Between 1921 and 1927, approximately 5,000 individuals chose to leave their homes in the United States and Canada and cast their lot with the "Soviet experiment" being conducted in the lands of the former Russian Empire. Most migrants in these years came as part of a Soviet immigration strategy that required migrants to form groups that could be directed to a particular industrial or agricultural site, which they were required to transform into a productive venture through the application of their pooled financial resources and American "know-how." Though many migrants and Soviet policy makers had high hopes for this immigration strategy when it was established in 1921, by the middle of the decade it had done little to facilitate immigration or generate any substantial economic impact. Thus, the NEP-era immigration policy contributed to, and became an early victory of, the political climate that ultimately gave rise to the coercive strategies of the Stalinist-era. This dissertation examines this migration from the perspective of both Soviet policy makers and those who migrated under the terms of the NEP-era immigration policy. -- Abstract.
Read
