Soviet Polices in Central Asia, Research Paper Example

The Russians attempted to modernize Central Asia by establishing Soviet policies and procedures that would control the educational platforms. The Russian initiated a social policies with demanding that all Central Asia become literate. The Russian education system foundation was implemented in Central Asia which quickly began to develop the addition of several languages to accommodate the population (Soucek 230). The Russians created a policy for religion that lead to the violation of religion freedoms to the Kazakh people. The primary religion in Kazakhstan was Islam which the Russians goal was to eliminate the existence of Islam. The Russians believed striping the primary foundation of strength would lead to more converts without as much violence. The Russians believed in the Orthodox Christianity as a religion, however, the primary goal was to eliminate the choice of Islam. The Central Asia environment was transformed into the traditional Russian rule. The goal of the Russian integration is controlled population growth and urbanization. They install colonial law that allows the Russians to introduce new improvements such as technology, medicine, and government offices (Soucek 231). The Soviets develop several polices to ensure that the Central Asia was transformed into a Russian nation. The literacy polices, educational polices, the language polices, and religion polices.

Literacy

Russia implemented a policy for improve literacy in Central Asia because it is important for a society to have a sense of the ability to read and write in their native tongue. The Russians believe in making the Russian way of life priority could be done strategically with the push for literacy. The Russian wanted the primary sources of information to be Russians books, Russian media’s, and any other relevant information needed by the Central Asian population. The reducing of illiteracy helps the Central Asia citizens become acclimated to the Russian rule and way of living while developing Central Asia as a whole. It is a vital step in the transition from an Islamic base foundation to a Russian foundation. This polices would ensure literacy would be a priority in developing very critical foundation for Central Asia. The literary policy enables Russia to further spread their propaganda as the Soviet Union and neighboring cities. Many challenges were expected by Russian such as language barriers however, the program of literacy would ensure the Central Asia population would adapt to the various Russian languages and dialects.

Transformation

The Russians were successful in transforming Central Asia with moderation due to the rise of Russian power. The territory of Kazakhstan was first occupied by nomadic clans. They were conquered by Genghis Khan in the 13^th century. By the 18^th century Kazakhstan was dominated and occupied by the Russian Empire. Many wars reorganized Kazakhstan however, in the 19^th century Kazakhstan became a part of the Soviet Union. The Russians forced social change in Central Asia. The Turkestan Russians was totally domination of the Central Asia along with compliance with force. The Central Asia population was not being treated very well because the modernization phases required they abandoned all previous beliefs and traditions. Russian took over public policy demanding that the local natives be treated with respect and understanding to gain more compliance and acceptance of the Russian polices (Soucek 218). The Russians change their philosophy because the more unjust treatment of the Central Asia populations causes more revolts and revolutions. The Russians wanted more compliance not more undergrounds being implemented.

Modernization

The Russians were successful using a “Special Commissions” were held accountable for implementing new Russian policies and procedures in Central Asia. These Special Commission agencies were responsible for making sure that the directives of the Russian government was being implemented and closely followed without revolutions or resistance. The Russians created the nationality policy for Central Asia which successful accelerated the modernization that the Russian Empire. In the interim, however, the Russians embarked on a difficult task of building a new society in a region that did not have a working class. The Central Asia population did not have the educational knowledge base. The only resemblance of a Central Asia society was the identification of each person as part of a specific clan or tribe. The Russian created policies and procedures that started a stable Russian government under the power of the Soviet Union. The goal was to erase the traditions, rituals, and beliefs from the Central Asian population while acclimating the region to the Russian way of living.

The policies and procedures set in place by Russia was to put fear in the minds of the extremist and anyone loyal to Islam. In addition, Russia used commissions to monitor and control the Central Asia’s nationalities ensuring complete fragmentation of the regions. The desired result by the Russians was separating the masses from their Islamic faith. The visual war by the Russians was the closing of any Muslim schools or mosques. The primary goals was to strip the Central Asia population of a means of self-identification which breaking down their faith in Islam. The Russian controlled what they read, what they see, what they believed, and what they should worship. In order to gain control, total reprogramming was necessary.

Eliminating Islam

One the primary beliefs by the Russians is eradicating the primary source of any community or country’s belief eliminating that cornerstone. The cornerstone for the Central Asian people was religion. This was the single piece of thread that head the country together was the freedom to practice religion. The Russians used all their political power and resources to eliminate the religion Islam from Central Asia. The Russians were successful from presenting unpleasant barriers for those wanting to practice Islam, however, in the long run the Russians made the religion much stronger because the Islamic faith went underground.

The Russians recognized the strength of the Islamic ways therefore, they change their strategy of total elimination of Islam to gaining control. The Russians allowed some Muslim freedoms but just enough to established strategic relationships within Islam.

The Russians still did not believe in Islam which led to the abolishment of reading the Qur’an. The ritual of reading the Qur’an at certain times during the day in prayer would be interrupted by the Russians. In addition, the Russian introduced the Latin alphabet as the national script forbidding the use of Arabic script. As result, the Central Asian population was stripped of accessing their own written histories and unable to pray. The policy of not allowing the population to read the Qur’an caused many revolutions, revolts and riots in the Central Asian cities. This practice was soon changed by the Russians because the worship of Islam had been driven underground which allowed the Islamic believers to implement and plan revolts against the Russians. The banning of Arabic script just fueled the fire of the Islamic followers which developed a resistance that sidetracked the Russians goals of modernization of Central Asia. In an attempt, to slow down the aggression of the revolutions, Russia devised a plan to allow some religious freedoms for more control over the Central Asia religious population.

Russian Polices

The Central Asian communities were mostly Muslims. There were practicing Muslims for many centuries which produced a solid Central Asian population. This population was predominantly influenced by Islam. The primary language by Central Asians was Turkic which is an Iranian language. The primary areas of Central Asia that was antagonistic was the south and east because they refused to release their beliefs in Islam. This was critical to the Russian invasion because the eradicating of religious beliefs can make the transformation into a Russian society much smoother. As one the mandatory polices of the Russians when they conquered Central Asia was complete transformation. The Russians made it a mandatory policy that any conquered country would speak Russian, adapt to Russian society customs, and reject the existing religion of Islam. Russia learned from other conquest that the harsher the methods of transformation in Central Asia would take longer to complete.

The turmoil of the following wars made the Russians think the wars could spill over into Russia. They decided on implementing national policies that allowed Central Asia region to be controlled by the local powers along with the citizens who were allowed participation. This was a move by the Russians to keep the Central Asian population under the rule of the Soviet Union. The new Russian polices would allow non-Russian people to stay under the ruling and power of Russia. In 1924, the revolutions were becoming counteractive to the Russians goal of transition to the Russian way. The Russians made some concessions to keep the non-Russian people under the umbrella of the Soviet Union by creating a new policy of National Republics. These changes allowed the regions to still exist with some control over that environment. The Soviet Union was successfully in transforming Central Asia but dividing the regions of Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenstan and Uzbekistan allows the Russian government to remain was the primary power in Central Asia.

Works Cited

Soucek, S. (2000). A history of Inner Asia. New York: NY: Cambridge University Press