Establishment

Due to mutual hostility and constant conflicts between Ingush and Cossack peoples, the Russian government was forced to form a separate district for Ingush.^[1][2] By a decree of 8 December [O.S. 25 November] 1905,^[3] the Ingush populated land, consisting of seventeen plain villages and four mountain societies,^{[lower-alpha 3]} was carved out of the Sunzhensky otdel to temporarily create Nazran okrug. Despite the fact that this territorial reform was intended to solve the immediate practical problem not in favor of the Ingush and with the reform subsequently displacing numerous Ingush farms and entire villages located on lands leased from the Cossacks outside the otdel, the Ingush met this reform with great enthusiasm. The very fact of the restoration of the national-territorial district inspired great hopes, especially since the government itself admitted that the ataman of the Sunzhensky otdel, under whose control the Ingush were previously, due to his military duties, didn't have the opportunity to pay due attention arrangement of civil and economic life of the Ingush population.^[4]

Due to the reform being temporary, the local population was worried.^[5] In January 1908, elected from the Ingush people, lieutenant Tatre Albogachiev, Shaptuko Kuriev and Duguz Hadzhi Bekov arrived in Tiflis in order to intercede with the Viceroy of Caucasus, Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov, on "the approval of the temporarily formed Nazran okrug." The request was granted and the Nazran okrug within its specified boundaries was approved on 10 June 1909. The administration of the okrug and the mountain verbal court were established on a common basis with other okrugs of Terek Oblast]^[6] By a decree of 6 August [O.S. 24 July] 1909, Nazran okrug was deemed permanent.^[3]

The seat of the administration of the district was appointed Nazran which, in practice, didn't function as the seat of the administration due to a lack of suitable buildings. Instead, Vladikavkaz was appointed the seat of the administration up until January 1917 by a decree of February 1913 of the State Council and the State Duma.^[6][7][8]

Imperial Russian rule

The villages of Koki (Коки) and Nelkh (Нельхи) on a mid 19th century topographic map, located on the bank of the Assa river.

In 1905, the number of manifestations of outright disloyalty of the mountaineers to the administration and its local representatives increased. At meetings of various villages, the Ingush population demanded the return of lands that previously belonged to them which were seized under the control of the state property department. It was during the beginning of December of the same year when more serious clashes between local residents and the authorities in Ingush villages started to happen.^[9]

On 23 December 1905, the head of the Nazran okrug Lieutenant Colonel Ya. E. Mitnik was killed during attempt to disarm the highlanders in the village of Barsuki.^[10] His murder was a response to the ongoing terror conducted by the Tsarist administration in the okrug.^[11] Mitnik's death, along with the railway strike that had been ongoing since 8 December and the Lagir peasant uprising that broke out on 21 December, played a role in the introduction of martial law in the entire Terek Oblast on 23 December.^[10]

Furious over the robberies and raids of the abreks Zelimkhan and Sulumbek, Aleksandr Mikheev, together with Ingush tsarist officers, gathered the entire Ingush clergy in Vladikavkaz on 23 September 1910. He spoke to them with insults and announced to them that the Ingush were deprived of the right to use the Cossack lands they leased,^{[lower-alpha 4]} that he was depriving the okrug of the right to elect elders and that he would submit a petition to the viceroy of the Caucasus for the demolition of all Ingush farms and villages of the Assa Gorge. This meant the forceful property seizure from the disadvantaged mountain population. Furthermore, Mikheev began to petition Russian government to organize a punitive expedition to the Ingush mountains, the allowance for which would be entrusted to the Ingush mountaineers, who were already in poverty under the yoke of the military-police regime.^[12]

In 1911, as wave of severe repressions swept across the okrug, the villages Koki, Nelkh and Ersh were destroyed. 360 representatives of the Kokurkhoev family, including children, women and old people, were jailed in a Vladikavkaz prison for three months and then exiled to the Yeniseysk Governorate.^[12] Fearing an uprising of the mountaineers for independence under the leadership of influential clergy, Russian authorities also exiled prominent spiritual figures^{[lower-alpha 5]} of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.^[13] According to Lemka Agieva, more than 30 people from among the highest Chechen and Ingush clergy were exiled.^[12]

Moreover, the Ingush, Chechens and other mountain peoples were accused of all the mortal sins. For example, the Cossack nationalist Georgy Tkachev published in 1911 the book Ingush and Chechens in the Family of Nationalities of the Terek Region where he justified the Cossack and military-police lawlessness against the Chechens and Ingush, explaining that the reason for the robberies on the part of the mountaineers "lies in the very character of the Ingush–Chechen people".^[12]

World War I and Russian Civil War

The outbreak of the World War I dealt another serious blow to the economic situation of the Nazran okrug which was already quite adverse. New military conditions, an increase in old taxes and the introduction of new ones, in fact, an emergency regime further aggravated the economic and political situation of the okrug.^[14]

The February Revolution of 1917, which overthrew the Tsarist autocracy, found a wide response by local masses. Already in early March 1918, civil committees were created in the Terek Oblast which served as a local representation of the Russian Provisional Government. By 1 May 1917 National Councils had also been created in individual okrugs of the Terek Oblast, including Nazran okrug,^[15] which became known as Ingush okrug from March 1917.^[16] The Ingush National Council was headed by Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev. His brother Magomed Dzhabagiev was the representative of Ingushetia within the Civil Committee in Vladikavkaz, being the latter's commissioner for the okrug.^[15]

Soviet rule

Ingush (Nazran) okrug within Mountain ASSR.

The first congress of the Ingush people was held in Nazran on 4 April 1920. It was attended by prominent Bolshevik revolutionaries like Sergo Ordzhonikidze and Sergei Kirov who were welcomed by 15,000 Ingush.^[17] The congress ended with the proclamation of the restoration of Soviet power in the Ingush okrug^[18] and approval of the composition of the Ingush District Revolutionary Committee, which included Gapur Akhriev, Yusup Albogachiev, Idris Zyazikov and others. After the death of the first chairman of the committee, Gapur Akhriev, the first re-organization took place in April with Albogachiev becoming the next chairman.^[17] The Terek Regional Revolutionary created on 8 April 1920 also approved the new composition of the Ingush Revolutionary Committee.^[19]

From 26 March to 1 April 1921, the Congress of Soviets of the Ingush okrug was held. Delegates from 28 villages of the okrug were present at the congress. Idris Zyazikov was elected chairman of the executive committee of the congress. Issues of taking measures to combat robberies and banditry were discussed at the congress. It ended with the election of the executive committee, which included Idris Zyazikov, Ali Gorchkhanov, Inaluk Malsagov, Yusup Albogachiev, Sultan Aldiev and others.^[20]

On 21 January 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree on the formation of the Mountain Republic on the territory of the former Terek Oblast. Paragraph 8 of the decree read: "The Autonomous Mountain Socialist Soviet Republic is divided into 6 administrative districts, each with its own district executive committee: 1) Chechen; 2) Ingush; 3) Ossetian; 4) Kabardian; 5) Balkar; 6) Karachai."^[21] The Congress of Soviets of the Ingush okrug held on 26 March to 1 April 1921 fully approved and welcomed the creation of an autonomous republic. The process of the creation of Mountain ASSR ended on 16–22 April 1921 with the Founding Congress of Soviets of the Republic in Vladikavkaz, which on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party welcomed Sergei Kirov. From Ingush okrug, Idris Zyazikov entered the governing bodies of the ASSR—to the Central Executive Committee as deputy chairman and to the Council of People's Commissars as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. On 27 January 1922, he was also elected chairman of the Mountain Central Executive Committee.^[22]

After the Founding Congress of the GASSR on 22 April 1921 approved the elimination of Cossack stripes due to the strong need of land by mountaineers, the territory of Ingush okrug expanded from 184,438.90 dessiatines to 292,193 dessiatines which made it possible for the majority of residents of the mountainous region to move to the plain. In 1920–1922 the plots of the former Cossack stanitsas of Sunzhenskaya, Vorontsovo-Dashkovskaya, Tarskoye and Kambileevsky farms were distributed between 4 mountain Ingush societies—Dzherakh, Fyappins, Khamkhins and Tsorins.^[22]

In May–June 1922, the Extraordinary Commission of the City Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Mountain ASSR concluded a number of serious shortcomings in the work of the party and Soviet bodies of the Chechen, Digor, Sunzha and Ingush okrugs. The role of the Bolsheviks in Soviet construction was insignificant and there weren't enough experienced party and Soviet workers.^[23] Based on the materials of the Extraordinary Commission, the State Central Executive Committee passed a resolution in 13 June 1922 which dissolved the Chechen, Nazran, Digor and Sunzha okrug executive committees and appointed instead revolutionary committees from the most experienced party and Soviet workers, tested in practical work. The revolutionary committees were strengthened by the Bolsheviks.^[24]

The zoning of the Mountain ASSR was completed by September 1923.^[25] The republic was divided into Ossetian, Ingush and Sunzha okrugs. The Ingush okrug was divided into three raions—Nazran, Psedakh and Galashkin; it included 39 village executive committees.^[26]

In May–June 1922, the Extraordinary Commission of the City Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Mountain ASSR concluded a number of serious shortcomings in the work of the party and Soviet bodies of the Chechen, Digor, Sunzha and Ingush okrugs. The role of the Bolsheviks in Soviet construction was insignificant and there weren't enough experienced party and Soviet workers.^[23] Based on the materials of the Extraordinary Commission, the State Central Executive Committee passed a resolution in 13 June 1922 which dissolved the Chechen, Nazran, Digor and Sunzha okrug executive committees and appointed instead revolutionary committees from the most experienced party and Soviet workers, tested in practical work. The revolutionary committees were strengthened by the Bolsheviks.^[24]

Agriculture

Local peasantry were suffering from lack of land. Cossacks being the largest land magnates of the Terek Oblast, owned about a third of the entire territory, despite the so-called military class compromising less than a fifth of the total population of the oblast. The Ingush population was forced to rent land from the Cossacks, paying them a very high price, ranging from 3 to 8.3 rubles. For instance, in the Galashian Gorge, 484 households, of which 1,487 were Ingush men, rented 5,788 acres of land from the Terek Army. Ingush mountain societies annually paid 49,943 rubles for the rental of Cossack and landowner land. In total, there was 8 rubles in rent per capita of the male population.^[27]

Despite numerous demands and appeals from the population, the territory of the Nazran okrug never increased and it remained at the size of 2,468.1 square versts (2,808.9 km²; 1,084.5 sq mi). This led to the extreme severity of the problem of land shortage. Peasants had an average of 1.8 dessiatines of land per male soul in the mountainous region and 4 dessiatines in the plain region. Furthermore, the land wasn't always suitable for sowing. For comparison, the Cossacks had 21.3 tithes per capita.^[27]

A large number of Ingush farms were completely landless. At the same time, the peasants were pressed by numerous direct and indirect taxes and duties. The groups of Nazran okrug became more and more stratified in a way: at one side there was a wealthy elite—the kulaks, at the other—a mass of landless and land-poor peasants—rural proletarians and semi-proletarians. This stratification, although on a much smaller scale, could also be observed in the mountainous region, where the population lived by renting land and non-agricultural labor.^[27]

The rental relations developed especially intensively under the conditions of the Stolypin reform and with the creation of local branches of the Peasants' Land Bank. Before the outbreak of World War I, the purchase and sale of land became widespread. For instance, inhabitants of the Metskhal society like Yandievs, Esmurzievs, Daurbekovs, Bersanovs, Kotievs, Matievs and Zaurovs purchased 1,000 acres of land from the landowner F. Pelipeyko in 1911.^[27]

Revenue

The Regulations on Rural (Aul) Societies (1870) regulated the life of the rural population of the Terek Oblast. Based on this regulations, the local Russian administration proceeded opening rural boards and courts, convening assemblies and collecting taxes. The Nazran okrug was subject to state quitrent taxes and land taxes from which the Ingush peasantry suffered. In 1915, state and zemstvo taxes were paid by 49 rural societies and 147 private estates which owned 121,348 and 14,395 acres of land; in total, the state received 78,660 rubles in land tax and quitrent tax from the okrug.^[27]

Since the regulations didn't establish the types of taxes and their size, the local administration itself often introduced indirect taxes at will.^[28] For example, the villages of Barsuki and Yandare were subject to such taxes like office and repair expenses, a personal tax, a tax in lieu of serving military service, a zemstvo and medical tax, a fee for the maintenance of the Nazran mountain school, policemen and horsemen at the post. Despite the route along the postal route from the station Beslan to the city of Port-Petrovsk (present-day Makhachkala), on the territory of Nazran, having a length of only 22 miles, 258 rubles were collected for the maintenance of the zemstvo post office 54 kopecks from The village of Yandare. For comparison, for the maintenance of a postal route 26 versts (28 km; 17 mi) through Sleptsovskaya (present-day Sunzha), the administration collected only 120 rubles.^[29]

The entire rural population of the Nazran okrug bore secular duties to satisfy the internal needs of the peasant community. Based on the regulations of 19 February 1861, these duties were divided into compulsory and optional. In 1911, the compulsory duties of the okrug included: maintenance of the clergy – 924 rubles; maintenance of public administration personnel – 24,984 rubles; road repairs – 6,065 rubles; maintenance of the sanitary and charitable parts – 1,971 rubles. Optional duties of the okrug included: maintenance, construction and repair of schools – 3,532 rubles; construction, repair and rental of various other premises – 3,051 rubles; for various other needs^{[lower-alpha 6]} – 157,558 rubles.^[29]

In addition to aforementioned taxes and fees, some targeted Fred were collected from the population. For instance, in 1909, residents of the village Nasyr-Kort requested permission to build a path from the Nazran station to the village of Mikheevsky. They were allowed with the requirement to complete the road project and carry out all earthworks at their own expense, as well as to deposit 24,562 rubles into the cash desk of the Nazran station.^[29]

English sources

Russian sources

43°13′N 44°46′E / 43.217°N 44.767°E / 43.217; 44.767