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After it was established on most of the territory of theRussian Empire, theSoviet Union remained the world's largest country until it was dissolved in 1991. It covered a large part ofEastern Europe while also spanning the entirety of theCaucasus,Central Asia, andNorthern Asia. During this time,Islam was the country's second-largest religion; 90% ofMuslims in the Soviet Union were adherents ofSunni Islam, with only around 10% adhering toShia Islam. Excluding theAzerbaijan SSR, which had a Shia-majority population, all of the Muslim-majorityUnion Republics had Sunni-majority populations.[1] In total, six Union Republics had Muslim-majority populations: theAzerbaijan SSR, theKazakh SSR, theKyrgyz SSR, theTajik SSR, theTurkmen SSR, and theUzbek SSR.[2] There was also a large Muslim population acrossVolga–Ural and in the northern Caucasian regions of theRussian SFSR. AcrossSiberia, Muslims accounted for a significant proportion of the population, predominantly through the presence ofTatars.[2] Many autonomous republics like theKarakalpak ASSR, theChechen-Ingush ASSR, theBashkir ASSR and others also had Muslim majorities.
Following their seizure of power, theBolsheviks wanted to include as much territory of the former Russian Empire as possible into the nascent Soviet Union. However, they experienced difficulties during their attempts to imposecommunism within regions that had been under traditionalist Islamic influence for centuries (i.e., onto theTurkic peoples). While thecommunist state actively pursued a policy ofstate atheism, Soviet authorities allowed limited religious activities to continue in the six Muslim-majority Union Republics.[3]Mosques operated in most large cities within these territories, though their numbers decreased dramatically; there were 25,000 mosques across the Russian Empire at the time of theBolshevik Revolution in 1917, and only 500 mosques across the Soviet Union in the 1970s.[4]
In 1989, as part of new Soviet policies that relaxed religious restrictions throughout the country, a number of new Muslim associations were formed and many of the mosques that had been closed by the government were reopened. The Soviet government also announced plans to permit the education of a limited number ofimams in the cities ofUfa andBaku.
In the years leading up to thedissolution of the Soviet Union, between 45 and 50 million Soviet citizens identified as Muslims, though only around 500 mosques were in operation across the country. Islam was prosecuted[5] andSoviet law forbade all Islamic religious activities outside of mosques andmadrasas. All Islamic religious facilities were supervised by four "Spiritual Directorates" established by the Soviet government in order to provide oversight. Sunni Muslims were overseen by theSpiritual Directorate for Central Asia and Kazakhstan, theSpiritual Directorate for the European Soviet Union and Siberia, and theSpiritual Directorate for the Northern Caucasus and Dagestan. Shia Muslims were overseen by theSpiritual Directorate for Transcaucasia, though this establishment served Sunni Muslims as well.
In 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaryVladimir Lenin publishedImperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, a highly influential text that shaped communist attitudes towards anti-capitalist struggles, and led to a policy of cultivatingleft-wing nationalists within the Muslim communities of the Russian Empire and in foreign colonies. Before theBolshevik Revolution, the first MuslimAll-Russian Congress was held inMoscow in May 1917, celebrating the end ofTsarism.[6]
Compared to theChristians (who comprised the state majority), Muslims in the Soviet Union were initially given more religious autonomy. This was in contrast to life under thetsars, when Muslims were suppressed and theEastern Orthodox Church served in an official capacity in the Russian Empire, an erstwhileChristian state. On 24 November 1917, weeks after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Bolsheviks issued an appeal to "All the Muslim Workers of Russia and the East" under Lenin:[6]
Muslims of Russia… all you whose mosques and prayer houses have been destroyed, whose beliefs and customs have been trampled upon by thetsars and oppressors of Russia: your beliefs and practices, your national and cultural institutions are forever free and inviolate. Know that your rights, like those of all the peoples of Russia, are under the mighty protection of the Revolution.[7]
Lenin further oversaw the return of certain Islamic artifacts, such as theUthman Quran (to theUzbek SSR).[7] Furthermore, some principles ofIslamic law were instituted alongside the communist legal system,[7]Jadids and otherIslamic socialists were given positions of power within the government,[7] and an affirmative action system calledkorenizatsiya was implemented to help local Muslim populations develop an ideological harmony with Soviet communism.[7] In the Union Republics of Central Asia, all of which hosted overwhelmingly Muslim-majority populations, Soviet law mandatedFriday as a legal day of rest.[7]
Left-wing socialist Muslims began to develop a distinct variant of communism (i.e.,national communism), which continued in the Soviet Union until 1928. National communists believed that the fate of the worldwidecommunist revolution ultimately depended on events withinAsia and not withinEurope. They also argued that alliances with the Russian bourgeoisie were necessary for the success of such a revolution; the overarching fear was that the failure to lessen class divisions would lead the bourgeoisie to ally with theWestern world and thus ensure the collapse of the Soviet Union and the communist ideology.
The Soviet government believed that such variation from the traditional doctrines of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union would draw the attention of capitalist Western powers, inviting foreign intervention. It prompted the communist establishment to reject the arguments of the national communists as impractical at theCongress of the Peoples of the East, held inBaku in September 1920. Later, the perceived lack of united ideals also triggered further action against the larger national communist movement.[8]
In 1928, a large-scale purging of the Muslim-majority Union Republics' leadership began with the execution ofVeli İbraimov of theTatar Communist Party andMilliy Firqa, which sought to push a nationalist ideology in favour of theCrimean Tatars. These were followed by the elimination of the leaders of theMuslim Social Democratic Party, the Tatar Communist Party, theTatar Union of the Godless, and theYoung Bukharans.[citation needed]
WhenJoseph Stalin consolidated power in the second half of the 1920s, his policies regarding religion had changed. Mosques began to be closed or turned into warehouses throughout Central Asia, religious leaders were persecuted, religious schools were closed down, andwaqfs were outlawed.[9] The Soviet government interpreted theparanja (a traditional Central Asian female robe) as an embodiment ofMuslim oppression against women; Stalin's policies led to the initiation ofHujum, a Soviet campaign that sought to strong-arm Islamic systems in Central Asia in order to eliminate practices that were seen as perpetuating male–female inequality, particularly the practice ofpardah, which directed the large-scale seclusion of women from society.[7][10] However, the campaign was unsuccessful, and Islamic veiling practices became more popular than ever among Muslim workers, whereas it had formerly been worn only by Muslim bourgeoisie.[11] In the 1930s, during the period of Stalin'sGreat Purge, thousands of Muslim religious clerics were arrested and executed. Between 1929 and 1941, the vast majority of the country's mosques were shut down.[12]
In addition to his anti-religion policies, Stalin'scult of personality effectively shut out Soviet citizens' freedom to practice Islam, Christianity, or any other religions.[7][10]
DuringWorld War II, particularly in 1943–1944, the Soviet government carried out a series of deportations to Siberia and the Union Republics of Central Asia. Collaboration withNazi Germany was cited as the official reason for this policy, but this has been disputed by individuals and organizations who characterize them as Soviet attempts at ethnic cleansing. Among the ethnicities subject to deportation policies (excluding non-Muslims) were theCrimean Tatars,[13] theChechens,[14] theIngush, theBalkars, theKarachays, and theMeskhetian Turks.[15] The Soviet deportation campaign resulted in amassive loss of life, in addition to widespread displacement.
Formally, the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars began on 17 May 1944. More than 32,000 officers of thePeople's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) participated in displacing over 193,865 Crimean Tatars; 151,136 were sent to theUzbek SSR, 8,597 were sent to theMari ASSR, 4,286 were sent to theKazakh SSR, and the remaining 29,846 were sent to various regions within theRussian SFSR. According to official NKVD figures, nearly 20% of the deportees died over the following year and a half, while Crimean Tatar activists have instead placed the casualty rate at around 46%.[16][17]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Country Studies.Federal Research Division.
