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Henryk Głębocki

SIBERIAN «PROMISED LAND» IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE MODERNIZATION PROCESSES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE – RESEARCH POSTULATES

Summary: The article deals with the problem of voluntary migration of Poles to Siberia during the last three decades of the Russian Empire, in the context of the strategy of development and exploitation of the land behind the Urals. The themes appearing so far in the Polish “Siberian” literature encourage to show the results of this research in a broader perspective of Russia's domestic and foreign policy. The article postulates the need for a broader consideration of the strategies and methods of the Russian Empire used in the colonization policy behind the Ural Mountains and in the face of its multinational peripheries (okrainy).

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries Russia was undergoing accelerated processes of modernization, which destabilized its lagging social system. The colonization of huge areas of Russian Asia, thanks to the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, was supposed to relieve social tensions not only in the centre but also on the non-Russian periphery, especially in the west. In such a perspective, the launch of the migration of masses of people could serve to release hidden human resources and draw them into the exploitation of natural resources. The empire's “The Great Colonial Mission” for the development of the vast Eurasian territories and their potential was to become the basis for strengthening the position of the Russian state on a global scale, in competition with other powers.

On the other hand, the outflow of population from the western periphery of the empire, which was most threatened by destabilization, allowed the tensions revealed there to be defused. The opening of the next internal stage of Russian colonization, especially after the 1905 revolution, was supposed to save the Empire from the forces of chaos that existed not only inside, but also on the peripheries of the state. This could harness the elements of destruction that would lead to stabilization, and activate a potential that would unite and strengthen the state, and give it a solid foundation in the world order. Allowing voluntary migration also from Polish lands, so far, the main source of destabilization of western provinces, seems to be an important component of this policy.

Wider consideration of the phenomena indicated in the article would allow a better understanding of the mechanisms and factors that triggered and managed the process of voluntary migration to Siberia also for Poles, during the last three decades of the existence of the multi-ethnic Russian Empire.

Key words: Siberia, Poland, Russia, migrations, exile, multiethnic Russian empire, geopolitics, modernization, colonization.