Participation of Black Hundreds in Elections for State Duma in Volyn Gubernia in 1906-1912
Abstract
The purpose of the research paper is to highlight and analyze the participation of the Black Hundreds in the elections for the State Duma in Volyn gubernia in early 20th century. The role of Pochaiv Branch of the Union of the Russian People in conducting pre-election activities and involving the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in those processes is analyzed.
The scientific novelty of the work is in a detailed analysis of the peculiar features of participation of activists and supporters of the Union of the Russian People in the elections for the State Duma, and the role of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in those processes is clarified.
Conclusions. In the course of its activity, the Union of the Russian People performed actions aimed at discrediting representatives of other ethnic groups who lived within the boundaries of Volyn gubernia during the studied period. That could be especially observed during election campaigns for the State Duma. At the same time, the Black Hundreds saw their task as ensuring that only adherents of their ideology, i.e., those persons who fully supported autocratic rule in the Empire, would be elected to the Duma. Given the situation in Volyn gubernia, the leadership of the Union of the Russian People did everything possible to prevent the election of Polish landowners and Jews as deputies, which, with the help of the authorities and the Orthodox clergy, they had managed to achieve.
Using demagogic slogans, the Black Hundreds unjustly accused representatives of other ethnic groups of ‘undermining the foundations of the Russian autocracy’. On the eve of the gubernatorial elections, the peasant voters stayed at the residence of Anthony, Archbishop of Zhytomyr and Volyn, where appropriate ‘conversations’ were held with them, to which only Russian landowners and the clergy were allowed. On the contrary, voters from among Polish landowners and Jews were not allowed, which clearly confirmed the prejudiced attitude towards representatives of other ethnic groups. The Governing Senate often meddled in the elections of representatives for the gubernia electoral meetings, canceling the results of the elections in the povits. In general, the involvement of the Orthodox clergy and the support of the organization’s ideology by the imperial authorities produced the desired results. Practically all Duma deputies elected from Volyn gubernia were the Black Hundreds’ representatives or supported right-wing ideology. Such activities of the Black Hundreds further aggravated the already not simple inter-ethnic relations in Volyn, while the open discrediting of Jews and Poles, who played an important role in the life of Volyn society at that time, contributed to the further escalation of inter-ethnic tension in the region.
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