| This dissertation traces the development of the idea of non-territorial autonomy for Russian Jewry--autonomism--between the turn of the twentieth century and the creation of the Soviet Union. In the context of the early twentieth century, the idea of non-territorial Jewish autonomy, be it cultural, national, or both, was compelling enough to enter the mainstream of Jewish political thought and be taken up by every major Jewish political group in the Russian empire. In examining the origins of the movement for Jewish national rights and non-territorial autonomy for the Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe, the current study pays particular attention to autonomism's philosophical architect, Simon Dubnov, and the self-described folkists who promoted his ideology.; Thematically, the dissertation attempts to determine the role of autonomism in the process of Jewish politicization, to identify the various streams of Jewish autonomism as they developed in late imperial and revolutionary Russia, and to determine how and why Jewish autonomism was taken up by the different Jewish political parties. The resulting work presents a complex interpretation of the rise of Jewish nationalism in Russia (Zionist and non-Zionist) by accounting for such factors as the declining influence of Russian liberalism, the increased nationalism of surrounding populations, and most importantly, the increasingly popular belief that Jews should demand equality both as individuals and as a nation. The dissertation's main contention, that the spread of the Jewish autonomist idea was a central component in Russian Jewry's turn to nationalism, provides a new view of the transformation of Jewish national self-consciousness in late imperial and revolutionary Russia. |
