Russian History Central Asian History Jeff Sahadeo is Assistant Professor of SahaDEO This intensively researched urban study Political Science and European and Russian dissects Russian Imperial and early Soviet Studies and Associate Director of the rule and colonial society in Islamic Central in Society Colonial Russian Institute of European and Russian Studies at RUSSIAN Asia from the diverse viewpoints of tsarist Carleton University in Ottawa. With Russell functionaries, soviet bureaucrats, Russian Zanca, Sahadeo is co-editor of Everyday Life T workers, and lower-class women, as well as in Central Asia (Indiana University Press, Muslim notables and Central Asian traders. ashkent, 1865–1923 ashkent, 2007). COLONIAL SOCIETY IN Jeff Sahadeo’s stimulating analysis reveals how political, social, cultural, and demo- graphic shifts altered the nature of this co- lonial community from the tsarist conquest of 1865 to 1923, when Bolshevik authori- TASHKENT, ties subjected Tashkent to strict Soviet rule. Race, class, gender, nationality, and religion all became terrains of contest, but linkages as well as fractures formed within these catego- 1865–1923 ries. The exercise of colonial power did not “[A]n excellent study that . successfully confronts Russian his- unfold the way that authorities envisioned, as Central Asians employed intricate strate- tory with insights developed in postcolonial studies.” gies to turn the colonial idiom to their own —Adeeb Khalid advantage. Nonetheless, Russian intellectu- als in both the Imperial and Soviet periods “[A] multi-faceted portrayal of the city of Tashkent under Russian viewed Tashkent as a laboratory for mod- colonial rule, from the conquest of the city, through the revolu- ern ideas of progress and as a site to prove tionary period. [The book] offers crucial insights into the ac- Russia’s place among “civilized” European tual functioning of colonialism in real historical time and space.” empires. In addition to examining local and national particularities of Russian imperial —Paul Werth rule and colonial society, Sahadeo places the building of empire in Tashkent within a broader European context. His evocative account makes an important contribution to understanding the cultural impact of em- INDIANA pire on Russia’s periphery. University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis http://iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 INDIANA JEFF SAHADEO Jacket photographs courtesy of the Anahita Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Front: first winery in Tashkent; back: Russian settler family in front of their home. RUSSIAN COLONIAL SOCIETY IN TASHKENT, 1865–1923 RUSSIAN COLONIAL SOCIETY IN TASHKENT, 1865–1923 Jeff Sahadeo INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington & Indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] © 2007 by Jeff Sahadeo All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sahadeo, Jeff, date Russian colonial society in Tashkent : 1865–1923 / Jeff Sahadeo. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-34820-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Tashkent (Uzbekistan)—History—19th century. 2. Tashkent (Uzbekistan)— History—20th century. 3. Uzbekistan—Foreign relations—Russia. 4. Russia—Foreign relations—Uzbekistan. 5. Imperialism. 6. Russia—Territorial expansion. I. Title. DK949.35.S34 2007 958.7—dc2 2006016494 1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07 To my family, past and present C ONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Note on Transliteration xi Introduction 1 Prologue: Tashkent before the Russians and the Dynamics of Conquest 12 1. Ceremonies, Construction, and Commemoration 22 2. Educated Society, Identity, and Nationality 57 3. Unstable Boundaries: The Colonial Relationship and the 1892 “Cholera Riot” 79 4. Migration, Class, and Colonialism 108 5. The Predicaments of “Progress,” 1905–1914 137 6. War, Empire, and Society, 1914–1916 163 7. Exploiters or Exploited? Russian Workers and Colonial Rule, 1917–1918 187 8. “Under a Soviet Roof”: City, Country, and Center, 1918–1923 208 Conclusion 229 Glossary 237 Notes 239 Bibliography 285 Index 305 Acknowledgments I owe debts of gratitude to many people and organizations that assisted me in this project’s realization. Musallam Juraev and Ergash Umarov offered invaluable aid to navigate Tashkent’s libraries and archives. I encountered friendliness and willingness to help at all these institutions, and particularly want to thank Erkin Abdullaev, Marhamat Sagatovna Turahojaeva, and Sharafat Fazylovna Muminjanova. I will always re- member the offers of melon at the rare book room of the Alisher Navoi state library and tea at the Uzbek Central State Archive as I pored over my documents. I benefited from an exceptional group of colleagues that included Antoinette Burton, Keith Hitchins, Adeeb Khalid, and Mark Steinberg. Above all, Diane Koenker has been a wonderful mentor, colleague, and friend. Her unfaltering enthusiasm for the project was an inspira- tion. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Slavic Library, in particular reference librarians Terri Miller and Helen Sullivan, provided invaluable assistance. Dave Bielanski, Brent Maner, Michelle Moran, Andrew Nolan, Lynda Park, Joe Perry, David Prochaska, Mary Stu- art, Tom Trice, and Christine Varga-Harris offered valuable comments. Heather Coleman has unfailingly provided sound advice and support. Others who have read portions of the manuscript and have given in- sightful commentary include Nick Breyfogle, Kathleen Brosnan, Peter Gatrell, Doug Northrop, Adele Perry, Abby Schrader, Ted Weeks, and Paul Werth. Janet Rabinowitch shepherded this project to publication, and I thank her for continued support. The anonymous reviewers for the manuscript, as well as for related journal articles, also have improved the quality of this work, and Carol Kennedy gave the manuscript a careful copyedit. A grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada provided the main source of funding for this project. I also received financial support from theU niversity of Illinois, the University Acknowledgments of Tennessee, and Carleton University. I thank the History Department of the University of Tennessee, in particular John Bohstedt, for launch- ing my academic career. Al Scott at Graphic Services at Carleton Uni- versity prepared the maps for this volume. I also want to thank Slavic Review, Canadian Slavonic Papers, and the Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism for allowing me to print material previously published in these journals. Throughout the research and writing process, I have enjoyed the friendship and support of many wonderful individuals. Richard K. Debo’s classes in Russian history at Simon Fraser University inspired me, as an undergraduate, to follow my chosen career path. Susan Bra- zier, Joan Debardeleben, Kerry Franchuk, Craig Smillie, John W. Strong, and others offered a wonderful environment to pursue my interests during graduate work at Carleton University. We had a wonderful circle of friends in Urbana. Russell Zanca connected me to Uzbek scholars in Tashkent. Kurt Piehler and Michael Kulikowski supported my work on the book at Tennessee, and Piotr Dutkiewicz did the same at Carleton University. I owe special thanks to those who befriended a wayward Canadian in Tashkent, including Nargiza Abraeva, Roxana Bonnell, Michael Thurman, and Jennifer Utrata. Donna Leftwich provided me a wonderful home base as I traveled between the United States and Uzbekistan. Most importantly, my family has provided immense support. My parents, Brahm and Judie Sahadeo, have inspired me with their accom- plishments and their love. My biggest regret surrounding this project is that my sister, Elizabeth, passed away before it finished. Bohumil, Vesna, and Karin Alince have given me a wonderful second family. Petra Alince has been my single greatest source of support over the years that I have worked on this book. She has helped me to keep my balance, and has always reminded me that academic and professional accomplish- ments come behind the people we love. Our children, Caroline and Andrew, provide the greatest example of this, and are a constant source of wonder and joy. Note on Transliteration Just as this work involves the encounter between two cultures, it in- volves the encounter between two languages. I have wrestled with issues of transliteration for some time. I employed the standard Library of Congress system to render Russian terms, preserving the differences between Imperial and Soviet orthographies. Local Uzbek terminology created more difficulties. In the end I sought to balance my audience’s likely familiarity with the Russian transliteration of Central Asian terms (and their more frequent appearance in Russian official documents) with a desire to recognize that these transliterations often