Turkic-Muslim Peoples In The Volga-Ural Region Authorities In 1917

Abstract

In 1917, the Russian Empire collapsed, and different ethnic and religious groups began their fight for the political rights. Muslims were underrepresented in state authorities at various levels. The bourgeois reforms of Alexander II enabled Muslims to participate in the activities of representative bodies at the level of provinces (gubernias), uezds, and cities (nobility assemblies, Zemstvos, and City Dumas). Muslims maintained their schools (madrassas and maktabs) and charitable institutions at their own expense. At the beginning of the twentieth century the ideas of national and cultural revival and the need to defend their rights, the Jadid movement, and the revolution of 1905–1907 pushed Muslims to form the all-Imperial party "Ittifaq-al-muslimin". Newspapers in the national language began to be published. The peak of the political participation of Russian Muslims during this period was the activity of the Muslim faction of the State Duma of the Russian Empire, whose members consistently fought for the political and cultural rights of Muslim peoples. The February revolution, proclaiming freedom and equality for all Russian citizens, created unprecedented opportunities for the inclusion of the Muslim population in social and political processes. The most active was the Tatar and Bashkir social movement in the Volga-Ural region. The agenda of the national organizations of the Muslim peoples of the Volga-Ural region in 1917 largely coincided with the agenda of Russian public organizations. This included the activities of national elite groups, participation in local self-government bodies, elections to local Soviets, local self-government bodies, and the Constituent Assembly.