The Сauses and Forms of the Participation of Central Asian Peoples of the Russian Empire Borderlands in the Muslim Movement in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

The article analyzes the causes and the main forms of participation of the indigenous peoples of Central Asian borderlands of the Russian Empire in the all-Russian Muslim movement in the early 20th century. The reason for this was the policy of integration, which was carried out in relation to this etnoregion during the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. The author of the article emphasizes that the integral aspirations of the state have very contradictory consequences. On the one hand, they contributed to the politicization of the peoples of the national borderlands, created the conditions for the formation of the Russian super-ethnos and preservation of the territorial integrity of the empire. On the other hand, cultural and linguistic unification became the defining aspect of integration policies, served one of the main causes of the ethnic identity growth and consolidation of the peoples of the national suburbs, also on the basis of the ideas of Pan- Turkism and Pan- Islamism which ultimately contributed to the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies. Integration of Central Asian nations in the all- Russian Muslim movement during the First Russian Revolution manifested in their participation in the “petition campaign”, all-Russian congresses of Muslims, religious and party building. An important aspect of this integration was the connection of Central Asian etnoelites to the work in the Muslim fraction of the State Duma of the Russian Empire. At the same time, the author emphasizes that in its inner content and requirements the religious movement of Muslim Steppe Region and Turkestan had some distinctive features. The latter is determined by the peculiarities of the legal status of Muslim communities in the region in the ethno-social structure of the Russian society. DOI 10.14258/izvasu(2016)4-16