Soviet Chukotka

Establishment of the Soviet Regime

Revolution events of 1917 influenced the Chukotka okrug as well, but the effect was sort of indirect. By the time a wave of revolution reached the North-East it was already extinct. Thus, after the February revolution (bourgeois) the regime was changed only in June and after the Russian revolution (in October), however strange it might seem, those authorities which had existed before February were re-established.
It is important to mention that revolutionary events in the North-East took place in quite specific circumstances — no revolutionary organizations, extreme lack of proletariat, small local nationalities prevailed among the population and their development was in the stage of a transfer from the primitive communal regime to the class society.
It took the new social and political regime almost 4 years to become firmly established. In 1919 Bolsheviks’ emissaries Michael Mandrikov and August Berzin came to Anadyr. They organized an underground group and on 16 December 1919 they overthrew Kolchak’s administration in Anadyr. Rich merchants got all their goods «nationalized», their arms and ammunition were confiscated and all debts were cancelled. In January 1920 merchants united, overthrew the Revolutionary Committee and executed its leaders by shooting. Later on the regime changed a several more times — Bolsheviks and capitalists came to power in turn. The natives were also involved into this struggle for power, but they had quite a vague idea about the reason of the civil war in Russia. The civil war had grave consequences for the Chukotka region: the system of management and control which had taken two centuries to be established was destroyed. Manufactured goods supply system was also seriously undermined. In 1920s Bolsheviks set up their usual control system in the Chukotka region: Centre representatives set up offices and «cells», and then elections to representative bodies (the Soviets) are held. Politically, the Chukotka region was now an integral part of the country.

Formation of Socialist Society

On the 10th of December, 1930 in accord with the decree of the Soviet government, the Chukotka National Okrug was established. It consisted of 6 districts: Anadyr, Chukotka, Markovsk, Chaoun, Vostochno-Tundrov and Zapadno-Tundrov. The Okrug was established as an independent subject, then it formed part of Dalnevostochny (Far-Eastern) Territory, later — part of Khabarovsk Territory and later still — part of the Kamchatka Region.
Collectivization was gaining momentum. Major deer-breeders refused to sell their stock to state and collective farms and that was how dispossession and liquidation of the kulaks began. In 1928-1936 aviation appeared in the region although with great difficulties. It fundamentally changed the life of the region. Main airdromes were Cape North (Schmidt) and Anadyr.
Establishment of the Central Administrative Board of the Northern Sea-way played a significant part in the economy of Chukotka Okrug. Under its aegis Polar stations, ports, airdromes, industrial enterprises were built, hydrographic and geologic research was carried out. In 1934-1937 a large deposit of tin was found on Pevek peninsula and the Iultinsk tin-and-tungsten deposit was discovered. Since 1939 all exploration work was already carried out by Dalstroy — the Central Construction Administration of the Far North of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
According to land surveillance of the People’s commissariat of Agriculture of the RSFSR the population of the Chukotka National Okrug in 1938 was 18,390 people, among them: 12,101 were Chukchi; 1,280 — Eskimos; 3,020 — visitants. All Chukotka fish and coal industry was concentrated in the okrug centre Anadyr which had 3.3 thousand inhabitants.
Along with economic exploration of the territory, cultural and educational work was carried out. Bolsheviks started to eradicate Chukotka’s economic and cultural lag. Cultural bases and «red yarangas» were organized all over the region. They were responsible for elucidative work and anti-religious propaganda against shamanism. During the pre-war five-year plans fishing and hunting industries were collectivized. Amounts of fish and sea-animals caught, as well as the livestock of deer were increasing. Fish industry went from fishing along the coastline to fishing in the open sea. At the same time written language was introduced for the Chukchi and Eskimos and total illiteracy was mainly liquidated; national "intelligentsia" started to appear in the Chukotka Okrug.
Obviously, extremes could not be avoided here either. Thus, in 1930s when the Soviet regime finally reached the remotest areas, young teachers, members of the Komsomol started an active propagation of the healthy way of life ideas. This led to a demographic catastrophe: death-rate among the Chukchi, Evenk and Nenets who were persuaded to wash with soap, became higher than ever. Doctors were at a total loss, but soon they finally found out that soap destroyed the natural protective fat coating that had always protected aboriginals’ skin and made it unprotected against all kind of micro-organisms.
The first head of Chaunsk district committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) Naum Pugachev in 1933 described Chukotka the following way: "Gloomy sea-coast, ancient ice, frost, snowstorms. Decrepit nomadic yarangas, stone hammer, primitive bow and arrows, shamanism, patriarchism". But soon the traditional way of life in the region was radically changed. Pregnant women were taken from the tundra and into maternity hospitals, children were sent to boarding schools where they studied to be deer-breeders and housewives. And as soon as they received such education in town-schools they rarely returned to their parents’ occupations.
The Soviet regime accounced that yaranga was a remnant of the past and moved all nomads into brick houses. In spite of all jokes and anecdotes dealing with Chukchi’s intelligence, they quickly got used to warm houses, started to use professional medical help and various machines. Approximately once every ten years settlements were expanded and dozens of «hopeless» villages and camps were liquidated. (Nowadays only 37 «places of compact residence of the native population» are left, which are sometimes called «reservations».)
Expansion of settlements affected the environment: the balance of load in various parts of the coast was disturbed and in some of them there appeared a great deficit of sea-animals. But what is more serious — the native system of social and blood-and-genetic relations was destroyed.

Chukotka During World War Two

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union everything was done to start tin mining in the region as soon as possible. At the end of 1941 first few tons of tin were extracted from the Valkumey mine. Then other mines appeared near Pevek and Iulyin. Mine-workers were mostly prisoners. Since that time mineral resource industry was the basis of Chukotka economy.
During the war geologists found that the Chukotka region had ultimate reserves of gold, tin deposits and some other metals. Industrial exploitation of coal deposits began. Collectivization of deer-raising farms went on. An additional war tax was imposed on major private deer-breeders which was 70% higher than collective farmers had to pay. As a result the number of deer-breeders in the private sector decreased and the number of new collective and state farms was increasing.
In 1942 the Fairbanks — Krasnoyarsk airway was organized to transport airplanes received from the US under the land-lease program. In the Chukotka region this airway ran through Uelkal — Markovo where due to heroic hard work of the natives airdromes were constructed in just a few months.
Red yarangas collected funds and facilities for military needs. Inhabitants brought deer, polar-fox skins, fur-gloves, money and bonds to this Defense Fund. Chukotka inhabitants, namely: the Chukchi, Eskimos and Russians were also among those who fought at the war fronts to defend the country from Germans.

Post-War Construction

Chukotka was the major supplier of tin that was necessary for the military complex during the war. When the war ended the importance of tin industry became even greater as the destroyed country needed to be rebuilt. But there was a problem connected with personnel. After the war a lot of people had an opportunity to leave Chukotka for the central regions and so they did. And prisoners could not be used in all kinds of work, besides they were not specialists. So a program for the material stimulation of labor in the Far North was launched. All industries and political direction in mining districts belonged to Dalstroy. Using the labor of repressed prisoners brought from all parts of the country and a militarized, command-administration system of organization, Dalstroy had a negative effect on the life of civilian population of the region. A rich territory was turned into a place of banishment. The whole of Kolyma territory was, according to Stalin, "a special industrial complex".
During the «Cold war», since 1945, military troops were based in the region. The centre of the Soviet armed forces in Chukotka was the Bay of Providenie. The number of frontier posts also increased.
In 1947 a detachment of civil aviation was created in Chukotka. Two Chukotka ports — Peveksky and Providensky — were operating intensely.
By the 1950s collectivization of deer-raising — the most profitable agricultural sector — as well as sea-hunting was complete although authorities often had to take cruel repressive measures. People from small villages were moved to larger ones which were centres of collective and state farming.
Some coastal villages in the Bering Strait were liquidated due to political reasons (they were too close to the border with the USA). Especially tragic was the destiny of a tiny ethnic group called Naukan Eskimos.
In 1958 all its inhabitants were moved to different other settlements — Uelen, Nunyamo and Lavrentia.

Chukotka as a Part of the Magadan Oblast

In 1953 the Magadan Oblast (Region) was established which also included Chukotka National Okrug. Dalstroy was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy.
Industrial gold-mining started in 1958. This was the beginning of gold-mining industry formation.
The main part of gold-mines, settlements, industrial enterprises, power plants, power transmission lines, roads, etc. appeared and was built in the region in 1960s, when its population exceeded the figure of 100 thousand people. This was also the time of the largest production of venison, fish and fur-skins. Bilibinskaya nuclear power plant, Chaunskaya thermal power plant and Ekvekinotskaya hydroelectric power plant produced abundant amounts of energy. Production of construction materials was developping in Anadyr, Pevek and Bilibino. Non-traditional agricultural sectors appeared — dairy farming, pig-breeding, greenhouse farming, fur-animals breeding. Compared to other settlements like Anadyr, the centre of Chukotka National Okrug was growing faster. In 1965 it received the status of a town, by 1970s its population reached 12 thousand inhabitants and once it even reached 20 thousand. Anadyr became «the gates to the mainland»: its airport received regular flights from Moscow, Khabarovsk and Magadan, and its seaport operated freight flows of the Northern Seaway and supported a stable sea communication with Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Vladivostok and Magadan.
Cultural and educational level was also significantly raised. In 1915 there was only one elementary school in the region, and in 1977 there already were 96 secondary schools and some technical schools. Altogether there were 112 educational establishments with 11.2 thousand schoolchildren, 88 libraries and 106 cultural clubs.
Because of its northern position the salary level in the Chukotka Okrug was significantly higher than the average in the country and higher than in the Magadan Oblast in particular. Because of all that it was possible to provide the Okrug with qualified specialists and the population was growing due to the inflow of migrants. As a result natives — the Chukchi, Eskimos, Evens, Aleuts — constituted only 5% of the total population.
Big benefits for the natives (layettes for the new-born, free medicaments, out-of-competition higher education etc) resulted in that children from mixed marriages were registered as the Chukchi.
National villages received first-rate supplies so even Russians and Ukrainians tried to move there.
But it was exactly during its flourishing period when the first signs of the future ecological and economic crisis started to appear.
The intense exploration of the region entailed a great influence on the fragile northern nature.
Caterpillar tracks of heavy cross-country vehicles damaged the top-soil in the tundra and that resulted in soil-erosion and disappearance of yagel — deer moss. The tundra was polluted with metal barrels and fuel-tanks and broken machinery. There were no places where it could be repaired so it was just thrown away and then new equipment was ordered.
In 1977 the new Constitution of the USSR was adopted. According to it a law on Autonomous Okrugs was approved in 1980, and the Chukotka Okrug turned into an autonomous one, though it remained a part of the Magadan Oblast. Ten years later on the wave of democratic reforms, the Chukotka Okrug was made an independent subject. On July 17 1992 a new stage of development of independent Chukotka began.