|
Tajikistan
The Revolutionary Era
The indigenous inhabitants of the former Guberniya of Turkestan
played no role in the overthrow of the Russian monarchy in March
1917 or in the seizure of power by the Russian Communist Party
(Bolshevik) in November of that year. But the impact of those
upheavals soon was felt in all parts of Central Asia. After the
fall of the monarchy, Russia's Provisional Government abolished
the office of governor-general of Turkestan and established in
its place a nine-member Turkestan Committee, in which Russians
had the majority and provided the leadership. The Provisional
Government, which ruled Russia between March and November 1917,
was unwilling to address the specific concerns of Central Asian
reformers, including regional autonomy. Central Asians received
no seats in Russia's short-lived Constituent Assembly. The events
of 1917 finally alienated both conservatives and radicals from
the revolution.
In 1917 the soviets (local revolutionary assemblies including
soldiers and workers) that sprang up in Russian areas of Turkestan
and Bukhoro were composed overwhelmingly of Russians. In November
1917, a regional congress of soviets in Tashkent declared a revolutionary
regime and voted by a wide margin to continue the policies of
the Provisional Government. Thus, Central Asians again were denied
political representation. Eventually, local communists established
a figurehead soviet for Central Asians.
Having been denied access to the revolutionary organs of power,
Central Asian reformers and conservatives formed their own organizations,
as well as an umbrella group, the National Center. Although the
groups cooperated on some issues of common interest, considerable
animosity and occasional violence marked their relations. One
group of Central Asian Muslims declared an autonomous state in
southern Central Asia centered in the city of Quqon. At the beginning
of 1919, the Tashkent Soviet declared the Quqon group counterrevolutionary
and seized the city, killing at least 5,000 civilians.
Meanwhile, in 1918 the Tashkent Soviet had been defeated soundly
in its effort to overthrow the amir of Bukhoro, who was seen by
the communists and the Central Asian reformers alike as an obstacle
to their respective programs. The attempted coup provoked a campaign
of repression by the amir, and the defeat forced the Russian authorities
in Tashkent to recognize a sovereign Bukhoran state in place of
a Russian protectorate.
Data as of March 1996
|
