Lyudmila Nikolaevna Slavina,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev, Krasnoyarsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Siberian Migration Society Based on the Results of the All-Union Population Census of 1926
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-5-18
The formation of a migrant society in Siberia is examined for the first time using the results of the 1926 All-Union Population Census. The focus is on population as the material foundation of society, viewed as the product of close interactions over centuries of natural growth in the region and multiple migration streams. The process of migration to Siberia from the second half of the 19th century to 1926 is reconstructed, with seven stages identified. The volume and average annual intensity of migration at each stage are determined, along with the factors that determined their outcomes. The role of intra-Siberian and international migration in the growth of Siberian society is demonstrated. The contribution of natives of various territories of Russia/the USSR to its formation and the role of indigenous Siberians in shaping the population of other regions of the country are determined. The geographic distribution of migrants across the Siberian region is analyzed, and their share in the population of each of the 20 Siberian districts is determined. The census provides an interim summary of the formation of Siberia’s migrant community by the mid-1920s, a socio-demographic profile of Siberian society, and an assessment of its potential as a subject of the nascent Stalinist modernization in the USSR and Siberia as an integral part of it. The article demonstrates that there were no fundamental differences in the formation of Siberian migrant society between the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods. Agrarian migration played a decisive role up until the census. Migrants from rural areas formed both a rural population in their new location and, more importantly, an urban one. Siberian society as a whole emerged in the census as traditional and agrarian in all its basic characteristics, due to the absolute predominance of rural residents (87 % of its population). However, its urban portion (13 %), two‑thirds of which consisted of migrants, already showed signs of early modernization. The socio-demographic characteristics of rural and urban parts of Siberian society are compared, as are the role of migrants in their population growth and structural changes. The degree of dependence of each on the migrant factor is identified. The article highly appreciates the informational potential of the 1926 census results and concludes that their immediate introduction into scientific circulation is essential.
Publishing: 28/10/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 26/09/2025
How to cite: Slavina L.N. The Siberian Migration Society Based on the Results of the All-Union Population Census of 1926 // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 5 (43), pp. 207−221. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-5-18.pdf]
Links: Issue 5 2025
Keywords: Siberia; migrant society; population; socio-demographic structure; migrations; non-local natives; 1926 population census