Chris said:
"I think this conversation is getting a little weird, but remember that being a rural resident, or being a farmer, is not the same as being a peasant. Not that it proves anything, but a google search on "Jewish Ukrainian Peasant" gets _zero_ hits: http://www.google.ru/search?q=%22Jewish+Ukrainian+Peasant%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=ru&btnG=%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA+%D0%B2+Google&lr="
"Do you know when the Pale of Settlement got dissolved?"
Officially? 1915-17? But it became more and more porous during the 19th C. (Not to mention migration to the US etc.)
"jewish peasant" OR "jewish peasants" OR "jewish peasantry" ukraine OR ukrainian = 134 hits http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&edition=au&q=%22jewish+peasant%22+OR+%22jewish+peasants%22+OR+%22jewish+peasantry%22+ukraine+OR+ukrainian&btnG=Search
I agree it seems unlikely that many Jews were agricultural labourers before the Communist era. But even kulaks were "peasants", right?
Grant.