Decossackization: categorial-conceptual and personalized historical discourse
https://doi.org/10.37493/2409-1030.2022.3.9
Abstract
The word “decossackization” in recent decades has entered into a free and familiar conversation about individual Cossacks and about the Cossacks as a whole, which, it would seem, does not make sense to explain its semantic content, because it is already clear from its very spelling. It is understood that we are talking about the destruction of a very large number of Cossacks. When the question naturally arises, who committed such a terrible act, the answer immediately follows without hesitation: «The Cossacks were killed by the Soviet authorities!». There is nothing to think about here, because the Bolsheviks destroyed almost all the Cossacks. Terrifying figures flicker in the press: from 2 to 10 million people. Further judgments follow in the spirit that it is not worth analyzing anything, since there will never be any justification for the committed crime. And in general, there was one big era of Soviet decossackization. However, this will be only part of the historical truth!
The article attempts to understand in detail and separate the wheat from the chaff. First, to determine the historical semantic limits of the concept of «decossackization». Secondly, to bring real historical facts about tragic events for the Cossacks. Thirdly, to find out the temporal historical boundaries of the implementation of the decossackization policy. Fourthly, to delimit the true history of the Cossacks from the political situation of the «guardians for the Cossacks». Fifth, to give the author’s answer to the classic Russian questions: who is to blame, and what to do?!
About the Author
A. P. Skorik
South-Russian State Polytechnic University (Novocherkassk Polytechnical Institute)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Aleksandr P. Skorik, Doctor of Science (History), Doctor of Science (Philosophy), Professor, Director
Research Institute of the History of the Cossacks and the Development of Cossack Regions
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
346428
132, Prosveshenia st.
Novocherkassk
References
1. Boranova G. N. Lager’ smerti. Azov v gody Grazhdanskoy voyny (Death camp. Azov during the Civil War) // Donskoy Vremennik. Year 2009. Rostov-on-Don, 2008. Issue. 18. P. 84–86. (In Russian).
2. Venkov A. V. Genotsid, golodomor i drugiye uzhasy v istorii «kazatskogo naroda» (Genocide, famine and other horrors in the history of the «Cossack people») // Novoye proshloye (New past). 2018. No. 1. P. 275–290. (In Russian).
3. Golub P. A. Pravda i lozh’ o «raskazachivanii»: Beseda s obozrevatelem gazety «Pravda» V. Kozhemyako (Truth and Lies about «Decossacking»: A Conversation with a Pravda Columnist V. Kozhemyako) // Pravda. 2009. September 18–21, No. 105 (29447); September 25–28, No. 106 (29448). (In Russian).
4. Gomzyakova N. N. Traditsii kubanskogo kazachestva v voyenno-patrioticheskom vospitanii zashchitnikov Otechestva: seredina XIX – nachalo XX veka (Traditions of the Kuban Cossacks in the military-patriotic education of the defenders of the Fatherland: the middle of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century): thesis. Voronezh, 2006. 186 p. (In Russian).
5. Grishchenko A. N. Antibol’shevistskoye povstancheskoye dvizheniye v Donskoy oblasti v 1920–1922 godakh (Anti-Bolshevik insurrectionary movement in the Don region in 1920–1922): thesis. Rostov-on-Don, 2009. 229 p. (In Russian).
6. Dekrety sovetskoy vlasti (Decrees of the Soviet power). Volume 2: March 17 – July 10, 1918. Moscow: Politizdat, 1959. 698 p. (In Russian).
7. Dekrety sovetskoy vlasti (Decrees of the Soviet power). Volume 3: July 11 – November 9, 1918. Moscow: Politizdat, 1964. 676 p. (In Russian).
8. Kazachestvo Rossii: istoriko-pravovoy aspekt: dokumenty, fakty, kommentarii 1917–1940 gg. (Cossacks of Russia: historical and legal aspect: documents, facts, comments 1917–1940) / [Compilation, introductory article, preface, notes N. F. Bugai, A. M. Gonov]. Nalchik: El-Fa, 1999. 327 p. (In Russian).
9. Kirsanov Ye. I. Slava i tragediya Novocherkasska (Istoriya kazach’yey stolitsy). (Glory and tragedy of Novocherkassk (History of the Cossack capital). T. I. Kamenolomni: Service Communication, 2005. 736 p. (In Russian).
10. Kobzov V. S. Revolyutsiya i grazhdanskaya voyna na Yuzhnom Urale glazami kazachestva (Revolution and civil war in the Southern Urals through the eyes of the Cossacks) // Ural in the events of 1917–1921. Actual problems of study (on the 80th anniversary of the cessation of active hostilities in the Urals): Materials of the regional scientific seminar. April 24–25, 1999. Chelyabinsk, 1999. P. 162–177. (In Russian).
11. Kuznetsov V. A. Voyenno-patrioticheskoye vospitaniye v Orenburgskom kazach’yem voyske (Military-patriotic education in the Orenburg Cossack army): thesis. Chelyabinsk. 2000. 202 p. (In Russian).
12. Lenin V. I. Pis’ma. Oktyabr’ 1917 – iyun’ 1919 (Letters. October 1917 – June 1919) // Full composition of writings. 5th ed. M.: Politizdat, 1970. T. 50. 623 p. (In Russian).
13. Matishov G. G. Donskiye kazaki: ot opory samoderzhaviya do zhertv bol’shevizma. Na puti k vozrozhdeniyu (Don Cossacks: from the support of the autocracy to the victims of Bolshevism. On the road to revival). Rostov-on-Don: Publishing House of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022. 528 p. (In Russian).
14. Na strazhe Otechestva: dokumenty, vospominaniya, ocherki, posvyashchennyye 80-letiyu upravleniya Federal’noy sluzhby bezopasnosti Rossii po Rostovskoy oblasti (On guard of the Fatherland: documents, memoirs, essays dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the administration of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Rostov region). Rostov-on-Don: Yug, 1998. 284 p. (In Russian).
15. Ob usilenii oborony Kavkazskoy linii posredstvom obrashcheniya v sosloviye lineynykh kazakov zhiteley nekotorykh blizhayshikh kazonnykh seleniy (On strengthening the defense of the Caucasian line through the conversion of residents of some nearby state-owned villages to the class of linear Cossacks) // Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire. Sobr. 2nd. T. 7. 1832. St. Petersburg: Printing House of the II Department of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, 1835. Article 5796. (In Russian).
16. Perekhov Ya. A. Vlast’ i kazachestvo: poisk soglasiya (1920–1926 gg.) (Power and the Cossacks: the search for consent (1920–1926). Rostov-on-Don: Rostov State University Press, 1997. 178 p. (In Russian).
17. Ratushnyak O. V. Kazach’ye zarubezh’ye kak sotsial’no-istoricheskiy fenomen: obrazovaniye, struktura, problemy obshchestvenno-politicheskoy sotsial’no-ekonomicheskoy i kul’turnoy zhizni (1920–1960-ye gg.) (Cossack Abroad as a Socio-Historical Phenomenon: Education, Structure, Problems of Socio-Political, Socio-Economic and Cultural Life (1920–1960s): thesis. Krasnodar, 2017. 533 p. (In Russian).
18. Reshetnikov L. P. Vernut’sya v Rossiyu. Tretiy put’, ili tupiki beznadozhnosti (Return to Russia. The third way, or dead ends of hopelessness). Moscow: FIV, 2014. 232 p. (In Russian).
19. Skorik A. P. Kazachestvo Yuga Rossii v 30-ye gody XX veka: istoricheskiye kollizii i opyt preobrazovaniy (Cossacks of the South of Russia in the 30s of the XX century: historical collisions and experience of transformations): thesis. Stavropol, 2009. 540 p. (In Russian).
20. Skorik A. P. Raskazachivaniye kak politika i sotsial’nyy protsess na Donu v 1920-ye gody (Decossackization as a policy and social process on the Don in the 1920s) // Bulletin of the Volgograd State University. Series 4. History. Regional studies. International relationships. 2019. Vol. 24, No. 4. P. 102–113. (In Russian).
21. Skorik A. P., Revin I. A. Pravoslavnyy khram v istoricheskoy sobytiynosti donskoy stanitsy Kamenskoy (Orthodox Church in the historical eventfulness of the Don village of Kamenskaya) // History in detail. 2011. No. 6 (12) (June). P. 76–81. (In Russian).
22. Sbornik uzakoneniy i rasporyazheniy Pravitel’stva Vsevelikogo Voyska Donskogo. Khronologicheskiy ukazatel’. Tekst zakonov Rossiyskogo Vremennogo Pravitel’stva, vosstanovlennykh Pravitel’stvom Donskim. Vyp. 1-y, razreshonnyy Donskim Atamanom (Collection of legalizations and orders of the Government of the Great Don Army. Chronological index. The text of the laws of the Russian Provisional Government, restored by the Government of the Don. Issue. 1st, permitted by the Don Ataman) / Compilers: V. Albov and V. Nikitin. Novocherkassk: Printing house of the Vremya publishing house, 1918. 52 p. (In Russian).
23. Sobraniye uzakoneniy i rasporyazheniy rabochego i krest’yanskogo pravitel’stva. № 24. 6 aprelya 1920 g. (Collection of legalizations and orders of the workers’ and peasants’ government. No. 24. April 6, 1920) // Collection of legalizations and government orders for 1920. Moscow: [Without a publisher], 1943. 818 p. (In Russian).
24. Tolstoy L. N. Zapisnaya knizhka № 4, 1865–1872 gg. Zapis’ ot 2 aprelya 1870 g. (Notebook No. 4, 1865–1872. Record dated April 2, 1870) // Complete works in 90 volumes. Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1952. Vol. 48. P. 123–124. (In Russian).
25. Tsirkulyarnoye pis’mo Orgbyuro TSK RKP (b) «Ob otnoshenii k kazakam» 24 yanvarya 1919 g. (Circular Letter of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)»On the attitude towards the Cossacks» January 24, 1919) // News of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 1989. No. 6. P. 176–178. (In Russian).
26. Shadrina A. V. Repressii protiv pravoslavnogo dukhovenstva v period kollektivizatsii na territorii sovremennoy Rostovskoy oblasti (Repressions against the Orthodox clergy during the period of collectivization on the territory of the modern Rostov region) // Scientific Thought of the Caucasus. 2020. No. 1 (101). P. 64–71. (In Russian).
27. Shambarov V. Ye. Belogvardeyshchina (White Guard). Moscow: EKSMO-Press, 2002. 640 p. (In Russian).
28. Krinko Ye. F., Skorik A. P., Shadrina A. V. Donskoy i Kubanskiy regiony vo vremya goloda: vlast’, kazaki i tserkov’ v 1921–1922 i 1932–1933 godakh (The Don and Kuban Regions during Famine: The Authorities, the Cossacks, and the Church in the 1921–1922 and 1932–1933) // Nationalities Papers (Edition of the University of Cambridge). 2020. Т. 48. № 3. P. 569–584. (In English).
Review
For citations:
Skorik A.P. Decossackization: categorial-conceptual and personalized historical discourse. Humanities and law research. 2022;9(3):437-447. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.37493/2409-1030.2022.3.9
Views:
241
Email this article 