The Cantonist Struggle and the Birth of the New Jew
“The author of this article has worked hard to combine the Cantonist memoirs, testimonies and poems with official surviving imperial decrees and dispatches, to provide a balanced narrative of how the Cantonist system contributed to the original assimilation and renewal of Jewish identity in the late Imperial era.
Therefore, while Nicholas I’s Cantonist system was successful in undermining the autonomous authority of the Kahal and in partially Russifying the Jewish minority, it failed to fully assimilate Russia’s Jews, due to the awakening of Jewish identity by institutionalized anti-Semitism and feelings of otherness.”
— Aaron Bornstein
