Administrative and Political Changes in Central Asia, 1926–1936

Abstract

Over the decade from 1926 to 1936 the Soviet government introduced a new round of changes to consolidate political power and newly born national identities. First, all political parties other than the Bolshevik Party—subsequently renamed the Communist Party (CP)—were banned. From the late 1920s onward the Soviet authorities prohibited tribal leaders and former tsarist officers from holding any position in the national government or in the Communist Party, though the Kremlin incorporated many representatives of the native intelligentsia into the administration and governments within each newly created national republic. Second, all political and intellectual debate was banned within the ruling party, especially on the issues of nationality and nation-state delimitation. Third, the Soviet central government introduced completely new political and administrative systems that revolved around the ruling party. Fourth, the Bolshevik (Communist) Party as the ruling party was put in control of all branches of power, administration and governance.