Labor Violence and Regime Brutality in Tsarist Russia: The Iuzovka Cholera Riots of 1892

Abstract

Recent monographs on Russian social development have raised a number of hypotheses regarding our general understanding of processes of political and social change. In his volume on the early history of Russian workers Reginald Zelnik, for instance, proposes that moderate labor unrest reinforced traditional repressive patterns, while extreme conflicts motivated innovative reform. In the work of Robert E. Johnson and of Victoria Bonnell we find the suggestion that workers in small-scale enterprises and artisan shops were often more radical and organized than those in larger industrial enterprises. The fragmented and antagonistic nature of Russian society, with multiple splits of both an intergroup and intragroup nature, has been noted in the work of both Roberta Manning and Allan Wildman. Diane Koenker, focusing her research on the period of the 1917 revolutions, has brought out the moderating and integrating effect of the urban setting on Russian workers. These are only a few of the many thought-provoking hypotheses that have been raised.

Understanding Mass Panic

“…A close reading of the available literature on mass panics (see Appendix 1 for a descriptive account of the selected cases) suggests a variety of features are characteristic of the majority of social crises. This investigation suggests that the behaviors characteristic of mass panics include: (Friedgut 1987);…”

Political violence and financial markets in Tsarist Russia

“…Such violence did not replace but rather coincided with large-scale demonstrations. Labor unrest grew as Russia industrialized, with the number of factory workers increasing by approximately 79 percent between 1887 and 1897 (Rimlinger 1960a; Friedgut 1987). Government responses to such unrest – again, typically military in nature – most likely exacerbated the problem 4 .…”

The role of rumors in the emergence and diffusion of pogroms

“…However, the expansion through rumors could not only take place geographically, but it could also spread from one group to another. In the Tsarist empire, rumors of attacks on Jews were often linked to rumors of attacks against other non‐Russian nationalities, against the landlords or against physicians as in the cholera riots of 1892 (Friedgut, 1987), even if in the end often only the Jews were attacked. “The cry was usually, ‘Now we'll beat the Jews, later we'll beat the foreigners and the landlords, their land will be ours’” (Aronson, 1990: 84).…”