The Northwest Caucasus by Walter Richmond

Author:Walter Richmond [Richmond, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415776158
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2008-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Imposition of Soviet law

During the early Soviet period, not only did traditional forms of conflict assume a more hostile nature but new types of disputes unheard of in the Tsarist period arose. Banditry had always been a common feature of life in the region but was generally conducted by individuals or small groups. By the early 1920s, large bands of thieves who behaved in a particularly brutal manner were active throughout the North Caucasus. In Kabardino-Balkaria there were 91 reported instances of armed robbery conducted by such bands in 1922 alone.62 As competition over land became a matter of permanent territorial boundaries, new conflicts between ethnic groups also erupted.63 There were many instances of conflict between pro- and anti-Soviet groups as well.64 Instead of dealing with the fundamental causes of the growing civil unrest the Soviets apparently believed that reforming the legal systems in the North Caucasus would be sufficient to restore order.

At the beginning of the 1920s three factions within the Bolsheviks emerged concerning this issue. The first believed that the adat should be preserved and that mediation courts should continue to function as before. The second argued for the Sharia to supplant the adat. The third argued that both the adat and Sharia should be immediately liquidated and Soviet jurisprudence should be imposed universally in the region.65 When the process of legal reform began in 1923, a compromise among the various factions was reached. Administrative colleges were created that dealt with property disputes and petty criminal matters, although they were renamed arbitration courts and relieved of the ability to deal with any criminal matters the following year. At the same time attempts were made to eliminate the mediation courts: all matters decided by these courts between 1918 and 1924 were referred to Soviet courts for review (this decision was ultimately reversed), and all new decisions would not have the force of law until reviewed by the government. In 1925 mediation courts were outlawed, although they continued to function secretly well into the 1930s. In 1926 the Soviet government passed a resolution that allowed the creation of adat courts, but local party leaders fought vigorously against this and often refused to allow their establishment.66

The Soviet authorities saw the Sharia courts as a device both to win the loyalty of the majority of the mountaineers and for the gradual imposition of Soviet law. In order to accomplish this, Sharia was permitted while the courts themselves were strictly controlled by party officials. By 1922 there were 65 village and four okrug “Soviet-Sharia courts” functioning. Members of the Islamic leadership, condemned by the Bolsheviks for their long-term allegiance to the wealthy segments of North Caucasus society, were forbidden from participation in the courts. Instead, a local effendi served alongside two representatives from the community. The exclusion of those most knowledgeable in matters of Islamic law essentially reduced the Sharia courts to a classic example of pokazukha (pretence) for the sake of the peasantry, in which the form of the Sharia court concealed a gradual sovietization of the legal system.

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