Minorities in Russia

Jabotinsky grew up in a city of minorities and even subconsciously was attuned to their demands and differences. In particular his interest in Ukrainian nationalism led to his contribution to numerous Ukrainian intellectual journals, and this was the background to his accord with Maxym Slavinsky. The Ukrainian nationalists opposed the role of the assimilated Jewish intelligentsia as well as many Russian liberals per se in advocating Russification. This mirrored the resolve of many Jewish intellectuals to marginalise their Jewishness and the desire of Russian liberals to dismiss Zionism as a solution to the Jewish question. Jabotinsky identified with the Ukrainians on this issue and was scathing about the general attitude towards minorities in the Tsarist Empire.

He believed that there should be a rapprochement between Ukrainians and Jews in Galicia. He therefore fought not only for cooperation but also for reciprocity. He sided with the Ukrainians against Polonisation and expected in return Ukrainian support for Jewish rights within the Tsarist Empire.

Jabotinsky understood that the Jews could be authoritative on this issue and had something to contribute in a wider sense on the issue of national minorities in Russia. In a series of articles entitled ‘Our Tasks’, written for Khronika evreiska zhizn', he put forward ideas for resolving the question of the rights of national minorities living in a multi-national empire.

This evolved into the Helsingfors Programme, which was adopted at the third conference of the Russian Zionist Organisation in Helsinki in December 1906. Its participants stated that they had originally expected Palestine to be given to them immediately, and this lack of realism had taken them away from ‘the mundane problems of the present life’. The Russian Zionists were therefore forced to recognise the developmental nature of Zionism and to examine the current situation of Jews in Russia.

The Helsingfors Programme did not seek to alter the majority culture of the Russian state, but it did advocate a universal application of its principles which would serve all minorities in multi-national states. It demanded