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Nativization of Government and Party Structure in Kazakhstan, 1920-1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2018

Romeo A. Cherot
Romeo A. Cherot*
Affiliation:
Hungary, Radio Free Europe
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Extract

One of the fundamental demands of the nationality policy of the Soviet Government in its early years was the participation of native populations in the political structure of their respective administrative areas. This principle was particularly emphasized in areas such as Kazakhstan, where Russians had manned the governmental structure before the revolution of 1917. The present paper attempts through statistical evidence to describe the extent to which this was achieved in the first decade of existence of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, then a part of the R.S.F.S.R. The agencies of government so examined are the soviet system, the administrative apparatus, and the Party.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 1955 , pp. 42 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1955

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References

1 “Aul” literally means “camp” and is the Kazakh equivalent of the Russian village.

2 See also CSU KSSR Statistiko-ekonomičeskij obzor (Orenburg, 1923), pp. 24, 25Google Scholar; Obzor narodnogo khozjajstva KASSR 1924 god (Orenburg, 1925), pp. 1-3; CSU KASSR, Obzor narodtiogo khozjajstva KASSR 1925 (Samara, 1927), pp. 1–3.Google Scholar The Kazakh ASSR was formed August 26, 1920. SU RSFSR 76(359). As a result of the breakup of the Turkestan ASSR and the Khorezm and Bokhara Soviet Republics, the following areas, predominated by Kazakhs, were transferred to the Kazakh ASSR: 4 uezds and parts of 2 of the Syr Daria oblast', 4 uezds and part of 1 of the Dzhetisuisk oblast', the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Oblast’ (Kara-Kalpaks were predominant) consisting of 1 uezd of the Amu Daria oblast' and part of the Khorezm Republic, and part of 1 uezd of the Samarkand oblast'. SZ SSSR 1924 19(187), SU RSFSR 1924 87(874), 192; 31(222). In July 1925 the Orenburg province, with a predominant Russian population, was removed from the Kazakh ASSR to the direct control of the RSFSR. SV RSFSR 1925 49(377). The chief territorial changes within the Republic were the transfer of the Turgan uezd to the Aktiubinsk province in January 1924 and of the Bukeev province to the Ural province as a uezd in June 1925. SU RSFSR 1924 18(182) par. IIId, 1925 41(285). In 1928 a new administrative-territorial division of the Republic took place in which the volost', uezd and provincial levels were abolished and replaced by the rajon and the okrug. The new divisions numbered 193 rajons, 13 okrugs, and the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Oblast'. SU RSFSR 1928 118(743).

3 Statistiko-ekonomičeskij obzor, op. cit., p. 11.

4 lbid.

5 N.K.V.D., Vybory v sovety RSFSR v 1925-1926 godu (Moskva, 1926), p. 230

6 Ibid., p. 68.

7 SNK i VCIK RSFSR, Dva goda raboty pravitel'stva RSFSR 1924-5, 1925-6 (Moskva, 1927), p. 15.

8 Materialy k otčëtu ClKa Kazakhskoj ASSR … , op. cit. (Table 2, note a) p. 29. Figures for the executive committees at the uezd and province levels were not distributed by nationality.

9 Vserossijskaja central'naja izbiratel'naja komissija, Nacional'nyj sostav vybornykh organov vlasti RSFSR 1927g. (Moskva, 1928), p. 59.

10 Komissija po izučeniju nacional'nogo voprosa, kommunističeskaja akademija, Nacional'naja politika VKP(b) v cifrakh (Moskva, 1930), p. 224.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 The Adaev okrug was abolished in 1929. SU RSFSR 1929 37(385).

14 Komissija po izučeniju nacional'nogo voprosa, loc. cit.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 For statistical evidence of lower administrative levels see Gubispolkom Semipalatinsk, Kratkij otčët o rabote s 1 Okt. 192$ g. po 1 Okt. 1926 g. (Semipalatinsk, 1927), p. 66, and Gorodskij sovet Petropavlovsk, Otčët o rabote za 1926-1927, 1927-1928 gody (Petropavlovsk, 1928), p. 62. Figures for the Semipalatinsk province indicate general Kazakh predominance of its soviet network except in urban areas where they were a minority of the population.

Out of 166 deputies of the Petropavlovsk city soviet at its fifth convocation (1926-1927), 23 or 13.9 percent were Kazakh, while for the sixth convocation (1927-1928), 27 out of 210, or 12.9 percent, were Kazakh. The Kazakh population for the city was less than 6 percent however, numbering only 2686 in the 1926 census, while Russians were about 67 percent with 31,305 (Vsesojuznaja perepis' naselenija i∼i dekabr' 1926g., op. cit. [Table 3, note a], p. 126). In the 16 member presidium of the soviet for its sixth convocation 13 were Russian, with 1 Kazakh, 1 Ukrainian and 1 Tatar.

18 For this and subsequent information concerning Kazakhs in the administrative apparatus of their republic see Komissija po izučeniju nacional'nogo voprosa, op. cit., pp. 248-49.

19 The Uzbeks constituted the second largest nationality population group in the Tadzhik Republic, 21.2 percent of the total. Ibid., p. 47.

20 Ibid., p. 199.>

21 Statističeskij otdel, CK VKF(b), VKP(b) v cifrakh (Moskva, 1924-1929), Vsesojuznaja partijnaja perepis’ 1927 goda (Moskva, 1927), vyp. i-viii; Komissija po izučeniju nacional'nogo voprosa, op. cit., pp. 131-64. One source states that Kazahks did not really enter the Party until 1920 when the Alash-Orda organization centered in Orenburg was crushed. The organization and growth of aul Party cells began much later. The entry of members of Alash-Orda along with beys, bureaucrats and former Tsarist employees is said to have necessitated a purge lasting from 1922 to 1924. The number of Kazakh Communists for 1922 is reported as 1481, or 8.9 percent of the total. Gosplan komissija, KASSR, 10 let Kazakstana(Alma-Ata, 1930), pp. 38-39.

22 On January 1, 1925, Ukrainian composition was 5.3 percent of the whole; for July 1, 1925, 8.2 percent; for January 1, 1926, 7.1 percent; for January 10, 1927, 12.4 percent. VKP(b) v cifrakh, op. cit., No. 3, p. 22; No. 4, p. 44; No. 5, p. 26; Vsesojuznaja partijnaja perepis’ 192-] goda, op. cit., vyp. 7, p. 49.

23 See note 2.

24 As of April, 1930, Kazakh Communists numbered 22,217 out of 30,475, or 44 percent. Gosplan komissija, op. cit., p. 39.

25 In 1922 there were 1,230 cells, in 1930, 2,365 or an increase of 92.3 percent. Ibid., p.38.

26 Ibid.

27 See note 2.

28 Vsesojuznaja partijnaja perepis’ 1921 goda, op. cit., vyp. 7, p. 147.

29 Ibid., p. 151.

30 Ibid., p. 97.

31 Ibid., p. 149.

32 Statističeskij otdel CK VKP(b), Social'nyj i nacional'nyj sostav VKP(b) (Moskva, 1928), p. 156.

33 Ibid.

34 Komissija po izuceniju nacional'nogo voprosa, op. cit., p. 161.

35 Cf. Kalendar'-spravočnik i zapisnaja knižka 1921, op. cit. (Table 1, note a), pp. 101-02; Komissija po izučeniju nacional'nogo voprosa, op. cit., p. 173; SU KASSR, Kalendar'-spravočnik i zapisnaja knižka na 1928 god (Kzyl-Orda, 1928), p. 117.

36 As an example, one source states that the aul soviet did not really begin to function until 1928. Before then many aul Soviets met only once, to elect a chairman, and then remained inactive until the next election campaign. In a majority of auls the soviet merely executed the orders of higher governing bodies. This condition is attributed principally to the fact that the bey-landowners and their supporters, who saw the functioning aul soviet as a threat to their economic and political position, dominated the soviet by taking advantage of tribal customs and the great cultural backwardness of the majority of Kazakhs. This barrier was removed by the end of 1927 by uniting Kazakh bednjaks, batraks, and serednjaks in the so-called “Koschi” against the bey groups, by reapportioning meadow and farm land to the advantage of the poorer Kazakhs, and finally by the outright liquidation and eviction of bey elements. Materialy k otčëtu ClKa KASSR, op. cit. (Table 2, note a), pp. 18-25.