Acculturation Policies Targeting Siberia’s Muslim Communities in the Second Half of the 19th and in the Early 20th Centuries

The article examines the situation of Muslim communities in Siberia in the context of the acculturation policy pursued by the Russian Empire. Based on the analysis of archival sources, the article argues that the reforms carried out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were aimed at including the Muslim population of the country into the socio-cultural space of the empire. Russian attempts to gradually introduce Russian culture and way of life into a foreign environment were supposed to support the interaction between the Muslim population of Siberia and Russian immigrants. The education system was one of the instruments of the acculturation policy towards the Muslim peoples of Siberia. Attempts to introduce Russian culture were also made through influencing the economic life of Muslim communities. The ongoing reforms caused a lot of discontent on the part of the Muslim population. Also failing were the policies of the Russian Orthodox Church to make Muslims change their identity; its measures to support the newly baptized did not contribute to a mass conversion to Orthodoxy.


Introduction
From the 1860s, in the Russian Empire there began the process of reforming social, economic and political institutions which lasted until the revolutionary upheavals of 1917. The expansion of the Russian Empire borders in the east of the country, the Russian-Turkish war (1877)(1878), as well as the conflicts in the North Caucasus aroused the government's particular interest in the Muslim peoples living in the country. 1 From the second half of the 19 th century and until the cessation of the Russian Empire existence, the state authorities had the task of integrating Muslim peoples into the sociocultural space of Russian society.
In pre-revolutionary historiography, there mainly prevailed the conservativeprotective direction which depended on the political situation and a researcher's ideological bias. Particular attention was paid to the "civilizational" role of Orthodox culture. 2 In Soviet historiography there emerged a totally opposite stance on the ethno-cultural, and at the same time, on the ethno-confessional policy of the imperial authorities towards Muslim peoples. 3 From the beginning of the 1990s, in Russian historiography, there emerged new trends in rethinking the imperial history and policy of the Russian state. In the works of modern researchers, an interdisciplinary approach began to prevail in the analysis of a wide range of sources. At the same time, scientists raised the issue of the acculturation policy of the Russian Empire towards Muslim peoples. Despite the fact that different approaches developed regarding the very term "acculturation," it is important to note the appearance of works devoted to the analysis of the situation of Muslim peoples in different regions of the Russian Empire through the prism of acculturation policy. 4 Accul-FAR EASTERN CROSS-BORDER OF RUSSIA turation becomes the main mechanism for controlling the "non-Russian" population of the country, with the help of which it is possible to include it in the cultural and religious space of the country. Acculturation did not stipulate cultural unification, but assumed adaptation to life in a foreign culture, while maintaining personal and cultural identity. 5 The purpose of the study is to identify and comprehend the results of the "acculturation" process of the Muslim population of Siberia. To achieve the set goal, the authors turn to the analysis of the socio-economic and cultural life of the Muslim population of the specified region; there is reconstructed the mechanism of "acculturation" in relation to the Muslim population that lived in the second half of the 19 th -early 20 th centuries within the Tomsk, Tobolsk and Yenisei provinces of Siberia.
The source base for the study was archival materials of the Russian State Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the State Archive of the Tomsk Region, as well as the Central State Historical Archive of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
While writing the article, the authors used the problem-chronological and historical-genetic methods, which made it possible to analyze and evaluate the role of acculturation policy towards the Muslim peoples of Siberia.

Educational Policy of the Imperial Authorities towards Muslim Peoples of the Siberian Outskirts
The entry into the Russian Empire of a large number of different ethnic groups required that the authorities solve one of the most important issues -the education of the subjects of the state. Initially, education was considered as a missionary task, and familiarization with the Christian culture was a token of the non-Russian population's reliability. 6 However, it should be noted that the Muslim peoples that became part of the Russian state had their own system of school education that had developed over the centuries. The Muslim school system was completely under the jurisdiction of the Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly and controlled by the clergy. In the second half of the 19 th century the government began to pay particular attention to the "Muslim issue," as in the Muslim community there began the process of conversion of previously baptized non-Russians to Islam. The government saw the solution to this problem in the creation of a single educational space. 7 From the second half of the 19 th century, the state began to take measures to expand the school system for "non-Russians." These measures received legislative consolidation on July 14, 1864 after the adoption of the "Regulations on Primary Public Schools." According to the adopted document, one of the tasks was the spread of Russian literacy and the rejection of local dialects. 8 Teaching the Russian language to non-Russians, and then familiarizing them with Russian culture through the school system, was to lead to their inclusion in the socio-cultural space of the empire.
In order to carry out these measures, in 1866 the Special Committee on Non-Russian Education was created under the administration of the Kazan educational district, which was headed by N.I. Ilminsky teaching non-Russians. Particular attention was paid to the teachers of these schools, who were supposed to have knowledge of a non-Russian language. 9 According to N.I. Ilminsky, the involvement of teachers from among non-Russians could contribute to a change in religious ideas, and in the future, to the spiritual union of non-Russians and the Russian people in a common state. 10 Thus, it should be noted that the policy pursued in the state regarding the reform of Muslim school education did not imply one-time complete eradication of religious culture by the legislative norms. This fact is confirmed, for example, by the fact that in 1868 at the request of the mufti, the trustee of the Kazan educational district sent an appeal to the chief officer of the Ministry of Public Education. 11 However, it should be noted that already in the 1870s the imperial authorities began more active actions to establish control over non-Russian educational institutions. Within the framework of the normative act adopted in 1870, there was enacted by legislation the creation of Russian-non-Russian schools with the obligatory teaching of the Russian language. 12 Subsequently these measures were aimed at making the entire system of school education subject to the Ministry of Public Education in order to limit the influence of the Muslim clergy on this area. 13 In 1874, there was adopted the "Regulation on Primary Public Schools," according to which all Muslim schools passed under the control of the Ministry of Public Education. 14 The adopted regulation completely made the entire system of school education subject to the government and the Russian Orthodox Church. It was the diocesan bishops who were supposed to attend to the moral education of the younger generation. In addition, a representative of the diocesan department was included in the School Council. 15 Despite the interference of the state in the educational process of Muslim schools, it was the community members that were charged with their maintenance. 16 The government assumed funds allocation on the condition that Russian classes were opened in Muslim schools. However, this was not realized in practice, which is confirmed, for example, by the report of the police chief of the city of Petropavlovsk, Akmola region for 1875. 17 The interference of state bodies in the education system of Muslim communities and the refusal to financially support confessional educational institutions did not contribute to their development. According to the statement submitted to the Statistical Commission of the Imperial Free Economic Society, as of January 1, 1894, there was not a single Muslim school in the Yenisei province. 18 Notably, according to the All-Russian population census, in this province there lived more than 5 thousand Muslims. 19 9 Yu.A. Lysenko, and M.N. Efimenko, "The Kyrgyz Anti-Islamic Mission," 804. 10  Despite the introduced rules, the imperial authorities sought to find some balance between the creation of a new school education system for the Muslim population and the traditional confessional school. Minister of Public Education N.P. Bogolepov proposed to organize national schools taking into account the teaching of their native language and way of life in these schools. 20 In June 1899, the Minister of Public Education sent a letter to P.A. Stolypin on the introduction of teaching the so-called local languages, i.e. the languages of indigenous peoples of the region, in the primary non-Russian schools. When considering this issue, it was decided to introduce the native language into the educational program in the first two years of study, and then, within the interests of the state, education was completely provided in the Russian language. 21 At the meeting of the Ministry of Public Education in 1905, it was decided that the government should pursue a more active policy in promoting the Russian language in non-Russian schools. 22 However, this problem was never solved, which was noted, in particular, in the Russian newspapers of that time. 23 Subsequently, the government took measures to limit the teaching of the native language in schools, since, according to Minister of Public Education L.A. Kasso, teaching the native language could not contribute to the interests of the state. 24 By the middle of the second decade of the 20 th century, there increased control over the activities of Muslim schools by the Muslim population, which were fully controlled by the state. This fact is confirmed by the petition to the director of public schools of the Yenisei province from the Muslim community of the Kansk district for permission to open a private school to teach their children. 25 The issue of education was always very acute in the Muslim Ummah. Despite the fact that all educational institutions were subject to the Ministry of Public Education, many issues were still resolved by spiritual bodies and clergy. 26 The Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly, which largely pursued the state-religious policy, was still actively involved in the organization of the educational process.

Organization of Life and Economic Structure of Siberia's Muslim Communities
In the second half of the 19 th century, the territory of Siberia became the center of the state's resettlement policy. However, whereas Western Siberia became the main region where the migration component began to prevail, the Yenisei province was practically not affected by these processes. Only at the beginning of the 20 th century, when the land fund in the West Siberian provinces was practically depleted, the flow of migrants headed to the Yenisei province. 27 In 1895, Emperor Nicholas II expressed the idea of encouraging the resettlement policy to the territory of Siberia from the European part of the country. Moreover, it was assumed that the resettlement processes would affect primarily the Russian-speaking 20  population. Therefore, it was no coincidence that one of the directions of the resettlement policy was planned to be the process of including the non-native population of the region in the socio-cultural space of the country. 28 The processes of the resettlement of peasants to Siberia led to a reduction in land plots of the non-Russian population, as well as applying to them the rules common to all peasants. 29 The reforms launched in the second half of the 19 th century were aimed at forming a resettlement land fund by withdrawing these lands from "non-Russians' " use and subsequent integrating of the peasant population in the region. The lands of Siberia's aboriginal population were considered by the government as belonging to the treasury and the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty and were only in non-Russians' use in perpetuity. 30 The problem of granting land to non-Russians and equalizing their rights with those of state peasants was raised in 1907. 31 In defending their rights to land, the Muslim population of Siberia, as a rule, referred to the charters granted by Catherine II, though they did not have any official documents. 32 One of the main tasks of the government in the post-reform period was to unify the non-Russian population with the peasants in terms of rights and duties, as well as in the principles of management organization. Back in 1876, the Governor-General of Western Siberia turned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Property with a proposal to attribute the settled aborigines of the Tomsk and Tobolsk provinces to Russian volosts. 33 In June 1906, the Department of Ecclesiastic Affairs of Foreign Confessions sent a paper to the Zemsky Department, which stated that in 1884 the secret Circular of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was sent to all governors of the eastern outskirts of Russia, according to which officials of rural and volost administrations were to be appointed from among Russians. This measure was aimed at preventing Muslim fanatics from managing, as well as at avoiding the conversion of baptized Tatars to Islam. The Department of Ecclesiastic Affairs of Foreign Confessions, in turn, requested the Zemsky Department to consider this Circular and determine whether its observance would further remain relevant. 34 Earlier, in 1885, the Department of Ecclesiastic Affairs of Foreign Confessions asked the Zemsky department how the issue of establishing the representation of Christians in the non-Russian public administrations of Siberia was being resolved. 35 It should be noted that in order to control the aboriginal population of Siberia, the government gave fairly broad rights to local administrative authorities. Particular attention was paid to the activities of the peasant chiefs, whose functions were significantly expanded and included police supervision. The imperial government considered as its task the promotion of Russian culture through the approval of persons ready to pursue the policy of Russification among the aboriginal population for the positions of peasant chiefs. 36 Particular attention began to be paid to persons appointed to the positions of FAR EASTERN CROSS-BORDER OF RUSSIA peasant chiefs. The issue of appointing non-Orthodox persons to positions was not unambiguous. Secular and ecclesiastical authorities had different opinions on this issue. 37 A special place in the life of Muslim communities was occupied by volosts, which were built on the national and religious basis. The volost structure in early 20 th century began to be regarded by the government as an institution that hindered the consolidation of the Turkic peoples, and that solved the problem of their assimilation with the newly arrived Russian population. The non-Russian volosts were an administrative, rather than a territorial division. 38 Throughout the 19 th century there were repeated attempts to reform the volost structure. However, the Tatar settlements' joining Russian villages caused discontent of the Muslim population. 39 The administrative reform of 1910 was supposed to finally change the territorial structure of the non-Russian volosts of Siberia, laying the territorial principle in their basis. Moreover, representatives of different ethnic groups were included in the same volost. 40 The change in the territorial structure of non-Russian settlements also concerned the organization of their management. In 1911, the Directing Senate claimed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Chief Administrator of Land Management and Land Use make a resolution on the complaint of non-Russians against the decision of the Overall Presence of the Tobolsk Provincial Administration on the organization of public administration and court in accordance with the rules of the General Regulations on Peasants. 41 It is important to emphasize that based on the "Temporary Regulations on Peasant Chiefs," 42 the Muslim population of Siberia turned out to be completely dependent on the all-Russian legislation. This subordination concerned, among other things, the judicial system of the non-Russian population, which led to discontent among non-Russians and caused a number of appeals. 43

Organization of Life of Newly Baptized Muslims on the Territory of Siberia
A special place in the acculturation process of the Muslim population was given to the issues of baptizing of non-Russians. Starting from the second half of the 19 th century, in the Russian Empire, there was a tendency for non-Russians who had previously adopted Orthodoxy to convert to Islam. Thus, in that period a special place on the part of the government began to be given to the missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose activities were to become even more active. In 1870, the All-Russian Orthodox Missionary Society was established in Moscow, the branches of which were opened in all Siberian dioceses. The government provided financial support to the missions as the effectiveness of the missionary activity was associated with the support of newly baptized people by the state and the creation of favorable economic conditions for them. 44 By the beginning of the 20 th century, eight Orthodox missions operated on the territory of Siberia, the largest of which were considered Altai, Irkutsk and Transbaikal ones. 45 In late 19 th century the Office of the Committee of Ministers prepared a note on the state of church affairs in Siberia, which spoke of the need to strengthen in the region the position of Orthodoxy, as well as Russian culture and civic identity. All this was to have a significant impact on the spiritual life in Siberia. 46 It was the adoption of Orthodoxy that was considered by the authorities as an important socio-cultural process that contributed to the incorporation of the Muslim population of the country into Russian culture and everyday life. 47 The main thing for the missionary work was the fact that the adoption of Orthodoxy should not be formal. In this regard, the procedure for adopting Orthodoxy became more complicated, according to which, those wishing to be baptized were to apply to the diocesan authorities for permission. 48 In 1905, the Archbishop of Tomsk and Barnaul established rules for the baptizing of Jews and Muslims. 49 Despite the active policy of the church authorities to convert the non-Russian population to Orthodoxy and the support of these measures by the state, the position and behavior of newly baptized people did not always testify to the sincerity of their intentions. The state took upon itself the task of organizing the life of the newly baptized population. In addition, those who converted to Orthodoxy were excluded from the non-Russian community and received a number of benefits, including tax ones. 50 These measures led to dissatisfaction of non-Russian communities, since the taxes levied from them remained the same. 51 The organization of everyday life and control over the observance of religious dogmas and rules by non-Russians who converted to Orthodoxy were entrusted to volost chiefs. 52 The negative perception of newly baptized people by former co-religionists required interference from not only the Orthodox Church, but also the institutions of state power. The authorities tried to settle Muslims who converted to Orthodoxy among Russian Orthodox population.

Conclusions
Thus, the study of the situation of the Muslim communities of Siberia through the prism of the acculturation policy of the Russian Empire allows us to draw the following conclusions. The imperial authorities considered as the main task establishing stability and order in the poly-religious and multi-ethnic state. It was the familiarizing with Russian culture and Orthodoxy that was to contribute to the establishment of control over the non-Russian population of the empire. In the second half of the 19 th -early 20 th century, the Russian authorities did not set the task of complete eradication of the Islamic tradition among Siberian non-Russians. In addition, the followers of the Muslim tradition occupied the second place in terms of the number of adherents in the country, which did not allow excluding them from the legal framework of the Russian state. The government considered as its goal the Muslim population's familiarizing with Russian culture, and FAR EASTERN CROSS-BORDER OF RUSSIA only then total merger with the Orthodox tradition of Siberia's non-Russian population was allowed.
One of the most important tools for involving representatives of the Muslim tradition in Russian culture was the creation of school education according to the system of N.I. Ilminsky. It was the functioning of Russian-non-Russian schools that was supposed to eradicate in the Muslim community the interest in their own religious culture. However, the inconsistent policy of the imperial authorities in the field of organizing school education led to the unwillingness of the Muslim population of Siberia to educate children in schools created by the state. The obligatory study of the Russian language was considered by the Muslim community as an attempt to eradicate national culture and religion.
Another direction, within which attempts were made to unify the non-Russian and Russian population, was the agrarian reform in Siberia. As part of the ongoing transformations, the administrative-territorial structure of Muslim communities was to be built according to the principle of Russian volosts. These measures were aimed at immersing Muslims in the Russian way of life, as well as eradicating their traditional form of management. The seizure of land in order to form a resettlement fund and the equalization of non-Russians in rights with peasants caused discontent among the Muslim population of Siberia.
The Russian Orthodox Church was to become an important champion of the state ideas in Siberia. The task of the missionaries was to encourage the Muslim population of Siberia to adopt Orthodoxy through a competent missionary policy and state financial aid. The support of the imperial authorities in organizing the economic and social situation, as well as the life of newly baptized people, was to contribute to an increase in the number of those who converted to Orthodoxy. However, the measures taken did not contribute to the mass conversion of non-Russians to Orthodoxy. The Muslim population considered all the events held as an encroachment on their traditions and foundations, which prevented the successful implementation of the policy of promoting the Russian language in the non-Russian (Muslim) community in Siberia.