Chuvash nationalism

Belief that Chuvash people constitute a nation

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The flag of Chuvashia

Chuvash nationalism or the Chuvash national movement (Chuvash: Чӑваш наци юмӑхӗ) is the belief that the Chuvash people are a nation. The movement, which originated in the 16th century, has included the evasion of taxes and duties, local armed actions, petitions to the authorities, withdrawal to regions weakly controlled by the state, participation in large-scale anti-government protests, and persistent resistance to mass Christianization.[1]

## Origins

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Deputies of the Second State Duma from Kazan Governorate in 1907: (standing) Grigory Petrukhin, Aleksandr Fyodorov, Sadri Maksudi Arsal, Gumer Musin; (seated): Zinoviy Talantsev, Mikhail Baturov, Mikhil Kapustin, Dmitry Kushnikov and Safiulla Maksyutov

The reforms of Alexander II and related socioeconomic, political and religious changes began a new era for the peoples of the Volga region. A significant factor in the national mobilization of the Chuvash people was the liberalization of social and political life in the legal and educational spheres. Nikolay Ilminsky, Nikolai Zolotnitsky, Ivan Yakovlev, Ilya Ulyanov, and Simbirsk Chuvash teacher's school played an important role in the development of education and culture among the Chuvash population. Socioeconomic changes during the second half of the 19th century formed the basis of Chuvash nationalism and its slogans, political interests, and demands.

At the turn of the 19th century, the Chuvash people consolidated with the Chuvash language and culture. By the early 20th century, 78 percent of the Chuvash people lived in seven adjacent counties of Kazan and Simbirsk Governorates. In the century's first decade, the national movement of the Chuvash people moved from a phase characterized by national educators and patriotic cultural figures to the spread of self-awareness among the Chuvash. The third phase of Chuvash nationalism ended as a mass movement with political slogans and a network of national organizations formed for ethnic emancipation in 1917.

## 1905 revolution

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The Volga-region national movement was accelerated by the Russian Revolution of 1905, which intertwined sociopolitical, economic, and national contradictions and conflicts. Nationalistic ideas were first proposed by the young Chuvash intelligentsia: teachers, priests, and lawyers. Many were students at the Simbirsk Chuvash teacher's school, but were dissatisfied with Ivan Yakovlev's objectives. Most of the Chuvash intelligentsia shared the ideas of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which had a great influence on Chuvash nationalism; Chuvash party members demanded national and cultural autonomy. The January 1906 publication of the newspaper Khypar contributed to nationalist unity, and played a role in the state Duma elections. Chuvash parliamentarians Y. A. Abramov, N. P. Efremov, D. A. Kushnikov, K. V. Lavrsky, I. I. Sokolov, Z. M. Talantsev and A. F. Fedorov, regardless of party affiliation, encouraged education and national equality.

The revolution attracted Chuvash peasants, and agriculture was included with sociopolitical and nationalistic demands: civil rights and freedoms, equality of languages, education in the Chuvash language, the local election of judges, the use of Chuvash in legal proceedings, and local Chuvash government. Youth and political radicals entered Chuvash social life from 1905 to 1907, supplementing national unification based on education and culture with an emphasis on political consciousness and the class struggle for the social liberation of the Chuvash people. Chuvash sociopolitical thought, based on liberal enlightenment, largely emphasized cultural and national autonomy; the idea of territorial autonomy was only proposed by I. N. Yurkin and G. A. Korenkov.

## After the February Revolution

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After the February Revolution of 1917, Chuvash nationalism developed n the framework of multi-ethnic territories of the peoples of the Volga-Kama region and small national congresses. The first national Chuvash associations began emerged in spring 1917. The Ufa Chuvash national society was created on 27 March, chaired by G. I. Komissarov, and a network of Chuvash national organizations (provincial, county and rural) was formed by summer.

A number of clergymen, including P. P. Shlenkin, D. F. Filimonov, T. A. Zemlyanitsky, G. T. Tikhonov, A. S. Ivanov and K. P. Prokopiev, became Chuvash nationalists. They supported the appointment of Chuvash priests to Chuvash parishes, the introduction of Chuvash in worship, and the installation of a Chuvash bishop. Revived on 1 May 1917, Khypar called for Chuvash unity.

A feature of the post-February period was the democratization of political institutions. Chuvash people were elected to chair the civil, Cheboksary, and Yadrin Zemstvo councils for the first time, and could participate in social and political life in councils of deputies, peasant congresses and unions, and soldiers' organizations.

The county peasant congresses discussed national self-determination and Russia's administrative and territorial structure. Chuvash military committees spawned a new generation of political leaders, including A. D. Krasnov, D. P. Petrov and G. T. Titov. The diversity of Cuvash nationalism after the February Revolution was reflected in teachers' unions and the Union of Chuvash students, a social space for the development of social and civic Chuvash society.

February 1917 stimulated multi-partyism, bringing to the forefront the liberal and socialist parties which articulated their visions. Political parties except for the Black Hundreds, operating in the Chuvash region, demanded autonomy in the Russian state. The leaders of the socialist revolutionaries, in the party's summer 1917 program goals, advocated a democratic republic with proportional representation. The platform of the Chuvash national movement was adopted at the All-Chuvash National Forum in June 1917 in Simbirsk, which elected the members of the Chuvash National Society.

## After the October Revolution

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The overthrow of the Russian Republic and the transfer of power into the hands of a coalition of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in October 1917 created a new configuration of political forces in the country. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic proclaimed in its decrees the de jure right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination until the formation of an independent state.

Largely under the influence of this circumstance, at the end of 1917, the national leaders of the Tatars and Bashkirs put forward a plan for regional autonomy of the Middle Volga region and the Urals (Volga-Ural state, Ural-Volga state, middle Volga and South Ural state, Volga-Kama state, Volga-Ural Soviet Republic or Tatar-Bashkir Soviet Republic).

In the discussions about its creation, the main requirements of the Chuvash representatives attended the equality and sovereignty of all its Nations and all national-cultural autonomy; the generated state was seen as an inseparable part of Russia, and internal administrative unit as "regiona (regional) Federal Republic of nationalities". The final position in the disputes about the Tatar-Bashkir Soviet Republic was expressed at the all-Chuvash workers 'and peasants' Congress (June 1918), which opposed the inclusion of the Chuvash population.

Between February and March 1918, there was a split in the Chuvash national movement between left- and right-wing groups, ultimately ending in a leftist victory. The leftists included the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Chuvash Socialist-Nationalist Party, and nonpartisan soldiers, teachers, and students who supported the Bolsheviks. Members of the left bloc seized the property of the newspaper's editorial office, "Khypar" from the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, and started publishing a new printing body, "Kanash". On 5 March the Chuvash left socialist Committee was formed, and on its initiative, the Commissariat for Chuvash Affairs under the Kazan Provincial Council was opened.

The final disengagement among Chuvash nationalist leaders occurred in the summer of 1918, when a large group of national figures, Chuvash delegates of the Constituent Assembly (G. F. Alunov, S. N. Nikolaev, D. P. Petrov, G. T. Titov, I. V. Vasiliev) moved to the anti-Soviet camp. However, the movement continued its organizational formalization in the form of Soviet-party organizations. In 1918–19 in Kazan, Simbirsk, Samar. and Saratov provinces arose Chuvash sub-departments in the provincial departments of the Executive committees of the Soviets, created the corresponding section at the provincial committees of the RCP(b); the Chuvash sub-divisions (sections) also operated under the political departments of the red Army headquarters and revolutionary military councils. The Central Soviet institution was the Chuvash Department under the People's Commissariat for Nationalities of the RSFSR headed by D. S. Elmen.

## Chuvash autonomy

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Since the 2nd Polina of 1918, Chuvash nationalist leaders began to lean towards the idea of national-territorial autonomy-the creation of the Chuvash administrative-territorial unit. The project of the formation of the Chuvash labor commune is documented. The idea of organizing a separate national-territorial unit for the Chuvash people was embodied in the creation of the Chuvash Autonomous region with its subsequent transformation into the Chuvash ASSR.

There was a network of national educational institutions in Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Simbirsk, Samara, and other provinces. Chuvash newspapers were produced in Samara and Kazan. For Chuvash residents throughout the Soviet Union, the Chuvash-language Voice of Workers newspaper was published in Moscow. In Bashkiria, Simbirsk province, Tatar ASSR, Saratov province, Kazakhstan, and Siberia were formed Chuvash national administrative-territorial units. In the 1920s, there was a network of Chuvash representations at the Central Party and Soviet bodies and institutions.

The abandonment of the New Economic Policy and Joseph Stalin's rise to power were accompanied by the curtailment of democratic processes in the sphere of national relations: the prevailing trend since the early 1930s has been towards unification. The national began to be interpreted as nationalistic and opposed to the international. The network of Chuvash representations in Moscow was liquidated, and the publication of the Central newspaper in the Chuvash language "Kommunar" was suspended. Under the banner of the fight against "nationalism" was a forgotten experience considering the interests of all ethno-territorial groups of Chuvashes. Official documents disappeared mention of the Chuvash compactly living outside the Republic, curtailing the processes of indigenization and implementation of the Chuvash language policy. In the mid-1960s, the theory of erasing national differences and merging nationalities into one "Soviet people" was proclaimed.

## Perestroika

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The situation in national relations began to change radically in the years of perestroika. Since the late 1980s, Chuvash nationalism has again risen to prominence. One of its organizational forms was the Coordination Center for Support of Creative Youth (CSCY) at the Chuvash regional Committee of the Komsomol, the decision to establish which was taken in April 1987. The CSCY comprised young writers, artists, actors, scientists, humanitarians, and students. Kctm events caused sharp discussions about the prospects of the poetic word, the tradition of the artistic and poetic avant-garde of the early 20th century, the status of the native language and the future of national cultures, the right of the nation to free political, economic and cultural development.

In the spring of 1988, a group of CHNII YALE and ChSU researchers took the initiative to create the Society of I. ya. Yakovlev, the program and Charter of the society as a people's social and political movement were developed. Among the goals and objectives proclaimed the moral and national revival of the society, the Association of national-cultural aspirations of all Chuvash people regardless of where they live, the sovereignty of the Chuvash Autonomous Republic in the sphere of economy, politics, and culture, the preservation and development of national traditions, giving Chuvash state language, study, and popularization of a heritage of I. Ya. Yakovlev and others. A discussion took place in the Republican mass media, on 30 November 1988 a broad meeting was held to discuss the program goals and objectives of The Yakovlev Society.

The initiative met with opposition from the Chuvash. the regional Committee of the CPSU, and scheduled for April 1989 constituent Congress was banned.

## ChSCC – CNC

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As an alternative, in December 1989, the founding Congress of the Chuvash Social and Cultural Center (ChSCC) was held, and the Chairman was elected M. N. Yukhma. In February and March, the Council of Ministers of the Chuvash ASSR approved the Charter and platform of the ChSCC. In March 1991, the founding congress of the Chuvash National Revival Party (Chuvash Atalanu Party, CHAP) was held, the program of which was aimed at achieving the economic and political sovereignty of Chuvashia. On 9 October 1992, the founding congress of the Chuvash National Congress (CNC) was held, the leitmotif of which was the implementation of state sovereignty in full. Atner Khoosanguy was elected as chairman of the PNP.

Since the late 1980s, there have been national and cultural associations of Chuvash in various regions of Russia, primarily in the Volga region (the republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, Ulyanovsk and Samara regions), where the largest mass of the Chuvash population lives relatively compactly outside the territory of Chuvashia. Different forms of Chuvash cultural organisations were created in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine) and the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia). After the Russian government adopted the Law On National-Cultural Autonomy in 1996, the Chuvash National-Cultural Autonomy (ChNCA) began to form. As of 2011[update], 85 Chuvash cultural organisations in Russia, including 25 national-cultural autonomies. In 2001, the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of the Chuvash people of Russia was approved as an extraterritorial public-state entity.

Most Chuvash cultural organisations are engaged in cultural and educational activities, such as the creation of folklore groups, a celebration of traditional Chuvash holidays, the publication of newspapers, folklore, and history books, initiatives to support Chuvash education (including the study of the Chuvash language and literature), and the organization of Chuvash radio and television programs.

## See also

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* Annexation of Chuvashia by the Tsardom of Russia
* Chuvash National Congress
* Chuvash National Museum
* List of Chuvashes
* Chuvash Wikipedia
* Chuvash National Broadcasting Company
* Chuvash National Radio
* ChuvashTet
* Pugachev's Rebellion
* Shoorcha rebellion
* Stenka Razin

## Literatura

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* С.В. Щербаков, "Чувашское национальное движение 1917–1921 годах. Взлёты и падения." /Chuvash national movement of 1917–1921. UPS and downs.

## References

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1. ^ Chuvash encyclopedia

## External links

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* What brought Chuvash and Jews together in 1917? And could the Ulyanovsk become the capital of the Chuvash Republic?
* Sergey Shcherbakov: Formation of autonomy of the Chuvash people in 1917–1921: periodization and new approaches
* Sergey Shcherbakov: The nature of the Chuvash national movement and its participants in 1917
* Sergey Shcherbakov: External factors that influenced the form and methods of the national movement of the Chuvash people in 1917
* Sergey Shcherbakov: The position of the Chuvash national movement at the regional and national level at the beginning of 1918

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