Constructing identities, Ascribing Nationalities: Polish Minority in Ukraine during Late Imperial and Early Soviet Rule

This article investigates underlying state intentions behind the counting and standardizing minority populations in view of the dire need to modernize the country. It takes a close look at the statistics regarding the Polish minority provided by the 1897 Imperial and 1926 Soviet censuses to understand how, within a span of only thirty years, the abstract figures of language, religion, and social status came to represent rigidly ascribed and hereditary national categories. The article also explores how the category of "nationality" was understood and how its meaning, political, and economic significance changed in the decades between these two censuses.