Supreme Soviet Research Articles

THE ROLE OF MILITARY TRIBUNALS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST LABOUR DESERTION AT TEXTILE ENTERPRISES OF IVANOVO REGION IN 1942–1943

This article examines the punitive practice of military tribunals against textile workers who committed unauthorised departure from enterprises, as well as production disrupters influential among workers, from November 1942 to November 1943. It became possible after the adoption by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on October 11, 1942, of Decree ‟On the extension of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR” dated December 26, 1941, to workers and employees of enterprises of the People’s Commissariat of the Textile Industry of the USSR. ‟On the responsibility of workers and employees of enterprises of the military industry for unauthorised withdrawal from enterprises.” As a result, textile workers were equated with workers in the defence industry; they were considered mobilised for the period of the war and assigned to permanent work at the textile factories and factories where they worked. The unauthorised departure of workers and employees from work was considered as desertion, and those guilty of committing them (deserters) were sentenced by military tribunals to imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years. The article reflects the dynamics of this process, provides data on deserters by profession and sex; we call preventive measures on labour collectives, etc. Attention is paid to such positive practice of the tribunals as conditional conviction with the obligation to return to the enterprise. It was prepared on the materials of the State Archive of Ivanovo Region, which had first been introduced into scientific circulation. It is addressed to specialists in the field of the history of Soviet textile industry, to graduate students, undergraduates and students of higher educational institutions.

Sovietisation of Schools in the 1940/41 School Year: bolshevis indoctrination,compain of eadult education in in Schools of Šakiai County; Teachers between Resistance, Conformism and Collaboration; Repressions (3)

This article introduces some of the events, phenomena and facts of the Sovietisation (Bolshevization) of schools in annexed Lithuania in 1940–1941. The use of teachers in introducing the Bolshevik ideology to the society and pupils, the pseudo-elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 12 January 1941, the propaganda campaign for adult education, and other aspects of the research that have been examined or have just been brought up (including the aspect of adaptation to the occupants, cooperation with them, and resistance, which will be developed more in the final part of the research), are mainly illustrated by the examples of the archival documents that reflect the situation in the Šakiai County. An address to teachers of 19 November 1940 and fragments of other documents are published.

Каторжники в местах заключения Вологодской области (1943–1954 годы)

This article studies the penitentiary treatment during the war and post-war years in the Vologda Region penal institutions of a specific category of convicts, namely, those sentenced to hard labour (katorga) for aiding the fascists by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 39 of April 19, 1943. Based on the analysis of archival documents and published sources, the following are considered: prisoner transport, placement of disabled and diseased convicts of this category in the region’s prisons, their material and living conditions as well as medical care during the sentence period. Moreover, attention is paid to the specifics of intelligence and operational work among the prisoners and additional regime restrictions applied to them. It is concluded that, since these people presented a particular threat to the state, irrespective of their physical condition they were kept in close confinement and deprived of a number of privileges given to the less dangerous categories of prisoners. The legal status of convicts during their sentence was determined by departmental normative legal acts; how well their requirements were met by the region’s penal institutions was continuously monitored by the local and central authorities of the NKVD–MVD of the USSR. In 1950, the convicts were relocated from Vologda Prison No. 1 due to its repurposing. The special penitentiary treatment of those sentenced to hard labour in Camp Department No. 6 in Novozero village, Belozersk district, was abolished in 1954 due to the revision of the punitive policy after Joseph Stalin’s death.

“Our Attention to Iran, as a Neighboring Country, Should Certainly be Sharply Increased”: the Documents on the Visit of the Delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to Iran, January 1968

What follows here below is the publication of documents from the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the visit of the delegation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to Iran, which took place from 15–25 January 1968. This delegation was headed by Dinmukhamed Kunaev. These archival materials are important in the context of studying Soviet-Iranian economic and political relations in the 1960s and 1970s, when interaction between the two countries became more intensive. The paper demonstrates that the visit of the Soviet delegation was not just a protocol event, but an important milestone in building specific areas of co-operation, primarily the construction of a metallurgical plant in Isfahan. The documents introduced into the academic circuit for the first time, above all, testify to the deep interest of the Soviet side in the “white revolution” in Iran. At the same time, they do not record the contradictions of the ongoing reforms and the presence in the country of significant opposition to the Shah, especially on the part of the Islamic clergy. The archival documents clearly demonstrate certain difficulties in the development of bilateral relations. The appendices to the report of Dinmukhamed Kunaev contain rather sharp criticism of Soviet practices of cooperation with Tehran. Moreover, the edge of this criticism is directed at the all-powerful sectoral ministries and organizations, at the slowness of the Soviet planned economy. In the reporting documents of 1968, Soviet-Iranian cooperation in certain areas was essentially called a failure. Moreover, this applies to such an important area as oil exploration, production, and refining.

FEATURES OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT IN CHUVASHIA IN 1959–1965

The topic of general education school is relevant today, because in any historical period of the country’s development, education and upbringing of the younger generation are the basis for raising decent citizens, patriots of their country. The purpose of the study is to analyze the historical experience of reforming school education in accordance with the School Act dated 1958. Materials and methods. The scientific literature and normative legal acts of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR, the Ministry of Education of the Chuvash ASSR were studied; based on the results of their analysis the historical prerequisites influencing the comprehensive school formation are examined. In the process of analyzing the school education reform, it was necessary to refer to materials on the history of forming the teaching staff to work in the country’s general education schools, kept in the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic. General theoretical methods were used in the work. Study results. On December 24, 1958 the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law «On strengthening the connection of schools with life and on further development of the public education system in the USSR», which marked the beginning of school reform, which lasted until the mid-1960s. In the Chuvash ASSR, implementation of the law began immediately after its adoption. New schools were built in the republic, and their material and technical base was improved. In 1959, seven–year schools were reorganized into eight-year schools, and ten-year schools were reorganized into secondary vocational schools with polytechnic training. In 1960–1965, some organizational measures were taken to improve the nutrition of schoolchildren. During the reforms, the number of teachers with special education increased. Educational work solved issues related to labor education, enterprises began to provide schoolchildren with jobs in workshops, which gave them the opportunity to engage in practical work. Positive developments were observed in the public educational system. Conclusions. When implementing the law on close connection of schools with life, the image of schools and teachers in the minds of the Soviet people was changing. In general, we can note the positive experience of reforming school education in the Chuvash ASSR by the second half of the 1960s. The ideas put forward in those distant years and the experience gained are relevant in modern society in upbringing and educating children.

Soviet Practices of Financing the Operation of Highways in the Tyumen North: Between Regional Lobbying and Departmental Voluntarism

The article analyzes the Soviet practices of financing the operation of highways in the Tyumen North in the mid-1960s – early 1970s. Based on the materials of state and municipal archives, as well as the memoirs of road users of the Tyumen region, with the help of historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods, an attempt is made to show departmental interests and features of regional lobbying practices during the formation of contributions from enterprises of the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets national districts to the so-called “road fund” of the Tyumen Region for the operation of highways within the framework of the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (April 7 , 1959). The main problems of financing the repair and maintenance of highways, which led to contradictions between the Soviet authorities at the regional and district levels, are identified. Interdepartmental conflicts between Tyumenavtodor’s management and enterprises of the national districts were an active continuation of regional contradictions. The essence of the main contradictions in the period under study was the departmental affiliation of the highways of the Tyumen North. They did not belong to local or regional public roads and could not be repaired at the expense of deductions received by decree from enterprises and organizations in national districts. Among the practices of administration by the road industry, directive planning for the year and the formation of a task for the shared participation of enterprises of the districts played an important role. The author comes to the conclusion that enterprises and organizations of the national districts sought to reduce the amount of monetary contributions for the repair and construction of highways and redistribute funds to the district or city budget at the enterprise’s location. However, the Soviet authorities, represented by Tyumenavtodor’s management, hindered these processes, pursuing the goals of financial support for roads under construction in the south of the region, as well as recruiting road construction equipment and enterprises’ trucks.

Стенограммы заседаний последних сессий райсоветов Москвы как важный исторический источник по изучению конституционного кризиса власти в России в 1993 году

The purpose of the article is to study archival documents that make it possible to understand the deep causes of the confrontation between President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in 1993. Namely, to analyze the conflict not at the federal, but at the municipal level, where ordinary citizens worked. This paper reveals the main ways out of the constitutional crisis of 1993, which were expressed by deputies of the district councils of Moscow. The author identifies the main causes of the conflict between the deputies of the district councils and the executive authorities formed after the collapse of the USSR in Moscow. The conducted research has shown the importance of studying the transcripts of meetings of the sessions of the district councils of Moscow in connection with the disclosure of little-known facts about the formation of local self-government bodies.

Destructively Independent. The Russian Central Bank Leadership in the Runup to the 1993 Constitutional Crisis

Abstract Attempts to get control over the Russian Central Bank are often seen as a key driver of the conflict between the Supreme Soviet and the Russian government in 1993. We argue here that the bank and its leadership were not only an instrument of other power centers but should be considered as active and fairly independent political players with their own interests, stakes, and strategies. In the struggle over monetary policy in the early years of the newly founded Russian Federation, inherited Soviet networks of power were more decisive than legal competences on paper. To the extent that ideas played a role at all in these transitional power struggles, their distinction was not between neoliberal shock therapy and social democratic gradualism, but between different notions of the future realm of Moscow’s financial power. Our paper is based on an assessment of biographical literatures and legal texts as well as a survey of the scholarly literature in economics and history. It shows how, in a phase of post-imperial institutional reconfiguration, different groups of the former Soviet elite competed to preserve their status in the emerging Russian nation state.

Материально-правовые основания Хабаровского процесса и их современное значение

The article discusses the question of the modern significance of the sources of law that served as the basis for the sentencing at the Khabarovsk trial; it is proved that the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1943 was not excluded from the list of existing sources of law, but its potentially not excluded application for assessing criminal acts that took place during the Great Patriotic War it should be correlated with the requirements of the current criminal law on responsibility for crimes against humanity and on the retroactive force of the criminal law.

Military construction and military duty in Dagestan in 1928–1940: a historical and socio-cultural aspects

The article considers the historical and socio-cultural aspects of military development in the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1928 to 1940, taking into account the growing interest in society and the scientific community in military history, including the problem of involving the peoples of national regions of the country in the process of formation and further development of the Soviet Armed Forces. In the research the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity, as well as comparative historical, problem-chronological, statistical and descriptive methods have been used; new publications and documentary sources that have not previously been introduced into scientific circulation have been employed.The historical and social and cultural aspects of military development in the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1928 to 1940 have been considered. - from the moment of the first compulsory conscription of Dagestanis for military service in the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) until the adoption in September 1939 by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the new Law “On General Military Duty”. This event marked the beginning of the implementation of military service by representatives of the male youth of the peoples of Dagestan service on a common basis with all nationalities of the USSR.The research characterizes the work of the authorities to establish military registration of the male part of the population and pre-conscription training of young people in a multinational region. The gender component of the process of formation of military service has been highlighted; the features of the implementation of Soviet military construction in Dagestan within the designated chronological framework identified and prospects and scope of application of the research results characterized.

Рецензия на книгу «“К Вам с письмом советский читатель...”: письма читателей М.А. Шолохову: 1956–1984» (отв. ред. Н.В. Корниенко. М.: ИМЛИ РАН, 2022. 1120 с.)

The second volume of the peer-reviewed edition completes the project of publishing readers’ letters to Mikhail Sholokhov. The texts prepared by the compilers represent one of the largest collections of readers’ correspondence to the writer (1,162 letters). Most of the letters are in the personal archive of Sholokhov’s family. The phenomenon of fan mail developed in Russia in the early 1870s. It became particularly widespread in the Soviet period due to a number of cultural initiatives in the early years of Soviet power. Letters to Sholokhov appear not so much as signs of his reputation, but as material for the study of the Soviet reader and his era. This is especially evident in the letters included in the second volume: they were written from 1956 until the end of the writer’s life. At this time, people wrote to Sholokhov not only the writer, but also the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Materials from different years clarify the general cultural, political and literary context of these letters. The compilers distinguished groups of letters to Sholokhov by subject matter: letters from readers of the USSR, foreign readers, and representatives of emigration; letters from novice writers; letters to Sholokhov as a public figure; letters from participants in World War II; letters from prisoners; and requests for material assistance. The main topics include requests to send books, autographs, photographs, to tell about the fate of heroes (primarily Grigory Melekhov); appeals for help in solving private and public problems; complaints about the lack of books in libraries, bookstores and at private sellers. Chronologically and compositionally, the letters caused by Sholokhov’s speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU on the problems of literary creativity and the work of the Writers’ Union are singled out. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Sholokhov in 1965 caused a reaction of readers. Letters with negative reviews either did not survive in the archives or were not included in the edition. In general, the letters to Sholokhov appear as a subject of general interest of the humanities in collecting, preserving, and publishing documents that reflect the perception of contemporaries of an event or phenomenon. They could become the material for history of reading in Russia. For this purpose, at the first stage, it is necessary to create digital copies of the letters, do their markup and statistical processing according to the main parameters: the letter’s author, date, address, and topic. The next stage could be the correlation of the results obtained with data on letters to other writers. A thematic index could be the first step in this direction and, at the same time, a help in using the existing edition. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

American Observers in the Election of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union

American Observers in the Election of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union

ЛЕОНИД БРЕЖНЕВТІҢ ДЕНСАУЛЫҒЫ МЕМЛЕКЕТТІК МЕХАНИЗМНІҢ ЭЛЕМЕНТІ РЕТІНДЕ

The article analyzes the role of health status of Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, as a major element of the state apparatus in the USSR. Using numerous sources, including notes and diaries of Brezhnev himself, notes of Brezhnev’s secretaries, memories of Brezhnev’s political companions, doctors and family members, the authors have reconstructed the dynamic changes in the health status of Brezhnev, and in which way these changes have impacted his work efficiency. Despite the fact that Brezhnev came to power already burdened by diseases and bad habits, his first decade as a leader of Soviet Union was very fruitful. This conclusion contradicts an established historiographical opinion that Brezhnev belonged to a type of a quite healthy, but lazy leader, who could not and did not like to perform the duties of the state and party leader, trying to evade them at every opportunity. The last seven years of Brezhnev’s rule are characterized by a sharp deterioration in health status that led to the alternating periods of decline and rise of Brezhnev’s work efficiency, which severely affected entire state apparatus. Despite the efforts of Brezhnev himself and the fact that Soviet bureaucracy managed to mostly compensate the periods of “stalling” and even the temporary unavailability of the leader, the USSR’s specific power mechanism started to malfunction during the second half of 1970s. Another consequence of Brezhnev’s decreased performance was the delegation of significant political power to the group of companions, led by Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Having occupied the post of head of state almost for life, being the leader of socio-political system, which actually did not have mechanism for a legal change of power, except for the death of a predecessor, sick and decrepit Brezhnev had to work hard and remain “a leader” until his death, including at the cost of drug addiction.

Hooliganism in Soviet Belarus during the Thaw (1953–1968)

The article is devoted to one of the manifestations of deviant behavior in Belarusian Soviet cities in the 1950s–1960s. During the Khrushchev “thaw” there was a significant increase in hooliganism. The reasons for this phenomenon were, first of all, the rapid urbanization caused by the large-scale industrialization of Soviet Belarus during this period. The heavy demographic consequences of the Great Patriotic War, as well as Stalin’s repressive policy during almost the whole post-war decade also played an important role. The hooligans themselves, most of whom were young members of the working class, justified their behavior with primitive propaganda clichés about social superiority which gave rise to a sense of permissiveness and impunity. During the “thaw” years, the authorities, which for a long time did not see hooliganism as a serious threat, undertook a series of legal and educational measures to curb it. However, the state policy to combat hooliganism was inconsistent and ineffective. Hooligans remained an integral part of everyday life in Belarusian cities even during the “stagnation”. The article shows the legislative initiatives of the authorities to curb hooliganism, in particular the decree of the Soviet Belarus Supreme Soviet of December 30, 1956 on responsibility for hooliganism; the division of hooligans in the 1960 Soviet Belarus Criminal Code into “bad” and “small” with the transfer of the cases of the latter to the comrades’ courts; and the decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet of July 26, 1966 “On increasing responsibility for hooliganism”. Particular attention is paid to the extent and forms of hooliganism in urban societies, the degree of its public danger, as well as forms of public counteraction to this phenomenon in the form of voluntary people’s squad.

The One that Wasn’t: Child and Youth Labour in the Post-Stalin Era in the Soviet Union

This paper examines the phenomenon of child and youth labour in the post-Stalin era in the Soviet Union. The starting point for the consideration constitutes the analysis of the law adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1958 titled “On the strengthening of the link between school and life and the further development of people’s education in the USSR”. This law placed great emphasis on combining education with practice and involving pupils from the earliest grades in various forms of both productive and socially useful labour. Subsequently, four categories of labour to which children and young people in the USSR were systemically forced has been distinguished. These included: occasional labours, work and leisure camps, so-called subbotniki and little communal works, as well as compulsory recycling. The paper thoroughly depicts all of them in the light of memoir material.

ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ ТОВАРИЩЕСКИХ СУДОВ БАШКИРИИ В КОНЦЕ 1950-Х - 1980-Е ГГ.

The article examines the activities of the Bashkir ASSR friendly courts in the late 1950s - the first half of the 1980s. A brief analysis of historiography shows that the problem is insufficiently studied. The main sources were unpublished documents of the funds of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic and the Bashkir Regional Council of Trade Unions - bodies that control the work of friendly courts, as well as materials of the periodical press. The growth in the number of friendly courts was characterized by instability, then increased, then decreased. The same applies to members of friendly courts. The friendly courts considered minor civil cases, including in the family and household sphere. Interference in the private life of citizens was especially characteristic of the 1950s and 1960s, after which it weakened. In the 1970s, the friendly courts considered absenteeism, violations of public order, labor discipline (appearance in a drunken state at work), petty theft and others at their meetings. The most common measures of influence used by friendly courts were public apology, warning, public censure and reprimand. However, in the 1970s the importance of fines and applications for transfer to a lower-paid job is increasing. There were many shortcomings in the work of the friendly courts: some of them were inactive for years, others exceeded their powers. In the 1970s and 1980s, friendly courts dealt with only 10 to 20 percent of offenses, which testified to the insufficient effectiveness of the institute of friendly courts. Most minor offenses went unpunished. The activities of the friendly courts were formally under the control of the party, Soviet, judicial and trade union bodies. However, this control was often insufficient, especially in the late 1950s - early 1960s. The author distinguishes two periods in the activities of friendly courts: 1) the end of the 1950s - the first half of the 1960s, marked by their greatest activity; 2) the second half of the 1960s - the mid-1980s, when the courts were increasingly "carried away" by administrative measures of influence.

Местное самоуправление в постсоветский период: институциональные аспекты эволюции

The aim was to study the evolution of the institute of local self-government in the post-Soviet period of Russia's development. The research methods were content analysis of the messages of the President of the Russian Federation and work with archival materials. As a result of the analysis of the selected types of sources, the hypothesis was confirmed that the establishment of local self-government in the mid-1990s in a radical form in the form of separation from the public administration system was situationally political in nature, meeting the interests of the municipal elite. The political force that made the separation of local self-government bodies from the system of state power, the dominant discourse, became the municipal elite. Having provided support to B. in the summer and autumn of 1993. In opposition to Yeltsin with the Supreme Soviet, she received in return the maximum independence on the ground, which was fundamentally important for her in the conditions of unfolding privatization. At the same time, it was protected from control "from above" by the status of local self-government, isolated from the state structure, and there could be no control "from below", due to the absence of the middle class. The inconsistency of this form of organization of local self-government with the basic socio-economic parameters predetermined the further evolution of this institution in the direction of inclusion in the system of public power and strengthening of state control. Thus, this evolution was not a consequence of the central government's voluntaristic desire to spread authoritarian trends to the lower "floors" of management, as foreign authors often write, but a completely natural process. A particular conclusion of a methodological nature is also made that studies of the evolution of local self-government in the post-Soviet period demonstrate the limitations of a institutional approach that absolutizes the role of institutions in solving problems of social development.

The struggle against children homelessness and neglect has become one of the leading directions of policy towards Soviet children because there was a catastrophic increase in the number of homeless and neglected children during the war period. Authors consider the work of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs in the struggle against child neglect and homelessness on the example of

The struggle against children homelessness and neglect has become one of the leading directions of policy towards Soviet children because there was a catastrophic increase in the number of homeless and neglected children during the war period. Authors consider the work of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs in the struggle against child neglect and homelessness on the example of the Shokai labor educational colony during the Great Patriotic War. The creation of labor educational colonies made it possible not to send chil- dren aged 11 to 16 detained for hooliganism, theft, vagrancy to juvenile colonies where older criminals were kept. The authors provide data on the history of the creation and functioning of the Shokai labor educational colony during 1943-1945. On the basis of archival materials, most of which are being put into circulation for the first time, the problems of life organization, material support, replenishment of the contingent and the rea- sons for the closure of the colony are being studied. After analyzing the personal files of pupils, the authors come to the conclusion that most of them came for violation of labor discipline in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 28, 1940 “On the responsibility of students of vocational, railway schools and schools of the Factory Training for violation of discipline and for unauthorized leaving from school”. There were both natives of the Kazakh SSR and pupils from other Soviet republics in the Shokai labor training colony. The article is based on materials from Kazakhstani and Russian archives.

Samara society in the period of dual power

Based on archival documents, newspaper materials and economic statistics, the article analyzes the public mood of the inhabitants of the city of Samara in the period of 19911993. After 29 years since the dissolution of the Soviets of Peoples Deputies, an opportunity has been provided for a comprehensive study of the topic of local self-government. Such studies will make it possible to find the main patterns of the countrys development, as well as expand the methodologies of history. Topic of the history of local self-government is impossible without the use of interdisciplinary methods. In the work, in addition to historical methods: historical-genetic, historical-comparative, descriptive, the semiotic method was used, as well as the method of content analysis. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the new formulation of the problem in the study of local self-government and the non-traditional solution of emerging issues of the relationship of the power of society. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive and comprehensive study of the problem of relations between the representative bodies of state power and the Samara society during the dual power period of 19911993. Dual power in practice consisted in the presence of two equal bodies of the vertical of power: the vertical of the Soviets, headed by the Supreme Soviet, the Congress of Peoples Deputies and R.I. Khasbulatov and the vertical of the institute of the presidency of the Russian Federation, which relied on the appointed heads of administrations. In the course of the study, some results were obtained: 1) a painful reaction in the public mood of the Samara society in 19911993 on economic reforms 2) the unsatisfactory state of the material and economic basis of the Samara region 3) the phenomenon of letter to the authorities of the daily life of Samara residents 4) the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary approach in the study of local self-government 5) ignoring or impossibility of direct interaction between the authorities and residents in 19911993. The conclusion, according to the results, is as follows: at the end of 1993, Russia failed to implement the system of local self-government, in which the inhabitants were disappointed, as well as the unwillingness to build a system of local authorities by the new Russian government.

Адыгэм я лъэпкъгъэкlуэд

Адыгэм я лъэпкъгъэкlуэд Ramil Niyazov-Adyljan (bio) Translation from the Russian Click for larger view View full resolution a serbian migrant worker steps out into the white like the mediterranean sealike the bitter turkish tobacco-covered russian earth whereno one of his yet lieslike the white tsar's yatagan which they dreamed of biting with smoke-stained shot-through teethlike the menstrual blood of his dead bosnian girl who always called herself the ultimate virgin flesh of yugoslaviaa reminder that love power and God are ongoing night of the slavic sky over nevsky caddesiand says in unaccented turkic for the first time: come in dear guests and sit at my tablecome into my house my doors are openall who weren't saved by the turkish sultan Gel, gel, ne olursan ol yine gel,İster kafir, ister mecusi, ister puta tapan ol yine gel,Bizim dergahımız, ümitsizlik dergahı değildir,Yüz kere tövbeni bozmuş olsan da yine gel …1 BOŽEar rahman nir raheemAKO UMREM MLADPOŠALI ME U RAJU PAKLU SAMVEĆ BIO2 how good to find oneself in a worldwith a few genocides less February 1, 2022, Antalya Translators' note: In the title, the Circassian muhajirun ( in Kabardian Circassian) refers to the forced migration (muhajir) of the Circassian/Cherkes people, as well as the related Abaz (Abazin, Abkhaz) and Ubykh people, to the Ottoman Empire during and after the end of the Caucasian War (1817–64). The Supreme Soviet of Kabardino-Balkaria in 1992 and the parliament of Adyghe in 1994 used the term "Circassian genocide" or "Tsitsekun." Editorial note: Turn to page 58 to read the translator's biographies. Ramil Niyazov-Adyljan Ramil Niyazov-Adyljan is a Kazakh of Uyghur origin. He writes poetry and studies contemporary art, postcolonial studies, queer Sufism, and the steppe. He is originally from Almaty, Kazakhstan, but is currently a student at St. Petersburg State University in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is also a member of krëlex zentre editor of Polutona. Elina Alter Elina Alter is a writer and translator. Her translations include Alla Gorbunova's It's the End of the World, My Love and Oksana Vasyakina's Wound. She lives in New York. Hilah Kohen Hilah Kohen is a University of Pennsylvania doctoral student currently in residence at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. Her collaborations in Juhuri (Kavkazi Jewish) language advocacy include curatorial work for the Jewish Language Project and an article foregrounding Indigenous languages of the Russian Federation for Russian Language Journal. With Josephine von Zitzewitz, Kohen co-edited the "Russophonia" issue of Words Without Borders. Ainsley Morse Ainsley Morse teaches in the Russian department at Dart-mouth College and is a translator of Russian, Ukrainian, and former Yugoslav literatures. Her research focuses on the literature and culture of the postwar Soviet period, particularly unofficial or "underground" poetry, as well as contemporary russophone poetry, East European avant-gardes, and children's literature. Elaine Wilson Elaine Wilson is a writer, literary translator, language instructor, and PhD candidate in the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia University. She lives in New York City. Footnotes 1. "Come, come, whoever you are, come! Be you unfaithful, be you a fire-worshipper, be you an idol-worshipper, come all the same! Our cloister is not a home of hopelessness, You may have sinned a hundred times—come all the same."—Abu Said Maihani, often attributed to Mevlânâ (Rumi) 2. "O God, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful (Arabic), if I die young, send me to heaven. I have already been in hell" (Croatian). Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma