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10 Ethnic Conflict and Modernization in the Interwar Period: The Case of Soviet Belorussia ARKADI ZELTSER The tempo of modernization in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s was rapid in both the social and family spheres. This tempo led to increased interethnic hostility, with ethnic intolerance being manifest both on the part of non-Jews toward Jews and that of Jews toward non-Jews. However, the former hostility predominated and, in general, actions by non-Jews tended to be more violent. Despite regional differences, the case of Belorussia was typical for all of the former Pale of Settlement. Ethnic stereotypes held by groups living in Belorussia were based not only on traditional ideas formed over the long period of time when the different ethnic groups lived side by side, but also on values formed after the Bolshevik Revolution. In the prerevolutionary years, many traditional prejudices (religious, ethnic, and social) that often led to conflict were strengthened due to the influence of hostile attitudes toward the Jews of the tsarist bureaucracy and allied conservative circles that included part of the intelligentsia . Such views were spread by the right-wing press and by history texts for schoolchildren.1 Traditional prejudices about Jews were particularly characteristic of farmers, who comprised the most conservative stratum of the population. This group projected onto the Jews their opposition to the city as Jews in Belorussia began to be viewed as a symbol of the urban way of life. For Belorussian peasants, the Jew was the incarnation of the foreigner: he spoke a different language, followed a different religion, acted differently in daily life, and was engaged in different, “unnatural” types of labor. Such a view was based on individual and collective experience, largely from the frequent contact of peasants with Jews in the economic sphere either as partners or competitors. Before the revolutions of 1917, tsarist legislation that imposed restrictions on Jews exacerbated such differences. ETHNIC CONFLICT AND MODERNIZATION IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD 175 It was not always possible to completely separate traditional stereotypes from new ones, since under the impact of Soviet policies, traditional stereotypes were altered and took on specific Soviet features. The interaction between the city and the countryside grew stronger during the period of mass migration—from the early 1920s until the end of 1932—when compulsory registration of all Soviet citizens came into force. While new migrants to urban areas retained their peasant mentality, some attitudes of the city dwellers, including attitudes toward Jews, were transmitted to farmers. Relations between urban dwellers and Jews, to a greater extent than those between rural dwellers and Jews, were affected by social gaps, ethnic self-identity, and the pace of modernization. In the cities and towns, the role of a person’s character was much more important, and affected an individual’s economic situation and living conditions. In the Soviet period, one of the main sources of interethnic tension was the rapid breakdown of stable concepts of the different social roles that were firmly associated with the many ethnic groups in the population. All those factors that undermined usual views —i.e., stereotypes about the “other”— aroused suspicion between non-Jews and Jews. New ethnic stereotypes emerged largely as a result of the rapid social advancement of the Jews, which became possible once civil rights were granted to them as an outcome of the revolution of February 1917. The principle of ethnic equality was adopted by the Bolshevik Revolution, whose leaders made it a cornerstone of their nationality policy in the interwar period . The Soviet authorities wanted to create conditions that would eliminate the backwardness of ethnic minorities (in comparison to the Russian people) that had existed in the prerevolutionary period. A feeling of guilt on the part of ethnic Russians for persecuting and discriminating against the other peoples of the Russian Empire affected the Soviet attitude toward non-Russian peoples until the mid-1930s.2 Jews were among the ethnic minorities that made use of the opportunities for social mobility granted them by Soviet policy. During the interwar years, Jews occupied important positions at the national level and in the republics, not only in the Soviet economy, but also in administration, science, the armed forces, and in the secret police (OGPU/NKVD). All of these areas had been closed to them during tsarist times.3 Concern regarding increasing Jewish influence was felt among all segments of the population, regardless of the level of education. For example, during the years of revolution...

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