Canadian Slavonic Papers

Records on Nationalist and Opposition Movements in Late Imperial Russia: The Police "Fonds" of the State Archives of the Russian Federation Author(s): George Bolotenko Reviewed work(s): Source: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 37, No. 3/4 (September-December 1995), pp. 529-535 Published by: Canadian Association of Slavists Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40869733 . Accessed: 21/06/2012 07:41
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Archival notes
GeorgeBolotenko

in and OppositionMovements Records on Nationalist Late Imperial Russia: The Police Fonds of the State Archives theRussian Federation of
and for or Modernnationalism, better worse,has been the mostinfluential era of of the "isms" shapingthe history the modern over the last operative it in severalcenturies. years, by Judging events Europeof thelastfive-to-seven in force theimmediate as a redoubtable willcertainly continue future, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Even WesternEurope, given the recent on it difficultieshas experienced theroadto a unified future, notsucceedin may Thisis evenmorethecase backintothebottle. thegenieof nationalism stuffing the USSR. constituted former lands in thenewly-independent that and in Bolshevik The USSR, following victory 1921,largely preserved later the of frontiers its predecessor even expandedthegeographical state, Russian of the Empire.In so doing,theUSSR prolonged existence thelast remaining its of policyit soughta new imperial polyglot Europe.Through nationalities in forces theUSSR's andcentripetal in of nationalism which centrifugal physics in solar systemwould preserveall components theircosmic multinational and failed. This failurecontributed balance. The model proved untenable, to significantlythecollapseoftheSovietcolossusin 1989. of Archivalrecordsdealing withthe various nationalisms constituent Russian Empire and the Soviet Union were always closely polities of the guarded.Only in the last several years have theybeen made accessible to havea muchbetter Now scholars in interested thissubject. and historians others to try to understandnationalism its genesis, growth and opportunity Russia. in development Tsarist/Soviet to feware as critical Russianarchives today, Amongthenewly-accessible Politisii of records theDepartament as of thestudy nationalism theTsarist-era in Komitet(Fond 272). All are preserved the State Archivesof the Russian called Federatsii hereinafter Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federation (Gosudarstvennyi bodies record similar and locatedin Moscow.It is in thesefonds other GARF) - that Tsarist-era all of as generically therecords thePoliceDepartment grouped includingthe various nationalistones, are best oppositionalmovements, represented.

(Fond 102), the /// Otdelenie(Fond 109), the Osoboe Prisutstvie Settata Raspredelitel'nyi (Fond112)andtheVerkhovnyi Pravitel'stvuiushego

Vol. XXXVII, Nos. 3-4, Sept.-Dec. 1995 des canadienne slavistes CanadianSlavonicPapers/Revue

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Originally these and similar fonds, which reflectpolicing and internal surveillance, were maintained in St. Petersburg. After the year 1925, Dzerzhinskii,Menzhinskiiand Yagoda, chiefsof the Cheka-OGPU (which came to runthe Soviet Union's archives),moved trainloadsof criticalpolitical,police, gendarme and surveillance fonds to Moscow. Here they were put to extensive the operationaluse by the OGPU-NKVD throughout 1920s and 1930s. It was in this mannerthatthese records ended up in GARF instead of remainingin more appropriatearchives as in St. Petersburg's(Russian State Historical Archives

records. RGIA) which took intoits care all pre-1917 departmental/ministerial Only following the death of Stalin in 1953 did the existence of these spetsfonds("special fonds") become known to some scholars. However, until Septemberof 1991 access to these fondsand to the card catalogues was allowed only to some very select Soviet citizens on a need-to-knowbasis. Moreover, even when informationwas drawn from these records scholars, for obvious reasons, could not cite the source. These fonds were finallyopened to all in September of 1991. Since that time, many German, American and British researchershave worked withthese records Canadians, however,have not. Access into the files of these fonds is either by nominal or subject card catalogues, each of which is preservedin its own room withinthe stacks of the State Archives of the Russian Federation.These card catalogues- six systemsin all- were startedonly afterWorld War II. For studentsof nationalism,the first nominalcatalogue of the Police Department, is catalogue, the pre-Revolutionary of critical value. In what follows, I will offersome indicationof what archival records a researchercan expect to findon the national/nationalist movementsof four ethnic groups of the formerRussian Empire: the Finns, Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. I. "THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT IN FINLAND" Drawer 42/3 of the subject catalogue holds the card entriesthatprovide access into Police and Gendarme records dealing with this topic. The entries are grouped by event or political movementand then chronologicallywithineach movement. The firstsubject entry in Drawer 43/3 is titled "The Matter of Student Disturbances at HelsingforsUniversity"(III Section, Fond 109, 3-aia 1 Other hereat GARF are also useful students nationalism. to of Thereare catalogues separate nominal card catalogues to the following record bodies: Gendarme 1000 mail) comprising perliustrations (copies of intercepted approximately fatdossiers; personalfondsof politicalleadersand ministers (such as the holdingcriticaloffices of and records suchdepartments; of Departments thePolice andtheInterior) institutional a fondof pre-revolutionary (1831-1917) oppositional era brochures flyers; a and and fond post-revolution of and (1917-1922) brochures fliers.

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300 Opis 1871,delo 54, pp.1-23). Approximately cardscomment Ekspeditsiia, are there approximately catalogue 20 on thisevent.For theperiod1901-1913, card entries on the Finnish national movementin the armed forces, 60 approximately on the Finnishpress,perhaps10 cards leadingto general in of assessments thesituation Finland. political Politicalpartieswerewell monitored Tsaristpolice. Not surprisingly, by the politicalorganizations. capture whole gamutof Finnish catalogueentries entries. the YoungFinns,thereare 20 On has severalhundred The SD Party 50 40; cards;on theParty Active of Opposition, approximately on Voima, to 60; with 20. Box 42/3continues on thePartyofPassive Opposition, approximately Friendsof theSwedishEnlightenment, on entries other politicalmovements: 15 NationalParty, and with10 or so entries; theSwedish approximately entries. on to records theFinnish entries Other Union,to theworkers' Agrarian point and in in movement general theperiod1889-1917(approximately entries, 200) Finnish and movements with Russianrevolutionary linkswith to organizational abroad. In all, the cataloguecards in Drawers42/3 and 43/3 organizations 1,400 pointersinto recordson the Finnishnational provideapproximately movement. liberation MOVEMENT" II. "THE POLISHNATIONAL-LIBERATION cards pointing to data on the Polish nationalistmovement, Catalogue (nine 6,000 cards,are locatedin Drawers33/3to 41/3inclusive approximately bloc date back to 1832, thefirst While some records significant of drawers). of cards,perhaps60 or so, deal withthePolish uprising 1863. Drawer34/3 aboutanti-government to records demonstrations, holdslocationalinformation the unionsand organizations, aboutvarioussocieties, during years1890-1917, abouttheSDKPL. Drawer36/3has,as itsfirst to while35/3points information Memberof overI.I. Pilsudski, Surveillance the"Matter cardentry, Regarding delo 6, part865, pp. 1-133). thePPS," dated 10 April1887 (Fond 102, 1898, as in The approximately 1,000card entries thisdrawer, well as Drawers37/3 are deal and 38/3in theirentirety, withrecordsaboutthe PPS. The records and on areannualpolicereports themovement itsconferences, There abundant. on on and Committee Party on itsCentral Council, itsMilitary Organization, its Commissionand its JewishLabour CentralPartySchool and Temporary Committee. are there records of organizations, Beyondtheserecords thePPS1s central from and on six of its regionalorganizations, on 25 of its provincial ranging are there On of organization, copiousto a handful entries. theWarsawprovince on 300 card entries, Radomskaia120, on Lomzhinskaia100, approximately cards each. Other withone cardentry and Kherson Kholmsk downto Kharkiv,

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GEORGEBOLOTENKO

of 5 on indicate material townorganizations thePPS (30 cardsforWarsaw, for France, Lviv), and on its groups abroad (in Austria,England, Germany, Switzerland, etc). 500 to Drawer38/3holds approximately entries records dealingwiththe recordsdealing,as withthe PPS proper,not only with the PPS-Levitsa, movement'scentralagencies, but also with its regionaland local groups the throughout Empire. access intorecords more of 700 Drawer39/3, provides approximately cards, than 135 politicalorganizations/nationalist societies,such as, interalia, the Youth the Unionof Progressive-Independent (60 cardscovering period1898cards over 1909-1913), the theLeague of Polish Independence (20 1915), the PolishPeasant Union(30 cardsover1912-1930), Union Active for Struggle (30 cards over 1910-1912) and the Unionof the White Eagle (15 cardsover 1878-1911). to While Drawer 39/3 directsthe researcher largelypolitical sources, sourceson Polishorganizations to Drawer40/3pointstheresearcher archival at women'sandeducational both to which broader had societies, agendas, youth, on are homeand abroad.For example,there six entries thePolish Societyof Women's Equality(1913-1914), 20 cardson thePolish CulturalEducational (Oswiata). On Polish Society(1890-1916) and 50 cards on Enlightenment in liberation there 120 cardson thenational are movement abroad, organizations and 70 cardson Polish Polish regionsof Austria-Hungary Germany, perhaps in activity the UnitedStates (1890-1914), 30 cards on such organizational on activities elsewhere. in as activity France, well as information Polishnational extracts articles or Drawer41/3is a guideto printed dealingwiththe Finally, out of approximately newspapers. 80 Polish nationalist movement, clipped for are Whilefortheperiod1866-1891,there onlyabout20 entries, theyears 1892-1902, thereare 20 to 30 entries year.For 1902 thereare about 50 per the breaks off. which for time, catalogue 40, entries, 1903perhaps after III. "THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT AND NATIONALIST [PARTIES]" holdsapproximately GARF's catalogue nationalist On theUkrainian movement, The first or so cardslead 30 51/3and52/3. locatedin Drawers cards, 1,400entry a researcher variousdossiersbetween1863 and 1917: filessuchas the 1863 to of dossiertitled"Reportof theDepartment Police on V.A. Frankovskii on in in Textbooks Ukrainian Poltavaand Kharkiv" (DP, Fond 102, 3Publishing "Police delo 301, 1 p.), andthe1880 filetitled oe Deloproizvodstvo, Opis 1887, Who of Surveillance overUkrainophile Activity Dr. L.L. Zelenskoi, Propaganda

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to Moved fromSt. Petersburg Kharkiv" (III Otdelenie,Fond 109, 3-aia Opis 1880,delo 793, 1 p.). Ekspeditsiia, nationalist are on activity Followingthis,there variousentries Ukrainian in all). Kyiv [Kiev] seems to (20 represented groupedby province provinces followed mention havemostfrequent (35 (about40 entries), closelyby Kharkiv 10 Thereareperhaps and Kherson entries). Poltava(25 entries) then (20 entries), as nationalism monitored thepolice in St. Petersburg on entries Ukrainian by so to studied, theroleof i.e., itself, phenomenon farlittle attesting an interesting Ukrainophilesin the developmentof Ukrainiannationalismwho had a with connection theImperial capital. in Prosvita theperiod190550 Thereare approximately entries covering SD of 1916,and on activity variouslevelsof the Ukrainian Union(Spilka),on are and and Committee local provincial townorganizations theCentral (there over 200 card entrieshere). Likewise withthe Revolutionary something and its on are of UkrainianParty:there 17 entries a generalnature theparty levelsin at on and perhaps130 entries party central activity provincial organs, in withthebulkconcentrated Kyiv (50-60), Podol'sk(35), and 10 provinces, Kharkiv Chernihiv each). and (15 100 are Hromadathere approximately access on To records theUkrains'ka witha filedated29 November the cards,covering years 1871-1917,starting to Administration the of 1871,titled "Report theChiefof theKyivGendarme in theEstablishment theCity on Information of Department Police,Containing Who have ReceivedtheName of Kyiv of a Societyof Radical Ukrainophiles, and on Hromada (Information Membership TheirActivity)" (DP, Fond 102,3Hromadaandthe delo 1350,pp. 24-25). The Young oe Deloproizvodstvo, 1881, each. haveabout15 entries Movement Mazeppist LOCAL OF IV. "THE BUND. INFORMATION THE CENTRALORGANIZATION. JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS. MOVEMENTS]." [OTHER leftin of The Jewish by prominent itsnumbers various population theEmpire, The was movements, monitored closelyby Tsaristauthorities. wingpolitical of cardcatalogueat GARF is ampleproofof this,holdingsix drawers cards, to perhaps6,000 entriesin all, pointing police recordson variousJewish before 1917. and activity movements political on records theBUND. Drawer and 18/3 55/3deal with Drawers16/3, 17/3, cardson theBUND, perhaps200, 16/3holds a runof "generalinformation" to cardsgiveentry records more the covering years1897-1915.Severalhundred thereare many on theBUND's CentralCommittee. Finally,in drawer16/3, at on to of hundreds cardspointing records majorBUND filiais either provincial are there 300 cards,for for levels.For example, Warsawprovince, or city/town

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in order.For the cityof the years 1890-1914, filedinternally chronological 200 the Vilniusthere approximately cards,covering years1896-1915. Six are have suchas Disno,Slonimand Sventsiary, about20 cardsleading other towns, from years1896-1915. the intofiles withapproximately to stuffed Drawer17/3, 1,000cards,leads researchers and of on archival information theprovincial local organizations theBUND. For BUND organization, thereare about200 on theVitebskprovincial example, within the the cardscovering years1902-1914; on varioustownorganizations of such as 20 cards forthe numbers card entries, thereare varying province, Jewish oftenhave townof Lepel'. Certaintownswithdominant populations thanthere to therelevant are morereference cardsto them provincial capitals. BUND forGrodno For example,thereare about 20 cards on theprovincial for coveringthe years 1901-1914; however, the townof Belostok province, townswith Other are there morethan70 cardsfortheperiod1896-1914. itself, are: Brest(25), Grodno Kovno(60) cardentries Zhytomir (60), (50), significant andRiga (70). While Drawer 17/3 (above) holds cards to provincialand local (i.e., and Drawer18/3holdsaccess BUND organizations their activities, municipal) smalltownand villageorganizations. on county, cardsto records Many largely For of of theserecordsare press reportage. theprovince Minsk,thereis the information, groupedby county:Bobruiskcounty(30 cards over following Borisovcounty cards); Igumenskii (3); (10 1898-1913); county Minskcounty cardsover 1897-1908); Mozyrcounty cards);Pinskcounty cards (30 (10 (25 over 1897-1911); Rechitskiicounty(5 cards over 1902-1916); and Slutsk existsforall by county(10 cards over 1903-1913). Such breakdown county on of thePale. Thereare also access cardsto records theBUND in provinces suchas Chernihiv cardsover 1898-1907) other (20 majorcitiesof theempire, andOdesa [Odessa](50 cardsover1900-1916). The whole of Drawer 19/3, approximately 1,000 cards, holds cards The cardsareorganized on access to Police records thePoalei-Tsion. providing with as organization, starting central alongthesameprinciples theBUND cards, and downthrough itsvarious bodiesandoffices, then general provincial moving records the on cities,and, finally, information, large headquarters, provincial and villages.The wholeof Drawer20/3 in activities thecounties movement's holds cards accessing recordson the Zionistmovement amongJewsin the RussianEmpire. it Drawer55/3againdeals withtheBUND. However, holdscards Finally, to recordscollectedby theTsaristpolice on theBUND' s activities pointing abroad its centresin otherEuropean capitals, periodicals and literature

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of records inter-Party and ascribed abroad, meetings records generally published to theBUND. to of is the The value of theserecords students nationalism self-evident; a of access to them truly is and thoroughness extent thecardcatalogue providing One only hopes thatthey both card catalogue and boon to researchers. scholars in records willremain open,and that working theareaof nationalism If theserecords harbour. scholars so, it will do will turn them thewealth to for "white muchof theconjecture, very the doubtless many spots"that helpremove in aboutnationalism Imperial SovietRussia. and stillcharacterizes writings

RESUME Cet article dcrit le contenu du premierfichierdes ressources sur les de des dans nationalistes les dossiers services police russed'avant mouvements russe.Mis en de d'tat la Fdration dtenus les Archives maintenant 1917, par classs par nom les mondiale seulement, fichiers place aprsla secondeguerre 1991.Le fichier chercheur ou par sujetsontaccessibles tout depuisseptembre Il y 1400marqueurs contient finlandais d'enregistrement. a approximativement On compte nationaliste du mouvement traitant polonais. peu prs6000 fiches Le ukrainien. nationaliste sur quelque 1400 fichesd'entres le mouvement 6000 entres. dansenviron BUND juifesttrait