“At this time of profound mourning, upon the graves of thousands of our brothers who have fallen victims not only to the sword of the enemy, but because of outrage within our own borders, amidst the ruins of our cities, our weary hearts cannot rejoice over the beggarly dole tossed out to us. In silence shall our people accept the miserly gift from those from whom it is accustomed to receive only blows; but, as ever, it will demand aloud that those rights of which it has been deprived should be restored to it.”
It is apparent, therefore, that the legal status of the Jews in Russia has remained substantially unchanged by the war.
The restrictions normally imposed upon the Jews of Russia (with the exception of certain specially designated—and numerically negligible—fractions) subject them to the following principal disabilities:
1. Other Residence Restrictions
(a) Within the Pale. Although originally granted the right to live anywhere within the Pale, the privilege was gradually restricted until the Jews were, in effect, confined to the cities and larger towns. By the law of May 3 (15), 1882, the Jews were forbidden to settle in the villages of the Pale. By the law of December 29, 1887 (January 10, 1888), they were forbidden to move from one town to another. By judicial and administrative interpretation “towns” were often designated as villages and the Jews expelled from them overnight. The net result has been the congestion of the Jewish population in the cities and larger towns. Although they constitute only 12 per cent. of the total population of the Pale, they form 41 per cent. of the urban population. As this congestion tended to create a ferocity in competition which reduced incomes and standards to the lowest limits, many Jews of necessity attempted to escape into the interior of Russia. But their illegal stay was possible only with the connivance of a corrupt police. Even then the numerous police raids at midnight or early dawn (oblavy—literally “hunts”), accompanied by an excess of brutality, made the life of these illegal residents one of fear and torment.
(b) Outside the Pale. The privileged five per cent. that was granted the theoretical right of free travel and residence throughout the Empire, was also continually harassed by arbitrary police and judicial measures which practically nullified their privilege. This class comprises:
Artisans, permitted free residence by the law of 1865; but constant restrictions and new interpretations of the term have reduced the number of Jews enjoying this status to a bare fraction of the Jewish population.
Merchants of the First Guild, allowed to leave the Pale after five years’ membership in their guild, and on condition of the payment of an annual tax of 800 roubles ($400) for ten years, after removal from the Pale. Numerically insignificant to begin with, this class was further reduced by police blackmail until it became almost negligible.
Jewish graduates of Russian institutions of higher education. The operation of the “percentage” rule, however, reduces these to a minimum. (See pp. [33]–[34].)
Prostitutes. Jewish women who have become prostitutes are permitted to live outside the Pale.