A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

From Governorates-General to Union Republics 211
Commissars, issued on 2 and 20 November 1917 respectively.The first
proclamation was of a general nature and concerned all the non-
Russian nationalities of Russia; the second proclamation addressed itself
specifically to the Muslims, and read: 2
To All Muslim Workers of Russia and the Orient
Comrades! Brothers!
Great events are taking place in Russia.A bloody war that had been started for
the sake of dividing up of foreign lands is drawing to a close.The rule of predators
who had subjugated the nations of the world is collapsing.The old edifice
of thraldom and serfdom is falling under the blows of the Russian revolution.
The world of arbitrariness and oppression is living its last days.A new world,
the world of workers who have liberated themselves, is being born.At the forefront
of this world is the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government of Russia – the
Council of People’s Commissars.
All Russia is studded with Revolutionary Councils of Workers’, Soldiers’, and
Peasants’ deputies.Power is in the hands of the people.The toiling masses of
Russia speak with one voice about their wish to conclude an honest peace and
to help the oppressed peoples of the world attain freedom.
...In the face of these great events we are turning to you, the toiling and disinherited
Muslims of Russia and the Orient.
Muslims of Russia, Tatars of the Volga and the Crimea, Kyrgyz and Sarts of
Siberia and Turkestan, Turks and Tatars of Transcaucasia, Chechens and
mountain dwellers of the Caucasus, all you whose mosques and places of
worship have been destroyed, whose beliefs and customs have been trampled
on by the tsars and oppressors of Russia! From now on your beliefs and customs,
your national and cultural institutions are being declared free and inviolable.
Arrange your national life freely and without hindrance.This is your right.
Know that your rights, just as the rights of all the peoples of Russia, are protected
by the might of the Revolution and by its organs, the Councils of
Workers’, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Deputies.Support then this Revolution and
its executive organ, the Government!
...Muslims of Russia! Muslims of the Orient! We expect your sympathy and
support on this path toward a rebirth of the world!
Signed: V.Ulyanov (Lenin), Chairman of the Council of Commissars; J.
Dzhugashvili (Stalin), Commissar for Nationality Affairs.
The Bolshevik Revolution was replicated in Tashkent a few days after
the events in Petrograd, and on 15 November 1917 the Third Regional
Congress of the Soviets proclaimed the authority of the new regime over
2 B.Hayit, Sowjetrussische Orientpolitik am Beispiel Turkestans (Köln-Berlin, 1962), pp.217–18.The
author cites two Soviet publications as the sources for the original Russian text: Sobranie ukazov rasporyazheniy
raboche-krestyanskogo pravitelstva (Moscow, 1917–18), vol.19 (Dec.1917), no.7, appendix
2; and Narodnyi komissariat po delam natsionalnostey, Politika sovetskoy vlasti po natsionalnym delam
za tri goda, 1917–1920 (Moscow, 1920).