Agrarian colonization of the Steppe Region in the frame of the state migration policy in the second half of XIX - early XX centuries

The author focused on the problem of migration movement in the agricultural areas of the Steppes of Western Siberia, concerning the state regulation of the colonization process of the second half of XIX - early XX centuries. The starting point of the research was the Great Reform of 1861 year which gifted liberty to peasants but did not cope with the agrarian problem in Russia. The incompleteness of such conversions stimulated migration mobility of the agricultural contingent that largely raised the activity of the central and regional bureaucracies to develop a program to subdue the eastern (borderlands), as well as the adoption of the resolutions regulating the colonization process which were displayed in the legislative and circular work. On the substantive aspect, migration to the Steppe Region (mainly to Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk Oblasts) coincided with the general outlines of migration to other parts of Western Siberia -Tobolsk and Tomsk Provinces. However, in this process there were also a number of specific points. Firstly, the development of the southern steppe zone of Western Siberia started later and was of great strategic and military importance for the Russian Empire, which was realized in the active work of the administrative structures of the region and added a lot of powers to the local bureaucracy. Secondly, within the Steppes, Russian population was constantly in contact with the indigenous so that it required the government to participate actively in the consideration of the issue of migration. During the incorporation of the steppe territory with the Russian Empire, the principles of migration policy underwent constant modifications. The conflict between the higher central and the regional bureaucracy caused to constant and rigid discussion concerning feasibility of organizing the migration process within the boundaries of the Steppe Governor-General (Governorate General). At the same time, the vast majority of the Siberian institutions and agencies aggressively lobbied the idea of limiting and terminating of the migration movement in the Steppe Region. However, the migration movement itself was structured and developed mostly out of the state regulations. In the peasant community, direct or indirect restrictions relating to migrations and initiated by the representatives of the authorities, were either ignored or interpreted as a direct guide to implement their own migration motives. The reason for migration was the letters of those who had already moved beyond the Urals, as well as unchecked information distributed within the peasant community via informal channels. Thus, in many aspects the state regularly faced the facts of unsanctioned, unauthorized migration, and was compelled to recognize it post factum. Real economic achievements of migrants, who equipped in the agricultural districts of the Steppes Region, were of great importance to modify the state migration program.

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