16 Chapter 2military conscription, and exemptions from land taxes and rents earned
from land for twenty years effective until 1902.^36 This set a pre ce dent of
unequal benefits and access to resources for East Asian colonists vis- à- vis
Slavs and Eu ro pe ans. The inclusion of Chinese and Koreans in the amend-
ments of the Alien Charter of 1822 would have precluded state officials
from having the right to impose “yellow labor” laws, quotas, and restrictions
due to the equal legal status of the charter.^37 Governor- General P. F. Unter-
berger argued against Korean immigration because of their exemption from
military or tax obligations.^38 Yet he wholeheartedly promoted the exemp-
tion of military duties for any colonists regardless of nationality except the
Jews.^39 First, Rus sians and Eu ro pean immigrants received large 100 desiat-
ina land grants, which unfortunately were not matched by their resolve to
work the land: instead, they shunted the labor to Chinese and Korean
hands. Second, of the vari ous Eu ro pean agricultural groups recruited to the
RFE, almost all received tax exemptions for predetermined periods.
By 1900, most of the Asians in the Rus sian Empire had been colo-
nized. Most Asians from Siberia to the Rus sian Far East were nomadic or
seminomadic and paid taxes (called iasak, typically tribute taxes, such as on
furs) for the right to be governed by the tsarist state. They were decidedly
second- c lass citizens under tsarism.^40 The Koreans and the Chinese were a
diff er ent case. In addition to being diaspora nationalities, both groups came
to the RFE of their own volition. This sense of agency, their economic
prowess, and the fact that they did not quite fit tsarist models for “aliens” made
both groups problematic and, at times, threatening.
PAN- SLAVISM, ECONOMIC COMPETITION, AND THE “YELLOW PE R I L”Vari ous Rus sian nationalist groups emerged in the second half of the nine-
teenth c entury. These groups, especially the Slavophils, the Pan- Slavs, and
Moscow’s business elites, formed strong links in order to accomplish their
goals of consolidating Rus sian industries and resources for Rus sians. This
strain of nationalism was led by Muscovite entrepreneurial groups and con-
centrated on wresting economic sectors from the hands of “foreigners.”^41
Even tsarist nobles and leaders participated in Rus sian nationalist groups
and movements. Tsar Nicholas II supported the Black Hundreds, while his
finance minister, Sergei Witte, belonged to the Holy Brotherhood, whose
membership was primarily the Rus sian nobility.^42 Th ese strains of national-
ism greatly influenced the vari ous repressive mea sures taken in the RFE
against yellow labor, the creation of the “yellow peril” trope, and the depor-
tation of enemy aliens during the First World War.