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The Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on March 23, 1919.
According to a 1964 Soviet magazine post in honour of the founding: "Bashkiria is in the central part of the Soviet Union, in the Southern Urals, and is part of the Russian Federation. During the Soviet years its power, metallurgy and oil industries have been developed and its chemical, woodworking, light and food industries much expanded . Gold deposits have been found and are being mined. The population of Bashkiria is 3,603,000, largely Bashkir, Tatar and Russian. The republic has its own constitution. School instruction is given in the Bashkir and Russian languages. The republic has several national theaters and has produced some of the Soviet Union's leading writers, poets and scientists."
Emblem of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
From the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979) (Excerpt):
Constitution and government:
The Bashkir ASSR is a socialist state of workers and peasants—an autonomous soviet socialist republic. The constitution presently in effect was adopted on June 23, 1937, by the Tenth Extraordinary Congress of Soviets of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The highest state government bodies are the unicameral Supreme Soviet of the Bashkir ASSR (elected for four years at a ratio of one deputy for each 15,000 inhabitants) and its presidium. The Supreme Soviet forms the government of the republic—the Council of Ministers of Bashkiria. The Bashkir ASSR is represented in the Soviet of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR by 11 deputies. The local organs of state authority are the city, raion, settlement, and village soviets of workers’ deputies, elected by the population for two years.
The Supreme Soviet of the Bashkir ASSR elects for a five-year term the Supreme Court of the Bashkir ASSR, consisting of two judicial boards (for criminal and civil cases) and the Presidium of the Supreme Court. The attorney of the Bashkir ASSR is appointed by the attorney general of the USSR for a term of five years.
History:
Historical survey. The most ancient traces of man discovered in the territory of Bashkiria date back to the Paleolithic period. During the Bronze Age (3000–2000 B.C.) sedentary cattle-raising and water-meadow farming were the principal occupations of the tribes inhabiting the territory of Bashkiria. They were familiar with the refining of copper and the crafts of pottery-making, weaving, and bone-carving. Their descendants switched to nomadic cattle-raising. Patriarchal and patrimonial relationships came into being at the end of this period. In the fourth century A.D. nomadic tribes from the country of the southern steppe region began to penetrate western Bashkiria in great numbers. The Bashkirs are mentioned under the name “Bashgird” (“Bashgurd”) in written Arabic sources of the ninth and tenth centuries. From the ninth to the 13th centuries the Bashkirs lived in the Predural’e, in the southern Urals, and between the Volga and Iaik (Ural) rivers; in addition to nomadic cattle-raising, they were also engaged in hunting, fishing, and wild-hive apiculture. The decay of ancestral tribal relations began between the tenth and 13th centuries. The Bashkirs had already begun to migrate, not in large tribes but in groups of ten to 30 families. Patriarchal slavery was retained over a long period of time. Feudal relationships arose in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. From the tenth to the 13th centuries western Bashkiria was subjugated by the Bulgars. The Bashkirs were idol worshipers; in the tenth century Islam began to make inroads into western Bashkiria via the Bulgars.
In 1229 the Mongol Tatars invaded Bashkiria, and by 1236 they had completely subjugated it; it became part of the appanage of Sheibana, the brother of Batu. In the latter part of the 15th century, after the collapse of the Golden Horde into several khanates, southern and southeastern Bashkiria came under the Nogai Horde, western Bashkiria became part of the Kazan Khanate, and northeastern Bashkiria (the Zaural’e) came under the dominion of the Siberian Khanate. After the capture of Kazan by Russian troops and the liquidation of the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the Russian tsar Ivan IV Vasil’evich the Terrible addressed a charter to the peoples living in the territory of the khanate, including the Bashkirs, in which he called upon them to accept Russian citizenship and to pay tribute (iasak) to the Russian government. The western Bashkirs responded to this in 1552 with a petition requesting Russian citizenship. By 1557 a large part of Bashkiria had been voluntarily incorporated into Russia. The Bashkirs living to the east of the Urals came under the rule of the Russian tsar in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, after the conquest and liquidation of the Siberian Khanate and the annexation of western Siberia to Russia. Bashkiria’s entry into Russia had progressive significance for the Bashkirs—ruinous internecine wars ceased, the Bashkirs were defended against raids from neighboring nomadic peoples, and more favorable conditions were created for the development of the economy and the culture. The Bashkir nationality assumed its basic shape in the 16th century. The influx into Bashkiria of Russian peasants and peoples from the lands along the Volga increased in the late 16th and 17th centuries, thus furthering the development of agriculture in Bashkiria and the transition of the indigenous population to a settled way of life. Landownership among the Bashkirs was communal—land was considered to be the property of the tribe or the family—but they owned livestock according to the rights of private property. Industry was on the scale of domestic handicrafts. A basically natural economy existed. Ancestral patriarchal and tribal vestiges were still strong.
The resentment of broad masses of the Bashkir population—the “black people”—against the growing oppression of local feudal lords and moneylenders, the seizure of lands by Russian landlords, and the abuses of officials in the collection of the iasak led to large-scale revolts from the latter part of the 17th century to the mid-18th century (1662–64, 1681–83, 1704–11, 1735–40, 1755, and so on), which were cruelly suppressed by the tsarist government. These insurrections went down in history as the Bashkir revolts of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The development of the mining and metallurgy industry in the Urals had a great effect on the economy of Bashkiria in the 18th century. The Bashkir population gradually became involved in mining and metallurgy production, resulting in the appearance of Bashkir ore manufacturers. In 1744, Bashkiria (Ufa and Iset provinces) came under the administration of Orenburg Province. The policies of the tsarist government, which contributed to an increase in the exploitation of the people by the local Bashkir and Tatar feudal lords, and the plunder of lands and minerals by the Russian landowners, factory owners, and officials resulted in an intensification of the antifeudal struggle of the Bashkir masses. The Bashkirs took an active part in the peasant revolt of E. I. Pugachev, in which Salavat Iulaev, the legendary hero of the Bashkir people, distinguished himself. Kinzia Arslanov was also one of the leaders of the Bashkirs. In 1788, Ufa became one of the administrative centers of the Muslim religion in Russia. In 1798 the canton system of administration, which reduced the Bashkirs to a military estate, was introduced in Bashkiria. General land surveying of the territories in Bashkiria was carried out from 1798 through 1832.
The reform of 1861 introduced several changes in the status of the Bashkirs. In 1865 the canton system was abolished and the independent Province of Ufa was established. In the 19th century the sedentary life of the Bashkirs became more firmly established, and farming expanded. Land relationships became complicated and strained by the continuing plunder of Bashkir lands by the state. From the 1870’s to the early 20th century, 2 million desiatinas (2.18 million ha) of the finest lands were confiscated. The social oppression and the policies of enforced russification aroused new spontaneous disturbances by the Bashkirs in the late 19th century.
The infiltration and development of capitalism in Bashkiria took place in the postreform period. The mining industry (iron- and copper-smelting works and gold mines), the lumber industry, and industries engaged in the manufacture of agricultural products continued to grow during the 1870’s. In 1878 there were approximately 200 enterprises (chiefly domestic industries) in Ufa Province. The first oil exploration attempts were undertaken in the vicinity of Ishimbai during the 1880’s. The Samara-Zlatoust railroad, connecting the center of the country with the Urals, was built across Bashkiria in 1885–90. Bashkiria was drawn closer into the all-Russian marketplace, and merchandise turnover within Bashkiria increased. On the whole, however, Bashkiria remained an agrarian region, serving as a market for the sale of merchandise and as a source of raw materials for Russian capitalists (bread and similar agricultural products, timber, metals, and other goods). Ufa became an important commercial and administrative center, and the cities of Birsk, Sterlitamak, and Belebei sprang up. An industrial proletariat and bourgeoisie (Russian, Tatar, and Bashkir) emerged. However, the workers were predominantly of Russian nationality, and the number of Bashkir workers was insignificant.
The first social democratic groups in Bashkiria appeared in Ufa between 1895 and 1897. In 1900 a Marxist group consisting of 12 workers under the leadership of I. S. Iakutov was organized in the Ufa steam-engine repair shops. The visits of V. I. Lenin to Ufa (February and June 1900) were of considerable importance for the social democratic and revolutionary workers. During these trips, Lenin met with the exiled social democrats A. D. Tsiurupa, V. N. Krokhmal’, and A. I. Sviderskii and familiarized them with his plan for the creation of a revolutionary publication. The Ufa Committee of the RSDLP was formed in January 1903; it came under the Ural Oblast Committee of the RSDLP in 1904. Ia. M. Sverdlov was one of the organizers and leaders of the Ural Bolsheviks. G. M. Mishenev (Murav’ev) and V. N. Krokhmal’, both members of the Ufa party organization, were delegates to the Second Congress of the RSDLP (in 1903); V. Iu. Frid-lin (Dashin) was the delegate to the Third Congress of the RSDLP (1905); and N. N. Nakoriakov was the delegate to the fourth and fifth congresses of the RSDLP (1906 and 1907). Between May and August 1905, more than 30 strikes took place in Ufa and Orenburg provinces, and 19 political strikes occurred in October. On Dec. 7, 1905, the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies (president, I. S. Iakutov) was established in Ufa. An armed action by the workers took place in the city on Dec. 9. The illegal Bolshevik newspaper Ufimskii rabochii (Ufa Worker—October 1906 to October 1908) was published in Ufa. Ural (January-April 1907), the first legal social democratic newspaper, was published in Orenburg in Tatar.
After the victory of the February Revolution of 1917, soviets of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies were formed in Bashkiria, as they were throughout the entire country: on March 5 in Ufa; in March and April in the Bogoiavlensk (now Krasnous’ sk) and Beloretsk factories; and in Min’iar, Tirlian, and Birsk. The local bourgeoisie created its own nationalist organization—the National Council.
On Oct. 26 (Nov. 8), 1917, Soviet government was established in Ufa and a provincial revolutionary committee (gubrevkom) was created (president, N. P. Briukhanov, and A. K. Evlampiev, A. I. Sviderskii, A. D. Tsiurupa, A. A. Iur’ev, and others). Soviet government was firmly established by the end of October in most of the territory of Bashkiria, with the exception of the eastern regions, which remained in the hands of the bourgeois nationalists.
In early July 1918, White Czechs and White Guards seized Cheliabinsk, Ufa, and Orenburg. A White Guard and socialist-revolutionary government was set up in Ufa in September 1918. In late 1918 the Red Army began its offensive in Bashkiria against the White Guard forces of A. V. Kolchak. Mounting dissatisfaction among the soldiers of the Bashkir White Army and the entire Bashkir population with the rule of Kolchak caused the Bashkir nationalist government to switch over to the side of the Soviet government. It turned to the government of the RSFSR with a request for assistance and an alliance. The Agreement of the Russian Worker-Peasant Government With the Bashkir Government on the Soviet Autonomy of Bashkiria (made public on March 23) was signed on Mar. 20, 1919. Bashkiria was the first autonomous soviet republic to become a member of the RSFSR. The city of Sterlitamak became the capital of Bashkiria. On June 9, 1919, the 25th Infantry Division (division commander, V.I. Chapaev) liberated Ufa. By autumn all of Bashkiria was cleared of White Guard forces. The First All-Bashkir Congress of Soviets, which elected the Bashkir Central Executive Committee, took place in Sterlitamak in July 1920. Great Bashkiria, with Ufa as its capital, was established on June 14, 1922, by the decree On the Expansion of the Borders of the Autonomous Bashkir Socialist Soviet Republic of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. On Mar. 27, 1925, the Fifth All-Bashkir Congress of Soviets approved the draft of the constitution for the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On June 23, 1937, the Extraordinary Tenth Congress of Soviets of the Bashkir ASSR adopted a new constitution for the Bashkir ASSR.
Bashkiria was transformed into an industrial and agricultural republic during the years of socialist construction. The petroleum content of the Volga-Ural region was substantiated by Soviet scientists at the beginning of the first five-year plan. In May 1932 the first wells were drilled in the vicinity of Ishimbai. The task of creating a large-scale petroleum-product storage and distribution complex in the vicinity of the western and southern slopes of the Urals was brought up at the Seventeenth Congress of the Party in 1934. Bashkiria became one of the centers of the new petroleum region (the “Second Baku”). New industries—petroleum, electrical engineering, individual branches of the chemical and textile industries, and so on—were created. Diversified, mechanized kolkhoz and sovkhoz farming was begun (97.9 percent of the peasant farms were collectivized by 1940). Bashkiria was awarded the Order of Lenin on Mar. 15, 1935, for its successful industrial and agricultural development. A cultural revolution took place—illiteracy was eradicated, a national corps of skilled workers and an intelligentsia emerged, and Bashkir literature and art achieved significant development. The Bashkirs were consolidated into a socialist nation (natsiia—nation in the historical sense) as a result of the building of socialism.
The bases of approximately 90 enterprises were shifted from the western regions of the country to Bashkiria during the early years of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. Approximately 250,000 people evacuated from other areas arrived in the republic. The volume of Bashkiria’s gross industrial output increased by a factor of more than 2.5 during the war years. More than 250 fighting men from Bashkiria—including the soldier A. M. Matrosov, the legendary hero who left Ufa for the front, and M. G. Gareev, who was twice honored as Hero of the Soviet Union—were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for heroism on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.
Bashkiria’s economy and culture continued their rapid development in the decade after the war. In 1968 the gross output volume of the republic’s major industries increased by a factor of 414, compared with 1913. The gross output of all industries in 1968 increased by a factor of 34, compared with 1940. The material and cultural standard of living of Bashkiria’s population was raised considerably. The Bashkir ASSR was awarded a second Order of Lenin for its successful achievements in the development of industry, agriculture, and culture on June 13, 1957, to mark the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Bashkiria’s voluntary annexation to Russia. In the 1950’s and 1960’s the title Hero of Socialist Labor was conferred on 92 toilers, and more than 40,000 persons were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union (up to 1968). On Mar. 21, 1969, the Bashkir ASSR was awarded the Order of the October Revolution for its successful achievements in building Communism and in connection with the 50th anniversary of the republic.
Progress:
Public health. In 1913 only 143 physicians and 342 middle-level medical personnel were working in Bashkiria; hospital beds numbered just above 1,700. As of Jan. 1, 1969, Bashkiria had 375 hospitals with a total of 32,800 beds, 505 medical establishments offering dispensary and polyclinical aid, 6,353 physicians in all specialties (that is, one doctor for every 600 people), and 23,300 middle-level medical personnel. In 1968 there were 31 operational sanatoriums and 11 rest homes. The Aksakovo, Alkino, Glukhovskaia, Krasnousol’sk, Chekhovo, Shafranovo, Iumatovo, Iak-tykul’, and Iangantau health resorts, the medical treatment facilities in the Assa area, the mineral springs at Tuimazyneft’, and others are all located within Bashkiria.
Education and cultural affairs. Before the October Revolution, only about 20 percent of the population in the territory occupied by Bashkiria was literate. In the 1914–15 school year 132,500 students received instruction in 1,562 schools providing general education. There were no institutions of higher learning. A genuine cultural revolution took place in Bashkiria under Soviet power. Compulsory eight-year general education was introduced, and a well-developed system of educational institutions was created. In 1969, 101,700 children were enrolled in 921 kindergartens. During the 1969–70 school year 922,600 students received instruction in 4,636 general education schools of all types, more than 60,000 students received instruction in 63 secondary specialized educational institutions, and 41,400 students were enrolled at nine institutions of higher learning—Bashkir University; petroleum, agriculture, medicine, aviation, and arts institutes; and three pedagogical institutes.
As of Jan. 1, 1969, the republic had 1,754 people’s libraries (16,340,300 copies of books and periodicals), 3,166 club organizations, seven museums (the Museum of Local Lore, the V. I. Lenin House Museum, the M. Gafuri House Museum, and the M. V. Nesterov Art Museum in Ufa; the Frunze and Chapaev House Museum in Krasnyi Iar; the Sterlitamak Museum of Local Lore; and the K. V. Ivanov House Museum in the village of Slakbash), seven theaters, 2,768 movie projectors, and extracurricular institutions, including the Palace of Pioneers in Ufa, 48 houses of Pioneers, 12 children’s athletic schools, and stations for young technicians and naturalists.
Members of the Bashkir government, 20 June 1920