Инструктор Отдела пропаганды и агитации ЦК ВКП(б) Гончарок Секретарю ЦК ВКП(б) Маленкову о феодально-байских и религиозных пережитках в Казахской ССР Goncharok to Malenkov Concerning Religious and Feudal-Bai Vestiges in the Kazakh SSR

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To VKP(b) CC Secretary Cde. G.M. Malenkov

Concerning Religious and Feudal-Bai Vestiges in the Kazakh SSR

In accordance with a VKP(b) CC Secretariat resolution, I, in cooperation with the KP(b) CC of Kazakhstan, have checked the facts described in memorandums from Cdes. Abakumov and Byzov "Concerning Religious and Feudal-Bai Vestiges in the Kazakh SSR."

The facts stood up to scrutiny. It was also determined that in recent times the Muslim clergy has significantly intensified its activities in Kazakhstan and is trying to revive a religious ideology and promote feudal-bai vestiges. In many of the republic's oblasts, the Muslim clergy is illegally conducting religious propaganda to expand its influence over the backward portion of the population. "Juma namaz" (Friday prayers) and "eid namaz" (prayers on the major holidays "uraza bairam" and kurban-bairam") are conducted everywhere with a large convergence of people. More than 500 itinerant mullahs, not officially registered, conduct religious services throughout the republic unhindered.

Local financial authorities are not imposing income taxes on itinerant mullahs. Some chairmen of village councils and collective farms are well disposed toward itinerant mullahs and take part in religious services and rituals. For example, on 25 June of this year, the mullah Kottakozhin organized a prayer service on the Alabota State Farm, Kokchetav Oblast, that drew the farm's entire population, including the communist Imanov, chairman of the settlement council, and Seitov, secretary of the Komsomol organization. The connivance of local government is so great that the clergy uses public places for religious propaganda. For example, the mullah Akhmedov reads the quran and other religious books in the evenings at the produce bazaar's tearoom in Dzhambul. Dozens of people gather around.

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This year, during the "uraza" (fasting) period, mullahs intensified their preaching activity. At the Urnek Collective Farm, Karabalyk Raion, Kustanai Oblast, during the 30-day fast, the mullah Oskarov brought together all the Kazakhs observing Uraza every evening, read them the Quran, and led prayers. The collective farm workers Begetaev, Satybaldin, Tastemirov, among others, did not earn a single workday unit during this period. On the day of the uraza bairam holiday, 3,000 people gathered at the Dzhambul mosque, 2,500 at the Alma-Ata mosque, and 1,500 at the Kzyl-Orda mosque. That day, prayer gatherings were held in courtyards, graveyards, and in the field. In addition to men, many women and children attended prayers. A significant number of people were drawn away from work. For example, the workers of Akademstroi, by agreement with their supervisors, did not go to work that day. The director of the Uch-Bulak State Farm, Sverdlovsk Raion, Dzhambul Oblast, gave all its workers the day off. The workers of the Oktiabr and Bulat-Koshchi collective farms, Dzhambul Raion of that same oblast, also did not work on that day, along with workers from many other farms.

Among religious rites, circumcision--a sign of true belief--is very widespread. It is performed in almost every family, including those of communists. As a rule, this barbaric rite is performed illegally by individuals who travel from aul to aul. In June of this year, the "khoja" Tulegenov went from aul to aul in Karasuk Raion, Kustanai Oblast, and performed mass circumcisions. In conjunction with this and other religious rites and customs, "toi" (feasts) are held involving the slaughter of many animals. For example, on 5 July of this year, at the height of haymaking, Dzhakupbekov, the chairman of the Konur Collective Farm, Kapal Raion, Taldy-Kurgan Oblast, arranged a toi to celebrate the birth of a son. Approximately 150 collective farm workers were invited. A collective farm cow and two sheep were slaughtered to feed them. Work on the farm stopped for this occasion for a day and a half. At the Algabas Collective Farm, Georgievka Raion, South Kazakhstan Oblast, a toi was held in honor of the kurban bairam holiday and included the game "kokpar" (a polo-like game involving horsemen and a decapitated goat). Turgunbaev, the collective farm's party secretary, was trampled to death. In Kokchetav Oblast, toi have recently become mass entertainment.

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It is not unusual for communists to perform religious rites. Communists from the Zhana-Talap, Atbulak, and Kara-Tiube farms attended prayers to celebrate kurban bairam at the Kara-Kir Collective Farm mosque in Georgievka Raion, South Kazakhstan Oblast. When the raion party secretary arrived at the farm, believers hid the communists from him in the mosque and locked it. When the party secretary left, the prayers continued with the communists' participation.

Under the influence of mullahs and religious parents, some communists also commit crimes of a nationalistic nature. For example, on the urging of his parents, party member Suleimenov, the head of the Zhana-Urnek Collective Farm, Zhana-Semei Raion, Semipalatinsk Oblast, killed his pregnant wife, a Russian woman he married while serving in the Soviet Army. A day after the murder, the criminal married a Kazakh woman. There have been several similar cases in South Kazakhstan Oblast. Other than the conviction of the criminals, no political consequences followed from these gruesome ethnic incidents.

Intensified efforts by the clergy are promoting a revival of feudal-bai vestiges. There are many instances of polygamy, the receiving or payment of "kalym," the marriage of underage brides, and "amangerstvo" (a man or boy inheriting the wife of his dead brother). Last year and during the first three months of this year, 824 people were convicted of crimes of this nature. Instances where the guilty were not brought to justice have been identified, and some heads of local party and government bodies help criminals cover up or get away with their crimes. Light sentences are given in some cases. For example, the People's Court in Arys Raion, South Kazakhstan Oblast, sentenced Ismakov, who married 15-year-old Zhakanova in 1949, to a one-year suspended sentence. Often judges sentence the guilty to only a fine, which makes people confidant that they can commit crimes with impunity and leads to incorrect political conclusions: people see the fine as additional "kalym" to the state, especially since those paying fines or serving sentences continue living with all their wives with no further consequences.

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Due to the poor job being done to instill proper attitudes, many Kazakh girls get married and do not complete high school. This year in Dzhambul Oblast, only 4 Kazakh girls completed high school and in Akmol Oblast, only 15. In Shevchenko Raion, Guriev Oblast, not a single girl has graduated high school over the past ten years.

Many communists and some of the rural intelligentsia actively perpetuate feudal-bai vestiges. On 25 May of this year, in Chimkent Raion, South Kazakhstan Oblast, a teacher named Musabaev abducted a 15-year-old girl, Datkabaeva, and married her by force. In September of last year at the Kalinin Collective Farm, Amangeldy Raion, Kustanai Oblast, some drunken carousing was organized involving the raion party secretary, Dosmagambetov, and the head of the raion Ministry of State Security branch, Aimbetov. That night, when they were thoroughly drunk, the school director, Usepov, forcibly brought four schoolgirls into their yurt and left them there for the night. Over the past two years, 12 girls dropped out of grades 3 to 7 at the collective farm's seven-grade school. Three of them were underage brides.

Over the past year and a half, KP(b) oblast committees have expelled 471 people for polygamy, "amangerstvo," "kalym," and for performing religious rites. There have been instances where party organizations failed to expose and prosecute violators of Soviet laws. The Alma-Ata Oblast committee and the Kazakhstan KP(b) CC are aware of the behavior of Dzhokebaev, party secretary for a rural raion in the oblast, who was getting ready to marry for the fourth time after kicking out his third and pregnant wife, Nasymbaeva, but this matter has yet to be resolved.

The Kazakhstan KP(b) CC is taking a number of measures to promote women's political involvement. A network of women's councils has been set up including a number of the republic's enterprises and collective farms: 170 women (80 of whom are Kazakh) are working as raion and municipal party secretaries; 7 women are serving as oblast committee secretaries, 7 women (of whom 5 are Kazakh) have been promoted to posts as deputy ministers of the republic; more than 18,000 women have been elected as members of local Councils of Workers' Deputies; and a Kazakh women's pedagogical institute has been opened. However, in a number of raions, especially in the southern oblasts, both in collective farm production and in daily life, the emphasis is

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still on women's unequal position. In collective farm production, as a rule, the men do the managing and the most difficult physical--at times backbreaking--labor is done by women; on top of that they often contract severe female maladies. According to reporting by birthing centers, in 1948 there were 3,815 premature births, and more than 20 percent of the premature infants died at the birthing center. On the collective farms of South Kazakhstan Oblast, women make up 60 percent of the workers. Nevertheless, throughout the entire oblast, only 65 women work as brigade leaders and 21 as collective farm chairpeople.

Most Kazakh women still give birth at home with the assistance of mullahs, based on ancient custom. Sometimes mullahs "help" mothers in labor by holding them by the hair and beating them with a kamcha (lash) to drive out the "devil." The network of birthing centers is extremely thin. For example, in Georgievka Raion, South Kazakhstan Oblast, there are only 16 maternity beds for 69 collective farms spread over a radius of 70 kilometers.

Daily life for the rural population has changed significantly over the years of Soviet rule, but it still bears the mark of a nomadic lifestyle. People have moved from yurts into houses, but they still have few tables, benches, chairs, shelves for dishware, spoons, forks, individual mugs or glasses, or wash basins. Few are even sold in rural stores. Food is prepared unsanitarily and eaten with hands out of a common dish placed on the floor, with no spoons or forks, and people drink out of a common drinking bowl that is passed around. Such lack of culture, stemming from their former nomadic lifestyle, is passed off as a national trait. Most collective farms with Kazakh populations lack banyas. Over the past year and a half, approximately 11,000 cases of typhus, more than 4,000 cases of syphilis, and more than 9,000 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis have been registered, and trachoma is widespread.

In collective farms' day care centers, children are kept under poor conditions. They often lie sprawled over dirt floors or on dirty, trampled sackcloth, with no cribs. The children  are covered in adornments (bracelets, feathers on their heads, silver coins on their clothing) that are supposed to protect them from "the evil eye." Over the past year and a half approximately 47,000 cases of measles, approximately 7,000 of scarlet fever, and more than 44, 000 of severe intestinal ailments have been identified among children.

The republic has 553 rural medical stations, which is clearly insufficient for the size of the Kazakh SSR.  Large

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population segments have no health care. In Shevchenko Raion, Guriev Oblast, one feldsher woman serves far-flung livestock pasturing stations that are home to 7,000–8,000 collective farmers. "Bakshy"--sorcerer folk healers--operate in remote areas under such conditions.

In a number of Kazakhstan's raions and oblasts, feudal-tribal vestiges have yet to be eradicated and are still manifested in instances of tribal enmity, the selection of cadres based on tribal affiliation, and the patronage of relatives. For example at the Lenin Collective Farm, Fedorovka Raion, Kustanai Oblast, there is constant conflict between tribes. The farm is basically divided into three groups along tribal lines. Agricultural plans are not being fulfilled. We know of recent brawling between two tribes at the Tuzkok Collective Farm, Ilyinsky Raion, Alma-Ata Oblast. There are instances of patronage by farm chairmen toward members of their tribe.

Tribal conflict spilled over into politics in Turgai Raion, Kustanai Oblast, when at the raion party conference, "Turgaians" turned out to be in the majority and blocked the candidacies of many former members of the raion committee bureau from the "previous" "Zhogalbail" tribe during elections to the raion committee plenum.

Because of family, ethnic, and social connections, more than one hundred former bais, Alash-Orda people, their relatives, members of the White Guard, and people previously convicted of counterrevolutionary crimes managed to get into the Kazakh Academy of Sciences, making up 13 percent of the total number of Academy employees. Many of them are related to the Academy president, Satpaev. Even those close to Satpaev admit, "Instead of a center of science, the Academy is now a center of squabbles and discord based on the tribal group principle."

The Kazakhstan KP(b) CC and some oblast and raion committees are not actively struggling against the revival of religious and feudal-bai ideology. Educational work among the party's members and candidate members is weak. The party's policies in regard to religion are not explained. Many communists have not been covered by any forms of political training. There are 44,500 party members who are illiterate or barely literate. Only 9,000 of them have attended literacy schools. In some localities, it is not unusual for mass-

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political work to be assigned to barely literate people incapable of reading a newspaper to collective farm workers.

Many of Kazakhstan's cultural-education institutions do not propagandize materialist knowledge among the population. An inspection of five of the republic's oblasts showed that often the department of culture and education's raion reading groups and rural lecture halls are inactive. The significant strength of the intelligentsia is not being used for scientific-educational and atheist propaganda work. The reading of lectures is sometimes assigned to people who are poorly trained and vetted. Local party and government bodies are not monitoring the ideational content of the lectures and speeches given. Lectures are often educational in nature and do not expose the reactionary essence of religious and feudal-bai ideology.

Within the repertoire of amateur theater clubs, the predominance of prerevolutionary folkloric works is striking. Even the songs people sing are old in most cases. Soviet songs are not translated into Kazakh, and only seven original contemporary songs in Kazakh have been published. Movies are rarely shown to those working on remote collective farms, especially those involved in livestock grazing, and only a small portion of collective farms have radio. The rural population is poorly supplied with literature. On average, one rural library in the republic serves 11 rural councils. These libraries have an insignificant supply of books, often outdated books and brochures. Only seven of the republics' raions have bookstores.  

Resolutions adopted in 1947 by the CC and some oblast committees of Kazakhstan's KP(b) concerning the struggle against feudal-bai vestiges have played a positive role, but this effort later weakened and Kazakhstan's KP(b) CC has not even discussed Cde. Byzov's memorandum alerting it to serious instances of increased clergy activity and the revival of feudal-bai vestiges in a number of the republic's oblasts.

Kazakhstan's party organizations must be required to intensify the struggle against religious and feudal-bai vestiges and the Kazakh SSR must be helped improve its cultural and medical services to the population.

A draft VKP(b) CC resolution, "On Intensifying the Struggle against Religious and Feudal-Bai Vestiges in the Kazakh SSR" is attached.

VKP(b) CC Department of Propaganda and Agitation Instructor [signature] (Goncharok)

5 Nov. '49