Colonial Policy of Tsarism towards the Kyrgyz

Administration.

Russia introduced its own system of administrative governance in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan was divided into regions, regions into districts. Districts, in turn, were divided into volosts, which included ails. Volosts consisted of one or two thousand households (families), while ails comprised one hundred to two hundred households. A total of 73 volosts were established.

At the head of the regions and districts were Russian officials. These were usually imperial officers, as the administration of conquered lands had a semi-military character.

The positions of volost administrators and ails' heads were filled by manaps, bai, and biis, who unconditionally and clearly followed the orders of the imperial authorities. The administrator of a volost was called the volostnoy, and the head of an ail was the starshina. Over time, the imperial authorities began appointing loyal bai and manaps to the positions of volostnoy or starshina without elections. The volostnoy executed the orders of the imperial government, ensuring timely collection of taxes and levies. The starshinas were subordinate to the volostnoy and followed their instructions.

The introduction of new administrative orders brought new elements into the life and daily routine of the Kyrgyz, marking the beginning of changes to the long-established patriarchal and tribal foundations of Kyrgyz society. Intertribal ties began to weaken. After the introduction of the electoral system, the bai and manaps lost the right to pass power by inheritance. The dependence of people on the tribal elite decreased. Intertribal conflicts subsided, and the power of local bai and manaps gradually diminished.

Land Policy. The colonial nature of the tsarist authority towards the subordinate territories was most vividly manifested in land policy. Settlers from Russia began to arrive in Kyrgyzstan. Their resettlement was managed by specially created resettlement administrations. The imperial government provided settlers with lands suitable for agriculture. Kyrgyz people were expelled from river valleys, low-lying areas, and green grasslands near roads. These lands were occupied by settlers. Russian villages emerged where the Kyrgyz had settled. The imperial authority was interested in having more Russian peasants in Kyrgyzstan and ensuring their prosperity, as this strengthened its power in the region. Therefore, settlers were treated with great care: each was allocated 30 desyatinas of land (1 desyatina = 1.2 hectares), exempted from taxes and military service for 15 years. Additionally, they received financial assistance.

From 1905 to 1912, several dozen Russian-Ukrainian villages were established in the Bishkek district (known as Pishpek in Russian), where Kyrgyz people lived. In the Pre-Isyk-Kul region, 50,000 desyatinas of land were taken from the Kyrgyz.

In 1916, the Russian population of Przhevalsky district, which made up 21 percent of the total population, owned 67.3 percent of arable land. In Bishkek district, Russians, who constituted 38.1 percent of the population, owned 57.3 percent of arable land.

Ordinary Kyrgyz farmers suffered the most. Their lands, along with buildings, wintering grounds, and livestock pens, were taken from them, and they were pushed into areas unsuitable for agriculture.

Those who fled to Kyrgyzstan after the suppression of the uprising in the Chinese territories of Eastern Turkestan, including Dungans and Uyghurs, were also settled on fertile agricultural lands in the Fergana and Chui valleys and the Issyk-Kul basin.

As a result of the land policy of Tsarism, by 1916, Russians, who made up 6 percent of the population of Turkestan, were allocated 57.7 percent of arable land.

The Governor-General of Turkestan, A. N. Kuropatkin, acknowledged: “Compared to other peoples living in Turkestan, the Kyrgyz people were largely deprived of rights regarding land use.”

Taxes. In the early days after joining the Russian state, the Kyrgyz continued to pay the same taxes as during the Kokand Khanate. Later, the amounts of tax collections were revised, taking local conditions into account. Now, Kyrgyz engaged in nomadic livestock breeding were required to pay 2 rubles and 75 kopecks per family. Since the land was declared state property, a fee was charged for grazing: 3 kopecks per sheep, 30 kopecks per horse, and 50 kopecks per camel. Tax amounts constantly increased and reached 15 rubles per year per family before World War I. This was a significant sum; at that time, one could buy a sheep for one ruble.

Settled populations paid two types of land tax — kharaj and tanap. Kharaj was levied on grain crops, while tanap (a measure of area) was applied to garden and vegetable lands. Kharaj was collected in grain — 10 percent of the harvest, while tanap was collected in cash. In 1886, tanap was renamed monetary tribute and was established based on the total amount of land, regardless of whether the land was cultivated or not.

In addition to mandatory state taxes, local administrators — bai and manaps — also imposed their own feudal levies. People had to pay for grazing livestock on the bai's land, separately for driving livestock across his land, allocate funds and livestock for the maintenance of the manap and the celebrations he conducted, and make contributions for expenses related to various events common to the entire clan. For local officials, receiving bribes became a common occurrence.

The colonial policy of Tsarism, along with the despotism of local bai and manaps, increasingly fueled the discontent of the oppressed people.