Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy (Dec 2017)
The 1917 Revolution in Tuva
Abstract
Based on both archival and previously published documents, this article examines the issue of impact that Russia’s revolution of 1917 had on contemporary events in Tuva. Tuva acceded to the USSR in 1944, many years after the Bolshevik revolution and the rise of the Soviet state. However, we postulate that the “Soviet history” of Tuva, just like that of Russia, started in 1917. Soviet historiography prioritized the Great October Socialist revolution, but the events of 1917 began in February. The course of February revolution in Tannu Tuva Uriankhai did not automatically lead to the victory of the Bolsheviks and the establishment of the Soviet power. In spring and summer 1917, revolutionary change in Tuva was largely peaceful and constructive. Supported by the whole Russian population of Tuva, members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party formed the new local government and coopted representatives of Tuvan principalities as partners of the new Russian power. Bolshevik ideas, howsoever high the popularity of their supporters in Tuva might have been, did not find massive endorsement in the region. Consequently, Uriankhai saw no “dual power” (dvoevlastiie) in 1917, and the victory of communists in Russia did not mean that the power should transfer to them in Tuva as well. One of the most complex issues of the revolution in the region was incorporating the political system of Tuva into that of the Russian Republic. The complications of the “Uriankhai issue” and the rise of Tuvan separatism did not lead to interethnic conflicts, and the use of force to settle the burning issues was not deemed mandatory. On the whole, both the revolutionary events of 1917 and the vocal presence of all Russian political forces in the region pointed towards the future accession of Tuva into the Russian Republic. Our study made use of sources from the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Empire in Moscow, as well as regional archives of Tuva, Novosibirsk oblast and Krasnoyarsk krai, and the periodical press of the Yenisei governorate.
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