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Author Thomas, Alun (Historian), author.

Title Nomads and Soviet rule : Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin / Alun Thomas
Published New York ; London : I.B. Tauris, 2018
©2018

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Description 1 online resource (x, 260 pages) : maps
Series Library of Modern Russia ; 10
Library of modern Russia ; 10.
Contents Intro -- About the Author -- New and Forthcoming -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Maps -- Introduction -- Before the Bolsheviks -- The Arrival of Soviet Rule -- Nationhood, Class, Economy -- Imperialism, Modernity, Post-Colonialism -- Sources -- 1. Perceptions of Nomadism -- Who was the Skotovod? -- Backwardness -- Agency and Settlement -- Class -- Scholarship -- The 1926 Census -- Conclusion -- 2. Nomadic Land -- Under the Tsar -- Decolonisation -- Asserting Control -- Further Land Reform -- Class and Development -- Nature and the Environment -- Conclusion
3. Bordering Nomads -- The Bukey Province -- The Garabogazköl Lagoon -- Changing Priorities -- The Sino-Soviet Border -- Conclusion -- 4. Taxing Nomads -- The Tax-in-Kind -- The Agricultural Tax -- Taxing the Despots -- Conclusion -- 5. (De)Mobilising Nomads -- The Red Yurts -- Education -- Nomadic Women -- Conclusion -- 6. Collectivisation -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index -- eCopyright
Summary "The nomads of Central Asia were well accustomed to life under the power of a distant capital when the Bolsheviks fomented revolution on the streets of Petrograd. Yet after the fall of the Tsar, the nature, ambition and potency of that power would change dramatically, ultimately resulting in the near eradication of Central Asian nomadism. Based on extensive primary source work in Almaty, Bishkek and Moscow, Nomads and Soviet Rule charts the development of this volatile and brutal relationship and challenges the often repeated view that events followed a linear path of gradually escalating violence. Rather than the sedentarisation campaign being an inevitability born of deep-rooted Marxist hatred of the nomadic lifestyle, Thomas demonstrates the Soviet state's treatment of nomads to be far more complex and pragmatic. He shows how Soviet policy was informed by both an anti-colonial spirit and an imperialist impulse, by nationalism as well as communism, and above all by a lethal self-confidence in the Communist Party's ability to transform the lives of nomads and harness the agricultural potential of their landscape. This is the first book to look closely at the period between the revolution and the collectivisation drive, and offers fresh insight into a little-known aspect of early Soviet history. In doing so, the book offers a path to refining conceptions of the broader history and dynamics of the Soviet project in this key period"--Back cover
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-256) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Nomads -- Soviet Union
Nomads -- Asia, Central -- History -- 20th century
Politics and government
Nomads
SUBJECT Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1917-1936. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125845
Soviet Union -- History -- 1917-1936. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125811
Subject Central Asia
Soviet Union
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781838608927
1838608923
9781350987364
1350987360