebnye zapasy v obshchestvennykh magazinakh i mestnye Khlebnye zapasy prodovol’stvennye kapitaly k 1-mu sentiabria 1891 goda v Evropeiskoi Rossii Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History Kritika Ministerstvo Vnutrennykh Del MVD Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi imperii PSZ Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Istoricheskii Arkhiv RGIA Slavic Review SR Slavonic and East European Review SEER Special Committee for Collecting Donations in Favour of the July 1891 Committee Victims of the Crop Failure under the Tambov Society for the Care of the Poor 7 Statisticheskie dannye po vydache ssude na obsemenenie i Statisticheskie dannye prodovol’stvie naseleniiu, postradavshemu ot neurozhai v 1891- 1892 gg Tambov Provincial Food Conference TPFC Tambov Provincial Welfare Committee TPWC Tambov provincial zemstvo uprava Provincial uprava Uezd food conference UFC 8 Dates, Transliteration and Style All dates are given in the Old Style (Julian) calendar. Transliteration is based on a modified version of the Library of Congress style guide though anglicised versions of well-known names (such as Tsar Alexander III) are retained. For simplicity, certain terms such as funt, ispravnik, pud, uezd, volost’ and zemstvo are treated as English nouns throughout. A particular convention has been adopted in relation to the minutes published by the provincial and uezd zemstvos. There was no consistent naming style with separate meetings in the same year listed as different publications, despite being collected in one volume. Therefore, for ease of use, the style adopted throughout is to shorten the title to specify whether it is the provincial or an uezd zemstvo, then list the year and the page reference of the collected volume. For example: Zhurnaly Tambovskogo gubernskogo zemskogo sobraniia 1891 goda, p. 23. Full reference details for each meeting and zemstvo are given in a special section in the bibliography. 9 Units of measurements A number of imperial Russian units of measurement for volume are used, and a conversion to metric is given here for convenience. Where conversions between measurements (i.e. funts to chetverts) are necessary, the ratio used is given in a relevant footnote. Conversion source: Francois Cardarelli, Encyclopaedia of scientific units, weights, and measures: their SI equivalences and origins (New York: Springer, 2003), pp. 121-4. Chetvert Imperial Russian measurements distinguished between dry and liquid volume with the chetvert having both forms. The dry form is the one used here, and is equivalent to 209.91 litres. The chetvert was the predominant measurement used by Tambov’s authorities for measuring sown area and seed grain purchases. Funt When issued to individuals, food aid was primarily measured in funts. There were forty funts in a pud, with a funt being equivalent to 409.51718 grams. Pud A pud was equal to forty funt, and is equivalent to 16.3807 kilograms. Puds were the main unit of scale used by the imperial and provincial authorities for food aid; thus food aid was allocated in funts but estimations of gross need and purchases were made in puds. 10 Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 6 Dates, Transliteration and Style ................................................................................ 8 Units of measurements................................................................................................ 9 Introduction ..............................................................................................................
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