A^icultural Colonies
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
[Palestine— Russia)
262
AGRICtTLTURAL COLONIES IN RUSSIA:
rill-
iilia
I'l
ciiliuii/iiit:
the
.lews
- i< ii.irriciil-
Hussiuorijriiiiitod with the Pulisli liistoriau t'/iK-ki and Nathan Xata (Xotkin). wlio in turn iiispireit the pod Derzhavin. EmFirst Bug- piTor Paul sent to AVliite Hiissiain 1799 lurists
ill
whom
^stion.
to investigate the famine in that government and to take proper measures of relief. "To eheck the selfish occupations of the .Jews." Derzliaviu recommended that a special class of ngrictilturists be formed and transferred to the governments of Astrakhan and New Russia, hoping thus to relieve White Russia of a portion of its dense |iopulation. On October 9, 1802, a special commission, the first of its kind in Russia, was organized by the benevolent Kniperor Alexander I., to consider Derzhavin "s recommendation and to draft a plan for improving
condition of the .Jews. One Jewish delegate from each government of the Pale of Settlement was confer with the representatives of the govelected to ernment. As a result of the two years' work of this commission an "Enactment concerning the Jews" was sanctioned by the czar, and promulgated December 9, 1804. It contained the following provisions: (1) The Jews of Russia were to be grouped the
into five classes, viz., agriculturists, manufacturers, arti.sans. merchants, and minor burgesses. (2) The agriculturists were permitted to buy and rent lands in all the western and southwestern provinces and to cultivate their farms themselves or with hireil help. (3) For those without means the government jiledged itself to provide 80,000 deeialines (1 di-ciatine 2.70 acres) of land in the western and southern governments. (4) All .lews that wished to become colonists were required to submit certificates of their phy.sical fitness for agricultural pursuits; andeacli family had to give proof of the possession of not less than 400 rubles with which to pay for the land, implements, and household necessjiriesforsettlement. (See"Polny
=
Sbomik zakonov 1 polozheni kasjiyushchikhsya yevreyev " (Complete Chronological Collecti(m of Laws and Regulations Concerning the Jews), compiled by V. O. Levanda, pp. 53 et seq., St. chrouologicheski
• The populations of Ahlit and Tantura, not being known separately, are given together as iB under the latter colony.
Bibliography: A. Usishkin,
in JlhUtichc Vulkshihliuthck of isx',1. ii. f-7 rt si-q.; A. M. Luncz. Jtnistt.Ii-nisalnn. Isn:.', lsst. ikhK; il„ri:h Derek hc-Ercz YiJ<ri(tl u'l -Sunn, .ItTusalt^m. Isiil : Paul Demidov. U'/j HinmiK'! Cliarioit.-Tihurg, If'Jl : Sii>lli Hi i«ni nf the JcicWi S. KHliinHwltsi-h.
lem.
l.-iii.,
Aiil Siii-iilii, Lfimion, Is'-C M. Ad.-lmann. Luah. CfUi Hilar fur 5*15:3 and :ViM, .I.-nisalHin, Is'.tMM; N. I>ir iiluinaU' Winh nirlnirl ilis .7»Wi.<((i()i IVif/ii X in Si iiirm /.diic/t . Vii-nna. ls;i:i (ililmt i ihshrliislni V:<pinin>sIu}uMviivitniii(t Yi rrf uiiin Zi iiih ih Jlziinu i-U'.. ~ vols.. Odessa, Isya-SKJ: I'ahstina {The Chvrcvci Ziun Quarterlji). pp. 1-33, London, 1893-98; C. R. Ponder, Kantern Palestine, London. 1893; M. Meyerowit^, *E2/i rre-Ttishiah. Witike utul littlhschWtic fUr Eiiucandenitk JIUlm-tie Oitoni^ten iit PttUMina, Warsaw, 18S5; Literam Diuest, lsi*5. No. 38: W. Bamhiis, Die JUdisctirn Vi'irfcr in I'ltlilntina. Berlin. S'.m; Idem. PaliMina, Berlin, 18i<»; idem, Hirr Mozkin nnd die Wahrheit tiher die Knloni-tation Patdittlna'x. Berlin, 1898; Jlldi.icher Volkuknlendcr. Coloirne, 1897-!r9; A. Krledenwald, Lovern nf ZUm, Baltimore. 1895; Die Welt, 189r-19U0: Erez Htmdah. by M. Sokolov, Warsaw, 1885; Jewish Agricujtnr'e, in Btnrktrfmd^s ^[l^^nzine,
Hefimns' Hchri
ir
Blrnliaum.
Ot., 1883; M. Frledland, Die Berlin,
1870: J. Brill.
Kulimisirunii PaldslinnS.
Yesml hn-Mirahili.
.Maveni-e. Travels in the
Is.'sS;
Bachrach, Maxa' If-Erei ha-Kidnsliali lldy Land): Ben Yehudah, Erez Yi.'riitUl'^i; Si-<liniiitieli'slii VkeizateU Litrratuni o Yevrcuakh na Pussknm Ynznkiie, Nos. ."iiis7-.!is4ij, St. Petersburg. 1893: Meshullain bi-n Mcnuhem Volterra of Florence, Miktah Magna, Jerusalem. 188:.'. i
H. R.
Petersburg, 1874. In ISOG many Jewish families from the governments Vitebsk and Mohilev on the Dnieper removed to southern Russia and founded the first seven agricultural colonies in the government of Kherson. They were named; Nahar-Tob, liar Shefer, SedeMenuhah, Bobrovy-Kiit, Jefeh-Xahar, First Jaazer, and Kamenka. These lands Colonies, had previously been inspected by Xahum Finkenstein and Lieberraan, who were commissioned to do so by the .Jews of Vitebsk and Mohilev. with the consent of the minister of the interior (Xikitin, " Yevrciskiya Zemledelcheskiya Kolonii." 12). The authorities in charge of colonization were ilirected to establish settlements in territories well adapted for agricultural purposes. The colonies were to be founded at certain distances from Christian
settlements,
and the .Jewish
colonists
were
denied the right to purchase land in Christian vilEvery occupation not in the line of agricullages. ture
was
ties
were
strictly prohibited. The colonial authorito lend the Jews all possible assistance
and protection.
L'nfortunately for the settlers, the
more adapted for cattlebreeding and agriculture on a large scale than for small farms; and those colonists who had settled on their own account were left almost without the necessary means to purchase implements and food. E.xhausted by the long and weary journey, and oHicials selected territories
