Crafts of Migrant Peasants in Siberia During the Period of Activity of the Siberian Railway Committee (Based on the Results of an Economic Survey in 1903)

The article, based on the analysis of materials from a statistical survey of settlement farms conducted by the Resettlement Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire in 1903, examines the crafts of migrant peasants who settled in various geographical zones of Siberia during the period of the Siberian Railway Committee.The relationship between the level of involvement of migrants in crafts and hiring for agricultural work and the duration of their residence in the Siberia is also studied.Non-agricultural economic activities were of the greatest importance for the migrant peasants who settled in the taiga zone of Siberia, which was determined by the availability of natural resources and difficulties in farming in this geographical zone.A comparative analysis of the economic occupations of migrant groups that differ in the time of settlement in Siberia shows that the proportion of households and their members engaged in crafts and employed in agricultural work tends to increase from early settlement groups to later ones.The majority of migrant peasants engaged in crafts combined them with farming, however, the professionalization of crafts was more pronounced among the "older" migrants in terms of settlement time, who adapted to a greater extent to the natural, climatic and social environment and were more deeply integrated into the economy of the Siberian region.