The problem of the October Jewish pogroms of 1905 in the Russian Empire in the columns of «Kievlyanin»

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the position of the well-known Kyiv publication regarding the causes and nature of the Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire in October 1905, to highlight the relevant publications of the magazine, which reported on the course of anti-Jewish riots, to analyze and summarize the information component of these reports. The principles of historicism, objectivity and critical analysis of sources were applied. Problem-chronological, comparative-historical and historiographical methods were used. As a result of the study, several theses were formulated, which allowed the author to conclude that the problem of the Jewish pogroms of 1905 in the Russian Empire was a very relevant topic in the columns of «Kievlyanyna». However, the explosive wave of the October pogroms turned out to be a certain surprise for the editorial staff of the magazine, and the information from the scene of the events was extremely controversial and politicized. If the position of the magazine regarding the place and role of Jews in the revolutionary events until October 1905 was ambiguous, since not all Jews were accused by the editorial staff of provocative activities, then after the mass anti-Jewish speeches in October 1905, the editorial staff's views acquired bright features of anti-Semitism. According to the editor of «Kievlyanin» D. I. Pikhno, the Jewish revolutionaries were actually to blame for the Jewish pogroms, who, with their destructive activities (organization of anti-government demonstrations, armed resistance to the police and troops, sabotage, propaganda of revolutionary ideas, incitement, etc.), provoked a mass anti-Jewish movement on the ground, and therefore, in October 1905, from the point of view of D. I. Pikhno, the Jews became «deserved» victims of persecution, since they were hostages of their own political arrogance and national ambitions. According to the logic of the publication, the Jewish pogroms were a surge of «revolutionary psychosis» on the ground; social aggression of the enraged peasantry and smallholders in the cities, who suffered from revolutionary agitation and the audacity of Jewish youth; a sad consequence of the aggressive behavior of the «conscious part» of the bourgeoisie and peasantry against the backdrop of the Jews' public mockery of the traditional values ​​of the Russian people.