| 1929 Buryat Revolt | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofCollectivization in the Soviet Union | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Soviet Union | Buryats | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Joseph Stalin Yakov Epstien | Unknown | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Red Army | Buryat Rebels and Farmers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 35,000 Buryats killed[3][2] | ||||||
The1929 Buryat Revolt was a poorly organized uprising within theSoviet Union, triggered by oppressive policies and discrimination against theBuryats, a Mongol ethnic group primarily adhering to Buddhism.
The revolt was initiated in response toJoseph Stalin's forced collectivization strategy, which sought to amalgamate individual landholdings into collective farms. However, the Soviet regime quickly quashed the revolt, killing approximately 35,000 people with another 10,000 later killed inpolitical purges. Some Buryats escaped southward toMongolia.
The failed uprising highlights the profound ethnic tensions and resistance to Soviet collectivization, leaving a lasting impact on the Buryat community and Soviet ethnic policies.[4]
In 1928, theSoviet Union under the leadership ofJoseph Stalin implemented a forced policy ofcollectivization across the Soviet Union. The policy aimed to integrate individual landholdings and labour into collectively-controlled and state-controlled farms. Collectivization angered the largelyagricultural Buryats.[3][5]
Prior to the implementation of the collectivization policies, theBuryats, aMongol ethnic group, already faced discrimination from Soviet authorities. Buryats mainly adhere to theBuddhist religion, which was persecuted by Soviet authorities from 1925 onwards in the form of closing down monasteries and exiling Lamas.[3][4][6][7]
As a result of Soviet policies, several Buryats openly revolted against Soviet authorities and many fled to Mongolia (many of which were later killed byCommunist Mongolian authorities). The uprising was swiftly put down by theRed Army, and around 35,000 Buryats were killed.[3][2]
Between 1927 and 1928, 10,000 people were murdered by Soviet authorities in Buryatia in an attempt to eliminate growing Buryatnationalism andPan-Mongolism.[3]
Despite the onset of antireligious persecution, the Soviet government, desiring the support of Muslims and Buddhists, stopped short of launching an all-out war against their religious beliefs and institutions. However, it was predictable that such a situation would be only temporary. As Sovietization advanced further into Buriat and Kalmyk regions, the number of Lamaist clergy andkhuruls was reduced.