In 1874, the imperial government of Russia enacted the universal conscription law as a part of the general military reform. The legislation imposing military service on all adult male subjects was of much concern to the Russian Mennonites, who had been granted the privilege of exemption from military service since their settlement in Novorosiia. The government tried to persuade Mennonites to stay in the Russian Empire by allowing them to choose noncombatant services instead of those involving carrying the arms, but adhered to the principle of universal conscription.
Disagreeing with this policy, seven thousand Russian Mennonites left for Manitoba, Canada, where military service was voluntary. The Canadian government welcomed their settlement by granting favorable conditions for their immigration. The provincial government of Manitoba, however, was not always friendly to the newcomers. In the 1890s, the secularization policy in public education perplexed Mennonites, although during this period the growing demand for the agrarian labor force alleviated xenophobia in the Canadian society.
As the World War One approached, anti-German sentiment heightened in both Canada and Russia. The German-speaking Mennonites suffered from this hostile atmosphere in both countries. At times elected governments influenced by such ethnic prejudice were less active in protecting the minority groups than omnipotent governor-generals of the Imperial Russia.
The historical overview of Mennonites in Russia and Canada shows that social and political conditions for a certain minority group in a country need to be discussed, first of all, based on the factual analysis of such factors as the country's ethnic composition and national consciousness, the stage of economic development, state-church relations, and politico-administrative system of sub-national regions and, secondly, on the comparative study of different combinations of those factors. That would help to attain a less biased approach to understanding of the governmental policies on the minority groups in a historical perspective.
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