The paper discusses the problem associated with the possibility of the emergence of a Russian school of migration studies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, similar to the one founded by the English classic of migration studies Ernst Georg Ravenstein. The article analyzes the works of Russian researchers of migration in the early 20th century. The results of the researches of that time are analyzed taking into account the social and political context. The key questions that the authors seek to answer are: Is it possible to speak of the existence of a Russian school of migration studies? Were there contextual conditions for the emergence of the “Russian Ravenstein” in Russia at the end of the 19th century and the USSR at the beginning of the 20th century?