NATIONAL-MORAL VALUES OF AZERBAIJAN IN THE CONTEXT OF SOVIET STATE POLICY (1920-1940)
Authors: Gulzar Ibrahimova  
Published: August 2021

The article analyses the national-moral values of Azerbaijan for the first decade of Sovietization in the political context of the soviet state and explains the peculiarities that characterize the communist totalitarianism. It says that, all spheres of society, including economic life undergo total control, private property is annulled and any and all basis of the autonomy of the members of the society and the activity are removed. The government and people struggle against “enemy”, and the “enemy” against the surrounding. The effect of de-jure and de-facto contradictions (the contradictions that were applied to people who are enforced to build a socialist state) to the national and moral values are explained by historic facts as it is in the other fields.

According to the information provided by the archival sources, the soviet regime that invaded the Northern Azerbaijan in a short period of time sacrificed 48 thousand people to the “red terror”, and the single-party dictatorship regime established in the country left the concepts of “nation” and “homeland” a step behind in the soviet empire through the single “traditional” system built for cultural development of the nation, having banned the national thinking of the Azerbaijani nation. The ideology, including the personal life of the citizens passed on to all spheres of public life and banned tough sanctions against certain acts.

In fulfillment of the socialist purposes in the current policy, the soviet government, as an ideological gun, pursued an offensive policy, strengthened the promotion of international upbringing and godlessness and used all means to affect the children practically in this field.

More than 2000 Turkish teachers were persecuted and exiled in 1923 and thousand of teachers with “pasha” and “bay” titles in their surnames were dismissed from their positions. The religious marriages concluded after September 08, 1923 have not been attached any legal force. The person of that period was treated as a social being with “traditional atheism” spirit, prohibitions were put against the muharrem rituals, the traditional customs of wedding, the  purposes and reasons of the Ramadan were distorted by referring to some countries, the month of fasting was prohibited and atheism was propagated among the youth.

The “Atheists union” organization put different official prohibitions to the national traditions of the nation and created new traditions that were quite far away from the national spirit (Red wedding, civilians’ burial and so on) which led to disrespect to the national and spiritual values by time. Since 1929, 219 mosques, 2 madrasahs and 18 churches were utilized for other purposes (horse stables, barn and so on.) in 13 provinces. The women were forced to take off their veils and “antihat” propaganda was launched against the remnants of the old period. It was decided to take off hat that has been considered as a symbol of national self-esteem for thousands of years and “Novruz” Holiday was removed from the list of the public holidays as a result of obvious pressures against the religious and national holidays.

The facts show that, the peculiarities of the administrative domination in the official national and religious policy, enlightenment system and industry in the 20-30s years have affected the public policy realized in Azerbaijan. These were the invisible sides of the policy pursued by the totalitarian regime.