Selección y acondicionamiento de los Actuadores

February Revolution provided Muslims of Russia a relaxed atmosphere in order to take initiative and organize for unity depending on a common culture. 1916 Revolt mostly harmed nomadic Steppe society, the Kazakhs. So, the first attempt to declare a territorial autonomy came from the Kazakhs who organized all the Kirghiz (Kazakh) Congress in 17 November 1917. These developments were clearly results of the slight atmosphere brought by February Revolution. Alash Orda156, a moderate national Kazakh Party, was founded by Kazakh intellectuals who were Russian educated, modern, moderate and secular. The basic policy of Alash Orda was to demand redistribution of the lands and end of colonization. They made an emphasis on agrarian issues and problems instead of politics. They openly supported the Provisional Government, February Revolution and continuation of war against Germany. Briefly, they were advocates of Kerensky and his government that were not too strong enough to enforce them to obey without any right. Alash Orda’s party program envisaged some important decisions like ceasing the Russian settlers’ immigration to the region, ceasing the recruitment of Kazakh males to force them to use as labor force at fronts, and giving the cultural-national autonomy to Alash Orda. The prominent leaders of Alash Orda were Alihan Bukeyhanov, Ahmad Baytursunov

155 _{Wheeler, Geoffrey, The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia, (New York: Greenword Press,}

1964), 97.

156

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and Mir Yakup Devlet. For instance, Ahmed Baytursunov, leader of the party, was a moderate nationalist and was against the Bolshevik regime. Moreover, Alash Orda and Kazakh intellectuals did not openly favor pan-Islamism or pan-Turkism, because they were opposed to Tatar cultural hegemony.157 It is well known that pan-Turkism was an ideology doctrine by Tatar intellectuals. There was a disagreement between Tatar and Kazakh echoless at that era. They were disagreed over some methodological issues regarding the context of autonomy. There were differences and distributions about their programs in the new era between Tatar leaders and Kazakh leaders. For example, in the all-Russian Muslim Congress158 which was sponsored by Tatar leaders in Moscow on May 1, 1917; the future political program was discussed and a common resolution was decided on. “It was agreed that the form of government most capable of protecting the interests of the Muslim peoples was a democratic republic based on national, territorial and federal principles, with national-cultural autonomy for the nationalities which lacked a distinct territory”.159 On the other hand, Kazakh leaders and Alash Orda Party sponsored another Congress, the all Kirghiz (Kazakh) Congress in Orenburg in April 1917, one month later after the all Muslim Russians Congress and firstly declared to support territorial autonomy.

The Third all-Kirgiz (Kazakh) Congress, convened in Orenburg in December 1917, proclaimed an autonomous Kazakh region under the Alash Orda. This autonomous region had two centers, one at Semipalatinsk and the other at Dzhambeyty in the Ural oblast. The declared purpose of this autonomy was not apparently to create a Kazakh state, but merely to prevent the spread of Communism into the Kazakh steppe.160

157 _{Wheeler, Geoffrey, The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia, (New York: Greenword Press,}

1964), 101.

158 _{The first all-Russian Muslim Congress was held in Moscow on May 1, 1917. The Congress}

envisaged a national-cultural autonomy based on national, territorial and federal principles for Russian Muslims.

159 _{Wheeler, Geoffrey, The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia, (New York: Greenword Press,}

1964), 100.

160

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The Kazakh Steppe hosted harsh skirmishes between Bolshevik and Ataman Dutov’s forces. Although Kazakhs firstly supported anti-Bolshevik forces at first and took a position against the Bolsheviks, the situation changed in November 1918, because the anti-Bolshevik government of Admiral Kolchak, established in Omsk, declared that it would not support territorial autonomy of Kazakhs anymore. After Kolchak rejected to assist Kazakhs, Alash Orda leaders planned to join Zeki Velidi Togan’s Bashkir State and to construct a union by cooperating Turkestan autonomists and Jadids. Bu it failed. After Kolchak began suppressing Kazakhs because of being antagonist towards the indigenous that would create a separation in Russia, Kazakhs got into cooperation with the Bolsheviks. 161 Finally, the

Bolsheviks forces took all the control of the Steppe till March 1920 after Admiral Kolchak’s forces were defeated totally in May 1919 in Siberia. After that, Alash Orda government left its place to Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

According to Sir Olaf Caroe,

The Alash Orda or Kazakh State was never much more than a committee which held congresses and issued manifestos. Its capital was intended to be in the east at Semipalatinsk, but in fact its activities took place at Orenburg, where was also the seat of the Bashkurd government. Alash Orda was unable to organize any real executive power, or to obtain any working agreement with the many thousands of Russian colonists, who were determined not to yield control of Russian immigration or colonies to any Turkish authority.162

The Steppe, of course, sensed more the influence of the Revolution and the Civil War rather than Turkestan. The penetration of revolutions was more sensible in the Steppe because there were 1, 5 million Russian and Ukrainian settlers and 40,000 European war prisoners inside the borders of the Steppe. The principal participants in Russian revolutions and civil war were these Russians and Central European subjects rather than natives. However, Turkestan contained less Russian element, over

161 _{Allworth, Edward et al., Central Asia: A Century of Russian Rule, ed. Edward Allworth, (New}

York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 237-238.

162 _{Caroe, Olaf, Soviet Empire: The Turks of Central Asia and Stalinism, (New York: St. Martin’s}

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400,000 settlers. Therefore the effects of revolutions were felt less in Turkestan than the Steppe. The reasons were severe influence of Islamic culture, and limited intelligentsia who owned political comprehension to enforce a government like Alash Orda did. The Russian settlers of Turkestan, industrial and railway workers played main role in the era of Revolutions. 163