32 Chapter 2chapters. Race and the idea of who was Rus sian under the tsars were con-
stantly evolving concepts. Prior to the nineteenth century, conversion to
Orthodoxy was the primary route to assimilation and the defining charac-
teristic of a Rus sian.^103 fter 1860, conversion was just one step among many A
in assimilation and obtaining the benefits of Rus sianness. Geraci writes of
the post-1850 period, “perhaps race was gaining new importance in the def-
inition of Rus sianness.”^104 Rus s ian, Pan- Slav, and populist nationalisms
contributed to the increasing hardening of race, the idea of non- Slav minori-
ties as a weak link in Imperial Rus sia’s defense, the growth of a sociopo liti cal
view that Rus sian resources belonged to and should be prioritized for Rus-
sians, and a geopo liti cal view that the productivity of East Asian laborers
and small business holders weakened Rus sian authority in the RFE. These
ideas were part of a tangible xenophobia during the First World War towards
Rus sia’s diaspora and minority peoples. The Korean community refused to
see the First World War deportations as a harbinger of their fate. Instead
they focused their energies on assimilation, education, and occupational
mobility. The bright lights of Bolshevism advertised red fields of plenty for
their “new Soviet men.”^105 Without thinking twice, Soviet Koreans flew
high with the innocence and the intrepidness of Icarus in the clear skies of
korenizatsiia.^106