Millions of Living Dead: Fugitives, the Polish Border, and 18th-Century Russian Society

Abstract

In 1761, Mikhail Lomonosov astutely noted that among other causes of population loss in Russia—such as diseases, murders, and accidents—was the issue of the “living dead” (zhivye pokoiniki): “From border provinces, people leave for other countries, especially for Poland, and, as a result, the Russian Crown loses its subjects.” He subsequently compared the RussoPolish border to a “great hole [velikaia skvazhina] that was impossible to seal” to prevent ordinary people from slipping out of the country. Some fled because of seigniorial demands and conscription, while others, affected by the Schism, moved to the Polish town of Vietka. Finally, he proposed that the Russian government should alleviate the tax burden and eliminate conscription to make borderland residents less likely to flee and use troops to bring the “living dead” back to the empire.1 Lomonosov’s concern with population loss was widely shared by his contemporaries and further accentuated by several official reports that mentioned “over a million people”