Chapter 7.2.6: Russification

In the second half of the 19th century, the somewhat utopian idea of turning the diverse Russian Empire, in which Russians were an absolute minority, into a united nation state, gained prominence within the higher circles of imperial society. This paved the way for efforts to increase the share of Russians, assimilate the non-Russians and increase central Russian influence. The main weight of those policies fell on the Baltic provinces in the second half of the 1880s and 1890s, so that time is now called the Russification Era (venestamisaeg).

The motives of russification in the Baltic provinces were threefold. Firstly, the aforementioned nationalism. Secondly, the empire strived to modernise, and the somewhat mediaeval local arrangements seemed anachronistic. Thirdly, it was seen as a way to improve security. Although the Baltic-Germans had been seen as loyal servants of the empire before, the unification of Germany in 1871 made this idea waver, and more and more the German Empire was seen as a potential military threat and as such the Germans within the empire were seen as a potential security concern.

In 1881, Alexander III came to power. On his order a revision was undertaken in the Baltic provinces in 1882 and 1883. Amongst other stratas of society, Estonians gave over 40 thousand different complaints about the current political and economic situation. The revision declared the current order obsolete and in 1885 the emperor assigned new governors to the Baltic provinces with the aim to bring about reforms.

The first order of business was to get rid of the local differences when it came to the administrative system. The local administration, court and police systems were reformed, all the remaining traces of feudalism disappeared. The gentry lost all control over the police. The courts became professional, instead of the elite overseeing it you would have professional justices. The mediaeval raad in the cities was abolished and replaced by the town council (linnavolikogu), instead of lords of the raad (raehärrad) there were mayors (linnapea). The old system of craftsmen and merchants, guilds and so on was abolished. The knighthoods saw little to no changes to them.

Instead of Baltic-Germans, increasing numbers of Russians were chosen as civil servants, despite their lack of education, language skills or expertise in local affairs in many cases. Russians also started to appoint more Estonians in higher positions, as they were seen as a better alternative to Baltic-Germans.

The Baltic-Germans of course saw these changes in a very negative light. They hoped that the change of policy in Russia would turn soon and their rightful position in society would be reestablished. The Germans were also not too keen on the increasing societal position of Estonians, especially in the cities. Russian was also made the language of business in both state and city institutions. Only in knighthoods, rural municipalities and the Lutheran churches were German and/or Estonian retained.

In the times of old, the cities had been predominantly Baltic-German, true strongholds of German culture and language. With the land reforms and the industrial revolution, Estonians from the countryside flocked to the cities, entire new neighbourhoods were built where not a single German lived. Estonians would increasingly make their way to the city administration, where Germans had been entirely alone before. Not only did Estonians establish new, Estonian congregations with Estonian pastors, but even Baltic-Germans pastors were sometimes replaced by an Estonian pastor. This all was seen a great injustice, as the Baltic-Germans believed that they had built the cities, made them blossom, created the laws and customs and survived through the difficulties of the time. Now the lowly vermin was flooding those towns and reaping the fruits of German labour. But more on this in the next chapter.

The greatest change was the russification of schools. Schools started teaching all subjects in Russian, the only exceptions being Estonian, German and theology classes. Many teachers in city schools were forced to leave, as they had insufficient knowledge of Russian. Students were also forced to converse with each other in Russian during breaks, if Estonian was heard, the corresponding students would get punished. These actions were taken with the hopes of eventually turning Estonians into Russians.

These measures however were not that successful in the countryside, as there was just a lack of knowledge of Russian amongst teachers and no supply of teachers who could replace them, however the amount of Russian classes was increased. The city schools and high schools were russified successfully. Russian also became the language of affairs at the University of Tartu, German only remaining in place in the faculty of theology.

Russification also was a big setback to the national movement. The Aleksandrikool was finally opened in 1888, but not as an Estonian high school, but rather a Russian one. All publications had to go through state censorship, any sort of Estonian nationalistic sentiments were not allowed. The most read newspaper in Northern-Estonia, Virulane, which had tried to be the inheritor of the political positions of Sakala and Jakobson, was closed down. In 1893, Eesti Kirjameeste Selts was forced to disband. The national movement however continued locally, with the help of the dozens of song and theatre societies, farmer societies and also temperance societies.

The position of Orthodoxy was also increased. Like in Southern Estonia 40 years prior, there was a movement to convert to Orthodoxy, this time in Northern Estonia, mostly in Läänemaa and Hiiumaa. The main motivation for it was essentially an act of defiance against the Baltic-Germans and their faith. However, like with the Southern Estonian conversion movement, many people were disappointed in the conservativeness and rigidness of Orthodoxy and wished to reconvert to Lutheranism, however this time, unlike in the South, those reconversions were not allowed by the state. Lutheran pastors who provided any sorts of religious services to people in the Orthodox faith were heavily persecuted. Years later, when the religious situation became more liberal, those reconversions did occur however.



The Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Tallinn, built between 1894-1900. As it is located right in front of the palace of the governor, the seat of power in the governorate of Estonia, it was meant as a symbol of Russian imperial power and is seen as the main symbol of the Russification Era.

One more notable figure in Estonian politics during this time was Ado Grenzstein, the editor and owner of the newspaper Olevik. The newspaper used to be pro-national movement but at the end of the 1880s that changed. Grenzstein thought that the rise of the Russian people was inevitable and that there was no point in resisting that. According to him, whether or not Estonians would survive the great changes in society would be seen in a few generations. He wanted to make Estonians acknowledge their own weakness and the greatness of others, and wished them to get closer to Russians.


Ado Grenzstein (1846-1916)

Although his positions might seem negative, there are some explanations. Such blind patriotism to Russia was the only way to be allowed to be active in politics. He saw learning Russian as a way for Estonians to advance in society. Grenztein wished to emphasise the loyalty of Estonians to the state and the emperor, so as to get a better position for his people under the roof of the new slavic hegemony. He energetically attacked the Baltic-German elite, mentality and traditions. His russophilism can be seen as a defence measure to defend the interests of Estonians.

Unlike germanization, russification never became attractive for Estonians. Any voluntary assimilation fell through, and the spread and radicalisation of nationalistic sentiments were only temporarily slowed down. Although russification brought down the quality of education, the Baltic provinces remained much more advanced in both education and culture than the rest of Russia. By the end of the 19th century, literacy rates in Estonia were near absolute, in the rest of Russia they were around 30%. Estonians used the acquired Russian skills to their own advantage, just like Grenzstein hoped for, and rised through the ranks of civil service without ever forgetting that they were first and foremost Estonians. The national movement had been successful, Estonians knew who they were and had no interest in becoming anyone else.

Russification was also not able to topple the predominance of German culture in Estonia. However, the modernisation of the institutions opened many doors for Estonians. The decreasing importance of the German language also meant that Germanization became less attractive. In this way, Russification actually helped the Estonian national cause.