The Politics of Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1920-40

Description

The early Soviet Union's nationalities policy involved the formation of many national republics, within which "nation building" and "modernization" were undertaken for the benefit of "backward" peoples. This book, in considering how such policies were implemented in Azerbaijan, argues that the Soviet policies were in fact a form of imperialism, with "nation building" and "modernization" imposed firmly along Soviet lines. The book demonstrates that in Azerbaijan, and more widely among western Turkic peoples, the Volga and Crimean Tatars, there were before the onset of Soviet rule, well developed, forward looking, secular, national movements, which were not at all "backward" and were different from the Soviets. The book shows how in the period 1920 to 1940 the two different visions competed with each other, with eventually the pre-Soviet vision of Azerbaijani culture losing out, and the Soviet version dominating in a new Soviet Azerbaijani culture. The book examines the details of this Sovietization of culture: in language policy and the change of the alphabet, in education, higher education and in literature. The book concludes by exploring how pre-Soviet Azerbaijani culture survived to a degree underground, and how it was partially rehabilitated after the death of Stalin and more fully in the late Soviet period. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Note on transliteration List of tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1 The Azerbaijani enlightenment: constructing and disseminating a Turkic identity The intellectual milieu Azerbaijan’s men of letters Language and alphabet Progress and enlightenment through education Modern Azerbaijani literature Performing arts War, revolution and the first republic, 1918–20 2 Soviet cultural policies, 1920–40: modernization or imperialism? Bolsheviks on nationalities and culture before October 1917 Bolshevik Russia without Azerbaijan The 1920s: Consolidating control Industrialization, collectivization and cultural “transformation” Mature Stalinism and ‘terror’ 3 Dotting the I’s: alphabet change and language reform in Soviet Azerbaijan First year of Soviet power in Azerbaijan The Latinization campaign begins Latin script becomes official The Turcological Congress of 1926 After the Congress: Azerbaijan presses the issues The Unified Turkic Alphabet and “cultural revolution” “Bandit theoreticians” and the Year of Blood Introducing Cyrillic script 4 Schools: educating citizens or “human material”? The first year of Soviet education The delayed trickle-down of NEP values On the foundations of socialism Cultural offensive, industrialization and school life Purges of 1937 5 Scholarship meets voch-tech: the continuous purge Baku State University: The early years Abbreviating higher education: VUZ, Rabfak, Glavprofobr Tightening the grip, 1922–25 Retooling to produce “cadres” Purges in higher education 6 The end of laughter: proletarian literature is born Limited laissez faire, 1920–24 Internationalism and the advent of proletarian literature Cultural Revolution The new orthodoxy: Socialist Realism and the Union of Writers “The Year of Blood”: From tribunal to labor camp The painful aftermath Conclusion: the parallax view of Azerbaijan’s culture wars Soviet Azerbaijani culture Rehabilitations Gorbachev’s “Openness” in Azerbaijan The meaning of rehabilitations Post-Soviet independence: The process continues Bibliography Index