stalinist policies, indigenous agents, and peasant actors: negotiating collectivization in uzbekistan

105 Pages·2009·1.28 MB·English

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STALINIST POLICIES, INDIGENOUS AGENTS, AND PEASANTACTORS:
NEGOTIATINGCOLLECTIVIZATIONINUZBEKISTAN, 1929-1932
by
KATHRYN AMELIADOOLEY
A THESIS
Presentedto the Russian andEast European Studies Program
andthe Graduate School ofthe University ofOregon
in partial fulfillment oftherequirements
forthe degree of
MasterofArts
June 2009
11
"Stalinist Policies, IndigenousAgents, andPeasantActors: Negotiating Collectivization in
Uzbekistan, 1929-1932," athesis preparedbyKathrynAmeliaDooleyinpartial fulfillment ofthe
requirements for the MasterofArts degree inthe Russian and EastEuropean Studies Program.
Thisthesis has beenapproved andacceptedby:
Julie Hessler, Chairofthe ExaminingCommittee
Committee inCharge: Julie Hessler, Chair
AlanKimball
JeniferPresto
Accepted by:
Deanofthe Graduate School
111
©2009KathrynAmeliaDooley
IV
An Abstractofthe Thesis of
KathrynAmeliaDooley for the degree of MasterofArts
in the Russian and EastEuropean Studies Program
to be taken June 2009
Title: STALINIST POLICIES, INDIGENOUS AGENTS, AND PEASANTACTORS:
NEGOTIATING COLLECTIVIZATION INUZBEKISTAN, 1929-1932
Approved: _ _
Julie Hessler
Peasant experiences ofagricultural collectivization in Uzbekistan followed an
overarchingpattern familiar from studies ofcollectivization elsewhere inthe USSR but
simultaneously borethe deep imprint ofCentral Asia's unique historyofSoviet rule sincethe
revolution. State control remained weak in the Uzbekvillage, andUzbek officials at the local
level were forced to mediate betweenpressure from the central authorities andpressure from
traditional village norms. As a result, the contoursofcollectivization in Uzbekistan weredefined
as much by local specificities andface-to-face relationships as bycentral policy. Uzbekpeasants
initiallyengaged in massresistance to collectivization, drawing on atradition ofcomprehensive
opposition to Sovietrule on grounds ofculture, Islam, nation, and village solidarity. Butdespite
theirapparent intransigence, overtime Uzbekpeasants found broadopportunities for compromise
and collaborationwith the state within the malleable framework ofpowerandaffiliation in Stalin-
era Central Asia.
v
CURRICULUMVITAE
NAME OF AUTHOR: Kathryn A. Dooley
DATE OFBIRTH: April 9, 1984
GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:
University ofOregon, Eugene, OR
Washington State University, Pullman, WA
Reed College, Portland, OR
DEGREES AWARDED:
MasterofArts in Russian and EastEuropean Studies
University ofOregon, June 2009
BachelorofArts inHistory
Washington State University, May 2005
AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:
Soviet Central Asia
Social History
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION: THE SOVIETPROJECTINUZBEKISTAN .
Upheaval andIndigenization: Rooting SovietPower in Uzbekistan, 1917-
1927 5
Assault onPeasant Solidarity: LandReform, 1925-26.................................................. 7
II. COLLECTIVIZATIONINPRACTICE......................................................................... 16
"Unhealthy Competition" ina BackwardRegion: Strategies ofCollectivization
inUzbekistan................................................................................................................ 17
"Excesses andDistortions" or Silent Subversion? Implementationandthe
ProblemofLocal Cadres............................................................................................... 22
III. DYNAMICS OF PEASANT RESISTANCE................................................................ 35
The Viewfrom Above: Chronology, Scale, andForms ofPeasantResponse 37
The Viewfrom the Ground: "Enemies ofSovietPower" inMazar 51
IV. PATTERNS OF PEASANT AFFILIATION................................................................ 64
DrawingandRedrawingtheBounds ofCommunity: The Village, Women, Islam,
and Ethnicity 66
TheLimits ofSolidarityandtheLimits ofCollaboration: TheClass Principle and
Peasant Participation..................................................................................................... 82
V. CONCLUSION..... 90
BIBLIOGRAPHy............................................................................................................... 96
Vll
LIST OFFIGURES
Figure Page
1. AdministrativeDivisionofthe Uzbek SSR, 1929-1938................................................. 18
YI11
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Mass demonstrations byokrug, February 1- March 17, 1930....................................... 46
2. Shift inurbanandruralpopulations ofCentralAsianrepublics andthe USSRas a
wholefromthe 1926 census to the 1939census 93
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: THE SOVIET PROJECTIN UZBEKISTAN
Ifone were to attemptto quantifythe relative human sufferingthat Stalinist
collectivization inflicted in the various Sovietrepublicsforthesake ofcomparison,the
experience ofthe Uzbekrepublic would not stand out. Uzbekistan escaped boththe worst
repressions andthe deadly famines that afflicted the Ukraineand some ofRussia's grain-growing
regions. It was not even the most devastatedofthe Central Asian republics; thattitlealmost
certainlybelongsto Kazakhstan, which lostovera millioncitizensto the famine thatfollowed in
the wake ofcollectivization andthe sedentarization ofits native peoples.I Norwas Uzbekistan
the locus ofa uniquely violent orprotracted movement ofpeasantresistance. Central Asia's most
violentand categoricalanswerto collectivization, the armed bands ofso-called "basmachi"
guerillas- a legacyoftheyears ofrevolution and civil war- assertedthemselves most vigorously
in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, and only occasionallytouchedtheterritory ofthe Uzbek SSR.
All ofthese elements- repression, resistance, hunger, and violence- did emerge outof
collectivization in Uzbekistan, sometimes even on a mass scale. Butthe significance ofthe
Uzbek case is not as a superlative exampleofstate cruelty andpeasantvictimization, though
these features, too, were neverwhollyabsent. Instead, collectivization in Uzbekistan exemplified
how acentrally defined, all-union policycould both follow acommon Sovietpatternand bearthe
indelible mark oflocal specificities.
JNiccolo Pianciola, "Famine inthe Steppe: The CollectivizationofAgricultureandtheKazakHerdsmen,
1928-1934,"Cahiers duMonde Russe45,no. 1-2(2004): 137.
2
The existing literaturedealingdirectly withthe issue ofcollectivization in the sedentary
regions ofCentralAsia remains verylimited. A few Soviet-eramonographs, such as the works of
AIu. Ibragimova andR.Kh. Aminova, provide essentialbackgroundinto statepolicyand its
implementation in Uzbekistan, as well as abroadoverview ofthechanges Sovietpowerwrought
inthe Uzbekcountryside.2 Both, however, tendto downplaythe scaleandlong-termroots of
peasant resistance. English-languagescholarship on Uzbekistan has tendedto focus onthe
experiences ofthe 1920s and onthe cultural sphereinparticular, withresearchby Gregory
MassellandDouglas Northrop highlighting the campaign for the emancipation ofUzbek women,
andShoshanaKelleraddressingthe state's assault on Islam.3 Each ofthese works discusses
issues oftransformative statepolicyandpeasantresistance, and eachraises the questionof
Uzbekistan's relativelevel ofintegration into the Soviet system, butthe specifics oftherural
environment and the experience ofcollectivizationareaddressedonly in passing. Withinthe
CentralAsian region more generally, works byNiccolo PianciolaandAdrienneEdgar have
discussedthe impact ofcollectivizationinKazakhstan andTurkmenistan, respectively; butthese
cases tend to reflect the specific experiences ofnomadic communities, experiences not often
sharedbythe historically sedentaryUzbeks.4
As aresult, the most usefulobject ofcomparisonis oftenthe experience of
collectivization inthe agricultural regions ofthe SovietUnion more generally. Thedemands and
2 A. Iu. Ibragimova, "Sotsia1isticheskoepereustroistvose1'skogokhoziaistvaUzbekistana," inOcherki
istoriikollektivizatsiiasel'skogokhoziaistvavsoiuznykhrespublikakh, ed. V.P. Dani10va (Moscow:
Gosudarstvennoeizdatel'stvopo1iticheskoi literatury, 1963);R. Kh. Aminova, Changes in Uzbekistan's
Agriculture, 1917-1929,trans. V.A. EpshteinandB.N. Lunkov(Moscow: NaukaPublishingHouse, 1974).
3 GregoryMassell, TheSurrogateProletariat: Moslem Women andRevolutionaryStrategies inSoviet
CentralAsia, 1919-1929(Princeton: PrincetonUniversityPress, 1974) ;DouglasNorthrop, Veiled
Empire: GenderandPowerinStalinistCentralAsia(Ithaca: CornellUniversityPress, 2004); Shoshana
Keller, ToMoscow, NotMecca: TheSovietCampaignAgainstIslam in CentralAsia, 1917-1941
(Westport, Conn.: PraegerPublishers,2001).
4 AdrienneEdgar, TribalNation: The MakingofSoviet Turkmenistan (Princeton: PrincetonUniversity
Press, 2004).