AHC: Larger East Slavic Immigration to America.

MERRICA

Banned
So I was wondering about why besides Poles, Jews, Finns,and Lithuanians the Russians/Ukrainians/Belarusians never really emigrated to the US in large numbers. It's not really related to Ethnicity as many Ukrainians from Austria-Hungary emigrated to Canada and the US. So, with a POD of Alexander's Freeing of the Serfs in 1861, get East Slavic Emigration from the Russian Empire to the US as high as possible. And for some fun, i'm giving out letter Grades:p!

A: 12 Years A Slav- Make People of East Slavic ancestry be the largest white ethnic group in the US and have them change the general way of life regarding food, words, and culture.(much like Germans are in the US in OTL.)

B: A Vozhd Vodka Have people of East Slavic Ancestry be a major " unique " ethnic group much like the Irish and Italians in OTL that eventually Assimilate and leave behind a popular dish like Pizza in OTL.

C: A True Third Rome - Have East Slavic Immigrants heavily influence a states culture. (Like Minnesota and Scandinavian immigrants.)

PS: this is my first real thread post so any and all criticism is welcome!
 
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The problem is that vast areas of the Russian Empire were available for Russian peasants' emigration. As Doug Muir once noted in soc.history.what-if: "Well, they emigrated to Siberia, to Central Asia, to the northern Caucasus, and to the big cities. Central Asia gets neglected. But Kazakhstan alone absorbed nearly a million Russian immigrants between 1890 and 1914. That's a pretty big safety valve." And as he notes, a lot of Russian peasants were just too poor to afford a ticket... https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/kVoLDb8KAPM/HGNpRZrhZVYJ
 

MERRICA

Banned
The problem is that vast areas of the Russian Empire were available for Russian peasants' emigration. As Doug Muir once noted in soc.history.what-if: "Well, they emigrated to Siberia, to Central Asia, to the northern Caucasus, and to the big cities. Central Asia gets neglected. But Kazakhstan alone absorbed nearly a million Russian immigrants between 1890 and 1914. That's a pretty big safety valve." And as he notes, a lot of Russian peasants were just too poor to afford a ticket... https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/kVoLDb8KAPM/HGNpRZrhZVYJ

Huh, so is the main obstacle the fact that Many Russians were simply too dirt poor to do so? Then what exactly is their difference between them and the Poles who emigrated to the US in large numbers, is it because the Poles were generally a bit more well off than Russians?
 
As poor as they were, Poles were on a higher cultural and economic level than Russians. If you look at the 1897 census of the Russian Empire, then the Kingdom of Poland has higher literacy rates than ethnic-Russia (though of course much lower than, say, Finland). https://i.imgur.com/PU7wB4p.jpg
 

MERRICA

Banned
As poor as they were, Poles were on a higher cultural and economic level than Russians. If you look at the 1897 census of the Russian Empire, then the Kingdom of Poland has higher literacy rates than ethnic-Russia (though of course much lower than, say, Finland). https://i.imgur.com/PU7wB4p.jpg
Wow. So in order to raise East Slavic Immigration to America, we need Imperial Russia to make reforms that would Educate the Russian populace, and give them enough land so that they are wealthier than in OTL but not so wealthy that they would rather stay in Russia and then thry would have the money to go get a ticket to go to America.
 
Huh, so is the main obstacle the fact that Many Russians were simply too dirt poor to do so? Then what exactly is their difference between them and the Poles who emigrated to the US in large numbers, is it because the Poles were generally a bit more well off than Russians?
Were these Poles from the Congress kingdom or from Galicia?
 
Right here is your answer (underlining is my emphasis).

"Well said:
Siberia[/U], to Central Asia, to the northern Caucasus, and to the big cities. Central Asia gets neglected. But Kazakhstan alone absorbed nearly a million Russian immigrants between 1890 and 1914. That's a pretty big safety valve."

Since they had these areas to the East to settle like we had the Western part of North America, the impetus to board ships for the Americas (like the Irish, Polish, or Italians did) was greatly reduced & not necessary.
 
Canada received a sizable number of Ukrainian immigrants, but most of these were from Austrian Galicia.

A) the peasants were very, very poor
B) America had tons of other immigrants that were preferable to the dirty filthy Slavs (the Canadian opinion at the time)
C) literacy was so low that it was really hard to disseminate information in that group
D) Russia had Siberia, and Russia didn't reply ant the emigration of its peasant class.

There's tons of reasons why it never took off.
 
So I was wondering about why besides Poles, Jews, and Finns, the Russians/Ukrainians/Belarusians never really emigrated to the US in large numbers.
You should add Lithuanians to the first graph too. Over 600 000 Lithuanian Americans now live in the USA, after all, and they moved to the New World in droves.
 

MERRICA

Banned
You should add Lithuanians to the first graph too. Over 600 000 Lithuanian Americans now live in the USA, after all, and they moved to the New World in droves.

Ah, was this emigration in waves or was it a fairly constant occurance?
 
Sorry to say but this should be a post-1900 thread. I order to have massive East Slavic immigration to the United States is to avoid World War I, October Revolution, and the immigration quotas in 1924. Imperial Russia's population was booming and economically industrializing before WWI and to continue the scenario would have increased the income of Russians and thus, more extra money for fare for the United States.
 
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