by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Public school teacher and recent graduate of the University of Southern California Lillian Sokoloff’s March 1918 monograph, “The Russians of Los Angeles,” published by the institution’s Southern California Sociological Society, headed by Professor Emory S. Bogardus, is a remarkable study concerning groups of immigrants who settled in the city during the preceding thirteen or so years, largely in “the Flats” of Boyle Heights adjacent to the east bank of the Los Angeles River.
After providing some history into these migrants, especially the Molokans, or Spiritual Christians, who’d come from the southwestern portion of Russia not far from Sokoloff’s native Ukraine (it is noteworthy that, when she was born, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, but in February and October 1917 a pair of revolutions overthrew the Czar and then installed the Bolsheviks who formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), she then turned to the third part, “An Investigation of Fifty Families.”
Sokoloff informed her readers that,
In 1915 [while nearing the end of her studies at U.S.C., from which she graduated the following year], the writer personally made a study of conditions of fifty Molokan families in the Russian community in Los Angeles and has obtained what seems valuable information concerning the life of these people. It may be said that the Molokans differ little among themselves in their personal characteristics, in their mode of living and thinking, and in their occupations and earnings. It is safe to assume that the fifty families, being about seven per cent of the total number of Russians who are living in this city, are representative of the Russian population of Los Angeles.
Adding that, “it is a well known fact that the Russians have large families,” the writer cautioned that those studied did not necessarily verify the statement, because “a number were recently married,” so the total number of persons in the study group was 270 or an average of 5.4 per family. A table showed that 17 families lived in two or four rooms of a dwelling, 14 were in three rooms and two were in five rooms—obviously, these were all small houses.
With respect to working women, Sokoloff found 33 of them, all but three being wives, while remarking that “from a careful study of the facts, it may be said that wherever there is a possibility, the wife is earning.” In families with one child, the mother usually was at home, while, if there were more children and someone could assist in care, the woman had a job. It was added that it was a “prevailing condition” that “as soon as a girls is of working age, she marries and then joins the married women who are earning.”
Wages for men ranged from $3, in the case of a young boy, to $23 weekly, with the most typical being $13.5, while women’s earnings were from $4-10 and the largest number made $6, but it was commented that “of the fifty families, there were only six with a steady income” as “all the others suffered from periods of unemployment.” Significantly, the United States was in a recession during 1913 and 1914, but the outbreak of the First World War in Europe proved a boon to the economy during the year of Sokoloff’s study, though whether his impacted the people involved is not known. She suggested that “the Russian demand and receive the same standard of wages that is [are] received by any other nationalities,” though this standard “rises with the improvement of material conditions.” What wasn’t explained, however, was who comprised the “other nationalities.”
As for housing conditions, it was noted that “a feature peculiar to the Russians is that a large per cent of them own their homes,” even though the wages were not high, so “the investment in a home was a means of saving for them; they are all eager to save.” Slightly more than half, or 26 families, owned a residence and the values spanned from $800 to $4,000—a federal Bureau of Labor Statistics “Monthly Labor Review” article remarked that the average American house cost $3,200.
A table broke down the house ownership information so that a half-dozen families resided in a dwelling worth between $800-1200, seven in one valued from $1300-1800, eight in those worth between $1900-2200 and the remaining five were in ones with values of $2300-4000. The average valuation was under $1,900, with average debt being below $600, while average equity was about $1275. Sokoloff, however, added, in the last few years, the Russians have developed new ideas regarding their desires for the future. They no longer buy homes here for they do not intend to remain in this city permanently.”
Moreover, those who did own a residence, “do not occupy any more rooms than are absolutely necessary in order to comply with the housing laws” and rented the remaining spaces, so that there were usually two or three families in a dwelling. As to renters, they “use no more rooms than are absolutely required” by law. The fifty families occupied 154 rooms, so the average of persons per space was 1.75, and Sokoloff continued,
The habitations of nearly all are poorly furnished. The floors are bare, the furniture is of the cheapest kind, and consists of beds, of which there are usually two in each room, except the kitchen, where there is a table and a few chairs. These people are not only opposed to icons, but they carry the idea further and have no pictures of any kind on the walls. There is no attempt to make the surrounding esthetic or pleasant. A home is apparently looked upon as a place of shelter only. In spite, however, of crowded conditions . . . the habitations are fairly clean.
When it came to the type of work involved, and the Flats area was located in and adjacent to a growing industrial section of the Angel City, it is notable that “about 75 per cent of the working men were employed in lumber yards up to the outbreak of the [world] war,” which seems to have reflected either a chain migration application to work, in which jobs were made known based on hearing about opportunities from others in the community, or through an employment agency approach. It was added that “then the majority entered the shipbuilding industry,” tying into America’s provision of armaments and materiel for the European conflict.
About 10% of the men were haulers of produce or other goods and owned and used their own teams and wagons, while some 2% owned small butcher shops and groceries “which are patronized by their own people. That left 13% who worked in a variety of occupations, including “the metal trades, automobile shops, planing mills, fruit canneries,” these tended to be taken on by the younger men “who have add some schooling, but who left school as soon as the law permitted them to do so.”
Sokoloff remarked that “it is the usual thing among the Russians for the married women to work,” with the younger among these “employed chiefly in laundries,” though “girls who have attended school and have learned the English language, work in the biscuit factories which are in the neighborhood. There were a small number of young women who were employed in a candy factory on Utah Street in the Flats, while some older females worked in fruit canning or housework. A notable remark, given Sokoloff’s background as well as group culture, was that,
Though many of the girls who have been to school for several years, could do other work and perhaps earn more money, the parents are anxious to have them work near home and among their own people. Clerking or office work might cause the girls to become “Americanized” quickly and to this the older people object.
The next area analyzed was religion and it was stated that the Dukhobors and the Molokans “are opposed to war” and “believe in no earthly representatives of God,” so that there were no ministers or other church officials nor any “rules or traditions as to who shall be their religious advisers.” There were pastors, but these were not ordained, were unpaid and “are not dependent upon the approval of the community,” while their “authority prevails only at prayer meetings, marriage ceremonies, and funeral services.”
It was also remarked that the Molokans “came to this country . . . to see a haven where they could enjoy religious freedom,” but a change took place in that, whereas “religion was [formerly] considered the chief and only end of life,” because of how proscribed their lives were in Russia, current conditions were such that “they are beginning to consider it more as a means than an end.” Additionally, Sokoloff observed that “they are seeking other goals besides religious freedom, namely, political, economic and social freedom.”
This led her to remark, and one wonders what the response would have been from those whom she studied:
It may be said that the Molokan religion has little definite form. It is systemless. Many of its phases are exceedingly crude. It is incoherent and inconsistent.
As noted in part one, drinking and smoking were banned and, as with Orthodox Judaism, pork was not to be eaten, while beef was prepared in a proscribed way. Sokoloff reiterated the division of the Molokans into the Postoyani, or “steady,” who “drifted very little from the [Russian Orthodox] Church” and, while no longer keeping “church dignitaries and icons . . . keep the holidays,” and the Priguni (jumpers), who “entirely abolished the forms of service as well as the holidays” and “celebrate the same holidays as do the Jews . . . having added only that of the birth of Christ, whom they consider their Saviour.”
With respect to religious rites, Sokoloff observed that both groups “consider any clean room a fit place for worship, having a table in the middle with benches placed around the walls, on which met are at the right side of the entry and women on the left. There were seven churches among the Russians, these were “simply very large rooms,” while, for holidays, “some private homes are also used for religious services. She continued that,
The Priguni conduct their prayers in a unique manner. All pray aloud for some time, until one feels that the “spirit” has entered into him, when in a trance-like manner he comes to the center of the place of worship. The praying goes on a sing-song loud tone of voice, until one by one, every person feels the “spirit” within him.
For funerals, “the members of the family of the deceased take turns in wailing and lamentation in a sort of monotonous, rhythmic fashion, speaking of the good deeds and excellent personal traits of the deceased” and this went on for up to two days before the burial was conducted.
The sixth part concerned “Social Life” and Sokoloff wrote that religion was essential because “it is their religion that has kept them together” as it was the target of persecution in the motherland and which led to them being “exiled, and compelled to live together in Russia.” Their migration to Los Angeles was such that they were “close together” because “almost all the Molokans in this city are related by blood or marriage.”
The account went on that,
They are naturally clannish because of their comparative recent immigration and because of ignorance of the English language. Their mutual interest in each other keeps them together. Among their admirable trait, that of mutual self-help is indeed commendable. Very few apply for public charity. If a family or individual among them is in straitened circumstances, the community does all it possibly can to assist . . . The Russians consider it a great disgrace to apply for charity, no matter how needy they may be.
Despite no formal leadership structure, “the older people give instructions; they are usually obeyed” because “the old people are highly respected,” while “as long as the grandfather lives, he is usually head of the family in all affairs.” Interestingly, it was recorded that “a Russian usually retires from the active life of earning money when he is about fifty” and “his children support him,” so it was common to find “able-bodied, comparatively young-looking men, sitting around at home or visiting together,” though some went to work recently in shipyards with the start of the war.
Marriages were contracted by parents for girls of at least sixteen and boys of eighteen and “the young bride always goes to live with her husband’s people.” Her working for that family meant that the husband’s family were “to compensate her parents for depriving them of an assistant in the form of a worker before she has paid back to the parents part of the cost of rearing her to a marriageable age.”
This, however, was “looked upon by the American authorities as a form of buying and selling girls,” although Sokoloff noted, “the Molokans are very indignant at such a suggestion” and “consider the custom a justifiable practice.” She briefly described nuptials, including a blessing and permission by the groom’s parents, with the bride’s father telling the groom, “I give you my daughter as wife,” followed by “mutual consent” and the promise of “faithful love.”
Lastly, Sokoloff remarked that “the birthrate is very high among the Molokans but infant mortality is also very high,” and, without discussing why in terms of the conditions in which the people lived in the Angel City and, specifically Boyle Heights, which was increasingly becoming more working-class, especially in “the Flats,” she added that “of children brought here in infancy, a greater per cent survived than of those who are born here.”
We’ll return with a concluding third part covering the remaining triad of sections of Sokoloff’s very interesting work, so be sure to come back for that.
As observed by Sokoloff and noted in this post, several distinct traits were evident among members of the Russian community. They were industrious, eager to save money, considered accepting charity a disgrace, and resisted to becoming overly Americanized.
In fact, the first two qualities are strikingly common across many immigrant communities, regardless of country or ethnicity. Hard work and frugality help explain why new immigrants are often able to purchase homes within just a few years, while many locally born young people struggle to do so – partly due to less diligence, partly due to lacking saving habits that makes even a down payment difficult, and partly due to a greater reliance on public assistance.
Frankly speaking, many immigrant parents, like those in the Russian community, are wary of their children becoming too Americanized, fearing the loss of values and traditions cultivated at home. I recall once complimenting a young man who was working diligently alongside his father on a landscaping project for me. His father replied, “He didn’t grow up here; otherwise, he would have chosen to work in an air-conditioned McDonald’s rather than doing this kind of outdoor labor.”