Afanasiev Pavel A.,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Altai State Pedagogical University, Barnaul, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Old Dwellers, Migrants and the Emperor’s Cabinet: a Triangle of Contradictions at Altai in the 1910s
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-6-9
The article analyses the main contradictions in the sphere of land use in the Altai district in the 1910s. Their main participants were the Emperor’s Cabinet, old resident peasants and migrants who settled in the old-residents’ villages. Analyzing several conflict cases the author Identifies three main types of contradictions between land use participants in the region. The first type involved administrative contradictions between the Cabinet and other state agencies on the issue of granting cabinet’s land. Its striking manifestation was the struggle between the Cabinet and the Resettlement department over the use of the Cabinet’s land for settling peasant migrants. The second type of contradictions formally concerned boundary correction but in fact it was a fight for land of different parties. This can be seen in disputes between the old residents and the Cabinet officials for the size of the land plot, the size and quality of the cut-off parts, as well as opportunities of the migrants to get a plot in the old resident villages. The third type of contradictions involved the confrontation of different groups within one rural society. One of its specific manifestations in the Altai district was the old residents’ refuse to adopt the former unregistered migrants after the boundary correction was accomplished. The Cabinet’s representatives and the old residents were the most active participants of the conflicts. The rights of unregistered migrants would be in case of conflict defended by the regional administration. The most striking cases of land conflicts were settled down by 1913, nevertheless there remained the basis for them – the rigid land policy of the Cabinet and tough norms of land supply for peasants in Altai.
Publishing: 30/12/2019
How to cite: Afanasiev P.A. Old Dwellers, Migrants and the Emperor’s Cabinet: a Triangle of Contradictions at Altai in the 1910s // Historical Courier, 2019, No 6 (8). P. 106–120. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-6-09.pdf
Links: Issue 6 2019
Keywords: Emperor’s Cabinet; Altai district; Resettlement management; old residents; unregistered migrants; land management; land relations