Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin

273 Pages·2018·1.652 MB·English

by  Alun Thomas

Alun Thomas is Lecturer in Modern European History at Staffordshire
University.HereceivedhisPhDfromtheUniversityofSheffieldandhas
writteninpeer-reviewedjournalsanddeliveredpapersinternationallyon
late tsarist and early Soviet history. Other publications include ‘The
Caspian Disputes: Nationalism and Nomadism in Early Soviet Central
Asia’, The Russian Review 76:3 (2017) and ‘An Empire Remembered?
Collectivization and Colonialism in Mukhamet Shayakhmetov’s “The
Silent Steppe”’ in Dirk Go¨ttsche (ed.), Memory and Postcolonial Studies:
Synergies and New Directions across Literatures from Europe, Africa and the
Americas (2018).
‘Alun Thomas’ excellent book makes a major contribution to the
ongoing debates about the Soviet Union as a particular type of empire
andaboutconceptualframeworksthatscholarsshouldusetomakesense
of the scale of human losses resulting from Soviet policies. By focusing
onwhatthesepoliciesmeantforthepeoplesoftheCentralAsiansteppe
not as Kazakhs, but as nomads, and not as Russians, but farmers, the
book tells a new story, which has been largely neglected by scholars.
ItshedsnewlightonthecomplexityoftheCommuniststate’sactionsin
a specific region of the former Russian Empire, where the Bolsheviks
faced a whole range of ideological and practical problems for the
addressing of which they proved to be poorly equipped.’
Vera Tolz-Zilitinkevic, Sir William Mather Professor of
Russian Studies, University of Manchester
‘Focusingonthe1920sinSovietCentralAsia,AlunThomas’insightful
work provides an innovative account of the policy and debates that
preceded the forced settlement of Kazakh and Kyrgyz nomads during
collectivisation. He approaches with finesse the nuances of the
governance of nomadic societies, as well as the conflicts that erupted
between various actors because of their competing political agendas.
Thomas’workisamostwelcomeadditiontotheliteratureonboththe
Soviet social engineering of nomadism and, more broadly, Soviet
nationalities policy.’
Isabelle Ohayon, Assistant Research Professor,
Centre for Russian, Caucasian and Central
European Studies (CERCEC), Paris
Library of Modern Russia
Advisory board
– Jeffrey Brooks, Professor at Johns Hopkins University
– Michael David-Fox, Professor at Georgetown University
– Lucien Frary, Associate Professor at Rider University
– James Harris, Professor at the University of Leeds
– Robert Hornsby, Lecturer at the University of Leeds
– Ekaterina Pravilova, Professor of History at Princeton University
– Geoffrey Swain, Emeritus Professor of Central and East European
Studies at the University of Glasgow
– Vera Tolz-Zilitinkevic, Sir William Mather Professor of Russian
Studies at the University of Manchester
– Vladislav Zubok, Professor of International History at the London
School of Economics
– David L. Hoffman, Distinguished Professor of History at the Ohio
State University
Building on I.B.Tauris’ established record publishing Russian studies
titlesforbothacademicandgeneralreaders,theLibraryofModernRussia
will showcase the work of emerging and established writers who are
setting new agendas in the field.
At a time when potentially dangerous misconceptions and misunder-
standingsaboutRussiaabound,titlesintheserieswillshedfreshlightand
nuance on Russian history. Volumes will take the idea of ‘Russia’ in its
broadest, cultural sense and cover the entirety of the multi-ethnic lands
that made up imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Ranging in
chronological scope from the Romanovs to the present day, the books
will foster a community of scholars and readers devoted to a sharper
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Perestroika, Barbara Martin
Fascism in Manchuria: The Soviet–China Encounter in the 1930s,
Susanne Hohler
Ideology and the Arts in the Soviet Union: The Establishment of
Censorship and Control, Steven Richmond
MythMakingintheSovietUnionandModernRussia:Remembering
World War II in Brezhnev’s Hero City, Vicky Davis
Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin,
Alun Thomas
Power and Conflict in Russia’s Borderlands: The Post-Soviet
Geopolitics of Dispute Resolution, Helena Ryto¨vuori-Apunen
Power and Politics in Modern Chechnya: Ramzan Kadyrov and the
New Digital Authoritarianism, Karena Avedissian
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John P. Davis
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TheTsar’sArmenians:AMinorityinLateImperialRussia,OnurO¨nol
NOMADS AND
SOVIET RULE
Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin
A T
LUN HOMAS
For Little Bird and Early Bird
Publishedin2018by
I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd
London•NewYork
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Maps xi-xii
Introduction 1
Before the Bolsheviks 6
The Arrival of Soviet Rule 9
Nationhood, Class, Economy 11
Imperialism, Modernity, Post-Colonialism 15
Sources 23
1. Perceptions of Nomadism 26
Who was the Skotovod? 27
Backwardness 32
Agency and Settlement 37
Class 39
Scholarship 43
The 1926 Census 48
Conclusion 50
2. Nomadic Land 53
Under the Tsar 55
Decolonisation 56
Asserting Control 65
Further Land Reform 69
Class and Development 72
viii NOMADSANDSOVIETRULE
Nature and the Environment 75
Conclusion 77
3. Bordering Nomads 79
The Bukey Province 80
The Garabogazko¨l Lagoon 85
Changing Priorities 92
The Sino-Soviet Border 98
Conclusion 103
4. Taxing Nomads 105
The Tax-in-Kind 106
The Agricultural Tax 116
Taxing the Despots 129
Conclusion 133
5. (De)Mobilising Nomads 135
The Red Yurts 142
Education 143
Nomadic Women 149
Conclusion 155
6. Collectivisation 157
Conclusion 167
Conclusion 168
Notes 177
Glossary 237
Bibliography 239
Index 257
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Gratitude is owed to very many people who have offered their support
andguidancesinceIbegantheresearchforthisbook.Itisimpossibleto
overstate how valuable this has been.
I would first like to thank Dagmar Divjak for encouraging me to
undertake doctoral studies at the University of Sheffield; without this
suggestionnothingofthebookwouldhavebeenwritten.CraigBrandist
and Miriam Dobson were both excellent doctoral supervisors who were
patient, generous with their time and always took my work seriously.
WhileatSheffield,andafterwards,Ialsobenefittedfromthefriendship
andguidanceofSusanReid,AdamFergus,NeilBermel,OlegKorneev,
Oliver Johnson and Natasha Reynolds. Natalia Skradol has been an
inspirationalcolleagueandfriend.ElsewhereintheUK,NickBaronand
VeraTolzhavegivenmemuchconstructivefeedbackandhelpedtogive
my often inchoate ideas some direction. Beatrice Penati has been an
indispensable source of expertise since the early months of my PhD.
Thatmyarchivalresearchhassofarbeensuccessfulandrelativelyfree
of mishap is due to a cohort of international scholars and friends.
My time in Moscow was greatly improved with the support of
WaldemarPetker,MargaritaRebetskaia,DolganandDelgiraMonhaeva,
Isabelle Kaplan and Elena Dosse and family. In Bishkek I was very
pleased to meet Damira Umetbaeva, Cloe´ Drieu and Aminat
Chokobaeva, and to hear their thoughts on my research methodology.
My work in the Kyrgyz archives was facilitated with the aid of the
American University of Central Asia. In Almaty I benefitted from the
help of the Valikhanov Institute and the Kazakh National University