Providing for the hungry? Famine relief in the Russian Baltic province of Estland, 1867–9.

This article explores the measures taken by the institutions of state government, the nobility, communities and charitable committees to relieve suffering in Estland during the hunger crisis of 1867–9, examining the share of relief borne by local resources and central administration. Through comparisons with Russian and Finnish famine experiences, it demonstrates that the functioning and efficiency of famine relief were strongly influenced by patterns of landownership as well as political and social factors. Estonian peasants received their share from the imperial funds but these were clearly inadequate to meet their needs. The government not only spared the purse but was also determined to follow the laissez-faire policy of non-interference in markets. The communities were unwilling to provide for the landless and the Baltic German landlords kept aid to the minimum for both farmer peasants and the landless. Institutional responses were shaped by the belief that all able-bodied persons had to provide for themselves, which was hardly possible due to the extreme lack of jobs and the legal restrictions on out-migration from the province. The severity of famine in Estland was a result not of inadequate resources but of inadequate responses, which were shaped by the dynamics of class relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]