Forging a Russian Hajj Route 89Russian lands and points abroad where Russia already had consulates, and thus
would be easiest to supervise. Second, streamlining the hajj along this route
would bring much-needed passenger traffic and revenues to Russia’s railroads
and steamships.^9
The report argued that organizing the hajj was imperative from a political
and sanitary standpoint. Unsupervised abroad, officials feared, Russia’s
Muslims were exposed to both subversive political ideas and infectious diseases
that threatened the empire’s internal stability. Tsar Nicholas II was sufficiently
concerned about the sanitary threat. In 1897, after reading the report, he
established the Commission on Measures for Prevention and Struggle against
the Plague, Cholera, and Yellow Fever (KOMOCHUM). Among other things,
KOMOCHUM set up medical observation posts in well-trafficked Black Sea
ports and popular crossing points along Russia’s borders to study disease and
prevent its import into the empire. Also in 1897, Russia established a nearly
200-mile-long quarantine cordon of manned observation posts along its south-
ern borders, to intercept caravans traveling long-distance routes.^10
The report also stressed economic incentives for hajj organization. It made a
striking claim: Russia’s hajj traffic generated three to five million rubles in
transport revenues every year, very little of which enriched Russia. Most of this
money flowed abroad, to the detriment of Russia’s domestic economy, enrich-
ing foreign governments as well as the foreign steamship companies that dom-
inated Black Sea transport.^11
To attract hajj pilgrims to the Black Sea route, and capture transport reve-
nues, the report proposed that the tsarist government mobilize Russia’s two
largest steamship enterprises: the Russian Steamship Company (ROPiT) and
the Volunteer Fleet. Both were heavily subsidized by and extremely costly to the
state, notoriously inefficient, and always looking for passenger cargo. They had
been created after the Crimean War, mainly to develop Russia’s foreign trade,
and, in light of the postwar prohibition of Russian naval forces in the Black Sea,
to have a fleet that could serve as an auxiliary naval force in a future war.^12 Rus-
sia’s modest foreign trade, compared to other European powers, put both fleets
at a disadvantage in global competition for cargo and passengers. Even with
steady infusions of generous state subsidies, the fleets charged higher rates than
other European fleets.^13
The main architect of this plan was the Russian consul in Jeddah, A. D. Lev-
itskii. The report included his detailed ideas on how to organize the hajj along
the Black Sea route, based on his firsthand observations and experience over
many years in Arabia. He cautioned that the hajj should be organized not by