2.  “HOMEOPATHIC” EMANCIPATION AND THE POLICY OF “FUSION”

Following upon the removal of the “black stain” of conscription came the question of lightening the “yoke of slavery,” that heavy burden of rightlessness which pressed so grievously upon the outcasts of the Jewish Pale.  Already in March, 1856, Count Kiselev, a semi-liberal official and formerly the president of the “Jewish Committee” which had been appointed in 1840 [1] and which was composed of the heads of the various ministries, submitted a memorandum to Alexander II. in which he took occasion to point out that “the attainment of the goal indicated in the imperial ukase of 1840, that of bringing about the fusion of the Jews with the general population, is hampered by various provisionally enacted restrictions which, when taken in conjunction with the general laws, contain contradictions and engender confusion.”

[Footnote 1:  See above, p. 49 et seq.]

The result was an imperial order, dated March 31, 1856, “to revise all existing regulations affecting the Jews so as to bring them into harmony with the general policy of fusing this people with the original inhabitants, as far as the moral status of the Jews may render it possible.”  The same ministers who had taken part in the labors of the Jewish Committee were instructed to draft a plan looking to the modification of the laws affecting the Jews and to submit their suggestions to the Tzar.

In this way the inception of the new reign was marked by a characteristic slogan:  the fusion of the Jews with the Russian people, to be promoted by alleviations in their legal status.  The way leading to this “fusion” was, in the judgment of Russian officialdom, blocked by the historic unity of the Jewish nation, a unity which in governmental phraseology was styled “Jewish separatism” and interpreted as the effect of the inferior “moral status” of the Jews.  At the same time it was implied that Jews with better “morals,” i.e., those who have shown a leaning toward Russification, might be accorded special legal advantages over their retrograde coreligionists.

From that moment the bureaucratic circles of St. Petersburg became obsessed with the idea of picking out special groups from among the Jewish population, distinguished by financial or educational qualifications, for the purpose of bestowing upon them certain rights and privileges.  It was the old coin—­Nicholas’ idea of the “assortment” of the Jews—­with a new legend stamped upon it.  Formerly it had been intended to penalize the “useless” or “unsettled burghers” by intensifying their rightlessness; now this plan gave way to the policy of rewarding the “useful” elements by enlarging their rights or reducing their rightlessness.  The objectionable principle upon which this whole system was founded, the division of a people into categories of favorites and outcasts, remained in full force.  There was only a difference in degree:  the threat of legal restrictions for the disobedient was replaced by holding out promises of legal alleviations for the obedient.