Public relief to the starving population of Kazan province in 1905-1907
The article summarizes the accumulated material related to the operations of public organizations that were created specifically for the relief to the population of Kazan province affected by the crop failure and famine of 1905-1907. A spectacular example of the reaction of the Russian society to the crisis events in the late Imperial period is the creation of various charitable organizations being different in their origin and composition and operating on a voluntary, unsalaried, class-, ethnic- and confession-independent basis. During the struggle against the socioeconomic disaster, effective ways and methods of relief were formed, which would later be used more than once during crop failures and famines of the Imperial and Soviet periods of Russian history. The operation of those non-state structures was greatly influenced by the 1905-1907 Revolution. Depending on the needs of the province and the attitude of the local and central authorities, the group of benefactors expanded and the types of relief changed. After overcoming the situation with the famine, all the organizations were closed and ceased their activities. Thus, the article defines the group of public organizations established in Kazan province in 1905-1907, characterizes their relations with the representatives of the local provincial authority and zemstvos, and identifies the main types of aid, its size and the number of aid recipients. It is concluded that participation in charity work, especially for women, was one of the types of social activism in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century.