by Paul R. Spitzzeri
In her March 1918 monograph, “The Russians of Los Angeles,” published by the Southern California Sociological Society at the University of Southern California as the 11th contribution to “Studies in Sociology,” recent U.S.C. graduate Lillian Sokoloff addressed several major themes in her study, mostly concerning Molokans, or Spiritual Christians, who almost completely resided in Boyle Heights, specifically the Flats adjoining the Los Angeles River.
The seventh section of her study, “Education and Recreation,” observed that “a very small number of the Molokans who migrated here were literate when they came” and that this was attributable to their economic status in the home country. Yet, Sokoloff continued,
The young go to school and learn eagerly. In the Utah Street School, where the writer has been engaged in teaching for four years, there are about 1,000 children. About forty per cent of them are Russian Molokans. These compare very well in their studies with the other nationalities attending this school. It is to be regretted that the Russians do not allow their children to remain in school any longer than the law requires them to stay. No matter how eager the boys and girls are for a higher education, they are taken out of school and sent to work at the age of fifteen.
It was added that there was a night school at the campus, as well, and that “this is largely attended by Russians, the greater number of whom are boys and girls who have had little or no schooling.” Sokoloff noted that it was well attended “by little boys and girls who would otherwise be on the streets” and there was a well-lighted and supervised playground. She went on to observe that, “a few men also attend, but unfortunately none of the women, though several attempts have been made to induce the women to come.”
There were past efforts to teach Russian by teachers obtained by the community, with one involving a two-hour afternoon session at Utah Street with the instructors, a man and a woman who were Russian though not Molokan, paid by locals, but the class was shut down. Another more recent Russian school in a private home also did not last long. The Young Women’s Christian Association also ran a club house on the street “to which a number of girls are attracted.”
An issue that was brought up was:
There is little time for many of the Russian children to play. Almost all the older children who attend school have many home duties. As both parents are working, the boys and girls take care of the younger children after school. During school hours, the small children are placed in the school nursery of the Utah Street School, which has two trained nurses in attendance. Besides taking care of the little brothers and sisters, the boys and girls prepare the meals for the family and perform various other house duties.
When they had time to play, the children embraced the opportunity, but it was remarked that “the older people have very few forms of amusement” and “do not have outings like other nationalities,” with most socializing within church prayer services. There were holiday feasts, as well as those for christenings, funerals an weddings.
Sokoloff added that “during the years these people have lived in Los Angeles they have learned that the principal of the school to whom they send their children, is their sincere friend” and, in fact, came to rely on her “for advice concerning their most intimate affairs.” As interpreter, Sokoloff had “become well acquainted with them and their hopes and ideals” and it was added that,
True Americanism is being interpreted to the Russians in a splendid way by the principal. Through her, their faith in America is steadied and strengthened.
Speaking of which, the next portion of the manuscript was devoted to “Assimilation and Amalgamation,” with it recorded that, being in a community only of Molokans, “the adults among them have not adopted American customs,” though how much that differed from other older, first-generation immigrants is a notable question. Sokoloff added that “their religion, too, prevents them from becoming Americanized,” while “intermarriage with other racial representatives is strictly forbidden” and those half-dozen girls who married outside the group were disowned and ostracized.
Moreover, as strict pacifists, the Molokans “refuse to become naturalized,” and none of the eligible members of the 50 families in Sokoloff’s study elected to become citizens. They told her that a principal reason for leaving Russia was their views on war “but since they are subject to being drafted into military service in the event of war in this country,” which in fact did happen when America entered the First World War the previous year, they elected to forego citizenship even when many filed intention papers.
None were, to date, drafted and none enlisted and Sokoloff commented that, while “very few bought liberty bonds” because it meant support of the war, “they voluntarily made substantial contributions to the Red Cross,” with each family donating from $5 to $10. Meanwhile, the 8 June 1917 edition of the Los Angeles Tribune noted that a Free Russian Aid Society announced that “practically all eligible men of the Russian colony signed the register . . . these included members of the Molokan and Doukhobor societies, which consist of conscientious objectors.” Society officials impressed upon these young men that “registering did not mean enlisting,” which meant that “there was practically no trouble,” in contrast to violence that flared up in southern Arizona over the issue.
Returning to assimilation, the writer observed that there was a significant level of ignorance about American customs and law and “the majority of them have only a vague idea of the American conception of liberty,” while many were said to be “disappointed when they find it is not the same as their conception.” The example given concerned compulsory education through the age of 15, which led Molokan parents, to say, as paraphrased, “it is a strange law that does not permit the parents to have entire control of their children.” Still, the concern expressed “does not result in lawlessness.”
When it came to younger people, however, they were “rapidly becoming Americanized” with education being the chief means, though Sokoloff added that, there was a downside:
In some instances, the young who earn and they who are in contact with liberal ideas begin to show signs of revolt against the customs of their elders. This results in real tragedies in the homes. It is not always the best American traits that the young foreigners acquire. When the young men of the Molokan community began to frequent saloons and other undesirable places there was a great disturbance in the community. Above everything else that the Molokans in Los Angeles are grieved over, is the fact that the young are drifting away from parental authority. They see in this tendency the destruction of their most cherished ideals.
Yet, when it came to the matter “of the girls to drift from the old customs,” this was reported to be “desirable from a liberal standpoint,” especially with arranged marriages, as well as “desires for better things in life than their mothers have experienced” and the natural interest in nice clothing.” This latter involved the matter of dispensing with the costume of the home country as young Molokan women “do not wish to be distinguished by their peculiar style of dress.”
They also wanted to go to dances and the movies and “this desire is considered most outrageous by the elders in the community.” Still, while many young people wanted “the enjoyments of youth,” it was reported that “very few dare to indulge in them” but “here the tragedy comes in” because,
The older element in the community considers this drifting away of the young from old traditions, the result of living under modern city conditions. Therefore their most ardent desire and sole hope is to leave the city and establish themselves upon the soil. With very few exceptions, the Molokans are looking forward to the time when they can leave the city. Many have already done so.
Sokoloff continued that up to four hundred families, or around 2,000 persons, migrated from the Angel City in the prior half-dozen years and purchased land in Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Washington and México, with some within California, “but in every instance away from cities.” As to her sample, it was observed that, in the prior eight years, “few of those who came here have bought their homes” as “they are now determined not to remain in the city permanently and therefore do not buy homes as they once did.”
In an interesting 2 September 1917 article in the Tribune, Mrs. Frank A. Gibson of the California Commission of Immigration and Housing discussed efforts to work with foreign-born residents in Los Angeles and stated that,
The most difficult class to organize was that of a group of Molokan Russian women. The Molokan women are clannish and for several weeks give us no encouragement. Finally we found one of these women who wished to learn to bake a pie. This started the organization of the class. Every woman in the neighborhood wanted to have pie for dinner. The class started, and in less than two weeks we had the male members of the house gathered about the table learning to speak simple English words.
With this, the writer turned to her last segment, “Conclusions,” and she recorded that Los Angeles’ Molokans were typically called “Russian peasants,” and, as a native of Ukraine (or Little Russia), she lived among peasants she characterized as “on a very low plane of civilization” and nearly all “illiterate and ignorant” and “their customs and habits are crude.” The Molokans, however, she asserted, “belong to a distinctly higher class” and “by coming in contact with [them,] one will soon realize the difference.
In her four years at Utah Street School, Sokoloff became well acquainted with the Molokan adults and, while most could not read or write, “they are of that class which has had the courage to suffer for an ideal” while also under great persecution in Russia” as they “suffered many cruelties and hardships because of their religious convictions.” As “crude and narrow” as those beliefs were in her mind, the author insisted that “it can not be denied that these people have high moral standards.”
Sokoloff continued that “on the march toward civilization, it is the people who have the courage to suffer for what they considered right who have risen above” and “so it is that these dissenters from the Russian state church have also risen far above the average Russian peasants.” Beyond this, they found from “bitter experience that laws were for the benefit of the leaders and the detriment of the masses,” though they wanted justice and were eager for the opportunity to live under the rule of law.
The assessment went on that,
On the whole, it may be said that the Russians in this city are a quiet, law-abiding people. They are not given to any of the vices or crimes as a class, that are found among other nationalities . . . Thus far there have not been any cases of arrests of women for any misconduct or vice. [Young boys stole here and there and] If anything of this sort, occurs, the entire neighborhood is general astir. The parents are greatly alarmed . . .
As with other working-class people, the Molokans often send their young sons to be “newsies,” hawking papers in the street, but, when these boys were entranced by “the dazzle of the things that they see” and this was considered “a very bad influence,” then the parents “do their utmost to keep them away” from that work.
Sokoloff considered the the vast majority of older children “are of splendid character” and were very affectionate in their care of younger siblings, which was “most inspiring.” They studied hard in grammar school and “would undoubtedly do likewise in the higher branches of education, were they given an opportunity.” Perhaps more important, “the clean morals of the growing children can not be spoken of too highly,” and while stubbornness was deemed universal among them, “when rightly directed, this trait becomes an asset.”
The preceding three years showed “a remarkable change” among Molokan youth, who readily learned English and dressed more like their American peers, while “they pride themselves in not being different from other children.” When asked to wear clothing from their homeland, they demurred and “they are ashamed to be seen on the street other than as American children.” Sokoloff remarked that “they are confiding and affectionate and one feels that with proper environment, they will grow up to be splendid men and women,” but this meant moving further from their Molokan culture and more towards Americanism.
Returning to the matter of the older members of the community desiring to leave Los Angeles and “are in constant hope of going out upon the land where they wish to establish themselves permanently,” the writer noted that, whether they remained or left, “there seems to be no reason to think that the Russians will ever be a serious problem to this city.” She ended this fascinating document with:
In view of their excellent personal characteristics and the hope that they will adopt the best of our American customs, we may look forward to seeing them develop into desirable American citizens. Much, however, is to be done in improving their material circumstances, in bringing about better living conditions, and in giving them the best ideas that we can offer them.
In September 1919, Sokoloff married embroiderer Samuel Becker, who hailed from her hometown of Poltava, Ukraine, though it is unclear whether there was a divorce or if she was widowed. In June 1938, she wedded grocer Nathan Gelfand, who was from Kishinev, part of Russia and now Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. Lillian kept teaching, though little could be found of her later years, except that she died in February 1967, a couple of months after her husband’s passing.
It is well worth comparing Lillian Sokoloff to Mary Julia Workman in the sense that both women devoted much time to working with working-class immigrants in the first part of the 20th century. The latter was deeply involved in Roman Catholic settlement house work in downtown Los Angeles while residing in Boyle Heights, while the former delved into sociological and education work at Boyle Heights while living not far from where Workman was active.
As we commemorate Women’s History Month, putting a spotlight on Lillian Sokoloff and her monograph on “The Russians in Los Angeles,” recognizes her notable contribution to the better understanding of the Molokans, or Spiritual Christians, who were a major and significant presence in Boyle Heights, as the monograph also reflected the significant and daunting challenges immigrants have settling in a new and unfamiliar land. This is something that, at least on a general level, we can relate to today more than a century later.