Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR

Introduction

Introduction There is no established terminology in the selected area. This is the reason why corresponding basic and key notions should be defined in the first place (original Russian terms follow in italics). Forced migrations denote resettlement [pereseleniye] by the state of large numbers of people, either its own citizens or foreigners, using coercive methods. The coercion itself may be direct or indirect. In the former case we are dealing with repressive migrations, or deportations.1 The latter term denotes “voluntary–compulsory” migrations [dobrovolno-prinuditelnyye],2 i.e., those instances when the state imposes circumstances and factors that influence individual decision taking regarding resettlement in such a way that it leads them to take the decisions preferred by the state. Putting it another way, in the former case we mean the overtly repressive (coercive) impact the state exerts on its citizens (or foreign subjects); the latter refers to the purposeful administrative pressure to determine individual choice. There is a subtle though important nuance here. Pressure is exerted by all states on their citizens and is a universal feature characteristic of their relations; in some sense it is both common and normal . However, the citizen is left to take his or her own decision and, with whatever qualifications, the decision is voluntary. That is why non-repressive or “voluntary–compulsory” migrations are not covered by this study, and are instead referred to when making comparisons with migrations of the repressive type. Such migrations can be interpreted as impelled by force in certain exceptional cases, when the state “goes too far.” As an example one could cite the resettlement of demobilized Red Army servicemen and women on warrants issued by military registration and enlistment offices; and most instances of “planned resettlements to the plain,” which were an economically conditioned measure in the highland areas of the Caucasus and Central Asia, also come into this category. Deportations (repressive migrations) are one of the specific forms or types of political repression.3 They also represent a procedure designed by the state to persecute its political opponents and keep track of them—it does not matter whether the latter are real or imagined . Cases where virtually an entire group (social, ethnic, or confessional ), rather than only part of it, is subjected to deportation are referred to as total deportations. We have intentionally tried to avoid the term “ethnic cleansing.” This came into common usage in the 1990s in the course of familiar events inYugoslavia. In our view, the term is too vague and inclusive. In addition, certain types of deportation, which are commonly referred to below as sweep operations [zachistki],4 of territories or border zones, were not determined by ethnic factors. Two features qualify deportations as a distinctive type of repressive measure: their administrative (i.e., non-judicial) nature and their collective application, i.e., they focus on an entire group, which meets criteria imposed from above and is sometimes rather numerous, rather than on particular individuals. As a rule, decisions concerning deportation operations were issued by the ruling Communist Party and Soviet government following initiatives taken by the security service (OGPU-NKVD-KGB) and by other agencies. This locates deportation operations outside the judicial field of the Soviet system of justice ,5 and outside international and Allied legislation concerning POWs. It also draws a sharp distinction between the system of special settlements [spetsposeleniya], on the one hand, and the systems of prison labor camps and POW and internee camps, the GULAG and GUPVI “archipelagos,” on the other. Throughout its existence the USSR was a country of intensive population mobility. However, this mobility was not due to citizens’ free choice of their place of residence, based on their individual preferences , market situations or variations in living standards. Rather, it was a different type of mobility characterized by its planned, largescale and coercive—or, in short, forced—nature. “Mobility” of this type culminated in population deportations that are justifiably recognized as one of the essential components of the Stalinist repressive system. The clear intention of uprooting large numbers of people from AGAINST THEIR WILL 2 their habitual living environment and, therefore, resettling them sometimes many thousands of kilometers away, is another component linking the subject of forced migrations to that of “classical migration” research, and qualifies this area as requiring a geographical perspective. During or immediately after the end of the Civil War (1918–1921), localized operations for the forced resettlement of certain...