The Role of Historical Memory in the Socio-Political Processes of Chechnya (1986—1994)

During the years that preceded and followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Autonomous Republic of Chechnya in the south of Russia has experienced an intensive movement of civil society mobilisation, nationalist radicalisation and armed conflict. Referring to the case of the society “Kavkaz” as an example for the emerging movement of civil society, this paper traces the mobilising role of history and historical memory during the period of reform under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late-1980s, until the onset of the first Chechnya War in 1994. It argues, that the use of historical memory is not that much a cause, than it is an indicator of conflict and radicalisation in society, and that these processes of radicalisation are closely linked to their context at a local, national and international level. Drawing on data collected from interviews with representatives of the Chechen national movement, from local newspapers and legal acts, the paper tracks the evolution of civil society movements in Chechnya in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Doing so, it departs from a relational approach to conflict analysis (della Porta, 2018; Alimi, Bosi, and Demetriou, 2012; Tilly and Tarrow, 2015; Hughes and Sasse, 2016). Located at the intersection between conflict- and memory studies, the paper thus adds insights to the study of the pre-war period in post-Soviet Chechnya, and in general to the conceptual discussion about the link between historical memory, mobilisation, radicalisation and conflict.

Keywords

national movement, Chechnya, Perestroika, historical memory, mobilisation, radicalisation, conflict

Acknowledgment

This article came into being as part of the research project “Remembering the Past in the Conflicts of the Present. Civil society and contested histories in the post-Soviet space”, implemented from 2018 to 2022 by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Bern, Switzerland. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the support provided throughout the project by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). I would also like to sincerely thank my Russian research assistants, Valentina Tanailova and Murat Shogenov, for their very helpful comments and advice in writing this article and for helping with its translation.

Received

28.07.2021

Publication date

15.11.2021

Number of characters

55894

Cite

GOST	Druey C. The Role of Historical Memory in the Socio-Political Processes of Chechnya (1986—1994) // ISTORIYA – 2021. – V. 12. – Issue 10 (108) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840017206-5-1 (circulation date: 22.07.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840017206-5
MLA	Druey, Cécile "The Role of Historical Memory in the Socio-Political Processes of Chechnya (1986—1994)." ISTORIYA 12.10 (108) (2021) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840017206-5
APA	Druey C. (2021). The Role of Historical Memory in the Socio-Political Processes of Chechnya (1986—1994). ISTORIYA 12(10 (108)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840017206-5

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 1, views: 200

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. «Boris El'tsin vvel chrezvychajnoe polozhenie v Checheno-Ingushskoj Respublike» [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://rus.team/events/prezident-rossii-boris-eltsin-izdal-ukaz-o-vvedenii-chrezvychajnogo-polozheniya-v-checheno-ingushskoj-respublike (data obrascheniya: 21.04.2021).

2. Glezin Eh. Obschestvenno-politicheskie neformal'nye organizatsii v RSFSR v 1987—1990 gg.: Stanovlenie i razvitie. M.: Moskovskij pedagogicheskij universitet, 2008 [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://www.dissercat.com/content/obshchestvenno-politicheskie-neformalnye-organizatsii-v-rsfsr-v-1987-1990-gg-stanovlenie-i-r/read (data obrascheniya: 24.03.2021).

3. Gosudarstvennyj komitet po chrezvychajnomu polozheniyu v SSSR (GKChP SSSR) [ Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://ria.ru/20110819/418882612.html (data obrascheniya: 16.04.2021).

4. Dudaev D. 25 noyabrya 1990 g. Pervyj Obschenatsional'nyj S'ezd Chechenskogo Naroda [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pM3P4CgNww (data obrascheniya: 20.04.2021).

5. El'tsin: berite stol'ko suvereniteta, skol'ko mozhete proglotit'! [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: http://www.obeschania.ru/documents/promises/berite-stolko-suvereniteta-skolko-smozhete-proglotit (data obrascheniya: 14.04.2021).

6. Zakon SSSR ot 14 marta 1990 g. № 1360-I «Ob uchrezhdenii posta Prezidenta SSSR i vnesenii izmenenij i dopolnenij v Konstitutsiyu (Osnovnoj Zakon) SSSR» (utratil silu) [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://constitution.garant.ru/history/ussr-rsfsr/1977/zakony/185465/ (data obrascheniya: 24.03.2021).

7. Informatsionnoe zayavlenie // Spravedlivost'. 2 Sentyabrya 1990 g.

8. K voprosu o gosudarstvenno-politicheskom ustrojstve Chechenskoj Respubliki. Ichkeriya 38. Aprel' 1993 g.

9. Kak Gorbachev demontiroval odnopartijnuyu sistemu v SSSR [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://ed-glezin.livejournal.com/896532.html (data obrascheniya: 03.05.2021).

10. Kozyrev A. 1992, Partiya vojny nastupaet — v Moldove, v Gruzii i v Rossii. Ministr inostrannykh del preduprezhdaet ob opasnosti gosudarstvennogo perevorota // Izvestiya. 30 Iyunya 1992 g.

11. Kontseptsiya natsional'no-gosudarstvennoj politiki Chechenskoj Respubliki Ichkeriya [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/543947143194220 (data obrascheniya: 03.09.2021).

12. Ot «zaschitnika demokratii» do «terrorista nomer odin». Kem byl Shamil Basaev [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://www.currenttime.tv/a/budyonnovsk-25-years-shamil-basayev/30665968.html (data obrascheniya: 26.01.2021).

13. Polozhenie o lyubitel'skom ob'edinenii, klube po interesam: utverzhdeno Sekretariatom VTsSPS, TsK VLKSM, Minkul'tury SSSR. 13 maya 1986 g. № 05/15-38.

14. Ukaz № 2137 Prezidenta Rossijskoj Federatsii ot 30 noyabrya 1994 g. «O meropriyatiyakh po vosstanovleniyu konstitutsionnoj zakonnosti i pravoporyadka na territorii Chechenskoj Respubliki.

15. Chechenskaya revolyutsiya i chechenskaya istoriya [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: http://viperson.ru/articles/chechenskaya-revolyutsiya-i-chechenskaya-istoriya (data obrascheniya: 21.04.2021).

16. Shakhbulatov L. 1990. Narodnyj Front: pokhozhe raskol? // Komsomol'skoe plemya. 27 Dekabrya 1990 g.

17. Assmann J. Communicative and Cultural Memory // Cultural Memory Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Handbook / ed. by Astrid E., Nünning A. Media and Cultural Memory; Medien Und Kulturelle Erinnerung. Berlin; N. Y.: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. P. 109—118.

18. Beissinger M. R. Nationalist Mobiliation and the Collapse of the Soviet State. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002 [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613593 (data obrascheniya: 02.03.2020).

19. Bentrovato D., Korostelina K. V., Schulze M. eds. History Can Bite: History Education in Divided and Postwar Societies. Eckert. Die Schriftenreihe. Studien Des Georg-Eckert-Instituts Zur Internationalen Bildungsmedienforschung. Band 141. Gottingen: V&R unipres, 2016.

20. Cairns E., Roe M. D. The Role of Memory in Ethnic Conflict. N. Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: http://site.ebrary.com/id/10076821 (data obrascheniya: 22.02.2021).

21. Della Porta D. Radicalization: A Relational Perspective // Annual Review of Political Science, 2018. № 21 (1). P. 461—474.

22. Eitan A., Bosi L., Demetriou C. Relational Dynamics and Processes of Radicalisation: A Comparative Framework. Mobilization. № 17 (1). 2012. P. 7—26.

23. Gammer M. Nationalism and History: Rewriting the Chechen National Past // Secession, History and the Social Sciences / ed. by Coppieters B., Huysseune M. Brussels: VUB Brussels University Press, 2002. P. 117—140.

24. James H., Sasse G. Power Ideas and Conflict: Ideology, Linkage and Leverage in Crimea and Chechnya // East European Politics. № 32 (3). 2016. P. 314—334 [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2015.1124091 (data obrascheniya: 03.09.2021).

25. Lapidus W. G. Contested Sovereignty: The Tragedy of Chechnya // International Security. 1998. № 23 (1). P. 5—49 [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.23.1.5 (data obrascheniya: 21.04.2021).

26. Mario C. Constructing Patriotism. Teaching History and Memories in Global Worlds. Advances in Cultural Psychology: Constructing Human Development. Charlotte, N. C.: Information Age Pub, 2011.

27. Shnirelman V. A. A Revolt of Social Memory: The Chechens and Ingush against the Soviet Historians. // Reconstruction and Interaction of Slavic Eurasia and Its Neighboring Worlds / ed. by Uyama Tomohiko. Sapporo: Slavic Research Center; Hokkaido University, 2006. P. 273—307.

28. Slezkine Y. The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism // Slavic Review. № 53 (2). 1994. P. 414—452 [Ehlektronnyj resurs]. URL: https://doi.org/10.2307/2501300 (data obrascheniya: 17.04.2020).

29. Tilly C. The Politics of Collective Violence // Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics. Cambridge; N. Y.: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

30. Tilly C., Tarrow G. S. Contentious Politics // Second revised edition. N. Y.: Oxford University Press, 2015.

31. Trouillot M.-R. Silencing the Past // Power and the Production of History. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2015.

32. Vatchagaev M. Chechnya: The Inside Story. Open Books, 2019.

33. Walicki A. A History of Russian Thought: From the Enlightement to Marxism. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1979.