Institute of Applied Ethnopolitical Research
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The mass migration of the population of the border areas of Xinjiang, which came in the second half of the 1940s, was associated with the insurgency of the indigenous peoples of the province for their independence. In 1944, the Kazakh insurgency in Altai intensified, which began in 1940. In response, the Chinese authorities began to exterminate the peaceful Kazakh population. In the autumn of 1944, the popular uprising ended with the liberation of Kuldzha. November 12, 1944 The establishment of the East Turkestan Republic and its Provisional Revolutionary Government of 12 ministries, headed by President Alikhantyure and his deputies - Uighur Prince Hakimbekkhoja and a representative of the Kazakh nobility Abulkhairityure, was proclaimed in Kuldzha.
During these years, there was a mass departure of residents of Xinjiang to the territory of the neighboring Soviet republics. At the end of August 1944, 451 families migrated from the Kobuk area of Xinjiang province to the territory of the Tarbagatai district of the East Kazakhstan region: 251 one family - Kazakhs from the Naiman clan, 200 families of Mongols–Torgauts. There were 817 families in Zaisan and Markakul districts. 45 families were returned back by the border guard, 50 families were refused by the head of the Alakul RO NKGB.
In the second half of the 1940s, spontaneous unauthorized mass crossings of the Soviet-Chinese border did not stop. In 1946, a party of migrants (204 people) migrated from Xinjiang to the territory of the Kyrgyz SSR, they were resettled in the Cholpon district of the Tien Shan region (humanitarian and economic assistance was provided to the defectors by the Soviet authorities); the preferential border regime on the Soviet-Xinjiang border also contributed to the migration to the USSR.
From October 1947 to the end of January 1948, a group of 414 Soviet citizens (306 men, 108 women, including 108 children under 16) moved from Manchuria to the territory of the Chita region. The defectors were sent to one of the verification and filtration camps of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chita region, and after checking and filtering, people were placed in state farms of the North Kazakhstan region.
In January 1945, 302 families (1,222 people) arrived in the border Alakul district of Kazakhstan. Among them were 2 Russian families. They went back to Xinjiang. One of the migrants, Maria Fedorovna Sakharova, said: "If I knew what kind of Soviet Union it was, I would never cross the border in my life. Damn this Soviet Union to hell." The settlers brought their cattle, in the amount of 548 horses, 800 cattle, 22 camels, 7772 sheep and goats. Cattle had to be handed over to collective farms, migrants refused to comply with this order, and they also refused to join collective farms. Prior to this period, 667 migrants from Xinjiang were counted in the Taldy-Kurgan region (96 people in the Kirovsky district, 571 people in the Alakulsky district). The Kazakh settlers were mostly re-emigrants who illegally left for China from the Tarbagatai district during the years of collectivization.
According to the resolution of the Central Committee of the CP (b) of April 10, 1945, for No. 276-20, all settlers had to be endowed with land, both for crops and for summer winter pastures, they were given a seed loan.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party organized special teams to work with migrants in the border areas of East Kazakhstan and Taldy-Kurgan regions. In the reports, which noted that "12 concerts, 11 film screenings were given to the nomads, more than 600 people were covered by medical care, 50 conversations were held with coverage of more than 6,500 people in the Zaisan district" From April 20 to May 20, 1945, 25 concerts, 42 lectures with coverage of 2,646 people were given in the Alakul district. The brigades also had to deal with education issues. The archival materials contain reports from members of the propaganda brigades, in which they note that "mass communication with nomads generates anti-Soviet sentiments and conversations, promotes the revival of religious rites." The local party authorities decided to restore the mosque in the city of Zaisan. But at the same time, measures were taken to resettle migrants, providing them with pastures for which they had to pay the collective farms in kind. These were the first attempts to create enclave settlements of migrants.
The purpose of the propaganda work was to convince the settlers to join collective farms and accept Soviet citizenship, since many settlers in Xinjiang had families, they refused to receive Soviet passports.
After the Second World War, according to the decrees of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 10, 1945 and January 20, 1946, persons residing in the territory of Manchuria and Xinjiang were granted the right to restore Soviet citizenship. Immigrants from the USSR, mainly Kazakhs, Russians and Tatars, lived in three border districts (Ili, Tarbagatai and Altai) of Xinjiang. All these processes coincided with the growth of separatism in the region, the proclamation and liquidation of the East Turkestan Republic. According to the materials of the Soviet consulate in Kuldzha, here during 1946-1949. 86,524 petitions for the restoration of Soviet citizenship were submitted (together with children under 16, the number of potential repatriates was 147,728 people).
In 1947-1948, during the first post-war repatriation from China to the USSR, about 6,000 people from among the former emigrants left. According to other sources, 120,000 residents of Xinjiang moved to the USSR from November 1945 to January 1946.
A new wave of repatriation from China to the USSR took place in 1954-1962 . According to consular reports, at the beginning of September 1956, 465 families (2,972 people) were removed from the Kuldzhinsky consular district, and by the end of the year - another thousand families.
During the administrative and territorial reform of the People's Republic of China, the territories of the Ili, Tarbagatai and Altai districts were merged in November 1954 into the Ili-Kazakh Autonomous Region. A few months earlier, Chapchal-Sibo Autonomous Uyezd was formed within the Ili District (March 25, 1954), and within the Altai District – Kobuksar-Mongolian Autonomous Uyezd (September 10, 1954). In June 1954, the Kyzylsu-Kirghiz Autonomous Region was formed within the former Kashgar District, and within the Ili districts – Boratola-Mongolian Autonomous Region. On September 13, 1955, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decides on the liquidation of Xinjiang Province and the creation of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region within its borders; on October 1, 1955, the second session of the SNP of Xinjiang Province discusses and adopts this decision, thereby completing the process of formation of autonomous national entities within the former Xinjiang Province.
The territory of Xinjiang bordering the USSR, where the displaced population was concentrated, was under the jurisdiction of five Soviet consular districts: Kuldzha (Kuldzha), Tarbagatai (Chuguchak), Altai (Shara-Sume), Kashgar (Kashgar) and Urumchi (Urumchi). The Altai and Tarbagatai consular districts were liquidated in 1959, and the Soviet Consulate General in Urumqi and the consulate in Kuldzha were closed in 1963.
In the mid-1950s, the USSR underwent drastic changes in domestic and foreign policy, and this could not but affect the change in the migration regime. During these years, the question arose of attracting additional labor from abroad, including from China. Economic interests, the shortage of labor resources in the agricultural sector, and the attraction of additional labor put the issue of continuing repatriation on the agenda. A mass action on the development of virgin and fallow lands in Kazakhstan, the Urals and Siberia began in the country. It should be noted that the attempt to attract settlers to the development of fallow lands in the Akmola region ended in failure.
According to the materials of the Soviet consulate in Kuldzha, 86,524 applications for the restoration of Soviet citizenship were submitted here during 1946-1949 (together with children under 16, the number of potential repatriates was 147,728 people). According to the generalized data of the Far Eastern Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in general, applications for admission were submitted and restored in Xinjiang during the same years there are 94,977 people in citizenship (excluding minor children). In the mid-1950s, during the rechecking of consular reports by the Far Eastern Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based primarily on the above data, the number of the Soviet colony in Xinjiang was determined at 150 thousand people.
The repatriation of the second half of the 1950s was accompanied by a powerful wave of petitions for the prolongation of Soviet citizenship or its receipt by a part of the population of the Chinese border area. In 1954, Soviet citizens and their family members who expressed a desire to work in virgin lands were allowed to enter the USSR from the PRC. In 1954, 6005 families (27216 people) left China for the USSR. Mass repatriation took place in 1955 . Planned repatriation figures for 1955 were 10 thousand families, which could amount to more than 65 thousand people. During the first half of the year, 9509 families (49179 people) arrived in the USSR. The arrivals were accommodated in the Kazakh SSR (39441 people), the Kyrgyz SSR (3827 people) and the RSFSR (5911 people).
According to the Soviet embassy, more than 114 thousand people left China only in the first two years of mass repatriation. In 1955, about 200 thousand more people, mostly Kazakhs and Uighurs living in Xinjiang, requested citizenship and repatriation to the USSR, including Kazakhstan (the mass outflow of population from China to the USSR caused a series of protests by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese government's retaliatory measures to limit the migration of Kazakhs and Uighurs).
In 1956-1957, at the request of the Ministry of State Farms, a party of 10 thousand families of immigrants was formed to work in the field of animal husbandry, of which 8,500 families were in state farms of the Kazakh SSR and 1,500 families in the RSFSR. According to the consular assignment to the plan for 1958, the number of immigrants from the People's Republic of China was supposed to be 46150 people. The planned figures for 1959 were even higher – 10 thousand families or 60-65 thousand people. In total, 11705 families, or more than 75 thousand people, left China in 1958-1959. According to the order for 1956, only state farms of the Kazakh SSR needed about 10 thousand families. For 1956-1957 . at the request of the Ministry of State Farms, a party of 10,000 displaced families was formed to work in the field of animal husbandry, of which 8,500 families were in state farms of the Kazakh SSR. According to the Soviet Embassy, more than 114,000 people left China in the first two years of mass repatriation alone. Of these, 74,000 people were migrants from the Syrian Arab Republic. In 1956, repatriation was to be carried out mainly in Xinjiang, from which almost 10,000 families were to leave.
The consequence of the growing tension among the population in connection with the expectation of departure to the USSR was a number of retaliatory steps by the authorities of the XUAR, the essence of which was to challenge the citizenship of those leaving. Since 1956, the district departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China stopped giving exit documents to family members of Soviet citizens - natives of China who had not previously received a Soviet foreign residence permit, and stateless persons began to be considered de facto citizens of the People's Republic of China. This is all the more significant due to the fact that until that time the contingent of repatriates was completely determined by the Soviet consulates, and the Chinese security authorities only approved the documents of those leaving and checked their political reliability. Thus, since 1956, the decision of the Chinese side has become a determining factor in deciding on departure; in fact, the Chinese side granted the right to leave only to persons who had Soviet foreign residence permits, mainly Russians by nationality, including those who do not have a permanent job.
On February 1, 1957, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan adopted a resolution "On the labor and household arrangements of Soviet citizens who arrived from China." As of July 1957, there were 930 families in Kazakhstan in the Pavlodar region, of which 2.025 of the able–bodied population. In total, 11,705 families, or more than 75,000 people, left China in 1958-1959, including 57,427 from Xinjiang.
Since the late 1950s, a program of forced assimilation of non-Han peoples has been openly promoted. One of the manifestations of this policy was the abolition of the Arabic alphabet among the Uighurs, Kazakhs and their translation into Latinized writing, which was based on the Chinese phonetic alphabet. The decision on this issue was made by the People's Government of the XUAR in March 1960. The main content of this reform was to prevent the growth of national consciousness among the largest oppositional ethnic groups of the XUAR – Uighurs and Kazakhs in relation to the Han. All this led to an outbreak of discontent among non-Han peoples.
In the spring of 1960, Xinjiang was gripped by famine, during this period about 7 thousand people died of starvation. All these factors became the reasons for the mass crossing of the Soviet-Chinese border.
Since the beginning of the 1960s, migration began to acquire a spontaneous character. About 200,000 people, mostly Kazakhs and Uighurs from Xinjiang, insisted on granting Soviet citizenship and repatriation to the USSR, including Kazakhstan. The Chinese side expressed dissatisfaction, and the Soviet government decided to officially complete the repatriation.
In October 1960, an agitation campaign against departure to the USSR took place in Xinjiang, during which territorial claims were put forward against the USSR in relation to the territories of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, political persecution of persons who continued to insist on leaving for the USSR began. In 1961, a reception and registration point for Soviet citizens repatriated from China was organized in Zaisan.
At the beginning of 1962, the local authorities of the XUAR completely stopped issuing travel permits to Soviet citizens in the USSR. On May 29, 1962, in Kuldzha (Yining incident), Chinese officials organized the execution of a person who came to the city party committee with a request for an exit visa to the USSR. Everything pushed desperate people to mass flight from Xinjiang. During the period from April 22 to the beginning of June 1962, 67,000 people illegally entered the Soviet Union.
According to archival data, in April-May 1962, 16,606 families (71,796 people) who were settled in the border regions of Kazakhstan illegally crossed the border without a visa. During this period, 1,125 families (4,903 people) arrived in Panfilov district from China. Among them: Kazakhs – 3,307, Uighurs – 1,450, Dungans – 120, Tatars – 13 (most Tatars left first, back in 1955-56), Uzbeks – 13 people. At the end of May 1962, the unauthorized crossing of the border was stopped.
The Chinese side tried to accuse the Soviet authorities of accepting border violators. In this regard, on April 29, 1962, the Soviet Government sent a memorandum to the Government of the People's Republic of China. It rejected unfounded accusations against the USSR, and pointed to the fact that the border crossing was being carried out from the Chinese side, in front of the Chinese authorities, who should have taken appropriate measures in a timely manner to prevent mass border crossing.
78,298 people moved to the Kazakhstan border areas (according to the Almaty Rural Regional Committee) from 1958 to 1963; only in 1962 – 36,018 people. According to the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR on Vocational education, organizational recruitment of workers and resettlement, in 1954-1961, citizens from the People's Republic of China arrived on the territory of the Republic in an organized manner in compliance with all necessary rules, a total of 22,695 families – 134,117 people were accepted during this period. In September 1962 , the reception of citizens of the People 's Republic of China resumed in an organized manner and from that time to January 1 , 1963 . 5,766 families were accepted – 26,643 people. A total of 22,372 families - 98,439 people - were accepted in 1962. In 1963, the reception of citizens from the People's Republic of China lasted until May, and during this time, 1,830 families (20,407 people) were accepted and settled in the regions of the Kazakh SSR. In general, taking into account migrants who illegally crossed the border, the scale of repatriation of this period amounted to 252,963 people.
The Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR adopted a special resolution dated January 18, 1963 "On measures to improve the economic and living conditions of citizens who arrived from China." All citizens of the People's Republic of China were exempted from paying agricultural and income taxes for a period of 2 to 5 years. Much attention of the party bodies was paid to citizens who arrived as planned in the period from September 1962 to May 1963. These data by region are presented in Table 1.
Table 1 – Statistical data on the regions of the Kazakh SSR
|
Areas/Years |
1962 |
1963 |
Всего |
|
Semipalatinsk |
38947 |
46 |
38993 |
|
Alma-Ata |
32805 |
5799 |
38604 |
|
Shymkent |
13655 |
1554 |
15209 |
|
Karaganda |
3 249 |
6593 |
9842 |
|
Dzhambulskaya |
5544 |
2113 |
7657 |
|
East Kazakhstan |
1722 |
57 |
1779 |
|
Kyzyl-Ordinskaya |
- |
3538 |
3538 |
|
Other republics of the USSR |
2517 |
787 |
3304 |
|
Total |
98439 |
20 487 |
118926 |
The largest number of migrants accounted for the Alma-Ata and Semipalatinsk regions. 424 prefabricated houses and 1,040 mud-brick houses were provided to accommodate and provide housing for families who arrived from China in the Alma-Ata region. 3 million rubles were allocated to state farms for the construction of housing for displaced persons, benefits – 700,000 rubles at the rate of 30 rubles for each, 3.833 heads of cattle were allocated.
Migrants were employed in animal husbandry: shepherds, stockmen, milkmaids and handymen in field farming. They were settled in the Uyghur, Narynkol, Kegen, Panfilov, Aksu, Alakul, Kopal, and Sarkand districts. The Uighurs were mainly identified in the field.
In the Semipalatinsk region, migrants were given one-time benefits in the amount of 1 million 167 thousand 210 rubles, 7277 cows, 1811 houses were built. The majority of the arrivals were the Kazakh population, who were settled in collective farms and state farms of the Abai, Ayaguz, Borodulikhinsky, Beskaragai, Kokpektinsky, Zharminsky, Urdzhar production departments.
The leadership of the republic paid close attention to the placement and employment of migrants, in whose person agriculture received a significant number of workers. One of the indicators of the successful migration policy of the state was the qualitative integration of migrants into the local community. In the case under consideration, an alternative option for the adaptation of migrants was enclavization, that is, building their own, more familiar and psychologically comfortable, inside a new, but alien socio-cultural environment.
Adaptation processes were complicated by psychological factors, the complexity of integration into Soviet society, as migrants were characterized by socio-cultural duality. The common language, culture and traditions allowed them to associate themselves with both the USSR and China, the country where they were born and grew up. But in the mass consciousness of the local population, the term "Chinese" has become entrenched (kytai-Kazaktars, khitailiklyar among the Uighurs). This hindered the processes of rapprochement and caused "cultural enclavization", the settlers preserved traditions, customs, and deep religiosity. The local population did not accept them, marriages were mostly concluded between migrants (regardless of national dependence). And even a long stay in a single Soviet country could not destroy the well-established beliefs about the settlers of the 60s.
