The Soviet War against `Fifth Columnists': The Case of Chechnya, 1942—4

Abstract

In this article, the author traces the main contours of the emergence of the concept of 'enemy nationalities' in the Stalin era, 1937-45. By 1938, 'fifth columnists' - suspected agents of foreign governments - dominated Soviet arrests of internal enemies. This xenophobic wave corresponded with the emergence by the eve of the Second World War of a Soviet policy that targeted ethnic minorities living in strategic borderland zones. Stalinist deportation policies in 1944-5 represented a continuation of these pre-war initiatives. The article focuses on the Soviet struggle against Chechen mountain guerrilla forces during the Second World War. By 1939, the Caucasus had become a vitally important Soviet strategic zone that supplied more than 90 percent of Soviet gas and fuel reserves. Hostile mountain conditions and tremendous popular sympathy facilitated tactical manoeuvring of guerrilla forces, who by and large eluded or successfully ambushed Soviet units. The Soviet secret police therefore relied heavily on dezorganizatsiia: disorganization of the Chechen national movement from within. Stymied on the battlefield, Soviet police won the war in Chechnya during 1942-4 by playing Chechen leaders off against one another; by sowing dissension in their ranks; by leaking false rumours about Chechen leaders; by pressuring family members and religious leaders; and by isolating Chechen guerrillas from their base with the mass deportation of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus in 1944.