How to identify a Jewess by her appearance. Anthropology of the Jews: At the present time among the Jews ... - Major
On February 23, 1944, Operation "Lentil" began: the deportation of Chechens and Ingush "for complicity with the fascist occupants" from the territory of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR (Chechen-Ingush ASSR) to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The Chechen-Ingush ASSR was abolished, 4 regions were transferred from its structure to the Dagestan ASSR, one region to the North Ossetian ASSR, and the Grozny region was created on the rest of the territory.
Operation () was carried out under the leadership of the USSR People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrenty Beria. The eviction of the Chechen-Ingush population was carried out without any problems. During the operation, 780 people were killed, 2016 "anti-Soviet element" were arrested, more than 20 thousand firearms were seized. 180 trains were sent to Central Asia with a total of 493,269 people being resettled. The operation was carried out very efficiently and showed the high skill of the administrative apparatus of the Soviet Union.
People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Lavrenty Beria. He approved the "Instruction on the procedure for the eviction of Chechens and Ingush", arrived in Grozny and personally supervised the operation
Prerequisites and reasons for punishment
It must be said that the situation in Chechnya was already difficult during the revolution and the Civil War. During this period, the Caucasus was engulfed in a real bloody turmoil. Highlanders got the opportunity to return to their usual "craft" - robbery and banditry. Whites and reds, engaged in a war with each other, could not restore order during this period.
The situation was difficult in the 1920s as well. Thus, “A Brief Overview of Banditry in the North Caucasian Military District, as of September 1, 1925,” reports: “The Chechen Autonomous Region is a hotbed of criminal banditry ... the presence of weapons. Nagorno-Chechnya is a haven for the most inveterate enemies of the Soviet regime. Cases of banditry on the part of Chechen gangs do not lend themselves to accurate counting ”(Pykhalov I. Why Stalin evicted peoples. M., 2013).
In other documents, you can find similar characteristics. "A brief overview and characteristics of the existing banditry on the territory of the IX Rifle Corps" dated May 28, 1924: "The Ingush and Chechens are most prone to banditry. They are also less loyal to the Soviet regime; a highly developed national feeling - brought up by religious teachings, are especially hostile to the Russians - giaours ”. The conclusions of the review authors were correct. In their opinion, the main reasons for the development of banditry among the highlanders were: 1) cultural backwardness; 2) the semi-savage morals of the highlanders, inclined to easy money; 3) the economic backwardness of the mountain economy; 4) lack of strong local authority and political and educational work.
Information review of the IX Rifle Corps headquarters on the development of banditry in the areas where the corps of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region, the Mountain SSR, the Chechen Autonomous District, the Grozny Province and the Dagestan SSR are located in July-September 1924: “Chechnya is a bouquet of banditry. The number of ringleaders and inconsistent bandit gangs committing robberies, mainly in the territories adjacent to the Chechen region, cannot be counted. "
To fight the bandits, a local military operation was carried out in 1923, but it was not enough. The situation became especially aggravated in 1925. At the same time, it should be noted that banditry in Chechnya during this period was of a purely criminal nature; ideological confrontation under the slogans of radical Islam was not observed. The victims of the robbers were the Russian population from the regions adjacent to Chechnya. Dagestanis also suffered from Chechen bandits. But, unlike the Russian Cossacks, the Soviet government did not take away their weapons, so the Dagestanis could fight off predatory raids. According to the old tradition, Georgia was also subjected to predatory raids.
In August 1925, a new large-scale operation began to clean up Chechnya from bandit formations and to confiscate weapons from the local population. Accustomed to the weakness and softness of the Soviet authorities, the Chechens initially prepared for stubborn resistance. However, this time the authorities acted firmly and decisively. The Chechens were shocked when numerous military columns, reinforced with artillery and aircraft, entered their territory. The operation took place according to a typical scheme: hostile auls surrounded, passed on the demand to hand over the bandits and weapons. If they refused, they began machine-gun and artillery shelling and even air strikes. Sappers destroyed the houses of gang leaders. This caused a turning point in the mood of the local population. Resistance, even passive, was no longer thought of. The inhabitants of the auls surrendered their weapons. Therefore, the casualties among the population were small. The operation was successful: they captured all the big bandit leaders (in total, 309 bandits were arrested, 105 of them were shot), they seized a large amount of weapons, ammunition - more than 25 thousand rifles, more than 4 thousand revolvers, etc. (It should be noted that now all these bandits were rehabilitated as "innocent victims" of Stalinism.) For a while, Chechnya was pacified. Residents continued to surrender their weapons after the completion of the operation. However, the success of the 1925 operation was not consolidated. Obvious Russophobes with links with abroad continued to occupy key positions in the country: Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, etc. The policy of combating "Great Russian chauvinism" continued until the early 1930s. Suffice it to say that the Small Soviet Encyclopedia praised Shamil's "exploits". The Cossacks were deprived of their rights, the "rehabilitation" of the Cossacks began only in 1936, when Stalin was able to push away from power the main groups of "Trotskyist-internationalists" (the then "fifth column" in the USSR).
In 1929, such purely Russian territories as the Sunzhensky District and the city of Grozny were included in Chechnya. According to the 1926 census, only about 2% of Chechens lived in Grozny, the rest of the city's residents were Russians, Little Russians and Armenians. There were even more Tatars in the city than Chechens - 3.2%.
Therefore, it is not surprising that as soon as hotbeds of instability arose in the USSR associated with "excesses" in the course of collectivization (the local apparatus that carried out collectivization consisted in many respects of "Trotskyists" and deliberately incited unrest in the USSR), major uprising. In the report of the commander of the North Caucasian military district Belov and a member of the RVS of the district Kozhevnikov, it was emphasized that they had to deal not with individual bandit actions, but "a direct uprising of entire regions, in which almost the entire population took part in an armed uprising." The uprising was suppressed. However, its roots were not eliminated, so in 1930 they carried out another military operation.
Chechnya did not calm down in the 1930s either. In the spring of 1932, another major uprising broke out. The bandit formations were able to block several garrisons, but were soon defeated and dispersed by the approaching units of the Red Army. The next aggravation of the situation occurred in 1937. From this it was necessary to intensify the fight against bandit and terrorist groups in the republic. In the period from October 1937 to February 1939, 80 groups with a total number of 400 people operated on the territory of the republic, and more than 1,000 bandits were in an illegal position. In the course of the measures taken, the bandit underground was cleared out. More than 1,000 people were arrested and convicted, 5 machine guns, more than 8,000 rifles and other weapons and ammunition were seized.
However, the lull did not last long. In 1940, banditry in the republic intensified again. Most of the gangs were replenished by fugitive criminals and deserters of the Red Army. So, from the fall of 1939 to the beginning of February 1941, 797 Chechens and Ingush deserted from the Red Army.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Chechens and Ingush "distinguished themselves" by mass desertion and evasion of military service. So, in a memo addressed to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrenty Beria "On the situation in the regions of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic", compiled by the Deputy People's Commissar of State Security, Commissioner of State Security of the 2nd rank Bogdan Kobulov dated November 9, 1943, it was reported that in January 1942, when recruiting the national division managed to call in only 50% of the personnel. Due to the stubborn reluctance of the indigenous inhabitants of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to go to the front, the formation of the Chechen-Ingush cavalry division was never completed, those who were drafted were sent to spare and training units.
In March 1942, out of 14,576 people deserted and evaded service, 13,560 people. They went into an illegal position, went to the mountains, joined the gangs. In 1943, out of 3 thousand volunteers, 1,870 deserted. To understand the enormity of this figure, it is worth saying that being in the ranks of the Red Army, 2,300 Chechens and Ingush were killed and gone missing during the war.
At the same time, during the war, banditry flourished in the republic. From June 22, 1941 to December 31, 1944, 421 gangster manifestations were noted on the territory of the republic: attacks and murders on soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, NKVD, Soviet and party workers, attacks and robberies of state and collective farm institutions and enterprises, murders and robberies of ordinary citizens. In terms of the number of attacks and murders of commanders and soldiers of the Red Army, organs and troops of the NKVD, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in this period was slightly inferior only to Lithuania.
During the same period of time, as a result of gangster manifestations, 116 people were killed, and 147 people died in the course of operations against the bandits. At the same time, 197 gangs were eliminated, 657 bandits were killed, 2762 were captured, 1113 were confessing. Thus, in the ranks of the bandit formations that fought against the Soviet power, many more Chechens and Ingush were killed and arrested than those who died and disappeared at the front. We must also not forget the fact that in the conditions of the North Caucasus, banditry was impossible without the support of the local population. Therefore, the bandits' accomplices were a significant part of the republic's population.
Interestingly, during this period of Soviet power, it was necessary to fight mainly with the young gangster growth - graduates of Soviet schools and universities, Komsomol members and communists. By this time, the OGPU-NKVD had already knocked out the old cadres of bandits brought up in the Russian Empire. However, young people followed in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers. One of these "young wolves" was Khasan Israilov (Terloev). In 1929 he joined the CPSU (b), entered the Komvuz in Rostov-on-Don. In 1933 he was sent to Moscow to the Communist University of Eastern Workers. Stalin. After the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Israilov, together with his brother Hussein, went into an illegal position and began preparations for a general uprising. The beginning of the uprising was planned for 1941, but then it was postponed to the beginning of 1942. However, due to the low level of discipline and the lack of good communication between the rebel cells, the situation got out of control. A coordinated, simultaneous uprising did not take place, resulting in the actions of individual groups. Scattered performances overwhelmed.
Israilov did not give up and began work on party building. The main link in the organization were the aulkoms or troki-fives, who carried out anti-Soviet and insurgent work on the ground. On January 28, 1942, Israilov held an illegal meeting in Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz), which established the "Special Party of Caucasian Brothers". The program provided for the establishment of a "free fraternal Federal Republic of the states of the fraternal peoples of the Caucasus under the mandate of the German Empire." The party had to fight "Bolshevik barbarism and Russian despotism." Later, in order to adapt to the Nazis, Israilov transformed the OPKB into the "National Socialist Party of the Caucasian Brothers." Its number has reached 5 thousand people.
In addition, in November 1941, the "Chechen-Gorsk National Socialist Underground Organization" was established. Its leader was Mayrbek Sheripov. The son of a tsarist officer and younger brother of the hero of the Civil War Aslanbek Sheripov, Mayrbek joined the CPSU (b), and in 1938 he was arrested for anti-Soviet propaganda, but in 1939 he was released for lack of evidence of guilt. The chairman of the Lespromsovet of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the fall of 1941 went into an illegal position and began to unite around him the leaders of gangs, deserters, fugitive criminals, and also established contacts with religious and teip leaders, persuading them to revolt. Sheripov's main base was in the Shatoevsky district. After the front approached the borders of the republic, in August 1942 Sheripov raised a major uprising in the Itum-Kalinsky and Shatoevsky districts. On August 20, the rebels surrounded Itum-Kale, but could not take the village. A small garrison repulsed the bandits' attacks, and the arriving reinforcements put the Chechens to flight. Sheripov tried to connect with Israilov, but in the course of a special operation he was destroyed.
In October 1942, the uprising was raised by the German non-commissioned officer Reckert, who was abandoned in Chechnya in August at the head of a reconnaissance and sabotage group. He established contact with the Sakhabov gang and, with the assistance of religious authorities, recruited up to 400 people. The detachment was supplied with weapons dropped from German aircraft. The saboteurs were able to revolt some of the villages of the Vedensky and Cheberloevsky regions. However, the authorities quickly suppressed this uprising. Reckert was destroyed.
The highlanders also made a feasible contribution to the military power of the Third Reich. In September 1942, the first three battalions of the North Caucasian Legion were formed in Poland - the 800th, 801st and 802nd. At the same time, the 800th battalion had a Chechen company, and the 802th battalion had two companies. The number of Chechens in the German armed forces was small due to mass desertions and evasion from service, the number of Chechens and Ingush in the ranks of the Red Army was small. Therefore, there were few captured mountaineers. Already at the end of 1942, the 800th and 802nd battalions were sent to the front.
Almost simultaneously, the 842nd, 843rd and 844th battalions of the North Caucasian Legion are being formed in Mirgorod, Poltava region. In February 1943, they were sent to the Leningrad region to fight the partisans. At the same time, battalion 836-A was formed in the town of Vesola (the letter “A” meant “einsatz” - destruction). The battalion specialized in punitive operations and left a long bloody trail in the Kirovograd, Kiev regions and in France. In May 1945, the remnants of the battalion were captured by the British in Denmark. The highlanders asked for British citizenship, but were extradited to the USSR. Of the 214 Chechens of the 1st company, 97 were prosecuted.
As the front approached the borders of the republic, the Germans began to throw scouts and saboteurs into the territory of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, who were supposed to prepare the ground for a large-scale uprising, commit sabotage and terrorist attacks. However, only Recker's group achieved the greatest success. The Chekists and the army acted promptly and prevented the uprising. In particular, a failure befell the group of Lieutenant Lange, abandoned on August 25, 1942. Pursued by Soviet units, the chief lieutenant with the remnants of his group, with the help of Chechen guides, was forced to cross the front line back to his own. In total, the Germans threw 77 saboteurs. Of these, 43 were rendered harmless.
The Germans even trained “the governor of the North Caucasus - Osman Guba (Osman Saydnurov). Osman fought on the side of the whites in the Civil War, deserted, lived in Georgia, after its liberation by the Red Army, fled to Turkey. After the outbreak of the war, he took a course at a German intelligence school and entered the order of the naval intelligence. Guba-Saidnurov, in order to increase his authority among the local population, was even allowed to call himself a colonel. However, plans to incite an uprising among the mountaineers failed - the Chekists seized the Guba group. During the interrogation, the failed Caucasian Gauleiter made a very interesting confession: "Among the Chechens and Ingush, I could easily find the right people, ready to betray, go over to the Germans and serve them."
It is also interesting that the local leadership of the internal affairs actually sabotaged the fight against banditry and went over to the side of the bandits. The head of the NKVD of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, the captain of state security Sultan Albogachiev, an Ingush by nationality, sabotaged the activities of local security officers. Albogachiev acted in conjunction with Terloev (Israilov). Many other local Chekists also turned out to be traitors. So, the chiefs of the regional departments of the NKVD were traitors: Staro-Yurtovsky - Elmurzaev, Sharoevsky - Pashaev, Itum-Kalinsky - Mezhiev, Shatoevsky - Isaev, etc. Many traitors turned out to be among the rank-and-file employees of the NKVD.
A similar picture was observed among the local party leadership. So, when the front approached, 16 leaders of the district committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (in the republic there were 24 districts and the city of Grozny), 8 leaders of district executive committees, 14 chairmen of collective farms and other party members quit their jobs and fled. Apparently, those who remained in their places were simply Russians or "Russian-speaking". The party organization of the Itum-Kalinsky region became especially "famous", where the entire leadership team became bandits.
As a result, during the years of the most difficult war, the republic was engulfed in an epidemic of mass betrayal. Chechens and Ingush fully deserve their punishment. Moreover, it should be noted that according to the laws of wartime, Moscow could punish many thousands of bandits, traitors and their accomplices much more severely, up to execution and long prison terms. However, we once again see an example of the humanism and generosity of the Stalinist government. Chechens and Ingush were evicted, sent for re-education.
The psychological peculiarity of the problem
Many current citizens of the Western world, and even Russia, are unable to understand how an entire people can be punished for the crimes of its individual groups and "individual representatives." They proceed from their ideas about the world around them when they are surrounded as a whole by the world of individualists, atomized personalities.
The Western world, and then Russia, after industrialization, lost the structure of the traditional society (in fact, peasant, agrarian), linked by communal ties, mutual responsibility. The West and Russia have moved to a different level of civilization, when each person is responsible only for his own crimes. However, at the same time, the Europeans forget that there are still areas and regions on the planet where traditional, tribal relations prevail. Such a region is the Caucasus and Central Asia.
There, people are connected by family (including large patriarchal families), clan, tribal relations, and also community. Accordingly, if a person commits a crime, the local community is responsible and punished for it. In particular, this is why the rape of local girls is rare in the North Caucasus; relatives, with the support of the local community, will simply "bury" the offender. The police will turn a blind eye to this, as it consists of "their own people." However, this does not mean that the “stranger” girls, who are not backed by a strong clan, community, are safe. "Dzhigits" can behave freely on "foreign" territory.
Mutual responsibility is a striking distinctive feature of any society that is at the tribal stage of development. In such a society, there is no case that the entire local population does not know about. There is no hiding bandit, murderer, the location of which is not known to the locals. The entire family and generation are responsible for the criminal. Such views are very strong and persist from century to century.
Such relations were characteristic of the era of tribal relations. During the period of the Russian Empire, and even more strongly during the years of the Soviet Union, the Caucasus and Central Asia were subjected to a strong civilizational and cultural influence of the Russian people. Urban culture, industrialization, a powerful system of upbringing and education had a strong influence on these regions, they began the transition from tribal relations to a more advanced society of the urban industrial type. If the USSR had existed for several more decades, the transition would have been completed. However, the USSR was destroyed. The North Caucasus and Central Asia did not manage to complete the transition to a more developed society, and a rapid rollback into the past began, the archaization of social relations. All this happened against the background of the degradation of the education system, upbringing, science and the national economy. As a result, we have received whole generations of “new barbarians”, welded together by family, ancestral traditions, the waves of which are gradually overwhelming Russian cities. Moreover, they merge with the local “new barbarians”, which are being produced by the degraded (deliberately simplified) Russian education system.
Thus, it is necessary to clearly understand the fact that Stalin, who perfectly knew the peculiarities of the ethnopsychology of the mountain peoples with its principles of mutual responsibility and collective responsibility of the whole clan for a crime committed by its member, since he was from the Caucasus himself, punished the whole people quite correctly (several peoples). If the local society did not support Hitler's accomplices and bandits, the first collaborators would have been handed over by the local residents themselves (or handed over to the authorities). However, the Chechens deliberately went into conflict with the authorities, and Moscow punished them. Everything is reasonable and logical - it is necessary to answer for crimes. The decision was fair and even mild in some respects.
The highlanders themselves then knew what they were being punished for. So, the following rumors circulated among the local population at that time: “The Soviet government will not forgive us. We don’t serve in the army, we don’t work on collective farms, we don’t help the front, we don’t pay taxes, banditry is all around. For this, the Karachais were evicted - and we will be evicted. "
Soviet power brought new orders to the North Caucasus, and not all of them were perceived with hostility. During the years of the USSR, the image of a Caucasian was not only friendly, but also symbolic of Soviet power.
New country, new rules
In the early years of Soviet rule, Sharia courts existed throughout the North Caucasus. They had different powers depending on their autonomy.
For example, in Chechnya and Ingushetia, only the Supreme Court of the RSFSR could challenge the decision of the Sharia court.
Starting in the second half of the 1920s, the Soviet government began a gradual attack on the Sharsuds and Islamic traditions in general, since they did not fit into the new concept of social structure, and already in 1928, the chapter “On crimes constituting survivals was added to the criminal code of the RSFSR family life ".
Under the new law, most of the mountain traditions were equated with serious criminal offenses and were punished for a year in the camp. This led to uprisings, which were brutally suppressed by soldiers of the Red Army throughout the North Caucasus. The persecution of "Shariatists" and supporters of Muslim customs continued until the mid-1940s. Then the war began.
Fathers and Sons
If we do not take into account collaboration and deportation processes, we can say that the Great Patriotic War became the factor that allowed Caucasians to organically fit into the friendly family of Soviet peoples. First of all, this is noticeable in the changes in the attitude of fathers and children.
Before the war, in Caucasian families, fathers tried to keep their distance from their children, especially their sons.
They never took them in their arms and did not say words of approval to them. Even when the child was in danger, the father called his mother or other women. But the war, according to Soviet ethnographers, radically changed the psychology of Caucasian men.
The book "Culture and Life of the Peoples of the North Caucasus" says the following about this: "the action of these processes was a significant factor in the withering away of outdated views and customs ... In many families, there was a softening of the pre-construction order."
In the 70s, a new generation of Caucasian men walked without embarrassment with their children in parks and escorted them to schools. But this did not mean that the highlanders began to lisp with their offspring. Praising your child in public was still considered indecent. Even very young boys were taught to behave like adults. To this day, attitudes within the Caucasian family and in public are two different behaviors.
The new face of the Caucasus
The second half of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s were marked for the highlanders by the appearance of a new detail of the urban landscape - four- and five-storey buildings, and large administrative buildings in the neoclassical style.
Communication houses, hotels, universities - all this was supposed to show the Caucasians the inviolability of the new social system.
At the beginning of the 60s, an orientation towards standardization of everyday life appeared. Unpopulated areas were transformed into residential areas with an obligatory set of buildings: a department store, a cinema, a park, a kindergarten, a stadium, a school, a club. All of this also provided jobs.
All the cities of the North Caucasus have acquired plumbing, asphalt roads, sewerage systems, centralized heating, etc. The auls have also changed. Trees were planted along the central roads, the roads themselves were leveled. Pompous village council buildings, pharmacies, hairdressing salons, clubs, libraries and shops appeared. The new houses were built of bricks and had wooden floors, glass windows and a roof covered with sheet slate.
Since the end of the 60s, the interior of new mountain houses consisted of purchased furniture. The walls were decorated with family photographs and carpets, which were laid on the floor only for the arrival of guests.
In the period from the 70s to the 80s, imported walls became part of the typical interior, in which clothes, dishes and books were stored. The home library was a separate source of pride for the owners of the apartment. It was not necessary to read books, but having them was a very important element. During the period of standardization of life, the dwellings of the highlanders were no longer different from the apartments of any other resident of the USSR. This was another milestone on the path of integrating the mountaineers into Soviet society.
Wedding
A Caucasian wedding is probably one of the few traditions that the Soviet government could not completely eradicate. The first Komsomol wedding took place here only in the late 50s. But, despite all the efforts of the activists, after the "Soviet" wedding, the newlyweds left for the house of relatives and held another ceremony there - a traditional one.
There were also precedents when newlyweds from distant villages signed at the registry office a few years after the wedding.
In the 60s, for the first time at weddings, they began to give flowers to the bride. Such an act for the Caucasus was a truly revolutionary innovation. In those years, the following were also considered to be special chic: a wedding procession decorated with greenery and a red ribbon, as well as the registration of marriage by some local official, for example, a deputy of the village council.
A man must be an athlete
Combat sports sections are probably the most popular innovation of the Soviet regime among the highlanders. Back in the 1920s, the horsemen showed interest in wrestling, and after the start of the mass opening of sports sections in the 50s, only a bad father did not take his son there.
For Caucasian parents, sport became an excellent counterbalance to the bad influence of the streets and he brought up those qualities that have always been considered truly masculine in the Caucasus.
In any even the most remote aul there was one or two sections of the struggle. For mountain boys, martial arts were compared to initiation into men. It gave a definite goal, disciplined and taught how to protect yourself and your loved ones. For Soviet society as a whole, this also had positive effects. In addition to bringing up a number of Olympic medalists, the Sections of the North Caucasus also made the streets safer. After all, now young people could throw out their hot temper in the ring or tatami, and not on a random passer-by.
In the summer, Chechen gangs began systematically attacking the Grozny-Khasavyurt section of the Vladikavkaz railway, and in September, after the regular units of the Russian army were withdrawn from Grozny, Chechen gangs began to attack and set fire to oil fields. They also made systematic and devastating raids on the German colonies, Russian economies, farms, villages, settlements of the Khasavyurt and adjacent districts. On December 29 and 30, the villages of Kakhanovskaya and Ilyinskaya were ravaged and burned to the ground.
In the fall of 1917, a real battle broke out in Grozny between the units of the Chechen Cavalry Regiment of the Caucasian Native Division returning from the front and the Terek Cossacks, which grew into a pogrom of the Chechens of Grozny. In response, the Chechen National Committee was formed, headed by Sheikh Deni Arsanov. Grozny turned into a besieged fortress, oil production completely stopped.
In December 1917, Chechen units of the Caucasian Native Division captured Grozny. In January 1918, units of the Red Guard from Vladikavkaz established control over Grozny and power in the city passed into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee. In March 1918, the Congress of the Chechen people in Goity elected the Goitinsky People's Council (chairman T. Eldarkhanov), which declared its support for the Soviet regime. In May 1918, the III Congress of the Terek Peoples was held in Grozny.
By the middle of 1918, during the clashes of the mountain peoples with the troops of the Volunteer Army of General Denikin, the unification of the highlanders around the Avar sheikh Uzun-Khadzhi began. Uzun-Khadzhi with a small detachment occupied the village of Vedeno, entrenched in it and declared war on Denikin. In September 1919, Uzun-Khadzhi announced the creation of the North Caucasian Emirate
On August 11, 1918, troops of Terek White Cossacks, numbering up to 12 thousand people under the command of L. Bicherakhov, attempted to seize Grozny. The garrison of the city repulsed the attack, but after that the siege of Grozny began. For defense, the Bolsheviks assembled a detachment of up to 3 thousand people, consisting of soldiers of the city's garrison, mountaineers of the surrounding villages and the poorest Cossacks, over which the commander of the city's garrison NF Gikalo took over. With the participation of G.K. Ordzhonikidze and M.K.Levandovsky, detachments of Red Cossacks with a total number of 7 thousand people were created under the command of A.Z. Dyakov, who in October began to strike at the White Cossack troops from the rear. On November 12, with a simultaneous blow from the besieged from the city and the Red Cossacks under the command of Dyakov, the resistance of the White Cossacks was broken and the siege of Grozny was lifted.
In February 1919, troops of the Caucasian Volunteer Army of General P. Wrangel entered Grozny. In the same month, an echelon of British troops from Port-Petrovsk arrived in Grozny by rail. In March 1919, the Terek Great Cossack Circle began work in Grozny. In September 1919 Grozny attacked a detachment of Chechen pro-Soviet rebels under the command of A. Sheripov. In a battle near the village of Vozdvizhenskoye, A. Sheripov was killed, but in October 1919 the rebel Army of Freedom took Grozny.
Red Army units entered Grozny in March 1920
Uzun-Khadzhi died and the “dissolution” of his government was announced.
Chechnya before 1936 Soviet Chechnya
In November 1920, the Congress of the Peoples of the Terek Region proclaimed the creation of the Gorsk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with its capital in Vladikavkaz as part of six administrative districts, one of which was the Chechen National District. The Sunzha Cossack District was also formed as part of the Mountain ASSR.
During the Civil War in Russia, several Russian settlements in large Chechen villages, as well as Cossack villages on Sunzha, were destroyed by the Chechens and Ingush, their inhabitants were killed. The Soviet government, needing the support of the mountain peoples against Denikin's Volunteer Army and its allied Cossacks, "rewarded" the Chechens by giving them a part of the Tersko-Sunzha interfluve.
In September 1920, an anti-Soviet uprising began in the mountainous regions of Chechnya and Northern Dagestan, led by Nazhmudin Gotsinsky and the grandson of Imam Shamil, Said-bey. The rebels were able to establish control over many areas within a few weeks. Soviet troops managed to free Chechnya from the rebels only in March 1921.
On November 30, 1922, the Chechen NO was transformed into the Chechen Autonomous Region. At the beginning of 1929, the Sunzhensky Cossack District and the city of Grozny, which previously had a special status, were annexed to the Chechen Autonomous District.
In the spring of 1923, the Chechens boycotted elections to local councils and destroyed polling stations in some localities, protesting against the desire of the central authorities to impose their representatives on them at the elections. A division of the NKVD, reinforced by detachments of local activists, was sent to suppress the unrest.
The unrest was suppressed, but there were continuous attacks on the regions bordering with Chechnya with the aim of looting and stealing livestock. This was accompanied by the taking of hostages and shelling of the Shatoi fortress. Therefore, in August-September 1925, another, larger-scale military operation was carried out to disarm the population. During this operation, Gotsinsky was arrested.
In 1929, many Chechens refused to supply bread to the state. They demanded an end to grain procurements, disarmament and the removal of all grain procurers from the territory of Chechnya. In this regard, the operational group of forces and units of the OGPU conducted a military operation from December 8 to 28, 1929, as a result of which the armed groups in the villages of Goity, Shali, Sambi, Benoy, Tsontoroi and others were rendered harmless.
But the opponents of Soviet power intensified their terror against the party and Soviet activists and launched an anti-Soviet movement on a broader scale. In this regard, in March-April 1930, a new military operation was carried out, which weakened the activity of the opponents of Soviet power, but not for long.
In early 1932, in connection with collectivization, a large-scale uprising broke out in Chechnya, in which a significant part of the Russian population of the Nadterechny Cossack villages took part this time. It was suppressed in March 1932, while entire villages were deported outside the North Caucasus.
On January 15, 1934, the Chechen Autonomous Region was merged with the Ingush Autonomous Region into the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region. The authorities of the ChI ASSR were dominated by Russians due to the existence of large cities with a predominantly Russian population (the cities of Grozny, Gudermes, etc.).
Chechen-Ingush ASSR
Main article: Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
On December 5, 1936, the region was transformed into the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Armed anti-Soviet demonstrations continued in Chechnya until 1936, and in mountainous regions until 1938. In total, from 1920 to 1941, 12 major armed uprisings (involving from 500 to 5 thousand militants) and more than 50 less significant ones took place on the territory of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Military units of the Red Army and internal troops from 1920 to 1939 lost 3564 people killed in battles with the rebels.
In January 1940, a new armed anti-Soviet uprising under the leadership of Khasan Israilov began in Chechnya.
Great Patriotic War [edit | edit wiki text]
Main article: Chechnya during the Great Patriotic War
Chechen Republic
"Chechen revolution"
In the summer of 1990, a group of prominent representatives of the Chechen intelligentsia came up with an initiative to hold the Chechen National Congress to discuss the problems of reviving the national culture, language, traditions, and historical memory. On November 23-25, the Chechen National Congress was held in Grozny, which elected an Executive Committee headed by its chairman, Major General Dzhokhar Dudayev. On November 27, the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, under pressure from the executive committee of the ChNS and mass actions, adopted the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Chechen-Ingush Republic. On June 8-9, 1991, the 2nd session of the First Chechen National Congress was held, which declared itself the National Congress of the Chechen People (NCCHN). The session adopted a decision to overthrow the Supreme Soviet of the ChIR and proclaimed the Chechen Republic Nokhchi-cho, and proclaimed the Executive Committee of the OKChN headed by D. Dudayev as a provisional body of power.
The events of August 19-21, 1991 became a catalyst for the political situation in the republic. On August 19, at the initiative of the Vainakh Democratic Party, a rally in support of the Russian leadership began on the central square of Grozny, but after August 21 it began to be held under the slogans of the resignation of the Supreme Soviet together with its chairman for “aiding the putschists”, as well as re-election of parliament. On September 1-2, the 3rd session of the OKChN declared the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Republic deposed and transferred all power on the territory of Chechnya to the Executive Committee of the OKChN. On September 4, the Grozny television center and the Radio House were seized. The chairman of the Grozny executive committee, Dzhokhar Dudayev, read out an appeal in which he called the leadership of the republic "criminals, bribery, embezzlers" and announced that "from September 5 until the democratic elections, power in the republic will pass into the hands of the executive committee and other general democratic organizations." In response, the Supreme Soviet declared a state of emergency in Grozny from 00:00 on September 5 to September 10, but six hours later the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet canceled the state of emergency. On September 6, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Doku Zavgaev, resigned, and I. O. Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov became the chairman. A few days later, on September 15, the last session of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Republic took place, at which a decision was made to dissolve itself. As a transitional body, the Provisional Supreme Council (VVS) was formed, consisting of 32 deputies, the chairman of which was the deputy chairman of the Executive Committee of the OKChN Khusein Akhmadov. OKChN created the National Guard headed by the leader of the Islamic Way party Beslan Kantemirov.
By the beginning of October, a conflict arose between the supporters of the Executive Committee of the OKChN headed by Akhmadov and his opponents, headed by Y. Chernov. On October 5, seven out of nine members of the Air Force decided to remove Akhmadov, but on the same day the National Guard seized the building of the House of Trade Unions, in which the Air Force sat, and the building of the Republican KGB. Then they arrested the prosecutor of the republic, Alexander Pushkin. The next day, the Executive Committee of the OKChN "for subversive and provocative activities" announced the dissolution of the Air Force, entrusting itself with the functions of a "revolutionary committee for a transitional period with full power." The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR demanded that the Dudayevites surrender their weapons by midnight on October 9. However, the Executive Committee of the OKChN called this demand "an international provocation aimed at perpetuating colonial rule" and declared a gazavat, calling on all Chechens from the age of 15 to 55 to arms.
Dudayev regime
On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Chechnya, the victory in which was won by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the vote. On November 1, Dudaev's decree "On the declaration of the sovereignty of the Chechen Republic" was issued, and on November 2, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR declared illegal the elections to the supreme body of state power (the Supreme Soviet) and the President of the republic. On November 8, the President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin signed a decree declaring a state of emergency on the territory of Checheno-Ingushetia. On November 10, the executive committee of the OKChN called for breaking off relations with Russia and turning Moscow into a "disaster zone", and the next day the session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR refused to approve the decree on the introduction of a state of emergency. Leaders of opposition parties and movements have declared their support for President Dudayev and his government as a defender of Chechnya's sovereignty. The Provisional Supreme Council ceased to exist.
In November, Dudayev's supporters began to seize military camps, weapons and property of the Armed Forces and internal troops on the territory of Chechnya, and on November 27, General Dudayev issued a decree on the nationalization of weapons and equipment of military units located on the territory of the republic. During the years of his rule in Chechnya, Russians were driven out, which took on the character of ethnic cleansing ..
On March 12, 1992, the Parliament of Chechnya adopted the Constitution of the republic, according to which Chechnya was proclaimed "a sovereign democratic rule of law, created as a result of self-determination of the Chechen people." Meanwhile, during this period, opposition to the Dudayev administration re-emerged. The most radical representatives of the anti-Dudaev opposition created the Coordination Committee for the restoration of the constitutional order in the Chechen-Ingush Republic. On the morning of March 21, up to 150 armed oppositionists seized the television center and radio center and spoke on Chechen radio calling for the overthrow of the Chechen government and parliament. By the evening of the same day, the guards liberated the radio center and suppressed the attempted rebellion. The participants in the rebellion took refuge in the Nadterechny region of the Chechen Republic, the authorities of which, since the fall of 1991, did not recognize the Dudayev regime and did not obey the authorities of the Chechen Republic. On June 7, the only unit of the Russian army stationed there, the Grozny garrison, was withdrawn from Chechnya. In the summer of the same year
By February 1993, a constitutional crisis arose in Chechnya between the executive and legislative branches. On April 15, on Teatralnaya Square in Grozny, first under economic and then under political slogans, an opposition rally began, demanding the resignation of the president and the government and the holding of new parliamentary elections. Taking advantage of this, on April 17, Dudayev issued decrees on the dissolution of the Parliament, the Constitutional Court, the Grozny City Assembly, introduced presidential rule and a curfew in the republic, and disbanded the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the same day, supporters of the president began their rally. On June 4, armed supporters of Dudaev under the command of Shamil Basayev seized the building of the Grozny City Assembly, where the Parliament and the Constitutional Court of the Chechen Republic were held, dispersed the Parliament, the Constitutional Court and the Grozny City Council.
"Civil War in Chechnya"
On January 14, 1994, the Chechen Republic of Nokhchi-cho (Chechen Republic) was renamed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI). In the same month, the formation of the National Salvation Committee (KNS) attempted to attack the positions of government forces near Grozny, but on February 9, its head, Ibragim Suleimenov, was captured by the State Security Service, after which his group disintegrated. In the summer, the armed struggle against the Dudaev regime was headed by the Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic (VSChR), headed by the mayor of the Nadterechny region, Umar Avturkhanov, which arose in December 1993. In July-August, the opposition group of the former mayor of Grozny, Bislan Gantamirov, established control over Urus-Martan and the main territory of the Urus-Martan district, and the group of the former head of Dudayev's security, Ruslan Labazanov, over Argun. On June 12-13, armed clashes took place in Grozny between government troops and the group of Ruslan Labazanov. On August 2, Umar Avturkhanov, head of the All-Russian Socialist Republic of Chechnya, announced that the council was removing Dzhokhar Dudayev from power and taking over "all power in the Chechen Republic." On August 11, Dudayev signed a decree on the introduction of martial law in Chechnya and the announcement of mobilization.
In the fall, the formation of the Provisional Council, created with the assistance of the Russian security forces, launched military operations against the Dudayev regime. On September 1, government troops (Dudayevites) attacked the outskirts of Urus-Martan, on September 5 they defeated Ruslan Labazanov's detachment in Argun, and on September 17 surrounded the village of Tolstoy-Yurt. On September 27, government troops unsuccessfully attacked the opposition in the Nadterechny region, and at the same time, opposition detachments made a raid on the Chernorechye suburb of Grozny from the direction of Urus-Martan. On October 13, the Dudayevites attacked the base of the opposition detachments near the village of Gekhi. On October 15, opposition troops entered Grozny from two sides and, without encountering resistance, established control over several districts of the capital, finding themselves "400-500 meters" from the complex of government buildings. However, they soon left Grozny, returning to their positions 40 km from the city. In turn, Dudayev said that "special forces of the Russian army" with armored vehicles and artillery entered the city, but the government forces managed to "stop, surround and neutralize" them. On the morning of October 19, government troops, supported by armored vehicles and artillery, launched an offensive on the Urus-Martan district and attacked the Urus-Martan regional center, where the headquarters of the commander of the united armed forces of the opposition Bislan Gantamirov was located, and also advanced in the direction of the village of Tolstoy-Yurt.
Meanwhile, the Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic has begun preparations for its last offensive against Grozny. On November 23, the Government of National Revival (PNV) was formed, headed by the former Minister of the Petrochemical Industry of the USSR and the leader of the Daimokhk movement, Salambek Khadzhiev. On November 26, the anti-Dudaev opposition, led by the Russian military, launched an assault on Grozny, entering the capital from the northern and northeastern outskirts of the city. The Dudayevites repulsed the assault, capturing several Russian servicemen. After the failure of the attempt to overthrow Dzhokhar Dudayev by the forces of the Chechen opposition, the Russian government decided to send a regular army into Chechnya. On November 29, the Russian Security Council adopted a decision on a military operation in Chechnya, and the next day Boris Yeltsin signed secret Decree No. 2137c "On measures to restore constitutional legality and law and order on the territory of the Chechen Republic."
First Chechen war
Main article: First Chechen War
Fighting around the building of the former republican committee of the Communist Party ("Presidential Palace") in Grozny, January 1995
On the morning of December 1, Russian aviation struck at the Kalinovskaya and Khankala airfields, and then at the Grozny-Severny airfield, destroying all of Chechnya's aviation. On December 11, Boris Yeltsin signed Decree No. 2169 "On measures to ensure legality, law and order and public safety on the territory of the Chechen Republic." On the same day, units of the United Group of Forces (UGV), consisting of units of the Ministry of Defense and Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, entered from the west (from North Ossetia through Ingushetia), the northwest (from the Mozdok region of North Ossetia) and the east (from the territory of Dagestan) to the territory of Chechnya. By the end of December, battles unfolded on the outskirts of Grozny. On December 20, the Mozdok group occupied the village of Dolinsky and blocked the Chechen capital from the north-west, and the Kizlyar group during the same period captured the crossing in the area of the Petropavlovskaya village and, having occupied it, blocked Grozny from the north-east. On the night of December 23, the units that were part of this grouping bypassed the city from the east and occupied the capital's village - Khankala. On December 31, the Russian army launched an assault on Grozny. Heavy street fighting broke out in the city. On January 19, federal troops took the Presidential Palace, after which the main forces of the Dudayevites retreated to the southern regions of Chechnya. Finally, on March 6, 1995, Shamil Basayev's battalion retreated from the suburb of the capital of Chernorechye, the last territory of Grozny, held by Chechen militants. After the capture of Grozny, hostilities spread to the plains of Western and Eastern Chechnya. On March 30, Gudermes was occupied, and the next day - Shali.
By the end of April, the Russian army had occupied almost the entire flat territory of Chechnya, after which federal troops began to prepare for a "mountain war." The Russian side announced the suspension of hostilities from April 28 to May 11. On May 12, federal forces launched a broad offensive in the foothill areas, in the Vedeno, Shatoi and Agishtyn directions. On June 3, Vedeno and the dominant heights around Nozhai-Yurt were occupied, and on June 12 the regional centers Shatoi and Nozhai-Yurt came under the control of the federal troops. However, as the federal troops moved south, Chechen militants transferred part of their forces to the plain. In addition, the number of terrorist operations directed against federal soldiers and Chechen leaders loyal to Russia has increased dramatically. The largest of them were the seizure of a hospital in Budennovsk in the Stavropol Territory by Chechen militants on June 14, and the attack on January 9, 1996 by a militant detachment on the Dagestan city of Kizlyar, accompanied by the taking of hostages.
After the seizure of Grozny, republican authorities, recognized by the Russian leadership, began to operate on the territory of Chechnya: the Provisional Council and the Government of National Revival. A number of Russian-Chechen negotiations took place in the summer. In early October, the former chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Republic, Doku Zavgaev, became the chairman of the Government of National Revival. On December 16-17, elections were held in Chechnya for the Head of the Chechen Republic, which was won by Zavgaev, who received 96.4% of the votes. On March 6, 1996, militants attacked Grozny, capturing part of the city. After three days of fighting, the militant detachments left the city, taking with them supplies of food, medicine and ammunition. On April 21, Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed by a missile strike from two Russian Su-25 attack aircraft after Russian intelligence services tracked down the signal from his satellite phone. The next day, the State Defense Council of the CRI announced and. O. President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. Despite some successes of the Russian Armed Forces, the war began to take on a protracted nature. On May 27, a meeting was held in Moscow between Boris Yeltsin and Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, following which an agreement was signed on a ceasefire, hostilities and measures to resolve the armed conflict on the territory of Chechnya. On June 10, in Nazran, during another round of negotiations, an agreement was reached on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya (with the exception of two brigades), the disarmament of separatist detachments, and the holding of free democratic elections. Already on July 1, the Chechen side announced that the Russian command did not comply with the terms of the ceasefire, since it had not eliminated the checkpoints, which was envisaged by the Nazran agreements. Several days later, the Chechen side threatened to withdraw from the negotiation process. On July 8, General V. Tikhomirov demanded that Yandarbiev "clarify all the facts" and return by 18:00 all prisoners held by the Chechen side, and the next day the Russian army resumed hostilities. On August 6, Chechen fighters attacked Grozny. The Russian garrison under the command of General Pulikovsky, despite the significant superiority in manpower and equipment, could not hold the city. At the same time, on August 6, the militants took control of the cities of Argun and Gudermes. On August 31, Chairman of the Russian Security Council Alexander Lebed and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov signed an armistice agreement in Khasavyurt, which ended the First Chechen War. The result of the agreement was the withdrawal of federal troops from Chechnya, and the question of the status of the republic was postponed until December 31, 2001.
Interwar crisis in Chechnya
Main article: Interwar crisis in Chechnya
After the death of Dzhokhar Dudayev in Chechnya, the influence of Islamic extremists began to increase, the idea of creating an independent national republic was replaced by the building of an Islamic state in the North Caucasus. Supporters of Wahhabism began to rapidly gain positions in the republic, which was facilitated by the policy of and. O. President of CRI Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. Sharia courts began to operate throughout Chechnya, and the Sharia guard was created. On the territory of the republic, camps were created to train militants - young people from the Muslim regions of Russia. Criminal structures did business with impunity on mass kidnappings, hostage-taking, theft of oil from oil pipelines and oil wells, terrorist attacks and attacks on neighboring Russian regions.
On January 27, 1997, presidential elections were held in Chechnya, which was won by Aslan Maskhadov, who received 59.1% of the vote. In the face of aggravated contradictions between the field commanders, who secured various territories for themselves, and the central government, Maskhadov is making attempts to achieve a compromise by including the most recognized opposition leaders in the government. In January 1998, field commander Shamil Basayev was appointed and. O. Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers. Other field commanders went into open confrontation with the president. On June 20, field commander Salman Raduyev spoke on local television, calling on the Chechens to take active action against the leadership of the republic. The next day, his supporters attempted to seize the television and the mayor's office, but the government special forces that approached them clashed with them, as a result of which the director of the national security service Lecha Khultygov and the chief of staff of the Radayev detachment Vakha Jafarov were killed. On June 24, Maskhadov declared a state of emergency in Chechnya. On July 13, in Gudermes, a clash occurred between the fighters of the Islamic special forces regiment, field commander Arbi Barayev and the battalion of the national guard Sulim Yamadayev, and on July 15, the armed group of Barayev attacked the barracks of the Gudermes battalion of the national guard. On July 20, President Maskhadov, by his decree, announced the disbandment of the Sharia Guard and the Islamic Regiment.
On September 23, Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduyev demanded the president's resignation, accusing him of usurping power, violating the Constitution and Sharia law, as well as a pro-Russian foreign policy course. In response, Maskhadov dismissed the government of Shamil Basayev. As a result of the confrontation, the president lost control over most of the territory outside Grozny. On February 3, 1999, Maskhadov announced the introduction of "full Sharia rule" in Chechnya. Parliament was deprived of legislative rights, and the Shura, the Islamic Council, became the supreme legislative body. In response, Basayev announced the creation of an "opposition Shura", which he himself headed. While there was a confrontation between supporters of Aslan Maskhadov's course ("moderate") and "radicals" (oppositional Shura, headed by Shamil Basayev), the situation on the Chechen-Dagestan border was aggravated. The leader of the Dagestani Wahhabis, Bagauddin Kebedov, who received asylum in Chechnya, with the material support of Chechen field commanders, created and armed autonomous military formations. In June-August, the first clashes took place between the militants and the Dagestani police who had penetrated into Dagestan, and on August 7, the united Chechen-Dagestan group of Wahhabis under the command of Shamil Basayev and the Arab mercenary Khattab invaded Dagestan from the Chechen side. On August 15, Maskhadov introduced a state of emergency in Chechnya, and the next day, at a rally in Grozny, he accused the Russian leadership of destabilizing the situation in Dagestan.
Second Chechen war
In the Caucasus, complex relations between the Russian authorities and local residents have existed for several centuries. Therefore, the revolution was perceived by many as a liberation and an opportunity to establish independent states. But the Civil War began, and the period of "freedom" came to an end. Further, the Caucasus was divided by the White Guards and the Bolsheviks.
During 1917-1920. power over Chechnya passed from hand to hand. In November 1917, Soviet power was proclaimed for the first time in Grozny, but already in December the city was captured by units of the Wild Division. After several years of fighting, the main part of the White Guard army (Denikin's troops) left the territory of Chechnya. The new government was faced with the task of how to prevent uprisings and, as far as possible, win over the local population.
In the fall of 1920, a mass uprising broke out in Chechnya and Dagestan, in which about 50 thousand people took part. The ideological inspirers were religious leaders who wanted to establish a Sharia monarchy. The uprising was suppressed only after a few months with the help of troops, but the conflicts continued.
Earth to Chechens
The authorities of the Russian Empire solved the problems with the militant population of Chechnya radically - by brutally suppressing any attempts at rebellion and placing loyal people on the territory. Russian settlements were created between the auls - this helped to disunite them, to deprive them of the opportunity to actively communicate. Therefore, at first, the Chechens received the news of the new order with joy - the Cossacks and whites could be evicted, and the lands returned. The evicted Cossacks formed insurgent detachments that attacked the Red Army and Soviet officials.
In the fall of 1920, at a meeting of the Politburo, the decision of the Central Committee of the party on "allotting land to the Chechens at the expense of the Cossack villages" was confirmed.
According to statistics, by the end of the war, more than half of the population of Chechnya was poor, so the surplus appropriation was not carried out at all, and the tax in kind was collected on a smaller scale than in Central Russia. Moscow also helped with food, fabrics, money. Chechnya received money for the construction of irrigation canals, roads, bridges, and communication lines.
Government
The Soviet government understood that the Caucasus was a powder keg. A few imprudent decisions - and a war cannot be avoided. Therefore, the first revolutionary committee, and after it many other bodies of Soviet power (police, executive committee) consisted exclusively of local residents. They knew customs, traditions and understood when it was necessary to “close our eyes” to non-compliance with certain decrees and directives. During his speeches in 1920, S. Kirov said bluntly: power will be appointed from above. Chechnya is still “not well organized” and cannot choose. The Revolutionary Committee had unlimited powers.
The Soviet principle "There is no God!" in Chechnya at the beginning of the 1920s it was impossible to proclaim. Therefore, we had to negotiate with the mullahs. Almost all legal proceedings were Sharia, and influential leaders were members of the revolutionary committees and executive committees. Almost all rallies and meetings were held in the presence of at least one representative of the Muslim clergy. In 1925, there were almost 2,700 mosques in the country. Repressions against clergymen also affected Chechnya, but there were much fewer such cases than in the main part of the Union. Each arrest of a mullah or sheikh caused a storm of indignation, and the authorities did not need a reason for another uprising in an already troubled region.
After such decisions, the Chechens began to think that Moscow would keep the republic in a special position, helping it with food, supplying it with money, allocating land and almost without interfering with the old order. The Soviet authorities will be present nominally and will consist of "their own people."
But with the strengthening of Stalin's power and the beginning of collectivization, the "special position" of Chechnya quickly ended. People began to be distributed among collective farms, Sharia courts were curtailed, the most actively indignant were shot or sent to camps. The era of "Soviet Chechnya" in the full sense of the word began.
