This chapter explains that as Alexander III and Nicholas II increasingly rejected the “west” and its reforms to search for an indigenous Russian alternative, they began to limit or abolish the privileges Alexander II's Great Reforms granted to the Jews and to impose ever harsher restrictions. Alexander III enacted a policy of “integral segregation” that differentiated the Jews from other minority and national groups. Meanwhile, Nicholas II's government propagated an ideology of “reactionary utopia” in which Jews were central, yet there were fundamental ambiguities. For example, his ministries were at odds and pursued contradictory policies. Moreover, the government promoted anti-Semitic literature, pogroms, and blood libel trials. In response to insurrections and the 1905 revolution, the autocratic tsars granted Jews political rights prior to civil rights, though Jewish leaders had to intercede to secure those rights. Ultimately, the tightening vise of tsarist repression resulted in endemic immiseration.
Emily M. Rose, The Murder of Guillaume of Norwich: The Origins of Blood Libel in Medieval Europe
