The Saratov Volga region and the Far East: three centuries of relations

The article deals with the dynamics of the development of the Far East with the help of labor migration in the period from the 1860s to the present day. The authors analyze the intensity of migration flows, the reasons for their decline or increase, talk about new settlements founded by immigrants from the Saratov Volga region in the Amur and Primorye regions of the Russian Empire, and trace the fate of these settlements to this day. The authors identify the reasons for the lack of support for the resettlement movement in the Russian Empire by the state until the beginning of the twentieth century, and the reasons that prompted the government to develop an effective resettlement program since 1906. Attention is paid to the participation of Saratov in the Russian-Japanese war in the Far East. The extensive statistical material contained in the official publications following the results of the all-Russian population censuses of 1897, 2002 and 2010 is used. Internet sources, websites of public organizations, official state bodies, mass media are attracted. The migration policy of P.A. Stolypin, Prime Minister of Imperial Russia and former Saratov Governor-General is analyzed. In comparison with it, the project "far Eastern hectare" is considered, which the modern Russian government considers as the main tool for the inflow of population to the vast far Eastern territories. The authors prove the ineffectiveness of the project due to the small amount of allocated land, their unsuitability for agriculture or other socially significant activities, remoteness from communications, the lack of benefits for immigrants on such a scale as it was a century ago. The conclusion to which the researchers come: only taking into account the experience of generations of Russians in the development of the Far East, the traditional connection of the regions of Russia, proved by the example of the Saratov Volga region, providing immigrants with all the necessary and benefits no worse than a century ago, it is possible to ensure the priority development of the Far East.