Growing up Soviet in the Periphery
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Growing Up Soviet in the Periphery: Imagining, Experiencing and Remembering Childhood in Kazakhstan, 1928-1953 by Mehmet Volkan Kaşıkçı A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved October 2020 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Laurie Manchester, Chair Agnes Kefeli Adrienne Edgar Anna Holian ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY December 2020 ABSTRACT This dissertation discusses children and childhood in Soviet Kazakhstan from 1928 to 1953. By exploring images of, and for, children, and by focusing on children’s fates during and after the famine of 1930-33, I argue that the regime’s success in making children socialist subjects and creating the new Soviet person was questionable throughout the 1930s. The reach of Soviet ideological and cultural policies was limited in a decade defined by all kinds of shortcomings in the periphery which was accompanied by massive violence and destruction. World War 2 mobilized Central Asians and integrated the masses into the Soviet social and political body. The war transformed state- society relations and the meaning of being Soviet fundamentally changed. In this way, larger segments of society embraced the framework for Soviet citizenship and Soviet patriotism largely thanks to the war experience. This approach invites us to reconsider the nature of Sovietization in Central Asia by questioning the central role of ideology and cultural revolution in the formation of Soviet identities. My dissertation brings together images of childhood, everyday experiences of children and memory of childhood. On the one hand, the focus on children provides me an opportunity to discuss Sovietization in Central Asia. On the other hand, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of Soviet childhood: it is the first comprehensive study of Soviet children in the periphery in English. It shows how images and discourses, which were produced in the Soviet center, were translated into the local context and emphasizes the multiplicity of children’s experiences across the Soviet Union. Local conditions defined the meaning of childhood in Kazakhstan as much as central visions. Studying children in a non-Russian republic allows me to discuss questions of ideology, cultural revolution and i the nationalities question. A main goal of the dissertation is to shift the focus of Sovietization from the cultural and intellectual elite to ordinary people. Secondly, by studying the impact of the famine and the Great Patriotic War, I try to understand the dynamics of the Soviet regime and the changing conceptions of culture and identity in Soviet Kazakhstan. ii In memory of Mark von Hagen (1954-2019) iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have become a historian without the strong support of numerous teachers. First of all, the guidance of the late Mark von Hagen and Laurie Manchester made this dissertation possible. Mark von Hagen had believed in me from the very beginning even though I had no background in history when I applied for a PhD degree in the United States. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I learned almost everything I know about Soviet history from him. Yet, he could not be with us at the end of my journey. That is why I cannot have an utter feeling of joy for completing my doctoral study. I probably never deserved his belief in me, but I will always be proud of being his last student. Nevertheless, I was lucky enough to have another wonderful mentor. Laurie Manchester was much more than a teacher and an advisor for students in Soviet history at our department. Quite often I think that she cares about my success more than I myself do. This dissertation is completed thanks to Laurie Manchester’s never-ending support, patience and guidance. I would also like to thank Ilker Aytürk. He wholeheartedly encouraged me, an average bachelor student in economics, to pursue a graduate degree in social sciences and humanities and became my first inspiration and guide. I am grateful to my other committee members too. From the beginning, I was privileged to benefit from Agnes Kefeli’s expertise in the history of Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Anna Holian and Adrienne Edgar were both greatly helpful and encouraging. As a leading expert on Soviet Central Asia, the feedback that Adrienne Edgar provided is priceless. At Arizona State University, I also benefited from guidance and instruction of Stephen Batalden, the late Rachel Fuchs, Hava Samuelson and the late Aaron Moore. I would like to thank to Tyler Kirk, Benjamin iv Beresford, John Romero and Philip Skorohodov too. I am also grateful to Niccolo Pianciola, who read Chapter 2 and provided valuable feedback. Special thanks go to Mustafa Şener Hoşnut and Abdullah Başar Akbay. They were not only faithful friends; they bore a hand whenever I needed help. Without them, my life in Arizona would have been so much more difficult. As we say in Turkish, “haklarını ödeyemem”. My life in Almaty was made more enjoyable by the friendships and support of Cengizhan Canaltay, Atahan Atalay, Turgay Düğen, Gene Bunin, Aliya Bolatkhan and Elina Malagova. I also would like to thank to the employees in the archives and the National Library, who were always nice and helpful. For about one and a half years until the beginning of quarantine measures, I volunteered for Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights Organization in Almaty. I witnessed the tireless efforts of Atajurt volunteers to document the tragedy in Xinjiang and to help the victims of Chinese fascism. Their devotion in their cause despite continuous political pressure and various other challenges is admirable. Throughout my volunteer experience, I got to know more than a dozen concentration camp survivors and hundreds of people whose loved ones were detained in Chinese prisons, concentration camps and forced labor factories. My life in Almaty was shaped by my volunteer work as much as by my dissertation research. I would like to finish my words by drawing attention to the tragedies lived in Xinjiang under the current dystopian regime. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF IMAGES .................................................................................................................... x NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION........................................................................................ xii GLOSSARY. ......................................................................................................................... xiii INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 SOCIALIST VISIONS IN THE PERIPHERY: IMAGINING CHILDHOOD IN SOVIET KAZAKHSTAN, 1928-1941 ............................................................... 43 Imagining Childhood in Kazakhstan in the 1920s ...................................... 47 Introducing Socialism to Kazakh Children ................................................. 53 “Flourish My Socialist Kazakhstan”: The Old and the New in the 1930s . 64 Ethnic Identity and Interethnic Relations .................................................... 79 Soviet Kazakh Pedagogy and Child Upbringing in the 1930s.................... 85 Soviet Modernization: Rupture or Continuity? ........................................... 94 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 100 2 STARVING LITTLE BODIES: CHILD VICTIMS OF THE KAZAKH FAMINE, 1930-1933 ......................................................................................... 108 Before the Catastrophe ............................................................................... 112 “Hammer and Sickle, Death and Hunger”: Catastrophe Hits ................... 117 Children of Otkochevniks .......................................................................... 128 vi CHAPTER Page Gendering the Famine ................................................................................ 138 Making Sense of Catastrophe .................................................................... 147 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 164 3 ORPHANS OF FAMINE: RETHINKING SOVIETIZATION IN CENTRAL ASIA, 1933-1941 ............................................................................................... 168 Detdom as a “Death Camp” ....................................................................... 175 Material Conditions and Hygiene in the Detdoms .................................... 181 Political and Cultural Education ................................................................ 189 Internationalism and Interethnic Relations ................................................ 198 “Reunion” with Family .............................................................................. 206 Improvements: How Far? .......................................................................... 209 The Road to Life? ....................................................................................... 214 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 223 4 MOBILIZATION AND HEROISM: KAZAKH CHILDREN DURING WORLD WAR II, 1941-1945 ........................................................................... 229 On the Eve of the War: International Politics and Military