The Problem of “Yellow Labor” in the Russian Far East on the Eve of the First World War in the Public Space of the Region

Abstract

The article is devoted to the place of labor migrants from East Asian countries in the public space of the Russian Far East on the eve of the First World War. The source base for this study was the materials of the regional periodicals – the newspapers Priamurskiye Vedomosti (Khabarovsk), Priamurye (Khabarovsk), Priamurskaya Zhizn (Khabarovsk), Dalniy Vostok (Vladivostok). In addition, documents stored in the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East (RGIADV) and the State Archive of the Khabarovsk Territory (GAHK) were used. The methodological basis of the study was the theoretical developments of domestic and foreign migration scientists. Using these conceptual constructions, the author comes to the conclusion that the specific of the Far East region was the special attention of the media and public organizations that existed in the region to the problem of labor migrants. It is proved that the peculiarity of the Far East was closer than in most other regions of Russia, the connection between the power structures (represented primarily by the administration of the Amur Governor-General) and a small local intelligentsia. In contrast to the central regions of the empire, the intelligentsia here was largely united in expert communities that worked to meet the needs of the authorities. It was these structures (the Amur departments of the Russian Geographical Society and the Society of Oriental Studies, the newspaper Priamurskiye Vedomosti) that were characterized by the most in-depth analysis of the problem of labor migrants, which they considered, first of all, in the context of the needs of the development of the regional economy. The author proves that the analysis of this problem, which was presented on the pages of Priamurye, Priamurskie Vedomosti and other opposition publications, was much less profound. These publications only sought to use the sensitive issue of migrants for political purposes. © 2022 International Network Center for Fundamental and Applied Research. All rights reserved.