Sultan-Galiyev and the Press: From Djadid Educator to Communist Revolutionary

• In Event: Left Perspectives on Narrative II: Processing the Revolution in Media and History

Abstract

Tatar revolutionary Mirsaid Sultan-Galiyev started his trajectory as a schoolteacher who combined his education activities with publications in various Tatar and Russian journals. His concerns were those of many Muslim intellectuals of the early 20th century: the cultural uplifting of popular masses, introduction of education in indigenous languages, fighting against superstitions and reactionary clergy and advocating for a better place for women in Muslim society. First, the 1905 and then the 1917 Revolutions brought him to the fore of the revolutionary struggle in the Volga region. Sultan-Galiyev strove to forge a militant liberation movement not only for Muslims in Russia, but in the broader East. He headed the Muslim Revolutionary committee, prepared the Baku conference of the peoples of the East and built strong ties with Muslim communists, including the founder of the Turkish Communist Party, Mustafa Subhi. Even though he considered the use of real weapons utterly helpful, he never abandoned journalism and publications. Instead, he stepped up his printing activities and issued many papers, including the official paper of the People’s Commissariat of Nationalities, Zhizn’ Natsionalnostei. He also oversaw the translation of Marxist literature into Tatar. What influence did the revolution have on his understanding of enlightenment and education? What role did the press play in bringing communist ideas into the Tatar national and Muslim liberation movements? What can the shift from educator to revolutionary tell us about the possibilities of convergence between anti-colonial struggle and Marxist ideas?

Author

• Anna Yegorova, UC Santa Cruz