Chechen Party Organization In 1925-1934

Abstract

The article analyzes the dynamics of the number of the Chechen party organization. The subject is quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of the Chechen party organization in 1925–1934. The chronological framework is 1925-1934. The Bolshevik leaders assuming that their party was a key element of the Soviet political system paid serious attention to activities of local party organizations, especially in regions that were national outskirts of autocratic Russia before the revolution. The analysis identified the dynamics of the composition of the Chechen party organization. It was revealed that quantitative and qualitative changes were due to Sovietization of the region. At the same time, the party organization and its local departments were strengthened organizationally; measures aimed at improving the level of their political and ideological influence, methods for managing activities of public organizations were taken. However, these tasks were performed by overcoming barriers determined by a number of circumstances caused by objective and subjective factors. Analysis of the growth of the party organization of the Chechen Autonomous Region in 1925-1928 proves that the governing party bodies did not strive to speed up this process. At this stage, they did not aim to admit Chechen people to the party being satisfied that Komsomol was very popular among the highlanders. The growth of the Chechen party organization began with the unification of the Chechen Autonomous Oblast, Grozny and Sunzhen District. The share of the working class increased at the expense of Grozny organization of the RCP.

Keywords: Chechnyaparty and Soviet constructionparty organizationSoviet political systemdynamics of quantitative and qualitative indicators

Introduction

Having seized power, the Bolsheviks immediately began creating its new - Soviet - hierarchy. They considered their party to be the key element of the emerging political system. Therefore, attention was paid to strengthening party position in all spheres. They improved the organizational and political activities of party structures and accelerated the formation of local Bolshevik departments which had to be transformed into organizations capable of carrying out the official policy.

The processes which were intensified in the second half of the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s, were studied in the context of official discourse. Therefore, the dynamics of the size of the party organization of Chechnya was analyzed in the general historical context as one of the statistical indicators of the success of socialist construction in the region.

We have attempted to carry out a focused analysis of factors that determined different vectors of the dynamics of the size of the Chechen party organization during the period under review. Its conditional borders are designated, taking into account that during these years the active building of the Soviet national autonomy - statehood - of the Chechen people began. Therefore, simultaneous formation of the political system was crucial.

To solve these problems, we used documents published and archived, including those which were used for research purposes for the first time.

However, we do not aim to study all aspects of this multifaceted issue. Analyzing the quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of the Chechen party organization we tried to identify trends of its role and influence in this historical context.

Problem Statement

The problem of the number dynamics for the party organization of Chechnya is of great scientific and practical importance and contributes to a deeper understanding of the historical processes that took place during the period under review.

Research Questions

The subject is quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of the Chechen party organization in 1925–1934.

Purpose of the Study

The author aims to analyze the dynamics of the size of the party organization of Chechnya in the second half of the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s.

Research Methods

The main methods used by the author are systemic and problem-chronological ones.

Findings

The second half of the 1920s was marked by an increase in the number of party organizations of the national regions, including Chechnya. The increase is due to resolutions of the congresses, conferences, plenums of the Bolshevik Party and its Central Committee (CC) on party and Soviet construction and national policy.

These issues were discussed at the XII Congress of the RCP (B.) which were held in Moscow on April 17-25, 1923 (The USSR CP in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenary meetings of the Central Committee, 1988).

The congress ordered the Central Committee “to pay special attention to two tasks: a) systematical improvement of the social composition of the party to achieve the absolute predominance of industrial workers; b) intensive party education, etc. "(The USSR CP in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenary meetings of the Central Committee, 1988).

The XII Congress emphasized “the need to adhere to tactics strengthening the confidence of the peasantry in the proletariat and providing the party with actual leadership of the entire Soviet, and in particular economic apparatus of the Soviet Republic” (The USSR CP in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenary meetings of the Central Committee, 1988).

Analyzing the process of party building in the national regions of the country, the congress stated: “Organizations of our party in most national republics are developing in conditions which do not contribute to their growth and strengthening.” This is due to the economic backwardness of national regions, continuous ignorance of their population, “small number of the national proletariat, insufficiency or lack of old party workers from local people”, etc. (The USSR CP in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenary meetings of the Central Committee, 1988).

Since 9 to 12 June 1923, the Fourth Meeting of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) with officials of the national republics and regions was held in Moscow (Central Committee of the RCP, 1992). The meeting and its secret resolutions were extremely important sources for understanding the nature of the [cynical] national policy of the Bolshevik Party.

In the context of the analysis of individual problems of the Soviet nation-building, the issue of the place and role of the Bolshevik Party in these multifaceted processes was acute. The official position was expressed by a member of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) M.V. Frunze. In his speech to the participants of the Conference, he said: “The only correct way is to provide assistance to the national revival of backward nationalities, eliminate economic inequality. This is our urgent task” (Central Committee of the RCP, 1992).

The Chechen Autonomous Oblast and its party organization were represented by Tashtemir Eldarkhanov, a chairman of the regional Revcom. At the beginning of his speech, he said that “autonomous Chechnya is a small territory with a population of about 0.5 million, exclusively Chechens, separated from the Mountain Republic by the decree of the central government adopted on November 30, 1922.” He said that "before there was no power in Chechnya, there was no police, there was no something resembling Soviet power." Therefore, the primary task was to "create strong bodies ...". Elderkhanov reported to the participants “that today, in Chechnya, there is strong power”.

He also touched on party building. According to his data, the size of the party organization of Chechnya was “only 5 people, including 3 Chechens” (Central Committee of the RCP, 1992).

Thus, the head of Chechnya demonstrated that the strengthening of Chechen party organization is a crucial task.

In 1924, the party was growing intensively. In connection with the death of V.I. Lenin (January 21, 1924), the Emergency Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) adopted an appeal “To the Party. To all workers" (Morozova & Shishkin, 2017).

Local party bodies intensified admission to the ranks of the RCP (b), especially among workers.

The relevant work was performed in the regions. On February 9, 1924, the South-Eastern Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) ordered the local party organs of the North Caucasus to intensify the admission of new members and candidates for the RCP (b) (Loov, 1972).

As a result, the size of the Chechen party organization has grown steadily since 1925. At the same time, a steady increase in the number of Chechen members of the RCP (b) was observed. According to the Information Organizing Department of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), on January 10, 1924, the Chechen party organization had 29 members of the RCP (b) and 12 candidates. On July 1, 1925, it had 68 members, including 4 women and 237 candidates, including 22 women. In total, there were 305 people in the Chechen party organization, including 26 women; the number of Chechens was 219, including members of the RCP (b) - 30, candidates for members of the RCP (b) - 189 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1925).

Despite this fact, the Chechen organization was the smallest one in the southern part of Russia.

For 1925, the dynamics of the size of the party Chechen Autonomous Region was as follows: 268 candidates, 37 members, 7 excluded members, including 1 members of the CPSU (b), candidates for members of the CPSU (b) – 6, left out - 1, including: members of the CPSU (b) - 0 people, candidates for membership in the CPSU (b) - 1, died - 1, including: members of the CPSU (b) - 1, candidates for membership of the CPSU (b) - 0 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1925).

By quality parameters (social status and occupation), the situation was as follows: total number of admitted candidates - 268 people; by their social status: workers - 4.9%; peasants - 82.1%; employees - 13.0%; by occupation: workers - 37.7%; peasants - 44.0% (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1925).

As of January 1, 1926, the number of communists in the Chechen regional party organization was 639, including 199 members of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), incl. women - 11, candidates for membership in the CPSU (b) - 440, including women - 36; the number of Chechens was 359, including members of the RCP (B.) - 61, candidates - 298 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1926).

As of January 1, 1927, in the party organization of Chechnya there were 677 communists in total, 253 members of the CPSU (b), 424 members of the CPSU (b) members (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1927), including 48 women, of them members of the CPSU (b) - 14; candidates for membership in the CPSU (B.) - 34 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1927).

On July 1, 1927, there were insignificant changes in the number and qualitative composition of the regional party organization. According to official data, the total number of communists was 649, including members of the CPSU (b) - 307, candidates for membership in the CPSU (b) - 342 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1927).

For the last six months, the number of candidates for membership in the CPSU (b) was 38, 65 candidates were admitted to the CPSU (b) - 65 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1927).

37 communists deserted the party, 5 of them were excluded (1 member, 4 candidates), 30 people deserted the party at will (3 members, 27 candidates), 2 people died (- 1, candidates - 1) (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1927).

A comparative analysis of the dynamics of the size of the Chechen party organization gives reason to believe that its growth has been abrupt. Thus, for the period since October 1, 1925 to July 1, 1927, 48 communists, including 9 members of the CPSU (B.) and 39 candidates deserted the Chechen regional party organization. 7 people were excluded (2 members, 5 candidates), 31 people left at will (members - 3, candidates - 28), 10 people died (members - 4, candidates - 6) (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1927).

Thus, a significant decrease in the number of regional party organizations occurred in the first half of 1927. What was the reason for this? This was due to the onset of collectivization processes. In Chechnya, this policy faced serious difficulties.

At the beginning of 1928, the composition of the party organization of Chechnya was as follows: 757 communists, including 401 members and 356 candidates. All of them were organized into departments (30) and candidate groups (6) (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1928).

On January 1, 1929, the composition of the Chechen party organization increased by 2,860, including 1874 members, 986 candidates and 214 women. The Komsomol organization included 1929 members. The social composition of the party improved: workers - 1633, peasants - 610, office workers - 595, and others - 22 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1929).

The number of the party organization of Grozny before joining the Chechen Autonomous Region was as follows (as of January 1, 1929): 2839 communists, of which members of the CPSU (b) - 1963, candidates for the CPSU (b) - 876, the number of Komsomol organizations - 270 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1929).

Further quantitative and qualitative transformations were determined by the unification of Chechnya, Grozny and Sunzhen district into a single autonomous region.

On February 4, 1929, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution “On the abolition of Sunzhen District of the North Caucasus Territory”. Part of its settlements (Sleptsovskaya, Troitskaya, Karabulakskaya, Nesterovskaya, Voznesenskaya, Assinskaya, Davidenko, Akki-Yurt and Chemulga), became part of the Chechen Autonomous Region. On April 1, 1929, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to include Grozny in the Chechen Autonomous Region (Bugayev, 2012).

As a result of these transformations, the number of communists in the party organizations of Chechnya has increased. The dynamics was as follows: on July 1, 1929 - 6602; on October 1, 1930 - 8724; October 1, 1931 - 12860; on January 1, 1932 - 15150; on January 1, 1933 - 15901 (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1929, 1932; Issues of history of Chechen-Ingushetia (Soviet period), 1978).

Along with the quantitative growth of party organizations, their social composition has changed. In 1929, the share of workers was 70%, in 1933 - 78% (Issues of history of Chechen-Ingushetia (Soviet period), 1978). The dynamics of the size of the national stratum was also evident; in 1930, there were 806 Chechens in the party organization, and in 1933 there were already 3,602 Chenchen people (Issues of history of Chechen-Ingushetia (Soviet period), 1978). The regional Komsomol organization grew rapidly: at the end of 1930, it numbered 1,253 people, and as of January 1, 1932, it numbered 2,348 people (North Caucasian regional organization of the RCP (b) in figures, 1932).

In November 1927, the of the bureau of the North Caucasian Regional Committee of the CPSU (B.), dealt with the unification of two autonomies - the Chechen and Ingush ones. Representatives of the central and regional party bodies surveyed opinions of local people on the unification and found out that the general public disapproved this decision (Alkhastova, 2016).

They returned to this problem at the end of 1933. On December 5, 1933, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) adopted a resolution on the unification of Chechnya and Ingushetia (Alkhastova, 2016).

Based on this resolution, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution “On the formation of a united Chechen-Ingush autonomous region” with the center in Grozny, part of the North Caucasus Territory (Alkhastova, 2016). Thus, the Chechen-Ingush regional party organization was established.

Conclusion

The analysis of the dynamics of the composition of the Chechen party organization showed that the changes that took place in the second half of the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s were forced by the tasks of Sovietization of the region. Measures were taken to strengthen the party organization and its local departments. Measures aimed at enhancing the level of political and ideological influence of the party were taken as well. Special attention was paid to the methods used for controlling activities of Soviets and public organizations. However, these problems were solved in conditions that required correct tactical approaches, and rational ideological support. The mountain poor were not ready to join the party. The Komsomol organization was very popular among the mountain population. Therefore, Chechen people, including the elderly, joined this organization. This phenomenon has to be studied separately. Quantitative and qualitative changes in the party organization of the Chechen autonomous region were due to the unification of Chechnya, Grozny and Sunzhen district into one autonomous region.

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