The Relationship of Education and Economic in the Don Host at the 1890

Abstract

The question of the possible relationship between the level of education of the Cossacks and the degree of their well-being has not been raised by historians to date. Meanwhile, "His Imperial Majesty's Commission to analyze the causes that damaged the economic life of the Don Host, and to formulate measures to restore its economic well-being" ("N.A. Maslakovets' Commission") in 1899 confidently stated that it was the shortcomings of the education system in the Don Host Land that entail the impoverishment of the Cossacks. The author, on the basis of the protocols of the commission and the materials of its activities, preserved in archives (the State Archive of the Rostov Region, the Russian State Military Historical Archive and the Manuscripts Department of the Russian National Library), shows that the commission did not have unity in considering educational issues. Nevertheless, prevailing was P.G. Mordvintsev's point of view, according to which education in the Cossack regions was to ensure the universal literacy of male Cossacks and their mastery of the special technical knowledge necessary for effective agriculture. Prior to achieving this goal, according to the members of the commission, it was impossible to implement many other measures they proposed aimed at restoring the wellbeing of the Don farms. However, War Minister A.N. Kuropatkin rejected the commission's proposals, relying on the opinion of the most conservative part of the Cossacks, who believed that education discouraged Cossacks from hard work.