Mustafa Cho’qoy activist, minister, refugee, and Bolshevik enemy #1. Learn how a Kazakh activist went from being a minister in Turkestan’s first all Muslim, autonomous government to isolated expat in Paris struggling to get Europe to care about the plight of his people and Turkestan bogeyman that haunted Bolshevik dreams.
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Did you ever wonder how the Russian Revolution affected Central Asia? This episode discusses how the various political factions in Central Asia-the Jadids, Alash Orda, the Ulama, and the Russian Settlers-responded to the fall of the Tsar and the rise of the Bolsheviks.
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When we last discussed Central Asia, they were in the midst of the 1916 Revolt, which is now seen as the harbinger of the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil Wars. Today we’ll discuss how the Russian Revolution affected Central Asia.
Russian Revolution in Russia
February Revolution
1917 is an odd year for Russia, because it’s a period were militarily-things were beginning to look up, but socially and politically, things were at their lowest. Even though Russia had seen its greatest military victory in 1916 (one that cost them an estimated 3 million killed, wounded, or taken prisoner) and it was correcting its production issues, it was still facing a massive supply crisis because of an overstrained and broken transport system. This meant shortages of food, fuel, and basic household goods, rapid inflation, and corruption within the government and its military suppliers. Most fatal of all was the complete lack of trust everyone had in the Russian government. Governmental officials were either unacceptably incompetent or German spies and traitors. Even the staunchly monarchist General Aleksei Brusilov admitted that “Russia could not win the war with its present system of government.” (Figes) Everyone agreed that Russia was on the brink of a great catastrophe, but no one could have predicted it would have been at the hands of women tired of queuing for bread.
In this episode we discuss two giants within the Jadid movement in Turkestan: Munavvar qori Abdurashidxon and Mahmudxo’ja Behbudiy. Both men came from religious families, both men were successful merchants, and both men believed that reform was the only way to save Turkestani society.
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References:
Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR by Adeeb Khalid
Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent 1865-1923 by Jeff Sahadeo
Did you ever wonder how the Russian Revolution affected Central Asia? This episode discusses how the various political factions in Central Asia-the Jadids, Alash Orda, the Ulama, and the Russian Settlers-responded to the fall of the Tsar and the rise of the Bolsheviks.
If you enjoyed this episode, please donate to our Patreon
5 facts about the Tsarist Administration in Central Asia 1890-1916
In this episode, we briefly discuss the Tsarist Administration in Central Asia, focusing on how the Russian administration created two societies one of the incoming Russian Settlers and one for the indigenous peoples. We also discuss the two biggest problems facing the Russian administration: land and the demand for political participation.
Transcript coming
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Knowledge and the Ends of Empire: Kazak Intermediaries and Russian Rule on the Steppe, 1731-1917 by Ian W. Campbell Published by Cornell University Press, 2017
Russia and Central Asia: Coexistence, Conquest, Coexistence by Shoshana Keller Published by University of Toronto Press, 2019
Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Khiva, 1865-1924 by Seymour Becker, Published by RoutledgeCurzon, 2004
Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent 1865-1923 by Jeff Sahadeo
Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR by Adeeb Khalid
I recently finished Hamid Ismailov’s book the Devils’ Dance, which is about Abdulla Qodiriy’s last days in a Soviet prison and the book he was working on before his arrest. The book mentions several Uzbek writers who I was unfamiliar with, so I decided to do a little research. This was what I was able to find out.
First World War and Central Asia
Before we can discuss the three writers, we must understand the world they lived in. All three men lived during the painful and dangerous period between the end of the Victorian Era and the beginning of the Edwardian Era. They also lived through one of the century’s greatest disasters: the First World War and then the Bolshevik Revolution.
Nationalism had been on the rise all over the world during the decades that preceded the First World War, and Central Asia was no different. When World War I occurred, many in Central Asia thought they could gain their independence. This hope was increased by the Bolshevik Revolution and the disintegration of Tsarist Russia.
