UDC

Authors

Abstract

After the October Revolution of 1917, an endless stream of migrants poured into Russia. They were workers and political figures from different countries, who sympathized with the Bolsheviks and their ideas. The majority of them were communists that had taken part in European revolutions and members of Communist Parties from various countries. These people found themselves in a new society, without knowledge of the Russian language or peculiarities of social life, which resulted in their isolation from the public and political life of the country. In this context, starting from 1923 there was introduced a programme in Moscow aimed at integrating immigrants into the Soviet society: they were given lectures and seminars, they made reports and took part in discussion clubs and guided tours of factories. This programme showed good results. Moreover, in Moscow there were established special organizations dealing with migrants: the International Club of Political Exiles named after Zagorsky, the Department of National Minorities of the Moscow Committee of the CPSU, and the International Red Aid (MOPR). The majority of immigrants settled in the capital as the centre of the country’s socio-political life, but some of them preferred rural areas and formed communal labour settlements. Among them were “Zemnieks” community in Ostashovo, near Moscow, and the labour community of American Jews called “Herald”, that was organized in the Podolsk district of the Moscow province by the January 1925. Thus, we can see that Soviet government sought to integrate all immigrant groups into the society. In today’s difficult political situation on the international arena, it is important to be aware of this historical experience.

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References

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