When the North Was Red: Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia 9780773565579

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Map
1 Approaches to Soviet Policy towards Northern and Far Eastern Peoples
2 Pre-revolutionary Conditions
3 Early Soviet Policy
4 Stalin and After
5 Northern Education during the 1980s
6 Perestroika, the Association of Northern Peoples, and the End of the USSR
7 Postscript: Some Comparisons between Soviet and Canadian Policy towards Aboriginal Peoples
Appendix 1: Occupational Data on Families of FPNR Students
Appendix 2: Benefits for Students at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute, 1981–82
Appendix 3: Graduates of the Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions, 1952–65
Appendix 4: Curricula and Required Work for FPNR Programs, 1981–82
References
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y

Citation preview

When the North Was Red Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia

Focusing on educational and social policies and practices, Dennis Bartels and Alice Bartels trace the development of Soviet policy towards aboriginal peoples from 1917 to 1989. When the North Was Red reveals the problems encountered by native peoples in Siberia and provides insights into aboriginal issues facing other nations. Early Soviet policy towards northern indigenous peoples was aimed at establishing aboriginal nations that retained traditional languages and occupations and at including native peoples in Soviet institutions such as schools, collective farms, and the Communist Party. The success of the initiatives, however, varied. While boarding-schools provided new educational and occupational opportunities for aboriginal peoples, traditional occupations and indigenous languages suffered periodically. During the final years of the Soviet Union, aboriginal political activists addressed the problem of how to protect the rights of aboriginal minorities in nations with large, non-aboriginal majorities, including the question of whether protection of traditional cultures tends to exclude participation in the larger society. These are issues that face all nations where native peoples coexist with nonaboriginal majorities. DENNIS A. BARTELS is associate professor of anthropology, Memorial University, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. ALICE L. BARTELS is field associate, Department of Ethnology, Royal Ontario Museum.

MCGILL-QUEEN S NATIVE AND NORTHERN SERIES

Bruce G. Trigger, Editor 1

When the Whalers Were Up North Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic Dorothy Harley Eber

2 The Challenge of Arctic Shipping Science, Environmental Assessment, and Human Values David L. VanderZwaag and Cynthia Lamson, Editors 3 Lost Harvests Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and Government Policy Sarah Carter 4 Native Liberty, Crown Sovereignty The Existing Aboriginal Right of Self-Government in Canada Bruce Clark

5

Unravelling the Franklin Mystery Inuit Testimony David C. Woodman

6 Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841 James R. Gibson 7 From Wooden Ploughs to Welfare The Story of the Western Reserves Helen Buckley 8 In Business for Ourselves Northern Entrepreneurs Wanda A. Wuttunee 9 For an Amerindian Autohistory An Essay on the Foundations of a Social Ethic Georges E. Sioui 10 Strangers Among Us David Woodman 11 When the North Was Red Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia Dennis A. Bartels and Alice L. Bartels

When the North Was Red Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia DENNIS A. ALICE

L.

BARTELS

BARTELS

McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo

© McGill-Queen's University Press 1995 I S B N 0-7735-1336-1

Legal deposit fourth quarter 1995 Bibliotheque Rationale du Quebec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Social Science Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and a publication subvention from Memorial University of Newfoundland. McGill-Queen's University Press is grateful to the Canada Council for support of its publication program.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Bartels, Dennis When the North was red : aboriginal education in Soviet Siberia (McGill-Queen's native and northern series, ISSN 1181-7453 ; n) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7735-1336-!

i. Indigenous peoples - Education - Russia - Siberia - History, i. Bartels, Alice, n. Title, in. Series. LA1391.B37 1995 371.9/971 €95-900487-4 Typeset in Palatino 11/13 by Caractera production graphique, Quebec City

This book is dedicated to our daughters, Natasha and Jessica, who accompanied us on our first two trips to the USSR. As a family we saw much of Soviet society that we otherwise would have missed. We thank them for their patience and their help.

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Contents

Preface ix Acknowledgments

xiii

Map xvi

1 Approaches to Soviet Policy towards Northern and Far Eastern Peoples 3 2 Pre-revolutionary Conditions 15 3 Early Soviet Policy 29 4 Stalin and After

50

5 Northern Education during the 19805 62 6 Perestroika, the Association of Northern Peoples, and the End of the USSR 80 7 Postscript: Some Comparisons between Soviet and Canadian Policy towards Aboriginal Peoples 94 Appendix i: Occupational Data on Families of FPNR Students 101 Appendix 2: Benefits for Students at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute, 1981-82 103

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Contents

Appendix 3: Graduates of the Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions, 1952-65 104 Appendix 4: Curricula and Required Work for FPNR Programs, 1981-82 105 References Index 123

115

Preface

Our interest in Soviet policy towards smaller groups of northern and far eastern aboriginal people arose through our interest in problems faced by Canadian aboriginal people. In 1969-70, when we began to study these problems, Canadian aboriginal people suffered more than any other group in Canada from unemployment, poverty family violence, substance abuse, suicide, incarceration, and low levels of education (Frideres 1974). The solutions to these problems proposed by aboriginal political activists and mainstream politicians were sometimes sharply contrasting. In Alberta, where we lived then, "separatists," represented by Chief Smallboy's band, argued that aboriginal people should avoid white society, withdraw to their traditional lands, and live as far as possible in traditional ways. Others - mostly non-aboriginals - argued that aboriginals should assimilate, even if it meant losing their native languages, traditional ways of life, and probably their special legal status as they became part of the larger society. The assimilationist position was expounded in the Trudeau government's 1969 White Paper on Indian policy (Bowles et al. 1972, 201-44). Federal and provincial politicians were not publicly discussing self-government for aboriginal communities, even though some aboriginal groups had been for some time (personal communication from J. McDonald, April 1992).

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It seemed clear, however, that both separatism and assimilation were undesirable and unworkable. There were insufficient lands and resources on reserves to sustain a traditional life even for status Indians. Large numbers of off-reserve Indians had no access to reserve land at all. And in so far as the separatist alternative meant giving up the products of modern industrial society, few aboriginals would have preferred it. At the same time, assimilation seemed impossible, not only because white racism would not have permitted it but also because many aboriginals did not want to abandon their native languages and other aspects of their traditional cultures. Thus the apparent alternatives of assimilation and separation actually presented no choice at all; there seemed no escape from the racial discrimination and poverty-related problems suffered by aboriginals. Farley Mowat's Sibir (1970), about his visits to the Yakut (Sakha) people of Siberia, aroused our curiosity. Could there be another alternative? Yakut reindeer breeding and hunting apparently coexisted with extensive industrial development. It seemed that Yakuts did not face the false choice of assimilation or separation. They could pursue industrial or other nontraditional occupations in their own regions without giving up their language and culture; or they could become hunters, trappers, or reindeer breeders without giving up the benefits of industrial society. Mowat's account of Yakut reindeer breeders, doctors, university professors, scientists, and politicians led us to wonder whether Soviet northern policy represented an alternative for aboriginal people that was not available in Canada. We began to read the few works by Western scholars on aboriginal peoples of the Soviet north, as well as Soviet works in English translation. Eventually we decided to try to go to the USSR in order to investigate Soviet policy towards the twenty-six smaller groups of aboriginal people of the north and far east (see Map). Preparations for research in the USSR were difficult and timeconsuming. We found that the agreement for exchange of scholars between Canada and the USSR had been put "in abeyance" by the Canadian government because of Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. Although the u.s.-Soviet academic-

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exchange agreement was still in operation, Canadian citizens were not eligible to apply. Thus, we could not use "normal channels" to do research in the USSR. We also learned that most parts of northern and far eastern Siberia, where aboriginal people lived, were closed to Westerners. We found a possible solution to the latter problem in a book on Siberia by the Cambridge scholar Terence Armstrong. He wrote that some of the functions of Leningrad's Institute of the North, where northern aboriginal people had been trained as teachers, co-operative organizers, and so on, in the 19305, were still being carried out at "other institutions" (1966, 73). One of these was the Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions (FPNR) of Leningrad's Herzen Pedagogical Institute. Leningrad was accessible to Western scholars, and research at the FPNR would allow us to meet northern aboriginal teacher trainees from all parts of the Soviet north and far east and to observe their interactions with Russian and other non-northern students. A research proposal based on this plan was approved for 198182 by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC). At the same time the USSR Academy of Sciences agreed to host us in the USSR. For eight months in 1981-82 we spent a great deal of time with Soviet ethnographers, students, and teachers in Leningrad and Moscow. Most were aboriginal people from the Soviet north and far east. We returned to the USSR for six weeks in 1986, again under the auspices of the SSHRCC and the USSR Academy of Sciences, spending time in Moscow, Leningrad, and northwestern Siberia, renewing acquaintances and meeting more aboriginal people. At that time the Canada-USSR academic-exchange agreement was still inactive. Our final research trip, for two months in late 1989, was part of the 1988 Canada-USSR academic-exchange agreement between the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the USSR State Committee on Public Education. In the atmosphere of glasnost, we were able to learn much about the problems faced by northern aboriginal peoples and the political and economic solutions that were being proposed for them. By then, approximately twenty years after we became interested in Soviet northern policy, there had been many changes.

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In Canada health care for aboriginal people had improved, and there were relatively more articulate aboriginal educators and political leaders. Discussion of separatism and assimilation had given way to demands for self-government and settlement of land claims; the possibility of assimilation was no longer openly discussed by federal and provincial governments. But some things had remained the same. Canadian aboriginals still suffered more than any other group from unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, and other social problems (McMillan 1988). Industrial and resource development continued on lands claimed by aboriginals, and many off-reserve Indians still had no access to their traditional lands and resources. Things had also changed in the USSR. It was now abundantly clear that traditional aboriginal occupations had, in some parts of the Soviet north, been disrupted by industrial and resource development. As well, it was clear that relations between aboriginals and migrants had not always been cordial and that there were serious deficiencies in health care and educational services available to aboriginals. Nevertheless, traditional aboriginal occupations remained viable in much of the Soviet north, and political and economic measures aimed at coping with aboriginal problems were being undertaken in some areas. Given the political and economic instability that was obvious in the USSR in 1989, however, it seemed to us unlikely that these measures had any immediate chance of success. Although we expected important changes in Soviet society when we wrote the first draft of this book in 1990, we did not foresee the end of the USSR. Nevertheless, data from our three field-trips to the former USSR reveal the legacy of Soviet policy towards northern and far eastern aboriginal peoples that has been inherited by the present government of Russia. Our hope is that they will also provoke useful comparisons with policies now evolving in Canada towards and among aboriginal peoples here.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Education of the USSR, and Memorial University of Newfoundland, all of whom supported the research upon which this book is based. We also wish to thank Ch. M. Taksami (head of the Siberia Section, Institute of Ethnography, St Petersburg), Alexandra A. Kudria (Institute of National Schools, Moscow), Maria Ya. Barmich, Ida V. Kulikova, Yulia D. Sverchkova, and Diana B. Gerasimova (all from the FPNR), Alexei A. Buruikin (Institute of Linguistics, St Petersburg), the late I.S. Vdovin and the late G.N. Gracheva, (Siberia Section, Institute of Ethnography, St Petersburg), Z.E. Chernyakov, D.P. Korzh, E.G. Susoi (Institute of National Schools, Salekhard), the late N.I. Teryoshkin (Institute of Linguistics, St Petersburg), T.M. Karavaeva (Institute of National Schools, Moscow), Yu. A. Syem (formerly of the FPNR), G.N. Kharutkina (Institute of National Schools, Moscow), N. Ssorin-Chaikov (Graduate Studies, Stanford University), James McDonald (First Nations Studies, University of Northern British Columbia), Bruce Cox (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University), Bruce Grant (Department of Anthropology, Swarthmore College), Kerstin

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Acknowledgments

Eidlitz Kuoljok, Terence Armstrong (University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute), Peter Wadhams (Scott Polar Research Institute), Piers Vitebsky (Scott Polar Research Institute), J.S. Frideres (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Calgary), and many others. Any errors of fact or interpretation are, of course, our own. The British Library Reader Guide, No. 3, Transliteration of Cyrillic, has been used for transliteration of Russian to English. We have not changed transliteration by other authors.

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Key

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Nationality

1989

1979

Saami (Lapps)* Nenets (Samoyed; Yurak) Nganasan (Tavgi; Tavgiyskiy Samoyed) Enets (Yenisey Samoyed) Komi** Khanty (Ostyak) Mansi (Vogul) Sel'kup (Ostyak Samoyed) Ket (Yenisey Ostyak) Dolgan Evenk (Tungus) Even (Lamut) Yakut** Yukagir Chukchi (Luorovetlany) Koryak (Nymylan) Itel'men (Kamchadal) Eskimo*** Aleut Nanay(Gold) Nivkh (Gilyak) Ul'chi Udeghei Orochi Oroki Tofalar Negidal Chuvantsi (Etel)

1,888 29,894 867 350 480,000 20,934 7,563 3,565 1,122 5,053 27,531 12,286 328,000 835 14,000 7,879 1,370 1,510 546 10,516 4,397 2,552 1,551 1,198 450 731 504 -

1,890 34,665 1,278 209 344,500 22,521 8,461 3,621 1,113 6,932 30,163 17,199 382,000 1,142 15,184 9,242 2,481 1,719 702 12,023 4,673 3,233 2,011 915 190 622 1,511

Source: IWGIA (1990). Notes: Large fluctuations in population figures may be due to changes in criteria for inclusion in national groups. * The ethnonym of each group during the Soviet period is followed by other names, in parentheses, that have been applied to the group in question. Names in parentheses are from Armstrong 1965, 184. ** The Komi and Yakut are relatively large groups in comparison with the twenty-six smaller groups of the north and far east, and there were Komi and Yakut Autonomous Republics. *** "Eskimo" was the preferred ethnonym in the late 19803.

The Nivkh ethnographer Ch. M. Taksami, head of the Siberia Section of the Institute of Ethnography in Leningrad. Dr Taksami was the first scholar from the smaller northern nationalities to become a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Photo by Lee Lorch 1983.

V.E. Chernyakov, of Jewish descent, was one of the first Soviet teachers among the Saami of the Kola Peninsula. During the early 19303 he used a Latin-type alphabet to prepare the first Soviet primer in the Saami language. Photo by A.L. Bartels, 1989.

I.S. Vdovin, a Russian ethnographer at the Institute of Ethnography in Leningrad. He was one of the first Soviet teachers in the north and had been a student of the wellknown ethnographer Waldemar Bogoras. Vdovin was the author of several Chukchi primers. Photo by A.L. Bartels, Leningrad, 1986.

Yeremei Aipin, a Khant writer and member of the Supreme Soviet. Aipin is well known for his criticisms of Soviet policy towards the Khanty and other northern peoples. Photo by A.L. Bartels, Moscow, 1989.

Ms. Bulatova, an Evenk linguist who worked at the Institute of Linguistics in Leningrad. She trained to be a teacher at the pedagogical college in Nikolaevsk-onAmur and taught for two years in a village where most of the students were Evenk. She then began graduate studies at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute's Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions, where she met Farley Mowat in 1969. She is the author of some of the school textbooks in the Evenk language. Photo by A.L. Bartels, 1989.

A.A. Kudria (centre), an Evenk educator, worked at the Northern Section of the Institute of National Schools in Moscow and was co-author of several Evenk schoolbooks. A.A. Antonova (far left), a Saami educator, worked in Lovozero on the Kola Peninsula for the Institute of National Schools, and had recently prepared a new Saami primer. The Saami educator Ekaterina Korkina (to the right of Kudria) taught the Saami language in Lovozero. Photo by A.L. Bartels, 1989.

Four of the full-time teachers at the FPNR in 1989. From left to right, Diana Gerasimova (Mansi), Yulia Sverchkova (Evenk), Dennis Bartels, Ida Kulikova (Chukchi), and Maria Barmich (Nenets), chair of Northern Languages at the FPNR. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

A first-year Yupik-Eskimo-language class at the FPNR in 1989. Contacts between Siberian and Alaskan Yupik-Eskimos had been recently established, and these students hoped to use their language during visits with their Alaskan relatives. As one student said, "They won't know Russian, and we don't know English, so we must speak our own language." "Eskimo" was an ethnonym in the USSR in 1989. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

Three Nivkh students at the FPNR in 1989. The student on the left studied the Nivkh dialect of the Amur River region, and the other two studied the Nivkh dialect from the island of Sakhalin. The teacher, L.M. Gashilova, a Nivkh educator, was married to a Sel'kup educator who taught the Sel'kup language at the FPNR. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

Three second-year FPNR art students in 1989. They spoke of their disappointment with the art program, which no longer drew upon traditional art forms of northern peoples. There were no first-year students, and it was unclear whether the program would be continued. In 1981-82 the art program had many more students, and the traditional art forms of northern peoples were taught. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

A first-year Evenk-language class at the Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions, Herzen Pedagogical Institute, Leningrad, 1982. None of the FPNR language classes had more than five students in 1981-82. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

On the steps of the Salekhard City Hall in northwestern Siberia, 1986. Fourth from the left is E.G. Susoi, a retired Nenets educator who had worked in Salekhard for the Institute of National Schools and taught the Nenets language at the Salekhard Pedagogical Institute. She is the widow of the Nenets poet Leonid Laptsui. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

The late Chukchi linguist, Piotr Inenlikay (left), with two Chukchi students at the FPNR, 1982. Inenlikay's parents were nomadic reindeer breeders in northeastern Siberia. He graduated in 1955 from the Herzen Pedagogical Institute's Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions and became a graduate student at the Institute of Linguistics in Leningrad. After receiving an advanced degree, he worked at the Institute of Linguistics until his death. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

A folk-dance group at the Salekhard Pedagogical Institute, 1986. Most of the performers were northern students, mostly Nenetz, Khanty, and Sel'kup, but some were from other nationalities - e.g., Georgian. E.G. Susoi had led this group before her retirement, and she was still called upon for assistance. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

In the school gymnasium at Gorky, near Salekhard, in 1986. Several Khanty women were employed repairing fish-nets when school was closed for the summer break. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

A Khant fishing-brigade leader on the Ob River near Salekhard, 1986. She had become a fisher in her teens during the Second World War. Photo by A.L. Bartels.

When the North Was Red

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i Approaches to Soviet Policy towards Northern and Far Eastern Peoples

After our field-work in the USSR in 1981-82, we began to look for theoretical frameworks to organize and interpret our data and to characterize the results of Soviet policy towards northern peoples. We first considered the sociological/anthropological concepts of structural/cultural integration, assimilation, and Russification. According to a popular introductory sociology book, "Structural integration refers to the full participation of various groups in the dominant set of institutions, such as schools, banks, and churches. Cultural integration refers to the adoption by various groups of the dominant ideas, traditions, languages, life styles, values and religions. It is cultural integration that most ethnic group members would prefer to avoid. Many would favor structural integration if it were not accompanied, as it generally is, by cultural integration" (Spencer 1981, 298). So defined, however, these concepts exclude the possibility that majority and minority institutions and cultures can be changed in similar ways as a result of state policy. When applied to relations between northern and non-northern peoples during the Soviet period, they allow only for northern structural and/or cultural integration, or non-integration, into non-northern (e.g., Russian) institutions and cultural practices. They were thus insufficient for characterizing policies of the

4 When the North Was Red

Soviet state that brought change to all Soviet peoples, including northern and non-northern groups (see Zaslavsky and Brym 1983, 96). While traditional occupations of northern peoples had been collectivized and mechanized, so had the traditional occupations of Russians and other non-northern groups. Most of the occupations that were "new" for northern peoples - e.g., motor maintenance, bookkeeping, teaching, driving, etc. - were also relatively new for most non-northerners, including Russians. Similarly, the Communist Party, local and regional Soviets, atheism, universal science-oriented education, and independence of women from male authority were largely absent not only from the traditional cultures of northern peoples but from the traditional cultures of all ethnic and national groups prior to the Revolution of 1917. Concepts other than structural/cultural integration were thus necessary to characterize such changes (Bartels and Bartels 1986). The concept of assimilation focuses on what an assimilated group retains or loses from its traditional culture and what it gains from or contributes to a "dominant" culture (Spencer 1981, 298). But assessing gains and losses from assimilation or non-assimilation is, like the concept of structural/cultural integration, inadequate for dealing with relations between northerners and non-northerners during the Soviet period. Measuring degrees of assimilation implies that northerners either did or did not assimilate to various facets of a dominant culture that was simply presented, to be accepted or rejected. This focus misses the fact that the traditional cultures of all national and ethnic groups were radically changed as a result of Soviet state policy. From the 19305 until the end of the USSR both northerners and non-northerners were, as a result of state policy, involved in collectivization, mechanization of traditional occupations, schooling, opening of educational and occupational opportunities to women, and so on. These changes were alien to the traditional cultures of northerners and non-northerners alike. The concept of assimilation commonly used by North American social scientists does not seem to take this possibility into account (Bartels and Bartels 1986). "Russification" may be defined as a type of forced assimilation in which the language and culture of a non-Russian group is suppressed in favour of Russian language and culture

5 Approaches to Soviet Policy

(Simpson 1968, 440), while many positions of significant wealth and power are reserved for Russians. It is difficult to argue that Soviet policy towards northerners, especially during its early and later phases, was aimed at Russification, since Soviet policy involved creation of written forms of northern languages and educational programs in northern languages during the 19305 and expansion and revitalization of such programs in the late 19705 and 19805. While there is evidence that Russians held many important and powerful positions in the Soviet north and far east, it is doubtful that this resulted from a conscious policy of Russification, since Soviet policy explicitly aimed to create and maintain "intelligentsias" composed of educators, academics, writers, and administrators from each northern group. Thus we found it necessary to look for concepts that could encompass both the integration of northern peoples into major Soviet institutions and their retention of many aspects of traditional cultures. It was also necessary to relate these processes to state policies that were applied to all nationalities and ethnic groups. The only concepts that we found to be adequate for this task were "consolidation" and "Sovietization." The former concept was originally devised by Soviet policy-makers and ethnographers to characterize state policy and its effects. We attempt to apply these concepts as well to political mobilization among Soviet northern and far eastern peoples during the late 19805. While Soviet ethnographers did not, as far as we know, discuss possible contradictions between these processes, we attempt to do so. Sovietization is defined by Aspaturian as the "process of modernization and industrialization within the [Soviet] MarxistLeninist norms of social, economic, and political behaviour" (1968, 159; Zaslavsky and Brym 1983, 96). Under this policy Soviet institutions such as state farms, schools, and Soviets replaced or modified certain traditional cultural practices and institutions among all nationalities and ethnic groups (Zasalvasky and Brym 1983, 96). For example, the decreasing influence of the Russian Orthodox faith, the disappearance of private ownership of the major means of production, the formation of Soviets, the introduction of compulsory education, and the collectivization and mechanization of agriculture

6 When the North Was Red among Russians were paralleled by the decreasing influence of shamans and wealthy reindeer breeders, the introduction of compulsory education, the formation of Soviets, and the collectivization and mechanization of traditional occupations among northern groups (see Bartels and Bartels 1986; Bartels 1983). Sovietization involved attempts by the state and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to establish cultural hegemony, in the name of the proletariat, over the entire society. Hegemony involves more than seizing and wielding the organs of state power. Hegemony is established, Gramsci argued in the 19305, through "organizations commonly called private, such as the Church, the Trade Unions, the schools, etc." (cited in Cox 1992, 3). Intellectuals play a key role in establishing hegemony, currents of public opinion, or "collective will" by producing "books, pamphlets, review and newspaper articles, conversations and oral debates repeated countless times" (cited in Cox 1992, 5). In the newly established Soviet Union many of these means were unavailable to the state and party because of massive illiteracy. Thus it was necessary to create and extend access to state-controlled mass media and to mount literacy programs. From the Bolshevik point of view, winning political allegiance to the Soviet state of nationalities and ethnic groups that had been subordinated during Tsarist times required that literacy programs be mounted in minority languages as well as Russian. A precondition for literacy among northern peoples was creation of written languages and creation of mass media in which these languages could be used. Attempts by early Soviet organizers to meld Soviet forms of organization with traditional northern occupations, social organization, festivals, and so on can also be seen in terms of the extension of hegemony. The early Soviet state's attempts to establish cultural hegemony should not be viewed as a thinly veiled effort to protect the wealth and power of a new elite. It seems likely that many Bolsheviks truly believed that, with state power in their hands, a majority of scientifically oriented workers could be created in the "backward" USSR and that establishment of Marxist cultural hegemony among these workers would lead to the appearance of a "new socialist person." (We have replaced the word "man," with "person" in this slogan in order to avoid

7 Approaches to Soviet Policy

sexist language and because we believe that it is in keeping with the slogan's original meaning.) This was seen as a new and higher stage of socio-cultural evolution. Soviet ethnographers and policy-makers used the concept of consolidation to mean the emergence of a common ethnic or national identity and lessening of differences between groups with similar or related languages, cultures, or histories. Consolidation involved a strengthening of certain cultural features and of the "self-consciousness" of ethnic groups or nationalities, which was deliberately promoted by development of a common literary language, emergence of a common educational system, and growing awareness of a common history and culture (N. Bromley 1983, 13-21). In general terms consolidation was seen as a necessary step in the evolutionary progression towards a socialist society in which national boundaries and consciousness would eventually be transcended as the new socialist person appeared. Northern peoples were not to be exempt from this process. For some northern peoples, consolidation meant development of written forms of their languages and use of these languages in new ways - for example, in school textbooks, newspapers, and broadcasting. Consolidation also meant provision of state support for recording, developing, or modifying certain traditional forms of art, crafts, literature, music, and dance. Finally, consolidation meant provision of state support for maintenance and expansion of traditional occupations such as hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding. All these activities required the development of a "national intelligentsia" of educators, academics, and administrators for each ethnic or national group. We wish to emphasize that Sovietization and consolidation were consciously promoted by the Soviet state. As the American Marxist sociologist Bernhard Stern characterized Stalinist nationalities policy: The task of the Russian people and particularly of the members of the Communist Party [during the 19205 and 19305! was defined in terms of bringing the non-Great Russian peoples up to their economic level, and of encouraging them to develop and consolidate their own Soviet state systems in patterns consistent with the

8 When the North Was Red national character of their cultures. Stalin specified that each nationality should man its own courts, administrative bodies, economic agencies and government by its own local native peoples and conduct them in its own language, and likewise should be helped to establish its native language newspapers, schools, theatres, clubs and other cultural and educational institutions. [Stalin emphasized] the development of native leaderships "capable of adapting their constructive work to the peculiarities of the concrete economic conditions, class structure, culture and habits of each particular people." (Stern 1944, 232) Stalin wrote in 1930, It may seem strange that we, who are in favor of a fusion of national cultures into one common culture (both in form and in content), with a single common language, are at the same time in favor of the blossoming of national cultures at the present time, in the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat. But there is nothing strange in this. The national cultures must be permitted to develop and expand and to reveal all their potential qualities, in order to create the conditions necessary for their fusion into a single, common culture with a single common language (Quoted in Stern 1944, 235).

But Soviet policies and institutions had yet another effect on northern peoples that was, perhaps, not consciously or deliberately planned. A "common northern identity," which included movement towards transcendence of traditional ethnic/national boundaries between northern groups in the context of concerted political action, was noticeable to us during the final years of the USSR. This development was a direct result of the involvement of northern people in Soviet educational, political, and other institutions. In the course of this involvement northern people from various groups were exposed to a specific body of knowledge and a specific ideological orientation. They came to understand, often through personal contact in particular political and educational institutions, that they shared certain orientations and attitudes towards northern social and economic problems. Thus, a common northern identity was beginning to appear. The emergence of this identity, however, did not necessarily involve a distancing from Soviet institutions and Sovietization.

9 Approaches to Soviet Policy

If anything, Soviet institutions provided a foundation for the emergence of northern consciousness and political activism. At the same time, emergence of a common northern identity did not involve displacement of national identities. While Soviet Marxist theory may have predicted that Sovietization and the emergence of a common Soviet identity would eventually eclipse national and regional cultural identities, we saw no evidence of such an outcome. The three processes coexisted, sometimes uneasily, up to the end of the USSR. In summary, the impact of Soviet policies and institutions on northern peoples involved three coexisting, sometimes contradictory, processes: Sovietization, ethnic/national consolidation, and a broader northern consolidation. These processes did not roll smoothly along. They were erratic, sometimes welcomed, sometimes resisted. Different processes dominated at different times. In the following chapters we shall see how Soviet institutions and policies affected these three processes during various periods of Soviet history. In chapter 2 we shall look at pre-revolutionary social and economic conditions among northern peoples, which provided the context for early Soviet policy. The roots of consolidation, Sovietization, and northern consolidation in early Soviet policy are treated in chapter 3, and the continuity of these prowcesses during the period of Stalin's rule and post-war resettlement are discussed in chapter 4. During the 19805 attempts to revitalize northern languages and cultures were reflected in education programs for northern peoples, and we examine the effects of these programs on the three processes in chapter 5. In chapter 6 we write about the social and economic problems of northern peoples during the final years of the USSR and look critically at solutions proposed by the Association of Northern Peoples (ANP) to these problems. We argue that the formation and activities of the ANP exemplified the three processes. In chapter 7 we briefly compare and contrast Soviet and Canadian policy towards northern/aboriginal peoples. A N O T E ON S O U R C E S

When we began research in the USSR, Soviet sources on contemporary conditions of aboriginal people in the north and far east of Siberia were generally mistrusted in the West. To many

10 When the North Was Red

Western scholars Soviet ethnographic works were not sufficiently critical of Soviet policies and assumed that the achievement of the socio-cultural evolutionary stage of socialism by aboriginal peoples was a desirable goal. This assumption was regarded as Eurocentric, even racist, by many Western social scientists, who also generally assumed that Soviet scholars who departed from the official "line" would be subject to censure, or worse, by the Soviet state. Consequently, we decided not to rely heavily on Soviet ethnographic sources. Instead, we hoped to depend for our main source of data on interviews with aboriginal students at the FPNR in Leningrad. In retrospect it seems that this approach was correct. By 1989 many Soviet ethnographers admitted that, prior to glasnost, Soviet ethnographic works were generally over-optimistic and unreliable because they minimized aboriginal problems. In addition to FPNR students, we interviewed other northern aboriginals whom we were able to contact in Moscow and Leningrad. These were mostly academics and educators who were involved in planning education programs for schools in aboriginal regions. We also interviewed some of the first Soviet teachers who worked among aboriginal people in the north and far east. We did not become fluent in Russian, but our command of the language was sufficient, we believe, to detect errors in interpreting during interviews. Although the USSR Academy of Sciences had accepted our proposal for interviewing FPNR students, we encountered much suspicion and distrust during our first research trip in 1981-82. Only after several months, when a few influential Soviet academics began to trust us, did we gain limited access to FPNR students. Instead of the six months' work at the FPNR that we had planned, we had six weeks. We obtained enough information, however, to publish educational and occupational data on Soviet northern aboriginals that had not appeared before in the North American ethnographic literature (Bartels and Bartels 1986). At the same time there was a reluctance to discuss certain problems that had begun to assume serious proportions. In 1986, during a brief trip to northwestern Siberia, some of these problems were mentioned: destruction of some reindeer-breeding areas as a result of oil and gas development,

ii Approaches to Soviet Policy

weakening of aboriginal languages, and so on. But we were still unaware of their full extent. By late 1989, however, reluctance to discuss northern aboriginal problems had not only vanished but reversed. Most aspects of Soviet policy towards northern aboriginals were subjected to unrelenting public criticism (for example, see Taksami 1989, and Pika and Prokhorov 1989). There was no resistance at all to discussing aboriginal problems with Western scholars; we found that some (but not all) aboriginal educators and academics were convinced that Canadian-style Indian reserves represented a viable alternative for Soviet aboriginals. That year we were able to interview several authors of school textbooks in northern languages, three northern members of the Supreme Soviet, and educators who were responsible for various programs in schools for northerners. We renewed acquaintances at the FPNR and met new students and faculty members. The present study is, of course, incomplete. It is impossible in a short work to cover all aspects of Soviet policy towards twenty-six aboriginal groups spread over millions of square kilometres, with divergent languages and cultural traditions. It appears that there are now unprecedented opportunities for Western scholars to do research in the former USSR. These include opportunities for extended periods of field-work among aboriginal groups in Siberia and opportunities for archival research on heretofore shrouded aspects of early Soviet policy. We hope that our work will encourage younger scholars to take advantage of these opportunities and that political and economic conditions in Russia will be sufficiently stable to allow such research to proceed. ABORIGINALITY AND IN THE USSR

NATIONALITY

Before continuing, it is necessary to clarify the concepts of aboriginality and nationality as they applied to the northern and far eastern peoples of the former USSR. It is generally accepted that the ancestors of Indian and Inuit people inhabited Canada prior to European contact and settlement and are therefore "aboriginal." The concept of

12 When the North Was Red aboriginality is used to legitimize current claims for lands and compensation in the courts. Since other Canadians are the descendants of later settlers, they cannot use the concept of aboriginality to justify land claims of their own. The nearest Soviet equivalent to the concept of aboriginality as defined above was the concept of "nationality," in so far as most of the more than one hundred Soviet nationalities could claim to be descendants of the earliest-known inhabitants of various parts of the USSR. Ukrainians in Canada are the descendants of settlers. In the former USSR Ukrainians were a "traditional" or "aboriginal" population of the Ukraine. There is, therefore, a potential use of the concept of aboriginality in the former USSR that is not present in Canada. Besides being used by minority populations as a form of protection, it can also be used by more powerful majority populations against minorities (for example, Jews). It could potentially be used to exclude northerners from living and working outside the north and far east - for example, in Moscow. In the current political climate of the former Soviet Union, which is marked by a tremendous rise of nationalistic feeling and ethnic consciousness as well as widespread economic hardship, this possibility should not be overlooked. By northern peoples, aborignals, or northerners we mean the twenty-six small nationalities of the north and far east of the former USSR whose traditional cultures were based upon hunting, fishing, and/or reindeer breeding. We shall not deal with the larger northern groups, the Yakut, Komi, and Buryat (Humphrey 1983). Most of the northern peoples live in what, during Soviet times, were seven "autonomous okrugs" in the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic (RSFSR). In practically all these regions northern people were greatly outnumbered by people from elsewhere in the USSR, mostly Russians (see Armstrong 1990). Generally, the newcomers were transients who lived in urban centres, while the northerners lived in rural areas. The twenty-six northern peoples ranged in population size from approximately 34,000 Nenets to approximately 200 Oroki and numbered, in all, about 180,000 (see Map). The early Soviet concept of nationality had a special connotation when applied to the northern peoples. Stalin defined a

13 Approaches to Soviet Policy

nation as a "historical entity of people in the period of formation and development of capitalism (capitalist type of nation) or socialism (socialist type of nation), characterized by stable common economic ties, territory, language and cultural and psychological features" (cited in Tishkov 1989,198). At the time of the Bolshevik Revolution the social formations of northern peoples still had, according to Soviet Marxist theory, many vestiges of patriarchal clan or other types of pre-capitalist, kinbased, "primitive communal" social organization. Since the northern peoples had not yet reached the capitalist stage of socio-cultural evolution, they did not constitute nations. Lenin argued that, with the help of the new socialist workers' state, groups at various pre-capitalist stages of socio-cultural evolution could bypass capitalism and advance directly to socialism and socialist nationhood (see Kuoljok 1985). Early Soviet policy towards northern peoples can be seen in large part as an attempt to provide northern groups with the elementary features of socialist nations. In the former USSR the nationality of every Soviet citizen was entered on his or her internal passport. Nationality was determined by parentage. Census records of nationality were, however, based on self-ascription. In cases of "mixed" nationality, individuals, at age sixteen, could choose the nationality of their mother or father. For example, a girl whose mother was Evenk and whose father was Ukrainian could, at age sixteen, have chosen Evenk or Ukrainian for her passport nationality. But the same girl, if she had been born and brought up in Moscow, might have regarded herself as Russian, or, more specifically, as a Muscovite. Thus she might describe herself as Russian to a census-taker. To use another example, a boy may have had parents who were both designated Yakut on their passports; his passport nationality would therefore be Yakut. But he might have been orphaned, raised by his Yukagir grandmother, and learned Yukagir as his mother tongue. In such a case the boy might describe himself as Yukagir to a census-taker. In the mid-1980s there were proposals put forward - for example, by the Institute of Ethnography in Moscow - to remove the requirement that nationality be entered on Soviet

14 When the North Was Red

passports. But these proposals were opposed, especially by members of smaller nationalities (personal communication from Valery Tishkov, Institute of Ethnography, Moscow, 1988). We do not know how recent political changes in Russia have affected the status of northern peoples' nationalities.

2 Pre-revolutionary Conditions

In order to determine the impact of Soviet policy on northern peoples it is necessary to have some idea of what their lives were like before the Bolshevik Revolution. Pre-revolutionary conditions among certain northern peoples were described in detail by Leo Sternberg (1861-1927), Waldemar Jochelson (1855-1937), and Waldemar Bogoras (1865-1936), three prominent ethnographers who, during periods of political exile in Siberia during late Tsarist times, carried out extensive ethnographic research on the Chukchi, Koryak, Nivkhi, Yukagir, and other northern groups. Until the late 19805 most Soviet sources claimed that, in late Tsarist times, the "Small Peoples" suffered from disease and alcoholism and were exploited by unscrupulous fur traders and Tsarist officials. Rich elders and shamans took advantage of the poor, and women were totally subjugated; in a few cases northern groups were on the verge of extinction. Typical presentations of these views can be found in works by the late Evenk Communist writer Uvachan (1960, 1976) and in works by various Soviet ethnographers from the 19405 to the late 19805 (for example, see Sergeyev 1964). Are such views credible, or are they vestiges of pre-glasnost Soviet propaganda? To answer this question we shall refer to the major works of Bogoras, Jochelson, and Sternberg. Although there are other

16 When the North Was Red

ethnographic accounts of pre-revolutionary conditions among northern peoples (see Collins 1991), including accounts by people who, like Bogoras, were active in the Committee of the North (for example, Kertselli and E.A. Kreinovich), these are in general more difficult to obtain, less comprehensive, and less influential than the works of Bogoras and Jochelson. Bogoras and Jochelson's major works achieved prominence largely because they were part of the reports of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition of 1897-1902, which, under the direction of Franz Boas and the American Museum of Natural History, sought to discover evidence of linguistic and cultural links between the Haida, Bella Coola, Kwakiutl, and other groups of coastal British Columbia and the Nivkhi, Koryak, Chukchi, Yukagir, and other groups of far eastern Siberia (Freed, Freed, and Williamson 1988, 19883). Bogoras and Jochelson were accompanied by their wives, who took part in the collection of data. In most but not all respects Jochelson, Bogoras, and Sternberg's characterizations of pre-revolutionary conditions among the Yukagir, Chukchi, Nivkhi, and Koryak support later Soviet claims regarding the negative effects of Tsarist policy on northern peoples. BOGORAS AND JOCHELSON ON THE CHUKCHI AND KORYAK

Both the Chukchi and Koryak were divided into sea-mammal hunters, settled in coastal villages, and nomadic reindeer breeders. According to Bogoras, there were approximately 340 maritime Chukchi in seven "principal" villages and 7,5009,000 reindeer Chukchi in 650 camps (1904-09, 27-9). According to Jochelson, there were approximately 3,748 reindeer Koryak and 3,782 maritime Koryak (1905-08,445). The Koryak population was relatively stable, Jochelson believed, because it increased between epidemics (1905-08, 414). Bogoras believed that the Chukchi population was expanding, in contrast to the Itel'men (aka Kamchadal), whose numbers were decreasing (1904-09, 23). The Koryak and Chukchi had not lost their languages to any significant extent. Jochelson cites the 1897 census, according to which there were 239 reindeer/

17 Pre-revolutionary Conditions

dog-breeding Yukagir and 764 reindeer Yukagir (1905-08, 59). Of these, 433 knew the Yukagir language (1905-08, 59). Jochelson and Bogoras were both convinced that the Yukagir would soon disappear because of exploitation, assimilation, and a low birth rate (Jochelson 1905-08, 2; Bogoras 1904-09, 35). Almost one hundred years later Boris Chichlo also predicted that the Yukagir language, culture, and people would soon disappear (1983). The Yukagir, however, have so far survived. According to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), based in Copenhagen, in 1989 the Yukagir numbered 835 (see Map). In late 1989 Soviet educators told us that a primer in Yukagir had been published in the late 19805. European diseases such as measles and smallpox periodically depleted northern populations, sometimes wiping out entire families and settlements. For example, "in spring of 1900, a measles epidemic was ravaging Koryak camps, carrying off numerous victims. Several large families were reduced to only one member. In some camps of the reindeer Koryak there were so many dead, and such a small number of people who were in good health, that the latter were unable to burn all the dead" (Jochelson 1905-08, 104). Bogoras and Jochelson also mention the prevalence of skin diseases due to lack of hygiene (Jochelson 1905-08, 416; Bogoras 1904-09, 42). Infirmity in old age, or painful illness, sometimes led Chukchi to request their relatives to kill them. Grief was also a cause of suicide. The introduction of alcohol, mainly by Cossacks and Russian fur traders, caused serious problems among the Chukchi and Koryak. Both groups had traditionally used hallucinogenic mushrooms (for example, see Bogoras 1904-09, 206; Jochelson 1905-08, 416). The Koryak and Chukchi reindeer herds provided a food supply that was more secure than supplies available to settled hunters and fishers. In times of famine, which occurred "every other year" in the Kolyma River region (Bogoras 1904-09, 716), settled people, including Russian settlers, were often dependent upon gifts of meat from Koryak and Chukchi nomads. A Russian woman who married a Chukchi reindeer breeder said, "There on the river the people are hungry ... but our food walks around us on four legs" (Bogoras 1904-09,593). Reindeer

i8 When the North Was Red

herds were, however, subject to various kinds of diseases, which could quickly kill large numbers of animals (Bogoras 1904-09, 80). In the course of two hundred years of the fur trade and a taxation system based largely upon fur "tribute," populations of fur-bearing animals had been seriously depleted. Bogoras remarks that sables in the Kolyma region had been hunted to extinction. He refers to "reckless shooting of walrus by the natives/' even after American whalers stopped buying walrus tusks, and to other cases of overhunting by the Chukchi (132-3). The average Chukchi reindeer herd consisted of about two hundred animals, but rich families sometimes owned several thousand. Rich families could become poor if their herds became diseased or if animals were lost through theft or negligence. Chukchi and Koryak, including rich families, shared during times of scarcity (Bogoras 1904-09, 634). Bogoras describes the relationship between rich and poor Chukchi herders as follows: Many poor families, especially those who want to raise a herd of their own, enter the service of one of their wealthy neighbors for several years. They are very hard-worked, and receive as pay their meat-supply and skins from the herd of their master; but in moving from camp to camp they must use their own pack and driving animals. Meanwhile their own little stock is left undisturbed to multiply. In return for good services, they may expect to receive from their master every year about ten fawns; and with the natural increase of their own animals they may secure one hundred reindeer in the course of five fairly favorable years. Such helpers are called "dwelling-mates" ...; and the owners of every large flock, when short of hands, will strive in every way to attract at least one poor family. Often these are poor relatives of the owner of the herd. If there are any young unmarried men in these families, they will be offered a girl of the master's family in marriage, and thus become relatives of his. (83)

Bogoras quotes an earlier traveller, Sarytcheff: "The Chukchee have no chiefs or authorities. Each community has a man who is richer than the others, or who has a larger family; but he also is little obeyed and has no right to punish anybody" (543).

19 Pre-revolutionary Conditions

Bogoras writes, "Chukchee law is wholly regulated by personal action; and there is no punishment as a public institution, but only private vengeance, ransom, or strife" (574). Among the Chukchi, Koryak, and Yukagir, women were subordinated to men and largely restricted to the domestic sphere. The best food was generally served to men, and women ate left-overs. Large reindeer herds were generally not inherited or controlled by women. Bogoras notes that, among the reindeer Chukchi, the women worked harder than the men (547). Pre-marital sex was the norm among the Chukchi and Yukagir but not among the Koryak. In all three groups a prospective husband usually performed bride-service for his future father-in-law, and bride-wealth was sometimes given. Sometimes a girl could refuse to marry a man accepted by her father, but such cases were rare. Divorce and separation were common, and a woman could often return to her family. Widows were expected to marry a brother of the late husband. In some cases strong bonds of affection developed between husbands and wives (Bogoras 1904-09, 551). Rich reindeer breeders often had more than one wife. The practice of "lending" wives to visiting males was common among the Chukchi and Yukagir. In some cases women could refuse to be "lent"; in others they were forced (see Bogoras 1904-09, 605). The Chukchi had a form of "group marriage" in which several men of the same generation could sleep with each other's wives during visits (Bogoras 1904-09, 602). Again, in some cases women could refuse, but this was rare. Among the Chukchi, rape was common (Bogoras 1904-09, 573). Jochelson remarks on the unusual chastity of Koryak girls and women (1905-08, 733). He regards the "sexual looseness" of the Yukagir as resulting from contact with the Russians (191026, 67). On their various expeditions Bogoras and Jochelson did not, according to their accounts, take advantage of offers of sexual hospitality. Their Cossack assistants, however, did (see Bogoras 1904-09, 607). Jochelson, Bogoras, and Sternberg recognized that belief in various kinds of supernatural forces often regulated the actions of the Chukchi, Koryak, Yukagir, and Nivkhi. If not respected and/or placated by sacrifice, the spiritual masters of

20 When the North Was Red

various species could withhold fish and game (see Bogoras 1904-09, 206). Spirits of the dead, or other types of spirits, could bring good luck, bad luck, or death. Shamans interceded with spirits on behalf of humans. Jochelson and Bogoras saw most shamans as slightly deranged individuals and/or minor charlatans whose demonstrations of "power" were based on ventriloquism or sleight of hand (see Jochelson 1905-08, 49; Bogoras 1904-09, 439). Both admit, however, that they were unable to detect how shamans' "tricks" worked in every case. For example, Bogoras could not see how an Eskimo shamaness "transformed" a large stone into many small stones, even though he was convinced that she had simply used a magician's trick (444). Jochelson, disturbed by the shamanic practice of animal sacrifice, wrote, "Of course, from their point of view, the Koryak have just as much right to sacrifice their dogs for the sake of their own welfare as we have to kill cattle to support our existence; but I never felt so sad on account of human delusions as when, approaching the settlement, I suddenly saw several dozen stakes with needlessly killed animals hung to them" (1905-08, 97). Jochelson and Bogoras's representation of shamanism as minor trickery probably reflects their materialistic-atheistic world-view. It stands in contrast to the portrayal of shamanism by other anthropologists as a source of "ecstasy" (see Eliade 1959, 175), or as a repository of traditional values, knowledge, and wisdom. It should be mentioned, however, that, in an article in the American Anthropologist Bogoras argued that shamanistic concepts of space and time were similar to the concept of space-time in Einstein's theory of relativity (1925). Nivkhi shamanism and dog sacrifice are mentioned by Sternberg, but not emphasized (ca 1900, 308-9). Unlike Bogoras and Jochelson, Sternberg, at least in his pre-revolutionary ethnographic work, did not portray shamans as charlatans who gained materially by exploiting the superstitious beliefs of other aboriginals. His portrayal of shamanism as an integral part of Nivkhi life is neutral in tone. At the time of the first Russian-Cossack incursions in the seventeenth century there were bloody wars between the Koryak and Chukchi and between other northern peoples.

21 Pre-revolutionary Conditions

Captured warriors were sometimes enslaved and their families killed in order to prevent the possibility of blood revenge. Possession of steel blades and firearms, coupled with divideand-conquer tactics, allowed the Russians and Cossacks to defeat most northern groups, despite fierce resistance. Koryak and Chukchi warriors sometimes killed their families and themselves rather than risk brutal treatment by Cossack and Russian captors (Jochelson 1905-08, 795). Attempts by Tsarist officials and Cossacks to force northern peoples to pay taxes in furs led to repeated Chukchi and Koryak uprisings. These were brutally suppressed, but the great expense of punitive expeditions finally compelled the Tsarist state to cease in its attempts to subjugate the Chukchi and Koryak by military means. Taxes were collected when and where it was possible. In effect, the reindeer Chukchi were never conquered. According to Bogoras, wars between northern peoples had ceased by the mid-nineteenth century, and there was much contact and intermarriage, except with the Yakut, who were seen by the Chukchi as richer and stronger than the Russians (1904-09, 595). The Yakut (Sakha) were and are in a different situation vis-a-vis Russians than are other aboriginals, partly because they are not a "Small People" but, as was explained to us in 1981, a "Large People." The relationship between the Yakut and the "Small Peoples" has sometimes been problematic. For example, Jochelson writes that Yakut "guests" would sometimes take advantage of traditional Yukagir hospitality until winter food supplies were exhausted, thus causing starvation among the Yukagir (1910-26, 43). Russian administrators divided the Chukchi, Koryak, and Yukagir into fictitious "clans." The number of adult male hunters in each clan was periodically established by census; each hunter was supposed to pay a tax, in furs, to the tsar. Clan "chiefs" were responsible for collecting the furs and presenting them to Tsarist officials. The tax remained constant between censuses, even if a clan was largely wiped out by disease. Jochelson cites cases where Yukagir hunters could not feed their families because they had to pay taxes for these "dead souls" (1910-26, 53). In the early nineteenth century taxes were collected from the Chukchi and Koryak on a "voluntary" basis, in exchange for "presents" of manufactured goods from the

22 When the North Was Red state. In the late nineteenth century the value of such presents to the Koryak and Chukchi far exceeded the value of the fur tribute that the Chukchi and Koryak gave to Tsarist officials (for example, see Jochelson 1905-08, 801; Bogoras 1904-09, 708). Russian policy in the north was mainly based on a quest for furs by the state and by private traders. As well, the Tsarist state sought to assert sovereignty over the whole of Siberia. Concomitants of this quest were the spread of alcoholism, disease, and sexual exploitation of northern women by Russians and Cossacks. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries American whalers and fur traders frequently appeared in the far east of the Russian Empire. They too brought alcohol and disease to northerners. Alcoholism, disease, and disruption of traditional sexual norms affected Russian and Cossack settlers as well as northern peoples. Bogoras and Jochelson frequently refer to alcoholism, starvation, disease, promiscuity, and incest among the Russian and "creole" settler populations (for example, see Bogoras 1904- 09, 721). Although "creoles" and Russian settlers were often dependent upon Chukchi and Koryak reindeer breeders for food, they "detested" northern peoples and tried to "bleed and oppress them in every way" (Bogoras 1904-09, 723). Russians did not attempt to learn aboriginal languages. In spite of this, the Chukchi saw the Russians "as belonging to a higher civilization" (Bogoras 1904-09, 594). In the nineteenth century various Tsarist governments attempted to curb state corruption, the sale of alcohol, and exploitation of northern people by private traders, but these policies were not enforced. Bogoras summarizes the effects of contact between Russians and northern peoples: Russianization of the Chukchee has made no progress at all during the two centuries of Russian intercourse with the Chukchee. [The Chukchi] kept the language, all their ways of living, and their religion ... ... the first things brought by the Russians was a request for tribute and war. [The Chukchi] successfully repelled the first and held their ground in the second; and when the war at last ceased, they preserved their national vigor, and so they could avail themselves of

23 Pre-revolutionary Conditions peace. This explains the spread of the Reindeer Chukchee westward and southward, and the subsequent increase in their herds. In modern times, the same as two centuries ago, Russianization for this nomadic and primitive people would mean destruction and death. It is their good fortune that the latest contrivances of the Russian Administration, like the "clans" and the "chiefs," and the voluntary tribute, are mere outward forms and do not produce much change in their material or social life. Russian influence has brought to the Chukchee tools and instruments of iron, flintlocks and powder, iron kettles, and hardware. These are real acquisitions. Colored beads, and overcoats of gaudy calico, are also to be counted among the acquisitions, since they satisfy the aesthetic sense much better than the corresponding native objects ... Along with these acquisitions were also brought contagious diseases, alcohol, and card-playing and their influence certainly equals that of the newly introduced inventions (1904-09, 731-2).

Not surprisingly, Bogoras and Jochelson were strong critics of Tsarist policy towards northern peoples. Bogoras refers to widespread corruption and "oppression and extortion of every kind" by merchants and Tsarist officials (1904-09, 715). Russian Orthodox priests and missionaries he describes as incompetent, venal, and corrupt (726). But Bogoras and Jochelson's main target was the inefficiency of Tsarist administration. They point out that the sums spent on the salaries and maintenance of officials, priests, and Cossacks greatly exceeded tax revenues and that virtually nothing was spent on health care, education, and famine relief (for example, see Bogoras 190409, 716-18). Bogoras notes that, around 1900, the Tsarist state spent approximately 50,000 rubles per year in the Kolyma District, mainly for salaries and maintenance of five administrators, seven priests, and a contingent of Cossacks. The populations of the district consisted of approximately 3,000 "sedentary individuals" and approximately 3,000 "wandering natives." During the same year the state collected less than 10,000 rubles in revenues (712-13). Jochelson argues that the state could greatly reduce the number of officials and reallocate funds saved thereby to bringing "culture" to the Koryak. For Jochelson this meant provision of schools that would teach

24 When the North Was Red

literacy in Russian, improved methods of catching and preserving fish, prevention of epidemics among reindeer, and so on (1905-08, 806). While Bogoras and Jochelson's depictions of Tsarist policy and the life of northern peoples at the turn of the century are generally consistent with later Soviet claims, there are some differences. In Soviet literature rich reindeer breeders are generally portrayed as exploiters whose "charity" towards poor relations was actually a means of obtaining "cheap labor." The following passage by the late Evenk Communist writer Uvachan is typical: The stamp of patriarchal society lay upon the relations between people. The exploiters and shamans preached that the rich and the poor were brothers, that the rich assisted the poor and came to their aid in all emergencies, since the poor were their "helpers," that only the rich were capable of managing their estates and of governing others. In order to camouflage this state of exploitation, the local [Evenk] rich made wide use of the remnants of the patriarchal-tribal system. There were several forms of concealed exploitation ... There also existed the so-called "care of dependents" ... an entire family lived and worked in a rich man's household. This was considered "tribal assistance" ... Another common custom [involved handing over children], sisters and brothers to a rich kinsman, to be "brought up" in his household. Needless to say, these children became the slaves of the rich man. There were also many instances of children being sold outright. Often a rich reindeer-breeder would "marry" his 13- or 14-year-old sons to 20- or 25-year-old women from poor families in order to secure free labourers to tend his herds. (1960, 23-5; also see Sergeyev 1964, 498)

Bogoras's picture is not so unremittingly harsh. He claims that, among the reindeer Chukchi, some "masters" treated their "servants" well, while others did not (1904-09, 617). If a rich reindeer breeder was "too niggardly toward his helpers," it was the duty of his wife "to make up for his shortcomings from her store rooms and clothing bags" (47). At the same time, "masters" prevented "servants" from living with herds for long periods of time so that "ownership" of the herds would not be assumed by the "servants" (623).

25 Pre-revolutionary Conditions

Soviet portrayals of traders and merchants are also consistently negative (see Uvachan 1960, 31). The following passage from Sergeyev is typical: "exploitation by private commercial capital ... took the form of unfair rates of exchange in the fur trade, of encouraging them [i.e., northern people] to drink, and of their enslavement through inherited debts" (1956, 494). This characterization is supported by Bogoras's description of extensive exploitation of the Chukchi by Russian merchants and Tsarist officials, including the secret sale of alcohol, and attempts to maintain artificially high prices for manufactured goods by state regulation (1904-09, 704). His accounts of official corruption are, again, consistent with those found in later Soviet sources: "I know ... of cases where the [Russian] chief of [a] district would lose at card-playing the whole amount of taxes of some community, and then would make the accounts so complicated that they had to pay it again the next year as arrears" (715).

STERNBERG'S SOCIAL OF THE GILYAKS

ORGANIZATION

O

Although Sternberg's ethnographic monograph on the Gilyak, or Nivkhi, the current ethnonym, was supposed to be included in the reports of the Jesup Expedition, the projected volume was never printed (Chard 1961,13). We obtained a copy of the 344-page manuscript of Sternberg's book, Social Organization of the Gilyaks, from the American Museum of Natural History. The monograph is mainly aimed at showing that "group marriage" persisted as a central feature of Nivkhi social organization. According to Sternberg, custom dictated that Nivkhi men should marry a cross-cousin; marriage conferred sexual access not only to a particular woman but to most women of her age within her clan, provided that they were agreeable and that the resulting liaisons were discreet. The discovery of a surviving example of group marriage among the Nivkhi, Sternberg argues, vindicates Lewis Henry Morgan's theory that group marriage was a major feature of an early, universal stage of socio-cultural evolution (Morgan [1877] 1974). Sternberg's monograph also contains useful information on social and economic conditions among the Nivkhi in the late

26 When the North Was Red nineteenth century and on the effects of prolonged Nivkhi contact with Chinese and Russians. According to a census he carried out in 1891, there were approximately 1,000 Nivkhi men and 785 Nivkhi women in northern Sakhalin. Because of this unequal sex ratio and because well-to-do men often had two to four wives, most Nivkhi men had difficulty finding a wife. Sternberg reports that for every polygynous man there were nine monogamous men in northern Sakhalin (70). He does not include population figures of Nivkhi groups in the Amur River region (see Black 1977). The Nivkhi subsisted mainly by fishing. They also hunted, especially for fur-bearing animals, whose furs were exchanged with Russian and Chinese traders for brick tea, flour, alcohol, guns, kettles, and other goods. Nivkhi clans were maledominated and patrilineal but retained important elements of communalism. Fishing was carried out co-operatively, and food, especially dried fish, was shared. Wealthy men helped poorer clansmen, but not all clans had wealthy men. Nivkhi clans did not have hereditary leaders or patriarchs, although certain men gained influence because of their wealth, generosity, eloquence, or wisdom. An attempt by the Tsarist authorities to appoint "compliant" clan "elders" was unsuccessful (Sternberg ca 1900, 320). Sternberg claims that some Nivkhi possessed slaves, but he does not describe Nivkhi slavery in detail (239). The contemporary Nivkhi ethnographer Chuner M. Taksami argues that slavery did not exist in traditional Nivkhi society (see Black 1977, 77). Sternberg also asserts that it was the introduction of trade goods by Chinese and Russians that led to the development of individual greed and stratification among the Nivkhi (135). Traditional wife-giving/taking between particular clans, he notes, had not involved bride-price (258). With the development of stratification, bride-price appeared. Accumulation of wealth allowed rich men to pay bride-prices for beautiful and skilled wives from "strange" clans; fathers sought large brideprices by marrying their daughters to rich men (230, 258). Such marriages were sometimes contracted when girls were less than ten years old (239). Bride-wealth given by rich Nivkhi men included Chinese silk, Manchurian spears inlaid with

27 Pre-revolutionary Conditions

silver, Japanese sabres, cast-iron kettles, and sable coats. Bridewealth for poorer families included boats, guns, and dogs (260). Unless a man, his brothers, and his clan-mates could pay a bride-price, he would be compelled to live with his brothers; his sexual activity would be restricted to "group wives" (261). According to Sternberg, if an unmarried Nivkhi girl became pregnant, she was compelled to identify and marry the alleged father of her child. Refusal to name the father was interpreted to mean that he was from a category to which incest taboos applied; consequently, she was compelled to abort. If the child was already born, it was killed (76). Sternberg writes that girls were often forced to marry against their will, especially when bride-price was involved (269). In order to escape an unwanted marriage, girls would sometimes commit suicide or run away with their lovers. If a woman ran away from her husband, this could result in legal wrangling over the return of bride-price or in attempts by the husband and his kinsmen to recapture the bride (269). Sternberg reports that Russian Orthodox missionaries and Tsarist administrators sometimes supported the husbands in such cases; in others they supported the runaway wives (269-70). Tsarist administrators tried to prevent Nivkhi husbands from killing wives caught having sex with someone who was not a "group marriage partner" (45). The dowry of a woman remained her property after marriage; it was usually inherited by her daughters (264). The first invasion of Nivkhi territory by Cossacks in the seventeenth century was marked by "irrational cruelties and avidity for precious furs" (Sternberg ca 1900, 273). Chinese and Russians introduced alcohol and exploited the Nivkhi through unequal exchange. Infectious diseases introduced by the Russians and Chinese decimated the Nivkhi population, sometimes wiping out entire clans (132). Russians and Chinese often held the Nivkhi in contempt; this led some Nivkhi to lose respect for traditional Nivkhi institutions (134). The Nivkhi generally extended hospitality to Russians, despite exploitation and mistreatment by Tsarist administrators, traders, and some settlers. Sternberg writes that there were many cases where, after extending hospitality to a Russian convict, a Nivkhi family would be killed by the convict whom they had harbored (272). Sternberg also notes that the

28 When the North Was Red

Nivkhi had met and lived with "many peaceable Russians" (273). There were, according to him, cordial relations between the Nivkhi and neighbouring groups of Oroki, Nanay, Evenk, Ainu, and Yakut (Sakha) (272). He reports much intermarriage between Nivkhi and Evenk but little intermarriage between Nivkhi and Ainu. Most Nivkhi knew the Evenk language (43). Sternberg had great respect for traditional Nivkhi culture. He argues that it provided a harmonious way of life in which disputes were settled, marriages concluded, feasts given, famine relief distributed, war conducted, and debts settled without priests, bureaucrats, taxation, or "organized power" (331). At the same time he did not idealize Nivkhi life. He describes it as full of "bereavements, starvation, dangers, and general monotony" (270). Bogoras, Jochelson, and Sternberg, of course, accepted many of the theoretical presuppositions and modes of discourse of early twentieth-century anthropology. They obviously had an evolutionary-developmental perspective, although Jochelson's was clearly not aligned with that of his Marxist contemporaries. He explicitly rejects the view that Koryak society exhibited survivals of a matriarchal stage of socio-cultural evolution (1905-08,112). In his monograph on the Yukagir he argues that looking for survivals can "obscure ... investigation" (1910-26, 61). While Bogoras presents a five-stage theory of the development of religion, he also makes it clear that "stages" could develop and coexist simultaneously. Sternberg's support of Morgan's theory of socio-cultural evolution has been noted. Sternberg, Bogoras, and Jochelson often refer to northern peoples as "uncivilized," meaning that they had not developed industrial technology and lacked state organization. At the same time, they make it clear that the impact of "civilization," in so far as it had brought alcohol, taxation, disease, and so on, was in many respects negative. It is also clear that they were motivated by deep respect and humanitarian concern for the people they studied.

3 Early Soviet Policy

Immediately after the Bolshevik Revolution the new Soviet government promulgated a Declaration of the Rights of Peoples of Russia, which guaranteed the right to self-determination and the abolition of religious and ethnic discrimination. Stalin was appointed Peoples' Commissar for Nationalities. But Soviet rule in the north and far east did not effectively begin until the end of the civil war, which lasted longer in Siberia than in western Russia. Japanese troops, sent to Siberia ostensibly to assist Tsarist forces in the civil war, were not driven from the far east until 1924. In some areas northern peoples assisted the Red forces. According to Soviet sources, Nenets groups in western Siberia fought on the side of the Bolsheviks (Garusov 1964; Slezkine 1989, 251). The Nanay novelist G. Khojer refers to a Nanay partisan unit in the Amur region (1965, 55). There were also cases where northern people resisted Soviet power, as in the Khanty uprising of the early 19305. THE C O M M I T T E E OF THE NORTH

The civil war brought an end to shipments of flour and manufactured goods to Siberia. Northern peoples could not obtain

30 When the North Was Red

traps, ammunition, fish hooks, and other necessities. Game and reindeer populations were seriously depleted: The conditions of Native life in the north were admitted to be catastrophic. There was urgent need to introduce some comprehensive and efficient changes. So the Committee of Assistance to the Lesser Nationalities of the North [i.e., the Committee of the North] was established in 1924 as a special organization for this purpose. One of the initiators was Prof. W.G. Bogoras, who in 1923 presented to the Narkomnaz (People's Commissariat of Nationalities, a kind of second chamber of the state organization of that time) a special memoir to that effect. The president of the committee was, from the beginning, P.G. Smidovich [an engineer who had been exiled by the Tsarist government to Siberia for Bolshevik activity]. (Bogoras and Leonov 1930, 447)

The Committee of the North included such Bolshevik leaders as Lunacharsky, People's Commissar of Education, Yaroslavsky, a member of the Secretariat of the party, and Ordzhonikidze, chairman of the Central Control Commission of the party, although Slezkine claims that Lunacharsky and the other top Bolsheviks did not play an active role (1989, 279-80). The experts on northern peoples included Bogoras, Sternberg, Skachko, Kreinovich (a student of Sternberg), and Kertselli (see Kuoljok 1985, 70-1). The committee was responsible for the development of policy on all aspects of life in aboriginal regions, including economy, conservation and management of wildlife, establishment of political and legal institutions, trade, medical care, and education (see Bogoras and Leonov 1930). In policy debates among committee members Bogoras proposed the creation of American-style Indian reservations to protect northern cultures from disruption or destruction by settlers while "improving the overall economic life of the natives and introducing new elements that would ensure painless progress" (quoted in Slezkine 1989, 274-5). Other committee members, following Lenin, argued that northern peoples could, with assistance from the new proletarian state, skip the capitalist stage of socio-cultural evolution in a direct transition to socialism (Lenin [1920], 1967, 459). Skachko wrote in 1930,

3i Early Soviet Policy The Soviet government does not intend to preserve the peoples of the north in a primitive state, as rare ethnographic specimens, or to keep them as helpless charges of the state in special areas reserved for them and isolated from the rest of the world like zoological gardens. On the contrary, the government's goal is their all-around cultural and national development and their participation as equal (not just in principle but also de facto) and active partners in the socialist economy. (Quoted in Slezkine 1989, 466-7)

Despite his argument in favour of reservations, Bogoras, along with other committee members, believed that northern peoples could provide food and local knowledge that would allow Soviet workers to gain access to the vast resources of the north. At the 1928 meetings of the International Congress of Americanists, held in New York, one of Bogoras's presentations included this observation: "Without the northern people, the rich resources of the north could not be exploited; without the natives, the entire northern Arctic and sub-Arctic zone would remain barren and desolate" (Bogoras and Leonov 1930, 445; see Slezkine 1989, 468). In order to overcome the "catastrophic" conditions described by Bogoras, the committee mounted emergency shipments of food and other supplies to the north (Slezkine 1989, 285). The committee persuaded the Soviet government to extend certain special privileges to northern peoples. They were excused from conscription and all forms of taxation; all local governing bodies and "people's courts" in aboriginal regions were required by law to include northern people. At the same time, teachers, doctors, and veterinarians were sent to northern groups in order to combat illiteracy and disease. It was recognized that special measures were necessary to enable women to take an active part in economic, political, and educational activities. One of the duties of Soviet cultural workers in the "Red Tents," which travelled among widely scattered groups of northern people, was to carry on "mass work among women, drawing them into social-mass organizations, into participation in socialist construction, into remodelling of economy and living conditions on the basis of collective work" (quoted in Taracouzio 1938, 482; see Grant 1992).

32 When the North Was Red A congress of women representatives of northern and far eastern nationalities was held at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1930. Women's problems, such as forced marriage and lack of pre- and post-natal medical care, were discussed, and solutions were proposed (see Kuoljok 1985, 96-9). The Soviet government attempted to implement some of the measures proposed at the congress, including improvement of medical facilities and outlawing of arranged marriages and bride-prices (see Slezkine 1989, 401-8). According to Sergeyev, "many [northern] women began to appeal to the [Soviet] courts in disputes involving brideprice, inheritance, levirate, and so on" (1964, 501). Formal punishments involving humiliation and torture were made illegal, as were blood feuds and polygyny. Otherwise, traditional northern customs were to be tolerated unless they violated Soviet law (Slezkine 1989, 391, 291). The Eighth Plenary Session of the Committee of the North, held in 1931, issued a resolution attacking Great Russian chauvinism against northern peoples. The resolution also condemned the chauvinism of the Yakut (Sakha), Komi, and Buryat towards the "small nationalities" (cited in Taracouzio 1938, 489). By 1934 political-territorial units intended to correspond to the traditional lands of various northern groups had been established. These included the Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets, Khanty-Mansi, Taymir, Evenk, Chukchi, and Koryak national okrugs (Savoskul 1978, 132), and smaller "national" regions, such as the Saami National Region in the Kola Peninsula, the Yukagir-Lamut National Region, and others. According to Soviet sources the best hunting, fishing, trapping, and reindeergrazing areas in these national regions were reserved for northern people and long-time non-aboriginal settlers. Speculators, private fur traders, and other relatively recent arrivals were compelled to leave these areas by local Soviets and militias composed of northern people (see Sergeyev 1964, 495; personal communication from I.S. Vdovin, 1982). Since the traditional territories of northern groups were often indistinct, it was difficult for the committee to draw boundaries for the new national regions. In a 1932 article Smidovich wrote that their borders "were drawn on a map

33 Early Soviet Policy

that often had nothing to do with reality ... Because the land had never been properly assigned to the old inhabitants, the new enterprises and population groups often settled in previously occupied areas thereby disrupting the economic life of the old inhabitants. The situation of the natives was often tragic" (quoted in Slezkine 1989, 471). Some Russian anthropologists now claim that several northern groups were never recognized as such by the Soviet state (Sokolova, Novikova, and Ssorin-Chaikov 1993, 3). According to Slezkine, the committee had difficulty in securing funding for national territories. In some cases settlers and managers of enterprises ignored the national territories with impunity (1989, 473, 482). There was constant friction between representatives of the committee who worked in the north and local officials (313). Creation of a northern people's "intelligentsia" composed of teachers, political activists, and scientifically trained experts in the co-operative organization of traditional occupations was the responsibility of the Institute of the North, established by Bogoras and Sternberg in 1926 (see Golomshtok 1933). Before the Institute of the North obtained premises in Leningrad, students lived and studied at the summer palace of Catherine the Great. According to an account by a former colleague of Bogoras, local inhabitants were astounded when northern students, unused to living indoors, left the palace, built chums (traditional teepee-like dwellings), and lit campfires on the palace grounds. Bogoras and other scholars, working with northern students, devised alphabets for northern languages and used them to write primers. According to the Committee of the North's report to the Seventeenth All-Union Party Congress, primers had been published in ten northern languages by 1933 (see Taracouzio 1938, 299-300). In 1989 Z.E. Chernyakov, one of the first Soviet teachers among the Saami, spoke with great enthusiasm about collaborating with Saami students during the 19305 in devising an alphabet, based on Latin characters, for their language, and using it to write a primer that incorporated the three Saami dialects of the Lovozero area of the Kola Peninsula. A copy of this primer was on display in the Museum of the Revolution in Moscow in 1981.

34 When the North Was Red

Bogoras's 1932 Chukchi primer sheds light on early Soviet policy. Black and white illustrations mainly depict traditional Chukchi hunting and herding activities as well as northern landscapes, birds, and animals. Text and illustrations also show the new Soviet way of life. There are pictures of aircraft, a canning plant, a railroad locomotive, a meeting of a Chukchi Soviet, Chukchi listening to a gramophone, Red Square, Lenin, Stalin, a co-operative shop, and so on. Elementary math problems are illustrated with stylized pictures of reindeer. T. Syomushkin's novels Children of the Soviet Arctic (ca 1944) and Alitet Goes to the Hills (1952) contain valuable, if fictionalized, accounts of contact between early Soviet teachers and Chukchi families. G. Khojer's novel Lake Emeron (ca 1965) emphasizes reduction of male authority over women among the Nanay during the early Soviet period. Establishing Soviet power in the north and far east entailed establishing Communist Party and Komsomol (Young Communist League) organizations, electing local Soviets, and establishing co-operatives for hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding. Private trading in furs and alcohol was prohibited. Slezkine suggests that the Committee of the North changed its original characterization of northern peoples as "classless" because of Stalinist pressure to find "class enemies" whose wealth could be confiscated by newly established co-operatives (1989, 340, 348). In some areas, however, collectivization apparently proceeded without significant opposition, as statesupported banks, shops, and co-operatives offered low-priced goods, interest-free loans, and stable prices for fish, furs, meat, and hides. In other areas, particularly among stratified reindeer-breeding groups, collectivization was opposed by some wealthy heads of families whose lands and herds were liable to expropriation by young, poor reindeer breeders, who tended to be keen supporters of Soviet power. As well, shamans often felt their influence threatened by newly arrived doctors and teachers. The Central Committee of the Communist Party halted, or reversed, collectivization in the north at least twice during the 19305 after declines in the reindeer population (Taracouzio 1938, 289, 293; Slezkine 1989, 372, 388). In some cases reindeer breeders slaughtered animals in order to avoid collectivization; in others, collectivized herds were

35 Early Soviet Policy neglected (Slezkine 1989, 358, 371; Balzer 1978, 60-2, 451-6). According to Slezkine, taxation-in-kind of northern peoples was introduced around 1934, and northern "kulaks" were expected to provide transport for state and party officials (1989, 356). During the 19705 Soviet ethnographers admitted that many mistakes were made during the collectivization process - for example, when reindeer breeders with middle-sized herds were lumped together with so-called "kulaks" who possessed very large herds (Kuoljok 1985,101). It is our impression, however, that collectivization in the north proceeded slowly in comparison with collectivization in other parts of the USSR, such as the Ukraine (see Slezkine 1989, 343). In a few areas, we were told, reindeer collective farms were not established until the 19605. The Committee of the North established "culture bases" in autonomous regions to serve as "capitals" of future socialist nations: "The first cultural base in the north, at Tura, was set up in 1927 on the banks of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska, in one of the most isolated Evenki areas ... By 1934 there were already 12 cultural bases, with 500 people working in them" (Savoskul 1978, 132). Each base was to have a clinic, co-operative store/ trading-post, cinema, bath house, library, veterinary station, meeting-hall, and boarding-school for children whose parents were hunting, fishing, or tending herds on the tundra or taiga. Boarding-schools were intended to safeguard the health of northern children, to promote literacy in Russian and northern languages, and to equip northern people to assist in the "building of socialism." According to Soviet sources, the number of schools in northern districts had increased from 25 in 1925 to 466 by 1936. It was estimated that by 1936, 70 per cent of northern children were attending school (Voskoboinikov and Nikulin 1967; Belikov 1972). Not surprisingly, northern parents sometimes tried to keep their children away from the new Soviet schools (see Balzer 1978; Slezkine 1989, 411-12). Between 1981 and 1989 we interviewed some of the first Soviet teachers who worked among northern peoples during the 19305. Their accounts provide invaluable information about that period and insights into the ways in which they interpreted their own activities. The teachers reveal facets of early "Sovietization" that are probably otherwise unavailable.

36 When the North Was Red

We have tried to present these accounts, with background biographical material, as they were presented to us. The following account by I.S. Vdovin is based on several interviews that were conducted in 1981-82 and 1986. I.S. V D O V I N A M O N G AND CHUKCHI

THE

KORYAK

I.S. Vdovin was born in 1908 in a small Siberian village on the banks of the Angara River, at the site of what is now the Bratsk hydroelectric station. His parents were Russian peasants. Vdovin was able to attend school for seven years in his village. After finishing school, he went to Irkutsk, where he worked as an unskilled labourer. Later he went to Chita and then to Vladivostok. There he passed his university entrance exams but did not enrol because he was not awarded a university stipend. He joined an expedition to explore harbours on the coast of northeastern Siberia. On this voyage he worked as an unskilled labourer. At the end of the expedition he was without a job, "sitting on the embankment of the Tatar Strait." He approached the regional soviet for a job and was asked to work as a teacher, since he had completed secondary education. He was nineteen years old. Vdovin taught Russian children, then went to Vladivostok, where he was asked to become a teacher of Koryak children in the village of Karaga in northern Kamchatka. At Karaga he had seventeen students in grades one to four and taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. The children didn't know Russian and he didn't know Koryak, so he taught through an interpreter. Also, there were no school-books in the Koryak language, and those in Russian often dealt with subjects that were unfamiliar to Koryaks - agriculture, cities, and so on. In 1928 the village of Karaga had about twenty-four households. Food was obtained by fishing and hunting. There was as yet no collectivization. In 1928 fish that the villagers did not consume could be sold to a "state industrial fishing organization" at prices fixed by the state. With money from fish sales, villagers could buy goods from a local state shop and from another state shop about one hundred kilometres away.

37 Early Soviet Policy

The first fishing co-operative was organized in 1929, and was successful. The main medical problems of the villagers were eye diseases, lung diseases associated with the cold climate, and children's stomach disorders from bad food. In 1924 a paramedic had come to live in the village. Several years later a doctor came. The school building in which Vdovin taught had been erected in 1916 by the Tsarist Ministry of Education, and a Russian Orthodox priest had taught there, using the Russian language. In Vdovin's opinion the priest had been rather successful, but the people he taught often reverted to illiteracy because there was little for them to read and they didn't need to read and write for their work. Vdovin taught classes every morning until noon. At night he taught a literacy class for five to ten adults. He told us that, among some northern groups, husbands tried to prevent their wives from attending literacy classes, but this hadn't happened among the Koryaks of Karaga. Once a week Vdovin visited each house in the village in order to get to know people, to see their home life, and to learn Koryak. Since he was young, Vdovin's main contacts were with young people. Villagers lived in Russian-style wood houses, with hardly any furniture except a table. Their diet consisted mainly of tea and dried fish dipped in seal oil. Parents treated children well and never hit them. Children listened respectfully when parents spoke. Vdovin's work was opposed by a shaman who told him to leave the village. The shaman warned villagers not to send their children to school, not to wash, not to wear clothes purchased in shops, not to drink tea, and so on. Young Koryaks, however, ignored the shaman. So did some older people who liked tea, and drank it despite the shaman's warnings. In 1930, Vdovin was sent to Leningrad by the Committee of the North to study at the Institute of the North, which had recently been set up to train teachers to use the first school books in northern languages. The institute was organized into three linguistic groupings: (i) Paleo-Asiatic, under Bogoras; (2) Tungus-Manchu; and (3) Samoyed. Each group had about

38 When the North Was Red

ten students. Other experts on northern peoples and languages, such as P. Ya. Skorik and G.A. Menovshchikov, also worked in the institute. At that time Bogoras was writing the first Chukchi primer. Since Vdovin knew Koryak, which is similar to Chukchi, Bogoras asked Vdovin to assist him. The first Chukchi primer was published in 1932 and went through ten editions. Vdovin assisted with the publication of all of these and also wrote a special Chukchi primer for adults. In 1982 Vdovin was writing a Chukchi grammar text and expected a new Chukchi primer to be published shortly. With the publication of the first primer, Chukchi became a written language. After two years of study the students in the Department of Northern Peoples were given new primers in northern languages and sent to the north and far east to teach literacy and to become proficient in northern languages. Vdovin chose to go to Chaun, in Chukotka, but his ship did not get there because of poor ice conditions. He went ashore at St Lawrence Bay, where the director of a culture base asked him to join nomadic Chukchi reindeer breeders until spring. Vdovin was given a canvas tent, with a kerosene lamp for warmth, and spent the winter of 1932 teaching eight boys and girls by day and adults by night. He said that his teaching was effective because of the new primer and because he knew the Chukchi language. On i May 1933 Vdovin returned, with his tent, to the culture base at St Lawrence Bay, and then travelled by dogsled to Chaun, on the coast of the East Siberian Sea. In Chaun, hunting had been poor, so Vdovin had to bring an extra dog-team to carry seal meat. The trip was cold and difficult. It took one month and eight days to cover about one thousand kilometres. In the autumn and winter of 1933 Vdovin joined a group of nomadic Chukchi reindeer breeders and sea-mammal hunters who travelled along the coast of the North Siberian Sea. He lived and taught in a yaranga (a traditional tent made of hides). It was warmer than the canvas tent he had used during the previous winter and shook less in storms. His work was opposed by a shaman, who asked the spirits to kill him. The shaman told people that the spirits were displeased because Vdovin used a kerosene lamp. Unless he gave it up,

39 Early Soviet Policy

the spirits would make the sea mammals leave, and the people would starve. Few people took this seriously, especially after Vdovin refused to give up his lamp and the sea mammals didn't leave. In 1934 Vdovin went to Vladivostok by ship and then to Leningrad on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He joined the Philological Faculty at the University of Leningrad, where he again studied under Bogoras. They agreed to work together on a Chukchi-Russian dictionary, which Vdovin edited. When we met him, Vdovin was semi-retired but still active as an ethnographer at the Institute of Ethnography in Leningrad. D.P. K O R Z H AMONG THE CHUKCHI

Dimitri Petrovich Korzh is Russian, from the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia. When we interviewed him in 1989, he was over eighty years old. Korzh became a primary teacher as a young man and joined the Komsomol. He and several friends visited Moscow as tourists and then set out for Vladivostok. In Khabarovsk they met P. Ya. Skorik, a specialist on the Chukchi language who was one of Bogoras's students at the Institute of the North. Skorik described the Chukchi as particularly "exotic." Korzh and his friends lost their money at the railway station in Vlasdivostok and decided to teach in the north in order to earn enough to return to Krasnoyarsk. Korzh chose to teach among the "exotic" Chukchi, and eventually decided to settle in the area where they lived. Korzh was told by educational authorities that, after reaching the Chukchi group among whom he was to live, he was not to start teaching immediately. Instead he was to make friends, learn the language, and explain the necessity of schooling. In 1931 Korzh began living in the family of a poor reindeer breeder who only possessed one hundred animals. His brother, however, had several thousand reindeer. Korzh's host was given some deer every year by his rich brother. Korzh knew of one family with twelve thousand animals, divided into four herds. The man who headed this family had a wife with each herd.

40 When the North Was Red Korzh's host slaughtered one reindeer every week for food. The average reindeer weighed about thirty-five kilograms. The Chukchi among whom Korzh lived ate one meal of reindeer meat every evening. During the day they consumed bits of frozen meat with unsugared tea. In summer they ate ground reindeer meat with fat. Korzh said that he always got very hungry before the evening meal. Every Chukchi boy had a pipe and a lasso. They would constantly practise with their lassos, roping reindeer antlers. They said that smoking improved their breathing when they chased reindeer during the winter. The women scraped hides, made clothes, and dressed the meat after a reindeer was killed. They removed their upper clothing while skinning reindeer carcasses, even in winter. Korzh said that the breasts of thirty-year-old women became blue and that they probably could not produce milk. (He was contradicted by an Evenk woman and a Koryak woman who were present at the interview in 1989. They said that northern women could continue to conceive when relatively old and that the physiological properties of northerners are different from those of Russians and other non-northerners.) At first, Korzh said, he was embarrassed when he discovered that northern women slept naked. Korzh said that the Chukchi were healthy, that no microorganisms could survive the cold. In four years among the Chukchi, Korzh was never ill. There were some foreign traders operating in the area where Korzh lived. In transactions with the Chukchi, the trader would put Chukchi furs into a metal pot. When the pot was full, the Chukchi would keep the pot and the trader would keep the furs. At first the Chukchi children avoided Korzh. They thought that he was a Russian soldier, like those sent by the tsar. But Korzh had brought candy, some brightly coloured manufactured goods, and implements for soldering. When he began to repair damaged metal pots, he became quite popular. Chukchi, including children, became friendly, and started to teach him their language. Korzh tried to teach the Chukchi to read. They would draw an object in the snow, and he would write its name in Russian. After receiving the first primer in the Chukchi language, Korzh

41 Early Soviet Policy

would write the names of objects in Chukchi. The Chukchi enjoyed this "game" but saw no need for schooling. They taught Korzh phrases during the day and asked him to repeat them at night. When they laughed, he assumed that they had taught him obscene phrases. He later learned that they were only laughing at his pronunciation. In 1931 representatives of Soviet power came to Chukchi reindeer breeders' camps and, using an interpreter, tried to persuade rich reindeer breeders to sell part of the herds to new collective enterprises. Korzh told us that, as far as he knew, coercion was not used. The collectivized herds were to be "for [the use of] everyone." After long discussion the local kulak (the rich brother of Korzh's host) sold half his herd in exchange for a credit note. No one, however, understood credit or money, and the kulak threw the note away. A rich shaman in a neighbouring camp also threw away the credit note that he was given in exchange for part of his herd. The reindeer that the local kulak had "sold" were taken away to the territory of the collective enterprise by skilled herders. The kulak expected these herders to return and continue working for him, but they did not. They stayed with the reindeer. One of these herders, who was quiet and clever, invented a system of pictographs. The wife of this herder was very intelligent and influential. Her husband and other herders always followed her advice. She was the only woman who took Korzh's courses on literacy and political economy. Shamans opposed education and Soviet power because it threatened their influence. They said that foreigners would come with metal birds and drop boiling sap on those who listened to Soviet teachers. Shamans said that those who participated in the election of an executive committee for a newly established national region would face the wrath of the spirits and die. Korzh heard that one man was so frightened by this threat that he committed suicide with a knife while attending the election meeting. Korzh once witnessed a ritual killing of a reindeer by a shaman. At first the shaman tried to exclude Korzh from the ritual, but other Chukchi insisted that he be allowed to stay. A Chukchi told Korzh in confidence that one of his relatives who froze to death in a small settlement was killed through the agency of a powerful shaman.

42 When the North Was Red

Korzh looked back on 1931-34 as the best years of his life. In 1989 he was still a firm supporter of Lenin's policies. N.I. TERYOSHKIN THE KHANTY

AMONG

The following account is based on two interviews conducted in 1981-82 with N.I. Teryoshkin (1913-85), a specialist on the Khanty language at the Institute of Linguistics in Leningrad. He was born in a small village in the area where the Irtish River flows into the Ob. His parents and grandparents were hunters. All were illiterate. They spoke a western dialect of the Khanty language. In traditional Khanty society women were considered inferior to men and had no contact with nonKhanty people. Men, however, learned some Russian when they sold fox, squirrel, and otter furs to Russian merchants in settlements. Teryoshkin's village had no school, no hospital, and no doctor. When Teryoshkin was five years old, his father, mother, and older brother died in an epidemic. Teryoshkin and his younger sister were taken away by relatives to escape the disease. He still doesn't know what disease it was. His sister was taken east by one set of relatives, and he never saw her again. He was taken by another set of relatives to a village not far from Belogoriye where there were Russians as well as Khanty. He began school there at an "internat" (boarding-school) at age twelve and completed a four-year course in two years. All instruction and textbooks were in Russian. Teryoshkin then went to an internat in Tobol'sk, where he finished the last three years of the seven-year school program. After graduating, he qualified as a primary teacher at a pedagogical school in Khanty-Mansisk. While at this school he received high grades and joined the Komsomol. Among the Khanty of the Ob region, shamans, who owned thousands of reindeer and the best pastureland, often demanded and received "tribute for the gods and ancestors" squirrel pelts, horses, and so on - from poor Khanty. According to Teryoshkin, shamans and rich elders used poor people "like slaves." Soviet power was only established among the Khanty after the Khanty-Mansisk National Okrug was founded in

43 Early Soviet Policy

1932. The first collective organizations were "artels" (simple co-operatives), where some Khanty reindeer breeders pooled their animals. Land and animals belonging to artels were not subject to shamans' demands. Many young Khanty, including some who were illiterate, joined these artels in spite of opposition from shamans and rich elders. Some Khanty were armed by fugitive Kolchak officers and rose against Soviet power in the early 19305. (Kolchak was a "White" general during the civil war; see Fleming 1969). Other Khanty, especially Komosomols and Communists, resisted, even though they were unarmed. Many were killed. According to Teryoshkin, the shamans and their supporters tortured and killed practically all the local Soviet officials and schoolteachers. Army units from Sverdlovsk had to be called in to put down the uprising. After this there was a propaganda campaign against shamanism. Teryoshkin witnessed these events as a young man and was an interpreter at the 1934 trial of some of the shamans and Kolchak officers who participated in the rising. After the uprising Teryoshkin was appointed director of a boarding-school at Kazuim, where practically all the teachers had been killed by the shamans and their supporters. He said that his hardest job was persuading Khanty parents to leave their children at the boarding-school. At the beginning of every term teachers and local officials would go by boat to Khanty settlements in order to try to persuade parents to send their children to school. Some refused, and "terrorized" teachers. Sometimes parents allowed their children to go and then came to take them away. In such cases Teryoshkin tried to persuade parents to leave their children at school. He said that he was usually successful, probably because he was Khanty himself and spoke the language. (For a different account of early Soviet activity among the Khanty, see Balzer 1978.) By 1930 the first primer in the Khanty language was available, and it was very useful in overcoming illiteracy. In 1935 the Komsomol sent Teryoshkin to study at the Institute of the North in Leningrad. He specialized in the Khanty language. At the time the Institute of the North had no Soviet specialist who knew the Khanty language, so a

44 When the North Was Red German specialist had been hired to teach it. There were more than fifty Khanty students, all studying to be teachers or party workers. Teryoshkin graduated from the Institute of the North in 1940 and was invited to continue studying the Khanty language as a graduate student. His career was interrupted by the Second World War. E.S. RUBTSOVA AMONG THE

ESKIMOS

In a 1982 interview G.A. Menovshchikov, one of the first Soviet teachers who worked with the Eskimos of the Chukchi Peninsula, told us briefly of the activities of E.S. Rubtsova, a woman who taught among the Eskimos of Syrenikii from 1929 to 1932. Shamans warned Eskimo families that if they "listened to a woman," the sea spirits would become angry and send bad luck to hunters. Nevertheless, she gained the respect of her pupils and their parents. Rubtsova organized a hunting co-operative, a women's sewing society, and a "friendly society" whose members could get interest-free loans. The board of directors of the hunting co-operative was made up of Eskimos and a few literate Russians. Rubtsova and her pupils organized a parent-teacher association, which, with support from the local Eskimo soviet, repaired and modernized an old American fur-trading warehouse to serve as a school building. When the local soviet moved its headquarters from the settlement of Imtuk, which had twenty yarangas, to Syrenikii, with eighteen yarangas, in order to be nearer to the school, all but seven families from Imtuk followed, despite opposition from a shaman (see Bartels 1985). SOVIETIZATION, CONSOLIDATION, AND NORTHERN CONSOLIDATION DURING EARLY SOVIET TIMES

Sovietization and consolidation were major features of early Soviet policy towards northern peoples. The involvement of increasing numbers of northerners in Soviet institutions such as the Communist Party, the Komsomol, schools, and co-

45 Early Soviet Policy

operative enterprises had similar effects among various northern groups: the influence of shamans and those with relatively large amounts of wealth was weakened, as in the cases described by Teryoshkin and Korzh; women attained previously unavailable educational, political, and occupational opportunities; individuals such as Teryoshkin who, through lack of wealth or kin connections, had been relatively powerless, took advantage of these changes. Consolidation also occurred. Meetings of the Communist Party, the Komsomol, Soviets, women's organizations, boards of directors of co-operative enterprises, and so on brought previously disparate people from the same ethnic-national groups together, as did various educational programs. People who had spoken different varieties of the same language found themselves co-operating in creating and studying common literary forms. Teryoshkin mentioned fifty Khanty students at the Institute of the North in 1935. They were from different areas of northwestern Siberia and spoke one or more versions of the three major Khanty dialects. Yet at the Institute of the North they were treated as part of the same "nationality." According to P.I. Karal'kin, a Tuvan ethnographer who was a student at the Institute of the North from 1931 to 1934, all students were required to study printing. Students produced a magazine, Tundra and Taiga, and a newspaper that appeared three or four times per month. Every issue had pages in different northern languages. It seems likely that consolidation occurred among students who worked together to produce each "national" page. Northern consolidation was also facilitated by interaction among students from different northern groups at the Institute of the North and other institutions for northern students: A network of diverse educational institutions was created, from the running of short courses to the establishment of the Institute of the Peoples of the North [Institut Narodov Severa], a body which played a particularly important role in creating a northern intelligentsia. A broad system of special courses designed to prepare mass cadres for Soviet, party and cooperative organizations was set up in the national districts, as well as Siberia, the far east and Leningrad. These courses enrolled 1060 students in 1933. Many highly qualified cadres

46 When the North Was Red emerged from technical schools, some of which were specially organized while others were set up on the basis of existing technical schools (in the form of departments for the northerners). In the larger technical schools (those with a Soviet politics department, a cooperative department and a pedagogical department) there were 450 students in 1933, and in teacher-training schools, 214. Cadres of the highest standards were prepared by the Institute of the Peoples of the North (39 students in 1933) and a number of other institutes: the Leningrad Teacher Training Institute (45), the Omsk Veterinary Institute (47), the Krasnoyarsk Teacher Training Institute (25). In 1933, technical schools and institutes were training a total of 1303 persons ... Activists who had shown themselves to be capable organizers were promoted to leading posts in Soviet, party and economic institutions. For example, in 1940 in the Chukotskiy region alone, 180 natives were given positions of authority. (Savoskul 1978, 133-4)

According to Karal'kin, students from all twenty-six northern peoples attended the Institute of the North during the 19305. During a preparatory year each incoming class studied Russian, printing, and other basic subjects. At the second, "teknikum" level, students specialized for two to three years in one of the following: pedagogy, editing/publishing, co-operative trade and commerce, party activity, construction, or scientific aspects of hunting, fishing, or reindeer breeding. Most students returned to their native regions after completing the secondary level. Some, however, were admitted to the seminar level (three years), which offered specialties in language and literature, northern languages and linguistics, and printing/ publishing. Northerners from all over the north and far east met for the first time at the Institute of the North. Students from different northern groups were constantly together in dormitories, classes, and other activities. With Russian as a lingua franca, they became aware that they had, to a large extent, common cultures and problems. In the course of study they acquired similar ideological orientations and methods of dealing with these problems. Karal'kin and members of other nationalities and ethnic groups who attended the institute maintained professional and personal contacts from the 19305 and often worked together on different projects and political initiatives.

47 Early Soviet Policy

These are the sorts of processes that we have characterized as northern consolidation. Failure to acknowledge the coexistence of Sovietization and consolidation during the early Soviet period can lead to serious mistakes in analysis. For example, Roger Moody and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) have claimed that, "although some Soviet ethnologists in the Committee of the North tried benevolently to save tribal cultures, government policies were clear and uncompromising: shamanism was to be ruthlessly suppressed, young 'Eskimos' inducted into boarding schools, and indigenous languages to be 'liquidated' (an official term)" (1988, 70). But this characterization of early Soviet policy cannot account for the efforts aimed at consolidation, such as the creation of culture bases and the Committee of the North's efforts to promote literacy in previously unwritten northern languages. CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN SOVIETIZATION AND CONSOLIDATION

The processes of consolidation and Sovietization sometimes interfered with one another, partly because early Soviet policy, which determined to a large extent the direction of these processes, had an explicit value-orientation. Unlike early cultural relativists, who argue that all cultures are "equally valid" (see Benedict 1934), the Committee of the North was clearly committed to certain value-judgments regarding change in northern cultures. These judgments centred on the belief that it was necessary to save northern peoples from extinction, exploitation, and exclusion from the expected benefits of socialist development. The building of socialism, from the committee's point of view, required reduction of male authority over women, substitution of Euro-scientific medical and veterinary practices for shamanism, acquisition of mathematical skills, literacy in northern languages and Russian, collective organization of some traditional occupations, and organization of Soviet institutions such as the Communist Party and the Komsomol. Only those aspects of northern cultures that were consistent with these goals were to be part of "consolidation." While promotion of literacy in northern languages might have

48 When the North Was Red

promoted consolidation within northern groups, for example, shamanism and arranged marriage were combatted. Boarding-schools and culture bases were important instruments of consolidation since they promoted literacy in particular northern languages and served as foci for "national" political organization. They also promoted Sovietization in so far as they exposed northern children and adults to the new Soviet way of life. At the same time, boarding-schools involved removal of children from participation in traditional occupations and the emotional trauma of separation from parents, which probably counteracted consolidation of northern groups. The use of Russian at boarding-schools often eclipsed the use of northern languages. Traditional occupations and festivals were supported by the Soviet state but transformed along Soviet lines. For example, the Committee of the North provided veterinarians and breeding stock for reindeer herds while promoting their collectivization. Various traditional northern festivals, in which herding groups came together for games, trade, rituals, and courtship, were encouraged by the state, but dissemination of information regarding veterinary medicine and effective herding practices was substituted for shamanic practices (for example, see Khomich 1973, 74). Thus, the retention and promotion of traditional occupations and festivals promoted consolidation, and their transformation promoted Sovietization. (That consolidation could promote national or ethnic solidarity at the expense of loyalty to the Soviet state was also possible, and clearly a concern of the security apparatus of the Stalinist state.) The Sovietization of traditional occupations and festivals tended to be similar among various northern groups, thus promoting northern consolidation. Exposure to culture bases and boarding-schools, increased contact at post-secondary institutions, and acquisition of Russian as a lingua franca also promoted northern consolidation. These processes will be discussed in later chapters. The policies of the Committee of the North exemplified a Marxist rejection of cultural relativism. While early cultural relativists concentrated on shared values within cultures, the policies of Bogoras and the committee were based on the view

49 Early Soviet Policy

that societies are composed of groups with different interests created by differences in wealth, power, gender, age, and so on. Among most northern groups these differences had been affected by long-term contact with Russians, Chinese, and others. The committee realized that the impact of their policies would create splits and conflicts between "progressive" and "non-progressive" factions in northern groups and was willing to work with, and support, those who supported its policies. Among stratified groups this usually meant those who were relatively poor and powerless, including women. This distinguished the representatives of the committee from Tsarist officials who had dealt mainly with male "heads" of kin groups or households. In both cases, however, the activities of northerners were mediated, if not controlled, by members of larger, more powerful groups that were themselves composed of competing interest groups. Such conflict was particularly significant for policy towards northern peoples during the Stalinist period.

4 Stalin and After

Consolidation of power by Stalin and his followers in the Communist Party in the late 19205 was followed in 1934-35 by the dissolution of the Committee of the North and the reversal of some of its policies. Other early policies apparently remained intact, or continued by inertia. The Second World War drew practically all northern people into Soviet institutions, as men were conscripted and women joined the work-force in increasing numbers, often doing jobs traditionally regarded as men's work. The loss of life and hardship caused by the war and the difficulties of the post-war years were followed by resettlement of many northerners from small villages to larger centres during the 19605. This resulted in a decline in the use of northern languages and in the number of young northerners pursuing traditional occupations. In the 19705 members of the northern intelligentsia began trying to reverse these trends. In this chapter, discussion of these developments is supplemented with the accounts of Soviet teachers and various northern people who witnessed them. The interplay between Sovietization, consolidation, and northern consolidation during this period is also discussed. STALINIST

POLICY

According to traditional Marxist theory, the first successful socialist revolutions should have occurred in the most industrially

5i Stalin and After

developed capitalist countries with the largest proletariats: Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. Instead, the first successful socialist revolution occurred in "backward" Russia. Stalin argued in 1924 that it was only to be expected that the "chain of imperialism" should have snapped at its weakest link - the Tsarist Empire (1970, 29-30). Once the chain was broken, however, revolutions could be expected in the metropolises of European imperialism. The new proletarian states of Western Europe could then assist the proletarian state of Russia to overcome its industrial and cultural backwardness (see Hill 1971, 107, 116-17). Before his death in 1924 Lenin apparently realized that socialist revolutions in Western Europe were not going to occur (Hill 1971,122-43). By X929 Stalin and his followers were able to consolidate support for their program of building "socialism in one country" through policies of rapid collectivization and industrialization (see Carr 1979; Pereira 1992). Stalinist policy involved purging the CPSU of tendencies towards "international connections" that could potentially compromise state security, and purging Soviet institutions of "nationalistic elements," which posed potential threats to the authority of the increasingly powerful centralized state and bureaucracy (see Zaslavsky and Brym 1983, 17). Those who did not fully support state policies were in danger of being seen as potential "saboteurs." A detailed analysis of these policies is beyond the scope of this book, but their effects on policy towards northern peoples was serious. The Commissariat of Nationalities and the Committee of the North were dissolved in 1934, and responsibility for policy towards northern peoples passed to the Northern Sea Route Administration, under the direction of the polar explorer Otto Schmidt, and eventually to various Soviet ministries. Bogoras was attacked for favouring a "biomechanical approach to culture" (Krader 1968, 118). The linguistic theoretician N. Ya. Marr attacked Bogoras, and ethnography in general, for attempting to preserve "primitive" northern languages, which should, from Marr's point of view, have been allowed to disappear in an evolutionary process that would culminate in a "higher" world socialist language (see Slezkine 1989, 434). Around 1932 Marr's views were disavowed by Stalin (Slezkine 1989, 448).

52 When the North Was Red Others were criticized, or worse, during this period. Sternberg died in 1927, but not before he was criticized for "eclecticism and idealism" (Krader 1968, 118). E,A. Kreinovich, Sternberg's student, who had worked for the Committee of the North among the Nivkhi, was sentenced to forced labour (Grant 1992, 23). Karger, the author of the first primer in the Ket language, was arrested. Some Nivkhi Communists on Sakhalin were accused during the mid-i93os of spying for the Japanese and arrested, according to Grant (1992, 21). Slezkine claims that workers for the Committee of the North were regularly denounced as abetting "bourgeois nationalist wreckers" (1989, 502). According to Boris Chichlo, the YukagirLamut National Region was abolished in the late 19303, and the Yukagir novelist Taeki Odulok was executed in 1939 (Chichlo 1983, 27). The Vitimo-Olekminskii and some other national regions were abolished in the late 19305 (Anderson 1992, 83; Sergeyev 1964, 501). la. P. Koshkin (also known as Al'kor), the first director of the Institute of the North, was executed for political reasons in 1937. One of the early Soviet teachers whom we interviewed in 1989 showed us a book on northern peoples, published in the early 19308, with an article - "What the October Revolution Gave to the Working People of the North" - by Al'kor, whose name had been inked out. The teacher told us that he had inked out the name after Al'kor had been declared an "enemy of the people." This particular teacher was close to ninety years old. He was still a strong supporter of Leninist nationality policy, but he clearly had questions about the fate of Al'kor, and other aspects of Stalinist policy. According to Z.E. Chernyakov, the author of the first Saami primer, Stalin declared in 1934 that "national problems" were "solved"; this was followed by abolition of the Saami National Region in 1935 (personal communication 1989). Culture bases were not formally abolished, but funding and supplies were apparently reduced (see Grant 1992, 24). According to a 1937 editorial in the official publication of the Northern Sea Route Administration, In spite of large appropriations, the construction of cultural bases is far from being completed. In many places (Tazov, Sos'va, etc.), cultural bases are closed because the attendants are using the hospitals,

53 Stalin and After veterinary stations, etc., for living accommodations ... All the cultural bases are suffering greatly from a shortage of teachers, doctors, agronomists, and other specialists. No better is the situation in the field of public instruction. The construction of schools in this year proved a failure. Of the planned thirty-two pre-manufactured school buildings, by November i, 1936, only eleven were completed. Even of these, two structures were still at Vladivostock waiting for shipment to the north. ... There is a shortage of teachers in the schools, and the training of the needed instructors is poor beyond words. The pedagogical institutes are in a state of decay. Thus, in the Einisei Technicum 45 per cent of students have been taken ill because of lack of nourishment and other poor living conditions. Even in Leningrad, the work at the Hertzen Institute preparing teachers for the north, proved a failure: [many] courses were never given. (Quoted in Taracouzio 1938, 310-11)

During the mid-19305 there was extensive discussion among Soviet educational authorities on the issue of whether the Latin or Cyrillic alphabet should be used for northern languages. Bogoras and other early Soviet linguists believed the Latin alphabet to be better suited than the Cyrillic to representing sounds in northern languages. Also, it was sometimes argued that the Latin alphabet would be more appropriate in the world communist society that was soon to come (see Isayev 1977, 249). Consequently, Latin letters, with some phonetic symbols, were used in the first northern-language primers and other publications. In the late 19305 a commission was established to decide which alphabet should be used for northern languages. According to A.R Boitsova, a Russian expert on the Evenk language who served on the commission, it was decided that the Latin alphabet should be dropped because teachers found it difficult and because using Cyrillic would be easier for northern students who would eventually have to learn Russian. Boitosva did not mention arguments about world communism or socialism in one country (personal communication 1986). Publishing in northern languages continued during the Stalinist period, but creation of alphabets and primers in previously unwritten languages apparently ceased. Several books that featured Stalin prominently were translated into northern

54 When the North Was Red

languages - for example, a short account of a meeting between Stalin and famous Soviet aviators appeared in Chukchi. Despite the abolition of the Committee of the North and the abandonment or neglect of its policies, the educational and occupational opportunities that had opened during early Soviet times did not disappear. In 1981-82 we obtained occupational data on the siblings, parents, and grandparents of fifty-eight northern students and professionals in Leningrad and Moscow. Informants came from the Koryak, Even, Evenk, Chukchi, Yukagir, Khanty, Mansi, Nenets, Eskimo, Saami, and Orochi. In general the grandparents of the students pursued traditional occupations of hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding. Increasing proportions of their children and grandchildren pursued non-traditional occupations that were introduced during the Soviet period (Bartels and Bartels 1986). Some of these "new" occupations were teacher, day-care worker, fish-plant worker, motor-vehicle mechanic/driver, and so on (see Appendix i). Northern women became heavily involved in waged occupations in the service sector, especially teaching and day care, thereby achieving some degree of economic independence. T H E G R E A T P A T R I O T I C WAR

All policies towards northern peoples were subordinated to the war effort after the Nazi invasion of the western USSR in June 1941. Exemption of northern men from conscription was dropped, and hunters often became scouts and snipers in the Red Army. Some northerners became officers, and a small number, including five Chukchi and one Eskimo, became combat aviators (see Nielsen 1972-73, 249). According to the ethnographer Y. Mikhailovna, only one of the Chukchi aviators survived the war (personal communication 1982). N.I. Teryoshkin, the Khant linguist, served in the heaviest fighting around Leningrad and finished the war as a junior lieutenant. He was seriously wounded and never completely recovered. A.A. Popov, a Dolgan economist whom we interviewed in 1982, served in Marshal Chernyakhovsky's armies, starting the war in Novgorod and finishing in Breslau as a senior lieutenant with eight decorations. He joined the CPSU

55 Stalin and After

in 1942, he told us, "for the Motherland, for Stalin, and to fight Fascism." Many northern soldiers won medals (see Gorokhov 1976), and primers in northern languages that were published during the 19708 and early 19805 sometimes had pages devoted to Second World War heroes. For example, the Evenk primer by Boitsova, Kudria, and Romanova (1981) had a picture and story about the Evenk war hero Uvachan. We do not know how many northerners served in the Soviet armed forces during the Second World War or how many were killed or seriously wounded, but the numbers were high. In 1986, at one settlement in western Siberia, we were told that approximately 3,000 men from the area went to war and only about 300 came back. While the men were gone, women and children took over fishing, reindeer breeding, hunting. They suffered serious privation, as priority was given to supplying food, clothing, and munitions to the Red Army. According to L.V. Khomich, many women obtained leadership positions in Soviets and collective farms. In spite of the tendency to replace the women with men after the war, so many men failed to return that some women kept their positions. In 1986 we met a Khant woman who was the leader of a fishing brigade on the Ob River. She had begun work as a member of a fishing brigade at the age of fourteen during the war. POST-WAR D E V E L O P M E N T S AND RESETTLEMENT

The suffering did not end with the defeat of the Axis. Food shortages continued in the north and far east during the postwar years. An Evenk woman told us that two of her sisters died of starvation at that time. Ch. M. Taksami referred to flooding and starvation at Nivkhi settlements in the Amur River region in 1946. Eventually, however, the northern infrastructure was restored, and various institutions began to operate with some degree of regularity. Certain policies that had originated with the Committee of the north had remained in effect. These included state provision of a layette for expectant mothers, state provision of room, board, and clothing for all northern students at post-secondary

56 When the North Was Red educational institutions, and a proportion of reserved places for northerners at certain post-secondary educational institutions, such as the Herzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad. While most Soviet students had to travel to institutes and universities to take entrance exams (see N. Grant 1979), northern students could take entrance exams for these reserved places in their native regions (see Appendix 2). During the 19605 increased pay and benefits were introduced for workers in northern regions. These measures were intended to attract workers to the north but were applied to northern peoples as well (see Armstrong 1978, 51). According to a prominent Soviet ethnographer whom we interviewed in 1982, a poll was conducted among parents of northern pupils during the 19605. They were asked whether they wanted their children to learn Russian at school. Not surprisingly, most parents said yes. This was interpreted by educational authorities to mean that Russian teaching should be expanded at the expense of teaching of northern languages, and this was done. Other policies that originated with the Committee of the North were dropped or neglected during the post-war years. According to Alexandra A. Kudria, an Evenk ethnographer at the Institute of National Schools in Moscow, from 1956 to 1972 northern languages were only taught in preparatory and firstyear classes. She said that the Northern Department of the Institute of National Schools (INS), which prepares curricula and materials for teaching northern languages, was closed for eleven years because of the influence of "some ethnographers" who regarded its work as unnecessary. It was reopened in 1973, and preparation of materials in Evenk, Chukchi, and Nenets was resumed. According to Diana Gerasimova, a Mansi-language specialist at the FPNR, Mansi students at internats were told by their teachers not to speak Mansi at school during the 19505 and 19605. She was a student at an internat during that period, and spoke of her own experiences. She said that students were not punished for speaking Mansi, but because of their respect for their teachers, they did as they were told. It was believed that if northern children spoke Mansi, their Russian-language skills would suffer. Poul Thoe Nielsen, a Danish social scientist who

57 Stalin and After

researched Soviet policy towards northern languages during the 19605, concluded that most northern languages were in decline and that the smaller languages would disappear (197273, 251; see Comrie 1981, 280-1). Perhaps the most important feature of Soviet policy during the late 19505 and 19605 was the resettlement of residents of some small villages to larger centres as collective farms were combined into larger state farms (Savoskul 1979, 135-6). This policy stemmed from a 1957 decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and was part of Khruschev's initiative to strengthen state and collective farms (Grant 1992, 27; Kuoljok 1985, 153). It was implemented throughout the north and far east. While resettlement made it easier for the state to provide services, it removed many northern people from areas where traditional occupations could be profitably pursued. For example, according to the ethnographer A.V. Smoliak, resettlement removed many northerners from proximity to fishing rivers. Before resettlement they could catch fish every day; after resettlement they may have had to travel as far as fifty kilometres in order to catch fish (personal communication 1989). According to Grant, the most successful collective farms on Sakhalin were not selected for expansion into state farms. Instead, those that were most conveniently located for state authorities were made into state farms, and the others were closed (1992, 31). In 1969 Ch. M. Taksami, a Nivkh ethnographer, initiated a letter from the resettled residents of the Nivkh town of Venskoe to the Sakhalin Regional Executive about the negative effects of resettlement (see Grant 1992, 31-2). Resettlement, some now believe, discouraged young northerners, particularly women, from choosing to pursue traditional occupations that would remove them from the amenities available in larger settlements. Consequently, young northern women were sometimes reluctant to marry reindeer breeders, whose work would remove them from settlements for relatively long periods. Several northerners mentioned these problems to us. Soviet ethnographic literature of the 19705 also discusses some of the problems of resettlement: The improvement in educational level of the rural population of the northerners, especially in the younger age groups, is not always

58 When the North Was Red accompanied by changes in the character of the work in traditional branches of the economy in which most of the native population is engaged. The work is on the whole little mechanized, physically hard and connected with nomadism. The growing educational and cultural level among young people has resulted in their rejecting this type of work. Some highly educated young people do not have any fixed occupation, while others are engaged in unskilled physical work in the central establishment of collective farms and state farms ... Discontented, they attempt to obtain more highly qualified jobs in the towns or to transfer to other work. (Savoskul 1978, 141)

The major events of the life of T.M. Karavaeva, a Russian woman who specialized in Chukchi education at the INS, highlight various aspects of Soviet policy towards northern peoples. Tatiana Mikhailovna Karavaeva developed an interest in ethnography through her uncle, who was an ethnographer. He was executed for political reasons in 1938. Karavaeva hoped to study ethnography at Leningrad State University, but no ethnography program was offered in the post-war years. Instead, she studied the Chukchi and Koryak languages under the direction of P. Ya. Skorik. She graduated in 1952 and studied problems of teaching Russian in schools for northern pupils in Chukotka. In 1955 she moved to Chukotka and began teaching Russian to Chukchi pupils. At that time few Chukchi pupils knew Russian, and most teachers of Russian did not know Chukchi or Koryak. Karavaeva's familiarity with these languages helped her to teach Russian. During this period she taught Russian language and literature to pupils in Uelen. She also taught Chukchi in the early grades. In collaboration with the ethnographer Leontiev she prepared a guide for concurrently teaching Russian and Chukchi. The guide was written in both Russian and Chukchi. According to Karavaeva, during the 19605 local authorities required Chukchi pupils to attend day-care centres or boardingschools because of concerns about health. Russian was the main language in these centres, and this had negative results. Many pupils forgot the Chukchi language, and their health was not greatly improved. In the 19705 they began to rejoin their families during summer, and Chukchi was taught in the first three

59 Stalin and After

years of school. Consequently, they began to speak Chukchi again, and their health improved. Chukchi pupils, Karavaeva said, still suffered inordinately from "lung problems," ear problems, and vision problems. By 1989, even though day-care workers were expected to know Chukchi, not all did because many had attended school during the 19605, when northern language-education programs languished. Until recently Chukchi students, like other Soviet students, were required to attend school for ten years. They often became accustomed to life in dormitories and settlements and lost interest in traditional occupations. In the 19505 intermarriage between Chukchi and non-Chukchi was rare. Later, young Chukchi women, who no longer wanted to work on the tundra with reindeer brigades, usually married non-northerners. Consequently, Chukchi reindeer breeders often could not find wives. High-level Soviet policy-makers were evidently aware of the problems of northern peoples discussed above and issued a decree "On the provision of complex cultural and practical services for the peoples of the north" in February 1980, directing all levels of government to participate in commissions that would organize and fund "provision of cultural and practical services" for northern peoples (Armstrong 1982, 69). This initiative was probably related to the expansion of language-education programs for northern peoples discussed in chapter 5. C O N S O L I D A T I O N , S O V I E T I Z AT I O N , AND

NORTHERN CONSOLIDATION

It is difficult to know whether repression of the Committee of the North was directly related to the Stalinist view that "excessive" nationalism eroded loyalty to the Soviet state. In any case, the Stalinist version of Sovietization took precedence over consolidation. Northern peoples were increasingly drawn into Soviet institutions, such as collective farms, technical institutes, schools, and pedagogical institutes, even as northern language-education programs were neglected and certain "national" regions were abolished. But some of the institutional mechanisms for promoting consolidation remained,

60 When the North Was Red most notably the seven autonomous okrugs. And it seems likely that the party policy of placing northerners in key posts in okrug Soviets continued (see chapter 6). State support for traditional occupations also continued, perhaps because they were regarded as valuable sources of food and fur. Training of northern intelligentsias also went on during the Stalinist period. This process involved northern consolidation, as northern people from different groups and regions, using Russian as a lingua franca, formed personal and professional connections at Soviet institutions, where they were exposed to a common ideological orientation. By the 19605 most northern people were familiar with Soviet institutions and the concept of literacy. Since many northerners had some knowledge of Russian and mass media were no longer limited to print, it was not necessary for the Soviet state to promote its policies and extend hegemony through promotion of literacy in northern languages. This may account, to some extent, for the neglect of northern languages in northern education. While Russian could serve as a vehicle for Sovietization, it could also serve as a vehicle for consolidation. Building of "national consciousness" does not necessarily depend on use of a traditional mother tongue. As Z.E. Chernyakov noted in 1986 with regard to the consequences of the possible disappearance of the Saami language in the Soviet Union, the first president of Ireland, Eamon de Valera, told Winston Churchill to "go to hell" in English. Members of northern nationalities could use Russian to build national consciousness among their own people and to explain their national uniqueness to others. It is important to note that, irrespective of what languages were used in schools and among northern intelligentsias, northern languages persisted mainly when they were useful in traditional occupations. Several northern educators stressed this point to us. One of the more problematic aspects of Soviet policy was the resettlement of northerners during the 19605. While resettlement may have been viewed as a means of encouraging both consolidation (i.e., drawing together isolated segments of smaller northern groups) and Sovietization (i.e., improving access to Soviet institutions and the Soviet way of life), it also

61 Stalin and After

created situations that worked against both of these processes. In some cases communities were split between those who favoured resettlement and those who opposed it. Resettlement sometimes removed people from their traditional occupations. In such situations resettlement may have impeded consolidation and created bitterness towards the Soviet state. Yet resettlement sometimes allowed children to live in settlements with their parents rather than attend boardingschools. This often permitted regular access to family members, even if northern children were removed from traditional occupations. In larger settlements women could often find jobs that gave them a degree of economic independence and allowed them to remain close to their children. While these developments were consistent with certain aspects of Sovietization - reducing male authority over women, for example they were seen by some northern educators and political activists as catastrophic for traditional ways of life. By the late 19605 members of the northern intelligentsia were well aware of the problems caused by resettlement and began to discuss them publicly, hoping eventually to organize remedial action. Northern educators agitated to revive northern language-education programs. According to Alexandra A. Kudria, it was pressure from the northern intelligentsia that led to the reopening of the Northern Department of the INS in 1973. Such concerted action by members of different northern groups was an indication of northern consolidation.

5 Northern Education during the 19808

In this chapter we focus on processes of northern consolidation, Sovietization, and consolidation in education programs for northern peoples during the 19805. We attempt to describe these processes on the basis of our observations and interviews at the Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions (FPNR), the Institute of National Schools (INS), Education Publishers in Leningrad, and various educational institutions in the YamaloNenets Autonomous Okrug. These processes are also reflected in the ideological content of primers in northern languages. THE

FACULTY OF P E O P L E S OF

NORTHERN REGIONS

After the Institute of the North was closed, training of northern teachers in Leningrad was taken over by the Herzen Pedagogical Institute (HPI). We do not know whether the curriculum for northern students included training in the pedagogy of northern languages. Such training was formally resumed in 1949, when a Department of Peoples of Northern Regions was established (Voskoboinikov 1967). In 1977 this department was upgraded to a faculty. The HPI had the only northern Department with a program for training specialists in northern languages and pedagogy at the post-graduate level.

63 Northern Education during the 19805

During the war years northern teacher training was carried on at Omsk. Many northern students and instructors served in the armed forces in the Leningrad area. During the 19305 a special cafeteria with high-protein foods was established for northern students at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute, so that they would not fall ill from exposure to high-carbohydrate institutional food and to Leningrad's damp climate. In 1981-82, when we tried to find out whether this cafeteria was still operating, we were told by one faculty member that there was no such place. Another member of the faculty then invited us for coffee and took us to the cafeteria, which took up a part of the HPI cafeteria but served noticeably better food. The FPNR cafeteria was also open to students from other HPI faculties who required a special diet for reasons of health. In 1981-82 the FPNR had 240 students (more than 200 women and about 25 men) from 24 northern groups. There were 13 full-time instructors, 8 of whom were northerners, and 28 part-time instructors, including several northerners, from the Institute of Ethnography and the Institute of Linguistics in Leningrad. There were also 8 northern graduate students who served as part-time instructors. In 1989 the FPNR had 315 full-time students. Most of the students were women. Full-time FPNR instructors had very heavy teaching loads and relatively low pay. For example, the assistant dean of the FPNR told us that, in addition to her administrative duties, she was supposed to have twenty-four contact hours per week. The FPNR was divided into three departments in 1981-82. The Department of Russian Language and Literature, Native Languages and Literature, and Philology offered a five-year course for students wishing to teach Russian, a northern language, and literature in secondary or pedagogical schools in northern regions. There were about 115 students in this department. The Primary Pedagogical Department offered a fouryear course for students wishing to teach in the primary grades (preparatory year to third year) in northern regions. There were about 100 students in this department. And the Department of Drawing and Decorative Art, established in the mid-1970s, offered a five-year course for students interested in

64 When the North Was Red teaching northern art in secondary schools in northern regions. In 1981-82 there were about 25 students in this department, mostly young men. The Herzen Pedagogical Institute, of which the FPNR was part, had an enrolment of about 17,000 students in 1981-82. Students from all departments of the FPNR took certain courses with students from other faculties at the HPI. These common courses included psychology, pedagogy, scientific Communism, history of religion and atheism, and history of the CPSU (see Appendix 4). In addition, FPNR students studied their respective northern languages, how to teach them, and how to use them in teaching. They also studied poetry and novels by northern authors (for some examples in English translation, see Soviet Literature 1976, no. i; Kileh 1981; Ritkheu 1981; Sanghi 1986). Classes on northern languages were usually limited to five students. Some - for example, Dolgan, Udeghei, and Nganasan - had only one student. Classes on the pedagogy of northern languages included detailed instruction on translation from the northern language to Russian, translation from Russian to the northern language, and use of teaching materials in the northern language. For example, Evenk teacher trainees studied the 1976 program for using the Evenk language primer (Gortsevskoi and Kudria 1976). The program was written and published in Russian. According to FPNR administrators, during the 19705 around 2,300 northern students graduated every year from ten-year secondary schools. About 600 of these applied for admission to post-secondary universities and institutes, and about half were admitted. About 60 students were accepted every year for FPNR programs, a number determined by the Ministry of Education in consultation with educational authorities in northern regions. Applicants for admission to the FPNR took their exams in their native regions. In most years 10 students were admitted to the Decorative Art Program, 30 to the Russian and Northern Language and Literature program, and 20 to the Primary Pedagogy program. Most beginning students were seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girls. After admission, students in each program were divided into groups of ten, irrespective of nationality. Each group was advised by a particular faculty member until graduation.

65 Northern Education during the 19805

Group members were supposed, with assistance from the faculty adviser, to help each other with academic work and personal problems. FPNR graduates were formally required to teach for two years in northern regions, although this requirement was sometimes waived, usually after a student married someone who was not working in the north. Many FPNR students told us that they expected to obtain teaching positions in schools or day-care centres in their home towns or villages. Extracurricular activities for FPNR students included sports, ski trips, excursions to cultural events and tourist attractions in the Leningrad area and other cities, and various hobby clubs. Many students participated in a well-known folk ensemble called The Northern Lights, which performed traditional and modern songs and dances of northern peoples. The group sometimes appeared on national television and had performed in France and Norway. They practiced in the gymnasium at the hostel that housed FPNR students, and were directed by a retired male dancer from the Kirov ballet company and by a woman in her eighties who had been collecting and choreographing northern dances since the 19305. She described herself as a "follower of Isadora Duncan." During summer holidays FPNR students, like other Soviet students, participated in labour exchanges with other socialist and developing countries, worked at state or collective farms, or worked at Young Pioneer camps. They were also entitled to free transportation to their homes and back to Leningrad. FPNR graduates who showed academic promise were sometimes invited to enter the post-graduate program at the FPNR. Selection was based mainly on the need for specialists in certain northern languages. This in turn was determined by plans of the Ministry of Education. For example, in 1981-82 a training program for teachers of Sel'kup was being planned, and a graduate student with a specialty in the Sel'kup language was required to train them. By 1989 a Sel'kup teacher had been added to the full-time FPNR faculty. We were told that this process was set in motion after Sel'kup parents and educators had requested a Sel'kup language-education program. The FPNR also offered courses for teachers from northern regions who needed to learn or refresh their knowledge of particular northern languages, such periodic refresher courses

66 When the North Was Red

being a standard requirement for all Soviet teachers, as for engineers or doctors. Often these teachers were not northerners. For example, in 1981-82 we observed a class on the Nenets language for primary teachers from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region. The course was taught by Maria Barmich, a Nenets woman who had earned the degree of "Candidate" (awarded after the defence of a dissertation) and who later became chair of Northern Languages at the FPNR. There were eleven women in the class, one Ukrainian, three Komi, four Nenets, two Russian, and one Chuvash. That same year the FPNR was planning to add a northern language program for northern day-care workers in order to assist the revival of northern languages, since northern children often spent long periods with day-care workers who spoke only Russian. FPNR students were mainly chosen by local educational authorities according to criteria that often excluded knowledge of northern languages. While all first-year FPNR students were fluent in Russian, they sometimes didn't know a northern language well. In some cases they didn't know one at all. In 1981-82 FPNR teachers hoped to remedy this situation by choosing students on the basis of their knowledge of a northern language. When we returned to the FPNR in 1986, several important changes had been made. Two northern languages, Ket and Aleut, were to be added to the eighteen languages already offered. The number of classroom hours devoted to the study of northern languages in the program for secondary teachers of Russian and northern languages had been increased, and a component of conversational practice had been added. The number of classroom hours devoted to linguistics, with emphasis on northern languages, had also been increased. We were told that the program for primary teachers had been extended from four to five years and that the number of hours devoted to study of northern languages in this program had also been increased. A program for training day-care workers in northern languages was about to begin. FPNR instructors were still not directly involved in the selection of students, and students who did not know northern languages were still being admitted to the FPNR. Second-year students in the program for secondary teachers of Russian and northern languages were required to go on a

67 Northern Education during the 19803

three-month "expedition" to a northern region to collect folklore. In 1987 three such expeditions were to be mounted: one to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region north of Salekhard, one to the Tura area of the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, and one to the Amur region. One hundred pages of folklore materials and songs were to be recorded and transcribed by each student. During all our visits to the FPNR in 1981-82 and in 1986, instructors and administrators were generally optimistic about the prospects for expansion of programs based on increased state support. They made it clear that such support was forthcoming because of pressure on the Ministry of Education and other Soviet institutions from northerners, especially from the northern intelligentsia. For example, in the early 19805 the FPNR received a request from Evenk teachers and pupils in the Evenk Autonomous Region to prepare materials for schools on the Evenk poet Sakharov, who had been killed while serving in the Red Army during the Second World War. In response to these requests Evenk instructors and students, with assistance from non-Evenk students, were to collect and prepare materials on Sakharov - an example of how Evenk pupils and teachers in the north intended to use Soviet institutions to achieve a particular goal that involved consolidation, in so far as use of Sakharov's poetry in Evenk schools would contribute to the growth of Evenk "national consciousness." This project was also an instance of northern consolidation, in so far as Evenk students and teachers expected to receive assistance from non-Evenk FPNR students in gathering and preparing material on Sakharov. An Evenk poet, he had come in this case to be treated as both a northern poet and a Soviet poet as well. The FPNR curriculum involved Sovietization as well as consolidation. The courses that FPNR students shared with nonnortherners were often heavily Soviet in content - for example, the history of the CPSU, Marxist-Leninist philosophy, scientific atheism, and so on. At the same time, students of each northern group took classes on their "national" language. Since students from widely separated villages were grouped together in these classes, it seems likely that they promoted a common "national" consciousness, or consolidation. Students from all northern groups lived on two floors of a large dormitory about eight kilometres from the HPI. Non-

68 When the North Was Red

northerners lived on other floors of the dormitory. While there was much interaction between northerners and non-northerners in the dormitory and on campus, northerners from different groups were constantly together in their dormitory, in their special cafeteria at the HPI, and with the other northerners in their cohort of FPNR advisees. Not surprisingly, friendships and romantic attachments often crossed "national" lines. We often observed "mixed" couples. There were several married couples among FPNR students, and several FPNR students had parents of different nationalities. In spring 1982 we observed a meeting at the FPNR that clearly illustrated processes of northern consolidation. The entire student body met with FPNR administrators and members of the executive committees of Soviets of the seven northern regions in order to discuss problems with FPNR programs. Students from all northern groups had similar concerns and questions about insufficient numbers of textbooks and teaching materials in northern languages, as well as inadequate facilities. National groups were not discernible at this meeting; instead, students seemed to be animated by common concerns regarding their programs and northern education in general. A major topic at this meeting was privileges for northern students. Student leaders and others expressed the view that free clothing for FPNR students, except in cases of need, was no longer necessary because northern students' families had enough money to purchase clothing. Several students said that the clothing provided at the FPNR was not stylish and did not fit. They commented that there was no point in providing clothes if no one would wear them. Our impression was that FPNR students did not want to be singled out as a group requiring state charity. After the general meeting, students from each "national" group met with executive members of Soviets from their respective regions and FPNR faculty members who taught the languages of those regions. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to attend any of these meetings. It seems likely, had we been able to do so, that we could have learned much regarding consolidation. We also attended a meeting in spring 1982 at which the entire student body, faculty, and other northerners living in

69 Northern Education during the 19803

Leningrad heard a speech by the Chukchi writer Yuri Ritkheu. He blamed non-northerners for disrupting the northern environment, quoting certain non-northerners who described the north as "empty" and "uninhabited," thereby demonstrating their insensitivity to nature and northern peoples. He told the students that it was their responsibility to save the north and northern cultures from disruption or destruction by industrial development. His message was not directed to students of particular northern nationalities. He took it for granted that all northerners shared common concerns and problems, and his speech was well received. FPNR students seemed to be well aware that all northerners, irrespective of nationality, shared problems that would require concerted effort. We regard this as evidence of the process of northern consolidation. During the question period Ritkheu was asked by an FPNR student who aspired to be a writer whether it was better to write in his own language or in Russian. Ritkheu answered that writing in one's northern language strengthened it, while writing in Russian made one's work accessible to more readers. He said that sometimes he wrote in Russian, sometimes in Chukchi. The question and the answer had implications for consolidation, Sovietization, and northern consolidation. Presumably, Ritkheu's works in Chukchi contributed to the consolidation of the Chukchi nationality. His works in Russian, accessible not only to Russians but to northerners who could read Russian, contributed to northern consolidation since they centred on northern themes and people and thus formed part of a growing northern literature. ALPHABETS AND NORTHERN

TEXTBOOKS

IN

LANGUAGES

Processes of Sovietization, consolidation, and northern consolidation were also exemplified by the preparation of alphabets and school textbooks in northern languages. Such preparation involved northerners, especially northern academics and educators, in Soviet institutions: it was usually organized by the Scientific-Pedagogical Department of National Schools at the Ministry of Education, usually in collaboration with the Northern Department of the INS and educational authorities in

70 When the North Was Red

northern regions. Such books were sometimes prepared by an academic in collaboration with a native speaker, usually a teacher. In other cases textbooks were written by northern academics in their mother tongues - for example, by Ch. M. Taksami in Nivkh and by the Evenk linguist-ethnographer Alexandra A. Kudria. The major institutions involved in preparation of alphabets and school textbooks for northern language-education programs were the INS and Education Publishers. In 1986 the Northern Department of the INS employed nineteen people in Moscow and the northern regions. Those in northern regions included E.G. Susoi, a Nenets woman who worked at Salekhard in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Zinaida Pikunova, an Evenk woman in the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, a Dolgan woman in Dudinka, two Khant women in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a Chukchi woman at Anadyr, a Koryak man in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, a Nanay woman in the village of Dada in the Khabarovsk region, a Nivkh language specialist in the Khabarovsk region, and Alexandra A. Antonova, a Saami woman who worked in the Saami settlement of Lovozero on the Kola Peninsula. INS personnel in Moscow included the Evenk specialist Alexandra A. Kudria, G.N. Nikol'skaya, a Russian woman who specialized in preparing textbooks and materials to teach Russian to northern pupils, T.M. Karavaeva, a Russian woman who specialized in the Chukchi language, and A.F. Boitsova, a specialist on the Evenk language. Education Publishers in Leningrad began publishing school textbooks in northern languages in the 19308. In 1982 five editors were employed in its Northern Department, one for each major northern language family. The chief editor at the Northern Department was P. Rakhtilin, a Chukchi linguist who was in charge of editing books in Eskimo, Chukchi, and Koryak. According to educators we interviewed in 1989, the Scientific-Pedagogical Department of National Schools at the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Academy of Sciences Institute of Linguistics, the Institute of Ethnography, and other academic or pedagogical bodies with relevant expertise, designated particular specialists to create alphabets for

71 Northern Education during the 19805

unwritten northern languages. For example, a linguist under contract with the Ministry of Education furnished an Itel'men alphabet (see Volodin and Khaloimova, 1989). In other cases scholars had submitted alphabets to the Ministry of Education on a voluntary basis. For example, G.D. Werner and another specialist on the Ket language each submitted Ket alphabets. Similarly, two Udeghei alphabets were submitted by different specialists. We are unsure of the standard procedure that was used to decide between two competing alphabets. We were told that, in the controversy over which Saami alphabet would be officially accepted, the ultimate decision would be made by the local soviet in the settlment where the Saami school was located. In the Ket case, Werner's alphabet was accepted. Viktor E. Ignatief, director of the INS, told us in 1989 of a case where a particular group of non-aboriginal academic specialists on the Saami language were unsatisfied with the Saami alphabet that had been devised by a Saami educator for use in the school in Lovozero. This educator, A.A. Antonova, and a Saami teacher had used their alphabet to write a Saami primer, and wished to continue using it in the Lovozero school (see Antonova 1982). The academic specialists were trying to have the alphabet and primer withdrawn. We were told that, in order to resolve this conflict, educational materials were being prepared using both competing alphabets. After these materials had been tested in the Saami school, one of the alphabets was to be designated "official" by the Lovozero soviet. A senior editor at Education Publishers said of this case, "Life itself will choose." At the INS in 1989 we interviewed A.A. Antonova and the Saami teacher who used her primer in the Lovozero school. They said that the academic specialists who opposed their alphabet had devised a slightly different Saami alphabet for use in a Saami-Russian dictionary. Antonova and the teacher felt that use of two alphbets would create unnecessary difficulties for Saami pupils. They were clearly worried about the survival of their language. The dispute seemed to us to be serious, with strong feelings on both sides. Consideration of requests for alphabets for northern languages sometimes met with considerable delay at various levels of the bureaucracy of the Ministry of Education. For

72 When the North Was Red example, two years elapsed before Werner's Ket alphabet was finally approved. In the meantime Werner and a Ket woman, G. Kh. Nikolaeva, proceeded to write a Ket primer, with assistance from the INS Northern Department, without waiting for official approval (see Werner and Nikolaeva 1988). An experimental version of this primer was tested in Ket schools. Northern people in Moscow and Leningrad who planned northern language-education programs told us in 1989 that the Ministry of Education had become more responsive to requests for alphabets, textbooks, and teaching materials in northern languages, perhaps because of the election by her colleagues of Alia L. Bugayova as head of the Scientific-Pedagogical Department of National Schools at the Ministry of Education. Various northern educators told us that Bugayova took her job seriously. Experimental versions of textbooks were tested in northern schools under the direction of INS workers. In some cases Education Publishers sent textbook illustrators to the northern regions to make sure that their illustrations would accurately represent northern subjects. The illustrators were not usually northerners, and authors were expected to give them direction. One author who was a northerner and a native speaker said that authors sometimes argued with illustrators about the number of illustrations with reindeer. The illustrators said that there were too many; the author said that the illustrators did not understand the importance of reindeer in northern life. In the late 19805 school-books in northern languages were to be published in standard sets for classroom and teacher use: 1. Primers for primary grades (preparatory year, grade one, grade two, and grade three): By the end of the 19805, primers had been published, or were being prepared, for nineteen northern languages. Grammar/reading books in some languages were published to accompany primers for second- and third-year pupils. For some groups there were also textbooks for higher grades. 2. Books of stories and poems to accompany primers and grammar/readers. Often northern folk-tales and stories by northern authors were included, as well as translations of nonnorthern poems and folk-tales (e.g., the Gingerbread Man).

73 Northern Education during the 19805

3. A dictionary for the primary grades with translations of words in the northern language to Russian and vice versa. Dictionaries had been published, or were being prepared, for nineteen languages (for example, see Kert 1986; Onenko 1982; Skameiko and Syazi 1985; Inenlikei 1987; Robbek, Dutkin, and Buruikin 1988; Zhukova 1983; Sunik 1987; Tsintsius 1984). 4. "Programs," or teachers' manuals, in Russian, to help teachers and teacher trainees to use primers and other northern language materials in the classroom (for example, see Gortsevskoi and Kudria 1976; RSFSR Ministry of Education 1988; Nemuisova et al. 1988; Zhukova 1987). In addition, Russian-language primers and story-poetry books were specially prepared for children with northern mother tongues (for example, see Smol'nikov 1987), and there were plans to produce audio-visual materials for northern language teaching. During the 19805 there was extensive discussion at the INS about the problems of publishing textbooks in different dialects of the same language. In some cases textbooks in different dialects were published - for example, books in the Shurishkarskii, Surgutskii, and Kazuimskii dialects of Khanty, or in two dialects of Nivkh (see Taksami, Pukhta, and Vingun 1982; Sanghi and Otaina 1981). In other cases a major dialect was adopted as a literary language, and all textbooks were published in this dialect - this occurred, for example, with Evenk. Some northern educators told us that they preferred to minimize the number of dialects in which school texts were published, arguing that this would prevent isolation of small dialect groups and thus promote survival of the language. The issue of publication in one or more dialects of the same language was important for consolidation, not only because of the number of northern pupils who would be exposed to a particular literary language but also because of the groupings within each northern intelligentsia that were required to produce and use such textbooks. Indeed, production of textbooks and training of teachers to use them involved consolidation of significant proportions of smaller northern groups. In the course of these activities, specialists from particular northern groups co-operated not only with each other but with northerners from other groups who worked at Soviet institutions

74 When the North Was Red

such as the INS and Education Publishers. We interpreted such co-operation, and the institutional context in which it occurred, as examples of northern consolidation and Sovietization. The publication of the Nivkhi primers, like the Saami alphabets, involved a serious dispute. There are two major dialects of Nivkh, one found mainly in the Amur region on the mainland and the other on the island of Sakhalin. When Taksami prepared his primer, relying largely on the Amur regional dialect, he was criticized in the press by Vladimir Sanghi, a Nivkh writer from Sakhalin. Sanghi insisted that Taksami had made "mistakes" about the Nivkhi language. While this dispute would seem to indicate problems in consolidation among the Nivkhi, it is significant that the dispute was carried on in a Soviet institutional context - that is, in Russian-language newspapers such as Literaturnaya Gazyeta. SOVIET IDEOLOGY AND PRIMERS IN NORTHERN LANGUAGES

Alia L. Bugayova, head of the Scientific-Pedagogical Department of National Schools at the Ministry of Education, told us in 1989 that primers in northern languages were composed of three parts. The first part consisted only of pictures and was designed for introduction to, and practice of, listening and speaking. The second part introduced the alphabet. The third part consisted of text, stories (including northern folk-tales), and poems, often by northern authors. If most pupils from a particular northern group knew their language well, the latter part of the primer was proportionately longer than the first two parts. All the primers had about 125 pages and were hard-backed with decorative covers. Most pages had multicoloured illustrations (for example, see Anufriev 1973; Analkvasak and Ainana 1974; Zhukova, Ikavav, and Agin 1981; Putintsyeva and Onenko 1978; Sanghi and Otaina 1981; Vdovin et al. 1977; Boitsova, Kudria, and Romanova 1976; Antonova 1982; Rombandeeva and Vakhrusheva 1989; Khaloimova and Volodin 1988; Irikov 1986; Taksami, Pukhta, and Vingun 1982). The primers exemplified Sovietization in so far as they were

75 Northern Education during the 19805

intended to promote respect for Soviet values and institutions. Soviet themes were represented by illustrations of Lenin, Soviet scientific and technological achievements, Soviet weaponry and military personnel, the Kremlin, celebrations of Soviet holidays, northern children in standard school and Young Pioneer uniforms, northern children at peace demonstrations with children from other countries, and so on. Girls and women were not pictured as dependent upon or inferior to boys and men, although females were pictured about half as many times as males. There were many illustrations of northern people pursuing occupations that required higher education. At the same time, the primers were vehicles for consolidating northern groups. The primers established a standard literary language, or set of dialects, for populations that were often widely scattered. In some cases this may have "frozen" or impeded the development of regional dialects. But we did not hear northern educators mention this possibility. Most northern educators we interviewed seemed anxious to settle on a single literary form, or a minimum number of literary forms, in order to achieve "national" unity in protecting their languages. It seems likely that consolidation of smaller northern groups was promoted when a significant proportion of their respective intelligentsias collaborated in the production of primers and other school-books. Consolidation was also promoted by illustrations depicting "national" occupations (particularly hunting, fishing, making traditional clothing, reindeer breeding, fish drying, and preparation of hides), traditional clothing, dwellings, and decorative motifs. The Evenk primer had a picture of an Evenk war hero, and one of the Khanty primers had a picture of a Khant war hero. In some primers there were illustrations of regional centres, such as Salekhard and Anadyr. Production of the primers also promoted northern consolidation. Members of various northern intelligentsias worked together in the institutions where the books were planned, written, and edited. They evolved a format to which most (but not all) primers conformed. According to this format, pedagogical and ideological content were combined in certain standardized ways.

76 When the North Was Red Finally, the primers represented contradictions, or potential contradictions, among the three processes. According to early Soviet ethnographers, the Latin alphabet was in general better suited than the Cyrillic to representing the sounds of northern languages. Yet in the 19305 Latin-based alphabets were replaced by Cyrillic-based alphabets. In this case Sovietization took priority over consolidation, which might have been better served by Latin-based alphabets. In the primers northerners and non-northerners are shown participating in various Soviet institutions and in industrial and traditional occupations. Northern children are shown in internats and with their parents on the tundra and taiga. Words borrowed from Russian frequently appear in northern texts. A recurring theme is the application of industrial technology to traditional occupations. There are many pictures of helicopters and snowmobiles near reindeer herds. Northern occupants of chums and yarangas are often shown listening to radios. There is no suggestion that these juxtapositions might represent potential problems or contradictions. This, of course, is not surprising. Primers in most societies do not focus on social and economic problems. Members of northern intelligentsias had been aware of these contradictions for some years, and they were publicly and privately discussed during the 19805. Internats were said to divert students from traditional occupations; industrialization and resource development threatened traditional occupations in certain areas; Russian was seen as a threat to northern languages; listening to radios, we were told, interfered with the acute hearing of reindeer breeders. Many people we interviewed were concerned about these problems. CONSOLIDATION, SOVIETIZATION, AND NORTHERN CONSOLIDATION IN THE YAMALO-NENETS AUTONOMOUS O K R U G , 1986

Salekhard, the administrative centre of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, is located at the mouth of the Ob River, on the Arctic Circle. It is a major shipping point for forest products and fish. In 1986 it had a population of about 30,000,

77 Northern Education during the 19805

mainly Russian, with Khanty, Komi, Nenets, Sel'kup, and others. We visited several educational institutions in the YamaloNenets Autonomous Okrug, including a pedagogical college, a technical college for agricultural workers and zoo-technicians (i.e., para-veterinarians), a sanitarium school and internat, a day-care centre, and a culture workers' training college in Salekhard, and schools in the smaller settlements of Muzhi, Gorky, and Pitliar. Administrative offices for the okrug's educational institutions and the okrug soviet were located in Salekhard, in a large building near the Ob. These offices were staffed by northerners and non-northerners. A large auditorium, with facilities for classes on northern dances, arts, and crafts, and a chumshaped northern cultural centre, which was to have a cafe and northern craft shop, were near completion. The pedagogical college had an enrolment of 376 students, 111 from northern groups, mostly Khanty, Nenets, and Sel'kup. Northern teacher trainees from the okrug learned to teach their respective languages to primary pupils and, attended classes on northern crafts, pedagogical techniques, Marxist-Leninist philosophy, scientific atheism, history of the CPSU, and other Soviet subjects. The college dance ensemble, which performed traditional and modern northern songs and dances, was made up of Khant, Nenets, and Sel'kup students and a few non-northerners as well. For some years the ensemble had been directed by E.G. Susoi, a Nenets woman educator and writer who worked for the INS while living in Salekhard. The ensemble had performed several times in Moscow, once at the semi-annual competition of northern ensembles held at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements. After admission to the college, students from various nationalities were assigned to a group of twenty-five to thirty students. They worked together under a particular faculty adviser until graduation, after which they usually found teaching jobs in their native villages. Presumably, classes in the pedagogy of particular northern languages brought students from widely scattered northern groups together and thus promoted consolidation, while classes in which students from various northern

78 When the North Was Red and non-northern groups studied Soviet subjects promoted Sovietization. Northern consolidation was promoted when students from different northern groups got to know each other and learned each other's songs, dances, and crafts. At the Culture Workers' Training College in Salekhard we met an FPNR-trained Nenets composer-musician who was head of the Music Department. He based his piano compositions on traditional Nenets music and sometimes used the poems of the late Nenets poet L. Laptsui as lyrics. We also saw some of the items made by Khanty Nenets, and Sel'kup students in the Art Department. These included horn and bone carvings and paintings of northern landscapes, reindeer breeding, and so on. Traditional Nenets and Khanty decorative motifs were much in evidence. There also seemed to be crossfertilization of art forms from different Soviet cultures. For example, ceramic reindeer made by northern students might be decorated in traditional Russian style. These activities exemplified consolidation in that students from particular northern groups were learning the traditional arts and crafts of their respective cultures. The curriculum also exemplified northern consolidation in that students from different northern groups were learning to fuse various northern artistic traditions. Graduates of this program were to become teachers of various amateur arts and crafts clubs and classes throughout the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug; thus the styles and techniques that they learned would presumably be widely diffused. Sovietization was exemplified in so far as all these activities took place in Soviet institutions and were promoted by Soviet state policies. At the technical school for agricultural workers and zootechnicians in Salekhard there were 392 students from thirty different nationalities, 182 of them northerners, mostly Khanty and Nenets enrolled in two-and-one-half-year programs for para-veterinarian training and fur farming. In the gymnasium we saw about thirty northern students, all men, practicing northern sports, including lassoing with reindeer-hide ropes, throwing wooden axes, and sledge jumping. Their coach was non-aboriginal. Five of these students had won awards in northern sport competitions and were training to compete in the 1987 Northern Sports championships in Sakhalin. The

79 Northern Education during the 19805

previous championships had been held in Chukotka. One of the Nenets students who excelled at lassoing was from a wellknown reindeer state farm on the Yamal Peninsula. He was in the second year of the zoo-technician program, and planned to work on the state farm after graduation. The institutionalization of northern sports and northern dance can be interpreted as examples of Sovietization of traditional northern cultures; at the same time it represented northern consolidation because it brought together northerners from different regions and diffused certain features of their cultures. At Pitliar, a settlement with approximately 400 residents, about 300 of whom were Khanty fishermen and reindeer breeders, we interviewed the director of an eight-year school and internat. He was an Evenk man from the Lake Baikal region. His wife, a Khant from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, taught Russian language and literature in the Pitliar school. The director and his wife had met in Leningrad while studying at the FPNR and chose to work in her native region after their marriage and graduation. They had three children, all of whom had chosen Khanty nationality. Their son worked in the Komi Republic. One daughter was a student at the FPNR, and the youngest daughter was a student at the Tyumen Medical Institute. In this case, two people from diverse northern groups were brought together in a Soviet institutional context. Because they were northerners, they were expected to work in the north after completing pedagogical training. Because of the institutional uniformity throughout the Soviet north, they were able to work in the same school, despite differences between Evenk and Khanty culture. In this case, Sovietization facilitated northern consolidation.

6 Perestroika, the Association of Northern Peoples, and the End of the USSR

This chapter, focusing on the Association of northern peoples, covers the last years of the Soviet Union. Consolidation, Sovietization, and northern consolidation, their contradictions, and the new uncertainties created by perestroika led to the formation of the Association of Northern Peoples (ANP), which sought political solutions to social and economic problems faced by northerners. Representatives of the northern peoples attended the founding congress of the ANP in early 1990. In this chapter we shall describe some of the problems addressed by the ANP and assess the association's proposed solutions in light of the processes we have described, and in light of the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. SOCIAL AND

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

The social and economic problems of northern peoples were extensively discussed in the Soviet media in the late 19805. The Khant writer Yeremei Aipin, who was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet in 1989, wrote of the devastation of reindeer pastures in the Khanty-Mansisk region by oil and gas development, and of poaching and theft of northern artifacts by non-northern oil workers (1989). The Chukchi novelist Yuri Ritkheu wrote of the low pay received by reindeer breeders and other northerners.

8i Perestroika and the ANP

He contrasted early Soviet teachers and administrators, who learned the Chukchi language, with recent settlers (1988). A. Pika and A. Prokhorov claimed there was extensive alcoholism, high levels of infant mortality, and short life expectancy - on average, forty-five years for men - among northern peoples (1989). (These data were not, according to Pika, obtained directly. For instance, he would visit a sanatorium in the north and interview the patients about deaths in their villages.) The Nanay ethnographer Yevdokia Gaer, who was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet in 1989, claimed that Chukchi in Chukotka were suffering from exposure to high levels of radioactivity from Soviet atomic testing and that 100 per cent of aborignal people in Chukotka had tuberculosis (Gaer and Lupandin 1989). (The late ethnographer I.S. Gurvich told us in 1989 that no more than 10 per cent of Chukchi had tuberculosis.) Ch. M. Taksami, a prominent Nivkh ethnographer, wrote of the disruption of traditional occupations by resettlement and of declining numbers of northerners pursuing traditional occupations (1989, 19893; also see Yemelyanova 1988). Our data from FPNR students support the latter claim: the proportion of their family members who were engaged in traditional occupations of hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding in 1981-82 (approximately 32 per cent) was significantly higher than the proportion so engaged in 1989 (approximately 19 per cent). In private conversations in 1989 northerners told us of large forested areas in the Amur region that had been clear-cut during the 19605 and 19705 by logging crews from Cuba and other socialist countries, and inadequate medical facilities in northern settlements. We were also told of instances where resources allocated to medical care had increased - for example, large numbers of Evenk children had recently received eye surgery pioneered by the well-known surgeon Fyodorov. T.M. Karavaeva told us of economic and social problems in Chukotka. Because of the relative abundance of consumer goods, many non-northerners moved there. They often had the best jobs in settlements, while northerners had relatively low-paid, unskilled jobs. There were problems of alcoholism, and there were many matrifocal, lone-parent Chukchi families. Karavaeva said that non-northern pupils attended school with Chukchi children but were not encouraged to study the

82 When the North Was Red

Chukchi language. Chukchi children all knew Russian and did not like to stay after regular school hours for Chukchi language classes that other pupils were not required to attend. Karavaeva mentioned an enterprise that manufactured traditional Chukchi footwear. Most of the workers were women. Because of increased demand from the local non-northern population and because of a shortage of reindeer hides, the enterprise could not produce enough for export. There was also a shortage of reindeer meat in settlements. The reindeer population had declined, she told us, because of wolves, overgrazing, and poor management. Attempts to relieve these problems had not been successful. Construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway (BAM) through Evenk territory evidently did not lead to destruction of traditional occupations. It did, however, lead to state pressure on Evenkii to give up hunting and trapping in favour of reindeer breeding, which could provide meat for migrant labourers and new settlements along the BAM. The proposals for occupational change were not well received by Evenkii in affected regions (Anderson 1989). The ethnographer V.I. Boiko, who argued in favour of these changes, was roundly condemned by several northern informants we interviewed in 1989. Before the formation of the ANP northerners had begun to organize resistance to industrial and resource development that threatened their lands and cultures. In 1982 a Mansi FPNR student told us that the local soviet in her native village stopped a small gold-mining operation that was polluting a river used for fishing. (Her mother was a member of the local soviet.) A Nanay chemical engineer told us in 1982 that in his native region measures were taken to prevent disruption of fish-spawning grounds during construction of a hydroelectric project. In 1989 an Evenk zoo-technician told us that geological exploration had been curtailed in parts of the Evenk Autonomous Okrug because ministries were unwilling to pay recently imposed costs of compensation for damage to reindeer pastures. A northern ethnographer told us that Nanay, Udeghei, and Russian protesters stopped a logging project in the Amur region in the late 19805. Around the same time environmentalists, scientists, and Evenk political activists, including the Evenk novelist Alitet Nemtuschkin, gained a

83 Perestroika and the ANP

ten-year moratorium on construction of a hydroelectric project that threatened reindeer pastures in the Turukhansk region (Novikov 1988). In some cases northerners managed to gain compensation for damage to their lands and traditional occupations. For example, Yeremei Aipin told us in 1989 that one of the major resource ministries operating in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug had built new housing for Khanty people whose traditional occupations had been harmed by resource development. Most of the northern activists we interviewed in 1989 were members of the CPSU, including the most outspoken critics of Soviet northern policy such as Y. Aipin. At that time the CPSU was largely Gorbachev's party. For three years glasnost and perestroika had been the guiding concepts of most party members. Glasnost provided an opportunity for public discussion of northern problems. Perestroika would, it was clear, cause tremendous change. It was to involve devolution of power to institutions such as autonomous okrugs, universities, colleges, research institutes, museums, factories, state farms, co-operative farms, and so on. They were expected to become "self-financing" in varying degrees. Northern activists were caught up in the ferment of change, somewhat uncertain about its consequences, but hopeful. Several who played key roles in the formation of the ANP told us that they hoped the ANP would help to protect northern lands and cultures against incursions by non-northern settlers and extractive industries. In their view large and powerful Soviet ministries had proceeded with mining, hydroelectric development, oil and gas development, and other large-scale projects in the north and far east, without sufficient regard for ecological damage or disruption of traditional northern occupations. If political power and control of land and resources could be devolved from Ail-Union ministries (for the whole of the Soviet Union, not just the RSFSR) to local governments dominated by northerners, they argued, this could provide the basis for solutions to conflicts between industrial and resource development and traditional occupations. Some northern activists looked to what they termed the "Canadian model" for solutions to the social and economic

84 When the North Was Red problems of northerners, and favoured establishing what they perceived as Canadian- or American-style "reservations" in the Soviet north. The following passage by the ethnographer Sergei Sokolovsky is, perhaps, typical of the view entertained by certain Soviet academics and northern political activists in 1989: What is wrong about this word [reservation]? It is made of a rootword "reserve" meaning "store, keep back." Our negative attitude to this word is linked with the forced resettlement of North American Indians to special areas during the European colonisation of America. In the 300 years since that time this word has changed its implication. Today, a reservation means a set of legal regulations providing for the conservation of the traditional lifestyle of a people. The creation of conservation areas on indigenous territories constitutes a tested instrument of improving the life of ethnic minorities. In Greenland, for example, the native population was on its way to extinction until the Dutch [sic] decided to close the island for new settlers. That decision was in effect for a whole century. As a result, all traces of degeneration of the natives disappeared. Then the Dutch started investing in traditional occupations including crafts, fishing and hunting. Today such an experiment is conducted in Brazil in a number of Indian tribes. (1990, 17; see Petrunenko 1991)

Proponents of such views seemed unaware of the criticisms that have been levelled against the reserve system in Canada. Northern educators who had visited Canada were usually taken to the Northwest Territories but not to reserves in the south. Some of them saw the James Bay Agreement and the proposed Dene Settlement as models to be emulated in the "restructured" Soviet north and far east. They did not see the implications of the fact that Greenland and the Northwest Territories have aboriginal majorities, while Siberia does not. Northern political activists also seemed unaware of another important difference between the Canadian reserve system and the situation of Soviet northerners. In the Soviet north autonomous okrugs had many long-time (i.e., non-transient) residents who were non-aboriginal and from different northern nationalities. Thus, northern okrugs were "multinational." According to northern activists we interviewed in 1989, autonomous

85 Perestroika and the ANP

okrugs were expected to remain multinational even if okrug governments gained control of lands, resources, and the authority to accept or expel undesirable "migrants." Reserves in Canada, however, are not generally multinational in this sense. The main feature of proposals by northern political activists for devolution of power to northern regions was their focus on control or "ownership" of land and resources. Until March 1990 land in the USSR was regarded as the property of "the people," as represented by the state, and could not be bought or sold. Land could be "used" by state farms or collective farms, industrial enterprises, ministries, or even individuals, but could not be owned. In early March 1990 the Supreme Soviet adopted a "law on land" that transferred ownership of land and resources to "people living on a given territory" (Guardian, \ March 1990). According to this law, state farms and co-operatives were to acquire ownership of land, and individuals were to have the option of leasing land, provided that rent and taxes were paid. When we were in the USSR in 1989, this law was being discussed. Some northern political activists suggested that implementation of the law would allow okrug Soviets, with significant northern representation, to have exclusive control over okrug lands, resources, and immigration. This expectation was predicated on continuity of the Communist Party policy that reserved positions in okrug-level Soviets for northerners, even though northerners were significantly outnumbered by non-northerners in all autonomous okrugs. This transfer of ownership of land and resources to okrug governments would, in theory, have allowed northerners to dictate terms to ministries involved in oil and gas and hydroelectric development, and to expel non-northerners who were involved in poaching, theft, hooliganism, and so on. It would also have allowed okrug governments to "bargain" with powerful ministries over environmental-protection policies and compensation for damage inflicted by resource development (see Anderson 1992). In addition to the plans mentioned above, there was widespread discussion among northern political activists of plans to re-establish small northern settlements that had been abandoned during the 19605, or to establish small settlements where reindeer routes intersect. These settlements were to

86 When the North Was Red

have modern amenities and small schools with curricula emphasizing northern languages and traditional occupations. Several ANP activists we interviewed hoped that these measures would encourage young northerners to choose to pursue traditional occupations (see Balikci 1992). There were also plans to replace boarding-schools with "travelling schools," which would accompany reindeer brigades. According to the Koryak INS graduate student Kharutkina, "nomad schools" had already been organized for reindeer breeders in Kamchatka, but there was a shortage of teachers. In the late 19805 there was discussion of "restructuring" traditional northern occupations by the widespread use of family contracts, according to which a particular family would agree to provide a specified amount of goods or services (for example, reindeer breeding) to an enterprise over a specified period of time. We were told that in some parts of the north and far east such contracts were already in place. According to the ethnographer L.V. Khomich, a specialist on the Nenets, work brigades engaged in traditional occupations were mainly composed of relatives prior to the introduction of family contracts. She did not expect family contracts to bring major changes to the practice of traditional occupations (personal communication, 1989). F O R M A T I O N OF THE

ANP

Some of these proposals, particularly those concerning ownership of land and resources by okrug governments, were adopted at the first congress of the ANP in March 1990, in Moscow. The congress was attended by over 350 delegates, who were elected by regional branches of the ANP. Each of the twenty-six northern nationalities was represented "according to its numbers" (IWGIA 1990, 12). Non-voting observers included representatives from several small northern groups, such as the Teleuts and Kereks, which had not been recognized by the Soviet state, and descendants of long-time Russian settlers in Siberia. Invited guests included journalists from Severnuie Prostorui (Northern Landscapes), certain Soviet anthropologists, and representatives of the government of the Russian Republic, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, the Scandinavian

87 Perestroika and the ANP

Saami, and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). President M. Gorbachev attended the opening session. The Nivkh writer Vladimir Sanghi was elected president, and the keynote address was delivered by the Nivkh ethnographer Ch. M. Taksami (see IWGIA 1990). Most delegates were members of northern intelligentsias, and about half were CPSU members (IWGIA 1990,13). Establishment of the ANP was supported by the Central Committee of the CPSU (Alia 1991,24). Northern members of the Supreme Soviet of Deputies, such as Yeremei Aipin, the Koryak journalist Kosygin, the Nenets deputy S. Ya. Pal'chin, and others planned to take an active role in the ANP (see Severnuie Prostorui July-August 1989). Some northern deputies lost their positions after the attempted coup of August 1991 and the dissolution of the USSR (Larsen 1992). Formation of the ANP can be seen as a consequence of the process of northern consolidation in so far as representatives of northern groups acknowledged common problems and agreed to pursue particular solutions (see A. Kudria 1989). In some cases this involved overcoming traditional stereotypes and animosities. For example, a Koryak ANP supporter from Kamchatka told us about her local organization of northern peoples, which was to be formally affiliated with the ANP. When we asked who could join, she said that the organization was open to all northern people in the area, "even the Evens," and went on to explain that Koryaks had traditionally regarded Evens as inferiors. In 1989 an Evenk ethnographer and her cousin, an Evenk zoo-technician from a reindeer sovkhoz in the Baikit region of the Evenk National Okrug, took us to meet northern deputies of the Supreme Soviet at a large Moscow hotel. The Evenk zootechnician and S. Ya. Pal'chin, a Nenets deputy, immediately began discussing ANP policy. It turned out that they had been students together at a technical school in Krasnoyarsk. They clearly shared a common "northern identity," despite ethnic/ national differences. Formation of the ANP was also a consequence, in some important respects, of the process of Sovietization. Several ANP supporters we met were strong supporters of Lenin's nationalities policy. In their political discourse the activities of the

88 When the North Was Red

Committee of the North were represented as attempts to implement that policy, and current problems were seen largely as a result of deviations from it. The ANP was seen as a new Committee of the North that would be controlled by northern peoples (see Taksami 19893). It is also important to note that the ANP proposals we heard were predicated on the continuity of certain Soviet institutions and policies, particularly autonomous okrugs, and the CPSU'S policy of "reserving" positions on okrug Soviets for northern people. Formation of the ANP involved consolidation in so far as widely scattered communities of some northern groups had to thrash out policy and participate in election of delegates to the ANP congress. For example, editors/writers at Severnii Prostoruii told us that a conference of representatives from Nenets communities met in Salekhard in summer-fall 1989 to discuss proposals regarding land ownership and formation of the ANP. The political processes through which Evenk people in the Tungokochenskii and Kalarskii districts formulated demands for indigenous control of lands and resources have been described by David Anderson (1992). Their demands included re-establishment of the Vitimo-Olekminskii National Region, which was abolished in 1937 (Anderson 1992, 94). We were told in 1989 that similar demands for re-establishment of the Saami National Region were forthcoming from the Saami of the Kola Peninsula. Such political initiatives were to some extent at least a result of consolidation; it seems likely that the political processes involved in these initiatives promoted the "national consciousness" of various northern groups. PROBLEMS OF PERESTROIKA

It was clear in 1989 that many of the proposals of northern educators and political activists were problematic. In some cases problems arose because of the general disorganization involved in "restructuring" major institutions. In other cases it seemed that northern political activists were not aware of the assumptions their proposals implied and their possible consequences.

89 Perestroika and the ANP

Problems directly attributable to the disorganization brought by perestroika were much in evidence at the FPNR and other institutions involved in northern education. In late 1989 we were told that the main FPNR facilities at the campus of the Herzen Pedagogical Institute on the Moika River bank were being renovated. This necessitated a move of all FPNR classes to the large but very run-down FPNR dormitory. Facilities at this location were inadequate. The lack of language laboratories and library facilities was particularly serious. In 1981-82 two floors of this dormitory had been occupied by northerners and the other two by non-northerners. In 1989 non-northerners no longer occupied the building, and many rooms were empty. Because of budgetary uncertainty, it was unclear when, if ever, these problems were going to be solved. There were also serious problems with the FPNR Art Program. In 1981-82 we had been shown, and given, examples of traditional northern arts and crafts by students who were in the FPNR Art Program. In 1989 three second-year students in the Art Program told us that they were dissatisfied because their courses had not included traditional northern arts and crafts. Also, art classes were being discontinued because classrooms were in urgent need of repair. No first- year art students had been admitted. There was constant conflict over, and reorganization of, the FPNR curriculum. Some non-northern FPNR administrators increased the proportion of classroom hours devoted to northern music and dance at the expense of northern language training. Most FPNR teachers opposed this change. There were many meetings, including several with educational authorities in Moscow, and it was hoped that the northern languageeducation component would be restored. In the meantime, however, students and teachers were unsure about the curriculum, and FPNR classes often did not meet. We had to recopy the FPNR timetable of classes several times because it was changed so frequently. As a result of budget cuts FPNR student "expeditions" to collect folklore in northern regions had been suspended. Blank cassettes for recording folklore or for use in language labs were unavailable. It was also unclear whether FPNR plans for

90 When the North Was Red

recruitment of students on the basis of knowledge of northern languages would be implemented. At Education Publishers expansion of publication of school textbooks in northern languages had not been matched by an increase in the number of editors who knew northern languages, even though the budget of Education Publishers had been increased by 20 per cent in 1989. Consequently, editors had to work with languages that they did not know. Publication of textbooks in northern languages was heavily subsidized by the Soviet state. Viktor E. Ignatief, the director of Education Publishers in 1989, told us that a primer with colour illustrations cost, on average, about 3 rubles to produce. It was sold for 60 kopeks (i ruble = 100 kopeks), a level of subsidization that would seem impossible to maintain in the economic turbulence of post-Soviet Russia. Given that the transition to a "market economy" will likely involve large increases in printing, shipping, and other costs, it is doubtful that a state faced with ongoing economic instability will give priority to meeting such increased costs. Some northern educators told us that there were not enough teaching jobs for the teachers of northern languages who were being trained. They had to find jobs in other fields, such as journalism. In post-Soviet Russia it is doubtful that the state will be able or willing to support a large northern intelligentsia. ANP proposals regarding devolution of the "ownership" of lands and resources to okrug Soviets assumed continuity in major Soviet institutions and institutional practices, including state subsidization of traditional occupations. In some cases these subsidies were substantial (for example, see Balikci 1992, 6). The transition to a market economy will probably involve their removal. Some okrug governments may be able to maintain them on the basis of taxation of resource extraction; in areas without significant resource extraction, however, continued subsidization may be impossible. This raises the possibility of regional disparities and possible splits between "rich" and "poor" northerners in different national groups, or within the same national group in different okrugs. The prospect of regional or national disparities among northerners raises the question of whether northern interests are better protected by

91 Perestroika and the ANP

a strong central government or by regional governments. We did not hear discussion of such questions by northern political activists in 1989. Dr Chuner M. Taksami has argued that traditional occupations, when properly managed, could make a valuable contribution to the national economy (1989). In our view, if traditional occupations are not maintained for their economic value, they will, like various aspects of Canadian aboriginal culture, be vulnerable to a decline in sympathetic press coverage, financial constraints on state support, and the waxing and waning of the goodwill of the majority. The Swedish ethnologist Kerstin Eidlitz Kuoljok has made similar observations regarding the traditional occupations of the Swedish Saami (personal communication, spring 1989). Northern political activists from various regions told us of plans to export reindeer meat and various arts and crafts for hard currency. They seemed, however, to be unaware of the need for quality control or the possibility of competition for market shares. There were other problems. An Evenk reindeer breeder told us in 1989 that in order for his state farm to export reindeer meat, it was necessary to set up a hard-currency account at a state bank in Moscow. The bank insisted on a 30 per cent commission on all hard-currency transactions. Northern political activists who wished to re-establish small villages that had been abandoned during the resettlements of the 19605 seemed unaware of the possibility that, for many northerners, another relocation might be just as distressing as the first. Young people would be moved to a place where they had never lived. Jobs dependent on being in a larger settlement would be lost. Women in particular might find themselves unemployed and without support services available in larger communities. The impact of family contracts upon northern women was also unclear. Would a woman be able to choose a different occupation if her husband had contractually bound his family to provide services for several years? What would happen in cases of family breakdown? What would be the penalties for failure to fulfil contract obligations, and who would be held responsible?

92 When the North Was Red Reintroduction of travelling schools, and higher proportions of school time devoted to traditional occupations, raised the possibility that young northerners might find themselves barred from higher education because of inadequate academic preparation. This raised the question of whether maintenance of traditional occupations and culture should take precedence over individual choice. Does a group have the right to maintain its traditional culture by forcing its members to remain in certain occupations, or by denying its young people certain educational opportunities? To what extent should individuals be able to choose between a traditional, "aboriginal" way of life and full participation in the urban, industrial way of life of the majority? In 1989 the ANP had to face the problem of devising, and winning support for, political institutions for the north that would insure a lasting balance between the democratic rule of non-northern majorities and the rights of northern minorities. Up to that time the CPSU policy of "reserving" positions for aboriginals on okrug Soviets had, however inadequately, satisfied this need. ANP plans seemed to be predicated on the continued domination of okrug-level governments by aboriginal northerners, but the introduction of "democracy" (i.e., the choosing of representatives by electoral majorities) and the outlawing of the CPSU after the dissolution of the USSR may have rendered these ANP plans untenable. Unless other steps have been taken to protect northern minority rights, Russian majorities will control political decision-making in all northern regions. It is certain that there will be a great deal of pressure to proceed with resource development in the north and far east rapidly, since the sale of oil, gas, and minerals is one of the few sources of foreign currency available to the Russian government (see Vitebsky 1990; Kotov and Nikitina 1993). In light of these developments and possibilities, the final sentence of Yuri Slezkine's 1989 doctoral dissertation seems particularly appropriate: "With the liberal intelligentsia eager to correct the perceived injustices of the past and the ethnographers free to protect their subjects, the native northerners may once again cease to be national minorities and become endangered indigenous populations" (1989, 527).

93 Perestroika and the ANP CONCLUSION

The general situation of northern peoples since the dissolution of the USSR is beyond the scope of this book. Whether or not reliance upon traditional occupations has insulated at least some of them from the general political and economic instability of Russia is unclear (see Shnirelman 1993, 32). According to some reports, there are splits in the ANP along "national" lines. This is not surprising, since some of the major Soviet institutions and institutional practices upon which the ANP was based no longer exist. The dissolution of the Soviet state will also probably involve changes in the processes of consolidation as northern language programs and the political activity associated with the ANP decline. Without the Soviet state, Sovietization will, by definition, cease. If a functional equivalent of Sovietization appears, it will have to be renamed.

7 Postscript: Some Comparisons between Soviet and Canadian Policy towards Aboriginal Peoples

Comparisons between Canadian and Soviet policy towards northern/aboriginal peoples during the 19205 and 19305 are interesting historically, and they raise issues that are still unresolved. Here we shall compare some of the major features of these policies and deal with some of the legacies of these policies that northern/aboriginal peoples currently face. CANADIAN POLICY

In most (but not all) parts of Canada, state policy during the 19205 and 19303 was aimed at assimilation of indigenous peoples to Anglo-Canadian or French Canadian culture (Tobias 1976; Dickerson 1992, 37-8). Assimilation was promoted by compulsory attendance at boarding-schools, where aboriginal pupils were compelled to use French or English and to practise Roman Catholicism or Anglicanism (see Barman, Hebert, and McCaskill 1986). Depletion of game and seizure of aboriginal lands had long since rendered traditional subsistence patterns generally untenable in many parts of Canada, and aboriginals on reserves were often encouraged to pursue agriculture or wage labour (Cox 1987). During the 19405, after the introduction of family allowances, aboriginal parents who tried to keep

95 Soviet and Canadian Policy Compared

their children out of boarding-schools were threatened with withdrawal of state benefits. Such benefits were given on an individual basis so that communal administration of transfer payments was impossible. Assimilation was a long-term goal, and its achievement was to be assured by churches, the Department of Indian Affairs, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Assimilation entailed restriction of the franchise, prohibition of the sale of alcohol, and often, monopoly pricing of furs and staples. This paternalistic approach was summarized by Archibald Fleming, an Anglican missionary, later bishop of the Arctic, who worked among the Baffin Island Inuit from 1909 to 1920. In his memoirs, written during the 19505, Flem ing opined, "The day will come when the native, be he Indian or Eskimo, will become articulate. At present he is our brother, but our younger brother. He is lovable, patient and capable of the highest development, but still a juvenile and not an adult" (1957, 304). From the point of view of Fleming and others like him, full integration of aboriginals into major Canadian institutions had to wait until they were fully prepared and "mature." It was unclear how long this was to take, but it is instructive to note that there were few aboriginal police officers, medical personnel, journalists, social workers, or university students until the 19608 or later. COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS

Soviet policy, particularly the policy aims of the Committee of the North, differed from Canadian policy in so far as the former was based upon Sovietization and consolidation. These included protection and expansion of traditional occupations, languages, and other aspects of traditional cultures that were consistent with Sovietization. Soviet policy was also aimed at adapting traditional occupations to Soviet institutional structures such as collective farms, and training of a bilingual northern intelligentsia in new Soviet education programs. Northern graduates of these programs were to be integrated into major Soviet institutions immediately, not in the indefinite future. Early Soviet teachers we interviewed during the 19805

96 When the North Was Red

spoke with pride of their northern students, who had become doctors, teachers, scientists, army officers, and so on, during the 19405 and 19505. In Canada, aboriginals covered by treaties or land-claims agreements were treated as distinct administrative units by state authorities and institutions, irrespective of geographical and cultural differences. A process akin to Soviet northern consolidation became apparent in the 19605, when articulate and politically sophisticated leaders of culturally and geographically distinct aboriginal groups united to confront the Canadian state over land claims and the right to self-government. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) can be viewed in terms of this process. While consolidation was a conscious policy aim in the former USSR, northern consolidation was probably a fortuitous result of the involvement of all northern groups in Soviet institutions. The development of the AFN in Canada was also not consciously brought about by Canadian state policy. Just as the ANP in the former Soviet Union used Russian as a lingua franca and operated within the context of Soviet institutions, so the AFN uses English as a lingua franca and operates within the context of Canadian institutions, such as federally funded bands. Legal separation of off-reserve Indians, status Indians, Inuit, and Metis, however, impedes formation of a political organization that could represent all Canadian aboriginals. Traditional northern occupations and training in northern arts and crafts were open to all citizens in the former USSR. Few non-northerners chose to pursue traditional northern occupations, perhaps largely because of physical hardship and isolation. Non-northerners could join state farms in the north and thereby receive some of the privileges granted northern aboriginal state-farm members, we were told. A few did. According to recent reports, poaching by non-northerners has increased because of economic hardship and the absence of policing. In many parts of Canada there are sharp disputes over hunting and fishing rights on aboriginal lands. Provincial governments generally attempt to restrict aboriginal hunting and fishing rights, and some non-aboriginals blame Indians for depleting fish and game stocks. Aboriginals, however,

97 Soviet and Canadian Policy Compared

often claim that they possess exclusive hunting and fishing rights on their traditional lands, especially for subsistence. Canada and the former Soviet Union share the problem of balancing the rights of ethnic/national minorities and the rights of the majority. In Canada this problem is unresolved, particularly as regards aboriginal minorities. We have already raised the question of whether an aboriginal minority should restrict linguistic, educational, and occupational options of young people in order to preserve traditional culture, thus excluding the possibility of their participation in the culture of the majority. In Canada many young aboriginals have neither option. The possibility of full-time hunting or fishing, even for subsistence, exists for only a few, and poverty-related problems, coupled with racism, often preclude access to educational and occupational opportunities in the larger society (see Frideres 1988). In the Siberian north, however, the options of becoming a full-time hunter, reindeer breeder, or fisher, while perhaps diminishing, were, in the 19805, still available to many northerners. There were also educational and occupational opportunities in the larger society. It remains to be seen whether these options will continue to exist in post-Soviet Russia. There is generally no question that Indians and Inuit were in Canada prior to European contact or settlement and are therefore aboriginal, or the earliest-known inhabitants. In Russia the north and far east were occupied by northern peoples prior to the arrival of Russians, but the latter are "aboriginal" in other parts of the former USSR in so far as their ancestors were the "traditional" or earliest-known occupants of large areas of Russia. While northern peoples might attempt to exclude certain settlers on the grounds that they are not aboriginal, Russians in Moscow or Ukrainians in Kiev might be able to exclude northerners and others on similar grounds. This use of the concept of aboriginal rights does not exist for the French- and English-speaking majorities in Canada, although one can see its shadow in the concept of "Founding Nations." In Canada, status/reserve Indians generally deal with the federal government on the basis of existing treaties and

98 When the North Was Red

legal obligations, or in negotiations for land claims and selfgovernment. Dealing with the federal government validates aboriginal claims to nationhood and protects First Nations from provincial governments, which often regard aboriginal lands and resources as subject to provincial jurisdiction. Status/ reserve Indians have generally benefited more from the federal government than from provincial governments and have usually opposed various proposals for devolution of federal powers to provincial governments unless safeguards for aboriginal rights are guaranteed. In contrast, ANP activists in the final years of the USSR saw devolution of power to okruglevel Soviets as a means by which northern peoples could gain control of traditional lands and resources. The possibility that this could lead to regional disparities, including disparities between and within northern groups, or that such disparities might need to be redressed by a strong centralized state, was not addressed, as far as we could determine. In post-Soviet Russia, majority rule in the north and far east may override the interests of northern peoples in the absence of a strong central government that could or would protect minority rights. It is unclear to us how the demise of the USSR will affect the plans that northern peoples were making to preserve their languages and traditional occupations and to gain control over lands and resources. General economic disruption and weakening of the central state may strengthen northerners' reliance on traditional skills and occupations, but this will probably not increase their access to educational and occupational opportunities in the larger society. At the same time, fish, game, and reindeer may be subject to depredations by uprooted and unemployed non-aboriginals. In any case, political and economic instability, coupled with the rise of Russian nationalism, could make it increasingly difficult for northerners to compete successfully against powerful local and foreign interests for control of northern lands and resources.

Appendices

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APPENDIX ONE

Occupational Data on Families of FPNR Students

Current generation" (up to age ca 40)

Parental generation"

Grandparents' generation*

Student at pedagogical institute (34) Student at 10-year school (28) Higher-education student (9) Teacher(9) Graduate student (7) Driver on state farm or collective farm (5) Reindeer breeder (5) Agricultural or fishing technician (4) Red Army soldier (4) Day-care worker (3) Construction worker (3) Doctor (3) Cinema operator (3) Heating-plant worker (2) Electrician (2) Student at technical school (2) Agricultural worker (2) Welder (2) Industrial worker at urban plant (2) Paramedic /nurse / feldsher (1)

Reindeer breeder (29) Teacher(6) Agricultural worker (8) Chairperson of state farm or collective farm management board (4) Day-care worker (4) Red Army soldier (5)*** Chairperson of local soviet or party committee (5) Fresh-water fisherman (5) Bookkeeper / accountant (4) Doctor (3) Teacher/administrator at pedagogical institute (3) Hunter (3) Worker in enterprise making traditional clothing (3) Forestry worker (2) Fish-plant worker (2) Service worker at school or dormitory (2) Newspaper editor (2) Linguist (2) Merchant ship's officer (1)

Reindeer breeder (53) Hunter (21) Agricultural worker (8) Freshwater fisher (8) Red Army soldier (5)ft Housewife (2) Teacher (1) Red Army officer (1) Fish-plant worker (1) Shop assistant/commercial worker (1) Economist/agronomist (1) Bookkeeper / accountant (1) Linguist (1) Ethnographer (1) Chairperson of state farm or collective farm management board (1)

102 Appendix i Current generation* (up to age ca 40)

Parental generation" Grandparents' generation*

Forestry worker (1) Telephonist (1) Insurance-company worker (1) Bricklayer (1) Singer (1) Economist/agronomist (1) Gymnast (1) Shop assistant/commercial worker (1) Typographer (1) Motor-boat operator (1) Service worker at dormitory or school (1) Teacher/administrator at pedagogical institute (1) Radio operator (1) Cook/cafeteria worker (1) Woker in enterprise for making traditional clothing (1)

Journalist (1) Fur farmer (1) Shop assistant/commercial worker (1) Housewife (1) Heating-plant worker (1) Cafeteria cook/worker (1) Red Army officer (1) Radio operator (1) Electrician (1) Driver for state farm or collective farm (1) "Chum" wife or "chum"ftt worker (1) Inspector of day-care centres and creches (1) Mechanic on state farm (1) Northern-language specialist at Institute of National Schools (1) Hotel administrator (1) Veterinarian (1) Oil-exploitation technician (1) Industrial worker at urban plant (1) Industrial chemist (1) Writer (1) Scientist (1) Party worker (1) Pioneer Palace worker (1) Paramedic / f eldsher / nurse (1)

Total: 145

Total: 115

Total: 106tm

Source: Bartels and Bartels 1986, 20-1. * Excluding two individuals, a Russian deep-sea fisherman and a Yakut teacher. ** Excluding 14 individuals who were Russian, Ukrainian, Yakut, or Komi. Their occupations were: teacher (3); cook at day-care centre (i); merchant ship's officer (i); chairperson of local soviet or party committee (i); hunter (i); veterinary nurse (i); artist (i). *** Three were killed in the Second World War. + Excluding a Yakut shaman, a Russian doctor, and two Yakut hunters, tt Four were killed in the Second World War. t+t A "chum" worker does domestic work - e.g., food preparation - with a reindeer or fishing brigade. tttt We believe that occupations of unwaged grandparents (particularly grandmothers) who pursued traditional occupations were sometimes not mentioned to us.

APPENDIX TWO

Benefits for Students at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute, 1981-82

Benefit

Non-northern students*

FPNR students**

Stipend Dorm room Meals

40 rubles /month (base)*** 2-3 rubles /month At own expense****

Special high-protein diet

Provided by state for health reasons, when necessary At own expense 50% discount 70% discount

11 rubles /month Provided by state Meal vouchers provided by state Meal vouchers provided by state Provided by state 50% discount Provided by state

50% discount

50% discount

Clothing Public transport Fare for round-trip ticket home at summer break Tickets for cultural and sport events

Source: Bartels and Bartels 1984, 39. * We were told that northern student benefits were also available to long-time non-northern residents of northern regions. ** We did not find out whether northern students at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute who were enrolled in faculties other than the FPNR received the same benefits as FPNR students. ***The size of stipends varied, depending on speciality and/or marks. A student with top marks might receive a monthly bonus of 200 per cent. **** Cafeteria meals were inexpensive. It was possible to have two large meals for less than one ruble. In 1981-82 the official exchange rate was about i ruble for $1.60 (Can).

APPENDIX THREE

Graduates of the Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions, 1952-1965

Region

Nationality

Buryat ASSR Komi ASSR Tuvin ASSR Yakut ASSR

16 Evenk, 3 Russian 7 Komi, 1 Russian 1 Tuvin 21 Evenk, 14 Even, 1 Khant, 31 Yakut, 1 Yukagir, 4 Russians 6 Evenk, 2 Khanty, 1 Mansi, 13 Nanay, 1 Yakut, 12 Nivkhi, 3 Ul'chi, 2 Russian 14 Evenk, 3 Yakut, 7 Russian 1 Nenets, 18 Saami, 1 Komi, 6 Russian 1 Evenk, 2 Even, 1 Koryak, 1 Komi, 7 Nivkhi 6 Even, 1 Chukchi, 1 Komi, 5 Kamchadal, 3 Russian 2 Even, 1 Mansi, 1 Koryak, 3 Aleut, 1 Russian 2 Evenk, 8 Khanty, 5 Sel'kup, 1 Aleut 12 Evenk, 2 Yakut 3 Koryak, 3 Itel'men, 1 Russian 49 Nenets, 43 Komi, 1 Kamchadal, 29 Russian 4 Evenk, 7 Nenets, 1 Khanty, 6 Dolgan, 1 Komi, 15 Sakhaz, 19 Russian 1 Even, 1 Khanty, 12 Chukchi, 3 Eskimo, 2 Yukahir, 22 Kamchadal, 1 Yakut, 1 Udmurt, 8 Russian 1 Evenk, 3 Nenets, 54 Mansi, 8 Russian 16 Evenk, 1 Sel'kup, 5 Yakut, 7 Russian 21 Nenets, 11 Khanty, 17 Komi, 1 Sakhaz, 4 Russian

Khaborovsk Krai Irkutsk Oblast' Murmansk Oblast' Sakhalin Oblast' Magadan Oblast' Kamchatka Oblast' Tomsk Oblast' Chita Oblast' Koryak Okrug Nenets Okrug Taimyr Okrug Chukotskii Okrug Khanty-Mansi Okrug Evenk Okrug Yamalo-Nenets Okrug Source: Taksami 1971, 178-9.

APPENDIX

FOUR

Curricula and Required Work for FPNR Programs, 1981-82

4.1

Russian and Northern Language and Literature Program Course*

Number of terms

History of the CPSU School Hygiene Introduction to Pedagogy Intro, to Linguistics Old Slavonic Practice of Russian Language Practice of Literature Russian Folklore Ancient Russian Literature Psychology Northern Language** and Practice in Translation Lexicology of Northern Language Methods of Teaching Northern Language History of Cultures of Northern Peoples Intro, to Theory and Practice of Research on the North i (Use of social scientific literature) Intro, to Theory and Practice of Research on the North ii (Use of audiovisual equipment) Foreign Language Singing and Choreography (not compulsory)*** Philosophy Scientific Communism History of Religion and Atheism Child Psychology Pedagogy

3 4 1 1 2 5 1 1 1 2 8 1 1 1 1

9 10 1 1

1

2

5 10 3 2 1 1 1

8,9 9 4 3,4

Term taken

2 1 1,2

1, 2, 3, 4, 10 1 1 2 2,3

3, 4, 5

io6 Appendix 4 Course*

Number of terms

Term taken

History of Pedagogy Russian Dialects History of Grammar Modern Russian Language and Linguistic Analysis History of Written Language 18th-Century Russian Literature 19th-century Russian Literature Pre-Revolution 20th-century Russian Literature Soviet Literature Classics (including Roman and Greek classical literature) Foreign Literature of the Middle Ages Foreign Literature of the 17th and 18th Centuries Foreign Literature of the 19th Century Foreign Literature of the 19th and 20th Centuries Ethics Ethnography of Northern Peoples Methods of Teaching Russian Language Methods of Teaching Russian Literature Expressive Reading Seminar on Russian Language Seminar on Literature Aesthetics Research Report on a Northern Language Training for Supervision of Young Pioneer Activity Folklore of Northern Peoples Bibliography of the Social Scientific Literature on the North Education Administration Analysis of Use of Fiction in the School Theory of Literature Constitutional Basis of Law Seminar on Criticism of Recent Literature

I I 2 5 2

5 3 3,4

1 4 1 2 1 4 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

4, 5, 6, 7, 8 9,10 3

4, 5, 6, 7 8

9,10 3 4 5 6

7,8,9

3 4 6,7 6,7 5,6 5,6 8,9 6 5 5,6 7 7 7

9,10 10 10 10

* Ten terms over five years. At least four courses were taken each term. Some courses were required - e.g., history of the CPSU, psychology, school hygiene, introduction to pedagogy, etc. Others were elective. Some courses required more classroom hours than others. ** Students received a total of 240 classroom hours of instruction on a northern language in the course of their five-year program. *** Voluntary courses in choreography of northern dances and choral and solo singing of northern songs were available and heavily attended. Students in these courses were in the "Northern Lights" folk ensemble. Students who completed ten terms of singing and choreography received a diploma that entitled them to direct folk clubs and ensembles in schools.

107 Curricula and Required Work, 1981-82 4.2

Assignments and Examinations, Russian and Northern Language and Literature Program Year

Requirement

1

Essay on the noun in a northern language Report on the contribution of a particular scholar to the understanding of a northern language Bibliography of works on a northern language Tape recording of a northern song or item of folklore Writing (in northern language) of a dictation from a simple northern language text

2

Essay on studies of a northern language in foreign literature Translation into Russian of an original work by a northern writer or poet (10 typewritten pages) Translation from Russian to a northern language (5 typewritten pages) Essay on ethnographic treatments of a particular aspect of northern culture (topic suggested by instructor) Classroom essay in a northern language Collection of a bibliography on the history and ethnography of a northern group

3

Essay (in Russian) on a northern language (topic chosen by instructor) Essay on some aspect of a northern language (topic chosen by student) Collection of a bibliography on the history, ethnography, culture, and language of a northern group Translation from a northern language to Russian (10 typewritten pages) Translation from Russian to a northern language (7 typewritten pages) Test on conversation in a northern language

4

Composition (in a northern language) on a topic suggested by the instructor Test on conversation in a northern language Essay and commentary (written in a northern language) on a northern song or item of folklore Translation from Russian to a northern language (10 typewritten pages) Essay on a particular theme in a scholarly work on a northern language (theme suggested by the instructor) Report on a topic concerning a northern language or culture delivered to Student Scientific Club

5

Essay on a theme in a particular work of northern literature (specific theme suggested by the instructor) Test on conversation in a northern language Lesson plans for teaching a northern language (minimum of 10 pages) Practice teaching in a northern-language class of first-year students Thesis on a northern language or on the literature of northern peoples Report at a conference of the Student Scientific Society on a topic concerning a northern language. Topics were chosen from a list provided by the chair of Northern Languages, Folklore, and Literature.

io8 Appendix 4 4-3 Primary Pedagogical Program Year

Course

Class hours

1*

History of the CPSU** Physical Education Psychology Intro, to Pedagogy Intro, to Linguistics Russian language Mathematics Earth Sciences Basics of Life Sciences Methods of Painting and Drawing Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics Theory and Methodology of the Pedagogy of a Northern Language Northern Language History and Culture of Northern Peoples First Aid (women only) Foreign Language (voluntary) Practical Work in Biology and Zoology (voluntary)

120 46 46 36 36 118 132 84 148 30 20 30 66 30 162 na na

2

Philosophy Physical Education (voluntary) Psychology Russian Methods of Painting and Drawing Practical Work Expressive Reading Music First Aid Northern Language History and Culture of Northern Peoples Foreign Language (voluntary)

128 64 90 112 64 64 16 66 192 98 30 64

3

Practice Teaching Political Economy of Capitalism and Socialism Pedagogy Modern Russian Language Methods of Teaching Russian Methods of Teaching Mathematics Methods of Teaching Life Sciences Methods of Teaching Painting and Drawing Methods of Teaching Practical Work Methods of Teaching Physical Education Methods of Teaching Music Methods of Teaching a Northern Langauge Pedagogical Methods Ethics Psychology Folklore of Northern Peoples

na 90 72 90 90 100 54 36 36 54 38 10 28 20 36 30

109 Curricula and Required Work, 1981-82 Year

4

Course

Class hours

Painting and Drawing (voluntary) School Safety (voluntary) Supervision of Young Pioneer Activities (voluntary)

20 8 na

Scientific Communism Scientific Atheism Modern Russian Language Children's Literature Methods of Teaching Mathematics Methods of Teaching Russian Language Psychopathology and Speech Pathology Economics of People's Education Pedagogy Methods of Machine Building Northern Language Methods of Teaching a Northern Language History and Culture of Northern Peoples Protection of Nature Soviet Law Practice Teaching (6 weeks) Translation of a Northern Language (voluntary)

72 24 96 96 24 24 24 22 70 24 96 48 24 24 30 20

*Many primary pedagogical students participated on a voluntary basis in the Northern Lights folk ensemble. **This course and others were also taken by students who were not in the FFNR.

no

Appendix 4

44 Assignments and Examinations, Primary Pedagogical Program Year

Requirement

1

Essay on "The Nominative Parts of Speech in a Northern Language" Essay on "Contributions of a Researcher to the Study of a Northern Nationality and Its Culture" Collection of a bibliography on the history and culture of a northern nationality Writing a northern-language dictation in the northern language Learning songs and rhymes in a northern language

2

Essay on "The Use of Knowledge of History and Culture in the Primary School" Translation from a northern language to Russian (10 typewritten pages) Translation from Russian to a northern language (8 typewritten pages) Test lesson on conversation in a northern language Collection of a bibliography on a northern area

3

Essay on a northern language (topic to be suggested by the instructor) Classroom essay on a suggested theme Collection of a bibliography on the history and culture of a northern people Test dictation in a northern language Translation of a northern folk-tale into Russian (5 typewritten pages) Report on an assigned theme

4

Preparation of lesson plans on a northern language for primary classes Essay on a northern language (topic chosen by student) Collection of a bibliography on the history and culture of northern peoples Translation of a text from Russian into a northern language (10 typewritten pages) Essay on the literature of the peoples of the north (topic suggested by instructor) Graduation thesis on an aspect of a northern language Report at the Student Scientific Society

in Curricula and Required Work, 1981-82 4-5 Drawing and Decorative Art Program Year

Course

Class hours

I*

History of the CPSU** History of Art Physical Education Children's Physiology and Hygiene Introduction to Pedagogy Drawing Painting Techniques of Graphics Decorative Applied Art Technical Drawing Study Workshops Technology of Materials First Aid History and Culture of Northern Peoples Northern Language Safety Psychology Anatomy

132 30 70 50 36 134 148 56 110 76 74 80 na 74 74 20 30 28

2

History of the CPSU Marxist-Leninist Philosophy Psychology History of Art Drawing Painting Physical Education Technical Design Decorative Applied Art Study Workshops Northern Language Northern Literature and Folklore Technology of Machine Building Sculpture

30 84 76 67 165 162 67 74 111 74 18 72 18 24

3

Political Economy Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics History of Pedagogy Methodology of Drawing, Painting, Drafting, and Practical Work Use of Teaching Equipment History of Art Drawing Painting Composition School Applied Art Decorative Applied Art Study Workshop Machine Engineering

70 36 58 72 36 74 186 204 74 37 112 93 38

H2 Appendix 4 Year

Course

Class hours

Techniques of Machine Building Traditional Crafts Sculpture Practice Teaching Ethnography (voluntary) Supervision of Young Pioneer Activities (voluntary)

60 20 24 5-6 lessons 32 12

4

Political Economy Scientific Communism Methodology of Drawing, Painting, and Drafting History of Art Drawing Painting Traditional Northern Crafts (e.g., bone carving) Decorative Applied Art Study Workshop School Decorative Work Composition Art Project (chosen by student) Economics of People's Education Methodology of Teaching Interior Design of Schools Ethics

76 36 81 62 148 198 62 111 74 31 42 62 na 20 20 32

5

Scientific Communism Drawing Painting Composition School Decoration Traditional Northern Crafts Study Workshops Decorative Applied Art Student Project

44 95 94 38 33 60 36 57 63

FINAL EXAMS

Scientific Communism Pedagogy Thesis Defense *Many drawing and decorative art students participated in "The Northern Lights" folk ensemble, on a voluntary basis. **This course and others were also taken by students who were not in the FPNR.

113 Curricula and Required Work, 1981-82 4.6

Assignments and Examinations, Drawing and Decorative Arts Program Year

Requirement

1

Essay on the history and culture of northern peoples Decorative drawings, using traditional northern motifs, for an essay on the history and culture of northern peoples Translation from a northern language to Russian (5 typewritten pages) Report at the Student Scientific Society

2

Essay on the ethnography of northern peoples Illustrations of a northern folklore text Preparation of grammar tables for a northern language Participation in the Student Scientific Society

5

Essay on sculpture of northern peoples Graduation project, using a traditional northern art form

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Petrunenko, Oksana, 1991. "A Soviet Reservation? Yes!." IWGIA Newsletter, no. i: 40-1. Pika, Alexander, and B. Prokhorov, 1989. "The Big Problems of Small Ethnic Groups." IWGIA Newsletter, no. 57: 123-36. Putintsyeva, A.P., and S.N. Onenko, 1978. Primer for Preparatory Classes in Nanay Schools. Leningrad: Education Publishers. Ritkheu, Yuri, 1981. "When the Whales Leave." Trans. E. Manning. In Vasili and Vasilissa, Siberian Stories, comp. Nina Kuprevyanova. Moscow: Progress. 109-99. - 1988. "The Shaping of Identity." Soviet Weekly, 3 Sept.: 15. Robbek, V.A., Kh. Dutkin, and A.A. Buruikin, 1988. Dictionary, EvenRussian and Russian-Even. Leningrad: Education Publishers. Rombandeeva, E.I., and M.P. Vakhrusheva, 1989. Primer for First Classes in Mansi Schools. Leningrad: Education Publishers. RSFSR Ministry of Education, 1988. Programme for Mansi Language for Classes 1-4 (for Experimental Use). Moscow. Sanghi, V.M., ed., 1986. A Stride across a Thousand Years: Works by Writers of the Soviet North and Far East. Moscow: Progress. Sanghi, V.M., and G.A. Otaina, 1981. Primer for First Classes in Nivkhi Schools. Leningrad: Education Publishers. Savoskul, S.S., 1978. "Social and Cultural Dynamics of the Peoples of the Soviet North." Polar Record 19 (119): 129-52. Sergeyev, M.A. [1956], 1964. "The Building of Socialism among the Peoples of Northern Siberia and the Soviet Far East." In The Peoples of Siberia, ed. M.G. Levin and L.P. Potapov. Moscow: Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences of the USSR 1956. Trans. Scripta Technica, Inc., ed. Stephen Dunn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 487-510. Shnirleman, V.A., 1993. "Are the Udege People Once Again Faced with the Threat of Disappearance?" IWGIA Newsletter Jan./Feb./ Mar.: 31-5. Simpson, G.E., 1968. "Assimilation." In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. D. Sills. NY: Macmillan Co. and the Free Press. 438-44. Skameiko, P.P., and Z.I. Syazi, 1985. Dictionary, Khant-Russian and Russian-Khant. Leningrad: Education Publishers. Slezkine, Yuri, 1989. Russia's Small Peoples: The Policies and Attitudes towards the Native Northerners, Seventeenth Century-ig^S. PhD, University of Texas at Austin.

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Index

aboriginality 11-14, 92, 97 Ainu 28 Aipin, Yeremei 80, 83, 87 alcohol/alcoholism 15, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27,

28, 34, 81, 95 Aleut language 66 Al'kor: see Koshkin, la. P. alphabets 33, 53, 69-74, 76 American Museum of Natural History 16, 25 Antonova, Alexandra A. 70, 71 Armstrong, Terence xi Assembly of First Nations 96 assimilation 3-4; Canada ix, x, xii, 94, 95; Soviet Union 3-4 Association of Northern Peoples 9, 96, 98

Baikal-Amur Railway 82 Barmich, Maria 66 Boas, Franz 16 Bogoras, Waldemar 15, 16-25, 28> 3°' 31' 33/ 34, 37, 38, 39, 48, 51, 53 Boiko, V.I. 82

Boitsova, A.F. 53, 70 Bolshevism 6, 13, 15, 29, 30 books, school: see Schools, Primers Bugayova, A.L. 72, 74 Buryat 12, 32 Chernyakov, Z.E. 33, 52, 60 children 24, 36, 37, 40, 43, 48, 55, 58, 61, 66, 75' 77' 81, 95 Chinese 26, 27, 49 Chukchi 16-25, 34' 369, 39-42, 58-9, 69, 812; Chukchi autonomous ofcrug/region 32; language 54, 56, 58-9, 69, 70, 81, 82; primer 34 Chukchi-Koryak war 20i, 22, 28 civil war 29, 43 clans 13, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27 collective farms 57, 58, 59, 65, 85, 95 collectivization 4, 5, 6, 3i, 34, 35' 36, 4i' 47' 48,83

Committee of the North 16, 29-36, 37, 47, 48, 49' 50, 5i' 52, 54' 55' 56, 59, 88, 95 communism 53, 64 Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) 4, 6, 7' 30, 33' 34' 35' 43' 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 54-5, 57, 64, 67, 77, 83, 87,92 conscription 31, 50, 54 consolidation 5, 7, 8, 9, 44-7' 47-9' 50, 59~6i, 62, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74, 75, 76-9' 8o' 88, 93, 95 contradiction 5, 9, 47-9, 76 co-operative farms: see Collective farms co-operatives 33, 34, 35, 37, 43, 44-5, 46 Cossacks 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27

cultural relativism 47, 48 culture bases 35, 38, 47, 48, 52-3 day care 58, 65, 66, 77 dialects 73, 75

124 Index dictionaries 73 Dolgan language 64 Education Publishers 62, 70, 71, 72, 74, 90 Eskimos 20, 44; language 70 Ethnography, Institute of 13, 14, 39, 63, 70 Even 87 Evenk 13, 24, 28, 64, 67, 79, 81, 88; language 28, 53, 56, 64, 70, 73; autonomous okrug 32, 67, 70, 82-3, 87, 88; primer 55, 75 Evenk autonomous region: see Vitimo-Olekminskii National Region evolution, socio-cultural 7, 10, 13, 25, 28, 30, 31, 5i Faculty of Peoples of Northern Regions (FPNR) xi, 10, 11, 56, 62-9, 78, 79, 81, 89-90; departments of 63-4, 89; special cafeteria 63, 68 family contracts 86, 91 famine, Tsarist period 17, 23, 28; Soviet period 55 fishing 7, 12, 17, 24, 26, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 46, 54, 55, 57, 75, 79, 81, 82, 96-7, 98 Fleming, Archibald 95 folklore 67, 72, 74, 89 fur farming 78 fur trade 15, 17, 22, 25, 26, 32, 34, 40, 42, 44, 95 Gaer, Yevdokia 81 Gerasimova, Diana 56 Gilyaks: see Nivkhi glasnost xi, 10, 83 Gramsci, Antonio 6 Gurvich, I.S. 81

hegemony 6, 60 Herzen Pedagogical Institute xi, 53, 56, 62, 63, 64, 67-8, 89 hunting x, 7, 12, 16, 17, 18, 21, 26, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38-9, 42, 44, 46, 54, 55, 75, 81, 82, 96-7, 98 ideology, Soviet 46, 60, 62, 74-6 Ignatief, Viktor E. 71, 90 Indians, Canada ix, x, xii, 11, 94, 96, 97, 98 Institute of the North xi, 33, 37, 39, 43-4, 45, 46, 52, 62 integration, structuralcultural 3, 4, 95 intelligentsia 5, 7, 32, 45, 50, 60, 61, 67, 73, 75, 87, 90, 92, 95 internat: see Schools, boarding International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) 17, 47, 87 Inuit 11, 86, 95, 97 Itel'men 16, 71; language 71 Japanese 52; military intervention in Siberia 29 Jesup North Pacific Expedition 16, 25 Jochelson, Waldemar 15, 16-25, 28 Karal'kin, P.I. 45, 46 Karavaeva, T.M. 58-9, 70, 81, 82 Karger 52 Kertselli 16, 30 Ket language 52, 66, 71, 72; primer 52, 72 Khanty 29, 42-4, 45, 77, 78, 79, 83; KhantyMansi autonomous/

national okrug 32, 42, 70, 80; language 45, 73; primers 75 Kharutkina 86 Khojer, G. 29, 34 Khomich, L.V. 55, 86 Khruschev, N. 57 Kolchak 43 Komi 12, 32, 77 Komsomol 34, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47 Koryak 16-25, 28, 36-9, 87; Koryak autonomous/national okrug/ region 32, 70; language 58,70 Korzh, D.P. 39-42, 45 Koshkin, la. P. 52 Kosygin, V.V. 87 Kreinovich, E.A. 16, 30, 5i Kudria, A.A. 56, 61, 70 kulaks 35, 41 Kuoljok, K.E. 91 land claims, Canada 12, 84, 96, 98 land rights, Soviet/postSoviet 32, 83, 85, 86, 88, 90, 98 languages, aboriginal 7, 16, 22, 33, 35, 37-8, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53-4, 567, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69-74, 74-6, 77, 89, 90, 93, 95, 98; Russian 6, 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 46, 47, 48, 56, 58, 60, 64, 66, 69, 70, 73, 76, 79, 82, 96 Laptsui, L. 78 law 27, 30, 31, 32 Lenin, V.I. 13, 30, 34, 41, 51, 52, 75, 87-8 Leontiev 58 Linguistics, Leningrad Institute of 42, 63, 70 literacy 6, 24, 31, 35, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 60 Lunacharsky 30

125 Index Mansi language 56 Marr, N. Ya. 51 marriage 18, 19, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32, 48, 59, 65, 68; bride-price/wealth 19, 26, 27, 32; bride-service 19; dowry 27; group marriage 19, 25, 27; intermarriage 21, 28, 59, 68, 79 Marxism 5, 6, 9, 13, 28, 48, 50-1, 67, 77 medical problems xii; Tsarist period 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 42; Soviet period 30, 31, 32, 37, 40, 47, 53, 55, 58, 59, 63, 81; starvation: see Famine Menovshchikov, G.A. 38, 44 Ministry of Education, RSFSR 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 Morgan. L.H. 25, 28 Mowat, Farley x mushrooms, hallucinogenic 17 Nanay 28, 29, 34 nation 35, 48 nationality 11-14, 45/ 60, 84-5 National Schools, Institute of 56, 58, 61, 62, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77,86 natural resources, policies and practices 10, 31, 69, 76, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 90, 92, 98 Nemtuschkin, Alitet 82 Nenets 12, 29, 77, 78, 88; language 56, 66; Nenets autonomous/ national okrug/region 32; Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrug 32, 62, 66, 67, 70, 76-9 Nganasan language 64

Nikolaeva, G. Kh. 72 Nikol'skaya, G.N. 70 Nivkhi 16, 19, 20, 25-8, 52, 55, 57; language 70, 73, 74; primers 74 nomadism 38, 58, 86 northern consolidation 8, 9, 44-7, 50, 59-61, 62, 67, 68, 69, 73-4, 75, 769, 80, 87, 96 Northern Landscapes magazine 86, 88 Northern Lights Folk Ensemble 65 Northern Sea Route Administration 51 Odulok, Taeki 52 okrugs/regions, autonomous/national 12, 323, 35, 60, 68, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 90, 92, 98 Ordzhonikidze 30 Oroki 12, 28 Pal'chin, S. Ya. 87 Pikunova, Zinaida 70 Popov, A.A. 54 primers 33, 37, 38, 40, 53, 55, 62, 71, 72, 73, 74-6, 90; see also Schools, Books racism x, 10, 22 Rakhtilin, P. 70 Red Tents 31 reindeer x, 6, 7, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 30, 32, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 46, 48, 54, 55, 57, 59, 72, 75, 7*, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 91, 97, 98 reservations/reserves 11, 30-1, 83-4, 94 resettlement 50, 55-9, 60, 61, 81, 85-6, 91 Ritkheu, Yuri 69, 80 Rubtsova, E.S. 44 Russian Orthodox Church 5, 23, 27, 37

Russians 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 32, 36, 40, 42, 44, 49' 77, 86, 92, 97, 9% Russification 3, 4, 5, 22-3 Saami 33, 88; language 60, 71, 74; national region 32, 52, 88; primer 33, 52, 71; Scandinavian 86-7, 91 Sakharov 67 Salekhard 67, 70, 75, 769,88 Sangi, Vladimir 74, 87 Schmidt, Otto 51 schools 5, 6, 23, 35, 37, 43, 44, 46, 53, 56, 59, 64, 65, 67, 71, 72, 81, 82, 86, 92; boarding 35, 42, 43, 47, 48, 56, 59, 61, 76, 77, 79, 94, 95; books 36, 37, 43, 6974, 75, 90; see also Primers Second World War 44, 50, 54-5, 63, 67 Sel'kup 65, 77, 78; language 65 Severnii Prostoruii: see Northern Landscapes magazine shamanism/shamans 6, 15, 19-20, 24, 34, 37, 38-9, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47/48 Skachko 30 Skorik, P. Ya. 38, 39, 58 slavery 26 Smidovich, P.G. 30, 32 Smoliak, A.V. 57 socialism 7, 10, 13, 30-1, 35, 47, 50-1, 53 Sovietization 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 35, 44-7, 47-9, 50, 5961, 62, 67, 69, 73-4, 745, 76-9, 80, 87, 93, 95 Soviets 4, 6, 45; local 4, 6, 34, 44, 45, 71, 82; okrug/regional 41, 60 Stalin 8, 9, 12, 29, 34, 48

126

Index

state farms 5, 57, 58, 65, 79, 83, 85, 96 Sternberg, Leo 15, 16, 19, 20, 25-8, 30, 33, 52 stratification 15, 18, 24, 26, 34, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 49, 90 suicide ix, 17, 27, 41 Susoi, E.G. 70, 77 Syomuskin, T. 34 Taksami, Ch. M. 26, 55, 57, 70, 74, 81, 87, 91 taxation/tribute, Tsarist period 18, 21, 23, 25, 28; Soviet period 31, 35; post-Soviet period 90

Tayrnir national okrug 32 Teryoshkin, N.I. 42-4, 45, 54 Udeghei language 64, 71 Uvachan, I.P. 55 Uvachan, V.N. 15, 24 Vdovin, I.S. 36-9 veterinary medicine 31, 35, 46, 47, 48, 77, 78, 79 Vitimo-Olekminskii National Region 52, 88 war: see ChukchiKoryak, Civil war, Second World War Werner, G.D. 71, 72

women, position of 4, 15, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 34, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 54, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 75, 82, 91 Yakut (Sakha) x, 12, 13, 21, 28, 32 Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrug: see Nenets Yaroslavsky 30 Young Pioneers 65, 75 Yukagir 13, 16, 17, 18, 21, 28; language 17; primer 17; YukagirLamut national region 32,52