All-Union Population Census of 1926 and 1939 in the Kirghiz ASSR

Population in the Kirghiz ASSR from 1926 to 1939

The period from 1926 to 1936 was characterized by significant population growth (the average annual growth rate was 3.2%) and the highest rate of urbanization in the country's history (6.8%). In comparison, from 1913 to 1926, the growth rates were among the lowest of the entire 20th century - only 1.1% (Population... 2004. p. 97).

According to the All-Union Census of 1926, the population of the Kirghiz ASSR was only 993 thousand people, of which 66.6% were Kyrgyz, 11.7% were Russians, and 21.7% were other ethnicities (Modern... 1975. p. 99). For the first time during the census, it was determined that representatives of 48 different ethnic groups lived on the territory of the republic.

The predominant ethnicity in the cantons of the republic, except for the Frunze Canton, was the Kyrgyz. In the cities of Frunze, Tokmok, and Karakol (from 1889 to 1922 and from 1939 to 1992 known as

Migration to summer pastures. Kirghiz SSR. 1937. Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Moscow). From the collection of the MAE. No. I 1903-161 Przhevalsk), as well as in the Chui and Frunze cantons, the Russian-speaking population predominantly resided - 81.4%,

In 1928-1930, there was a mass migration of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs to the Xinjiang region of China - as an escape from the forced collectivization of agriculture and livestock, which was accompanied by the destruction of the nomadic way of life and social structure. The harsh actions of the authorities were met with negativity, and in some areas - with sharp resistance. This was followed by exiles, arrests, livestock slaughter, and famine in 1933 (Population... 2004. p. 114).

The greatest damage from famine, mass migration, and persecution was suffered by the Kazakhs, whose population in the territory of the USSR decreased from 4 million people in 1926 to 2.7 million people in 1937. The Kyrgyz were less affected by these events, as many had already transitioned to a sedentary lifestyle by that time. Nevertheless, the number of Kyrgyz increased from 669 thousand to only 754 thousand people from 1926 to 1939, and their share of the total population decreased from 67% to 52%, while the number of Russians and Ukrainians who migrated to Kyrgyzstan increased by 258 thousand people, and their share of the population rose from 18% to 30%. The proportion of Ukrainians increased from 6.5% to 9.4%, Germans from 0.4% to 0.8%, Tajiks from 0.3% to 0.7%, Tatars from 0.5% to 1.4%, and Kazakhs from 0.2% to 1.6%. There was a decrease in the number of Uzbeks from 11.1% to 10.4%, and Dungans from 0.6% to 0.4% (Table 2). According to the 1926 census, the Kirghiz ASSR was predominantly a rural republic - 88% of the total population. In rural areas, 99% of Kyrgyz, 94% of Ukrainians, 88% of Germans, and 61% of Russians lived. In the cities, the majority of Tatars lived - 66%, almost half of the Uighurs (Kashgar and Taranchi in the 1926 census) - 46%, and Uzbeks - 47% (Population... 2004. p. 114). On December 5, 1936, the Constitution of the USSR was adopted, and the Kirghiz ASSR was transformed into the Kirghiz SSR, consisting of four regions: Frunze, Issyk-Kul, Tian Shan, and Osh.

The ethnic composition of the republic became even more complicated after 1936 due to the deportation and evacuation of a number of peoples of the USSR.

Compiled from: Modern Ethnic... 1975. p. 99; Population... 2004. p. 114, 115; Population of Central... 1985. p. 15.

Population in the Kirghiz ASSR from 1939 to 1959

The 1939 census recorded 76 nationalities in the republic, while the previous 1926 census recorded only 49.

The absolute population growth was 465,218 people, with the share of newcomers being 329,534 people (Batyrbaeva, 2004. p. 86). In 1937, 100 thousand Koreans, descendants of Korean settlers from the Far East, were resettled to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In 1941, after the fascist Germany attacked the Soviet Union, 1 million Soviet Germans, most of whom lived along the Volga, were deported to Siberia and Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan (Population... 2004. p. 115). Millions of Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians were evacuated to the region. In 1943-1944, entire ethnic groups (Karachays, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Meskhetian Turks, Kurds, and Azerbaijanis) were deported to Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan. Only in 1956, at the XX Congress of the CPSU, were the deported peoples, except for the Crimean Tatars, Germans, and Meskhetian Turks, allowed to return to their ancestral lands. Germans and Crimean Tatars were only able to return to their former places of residence in the late 1980s.

For many years, the migration of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and other peoples to the republic was viewed as a positive factor. The development of the extractive and heavy industries, light industry, as well as the rapidly developing system of collective and state farms contributed to the influx of people with various specialties from other Soviet republics, especially intensively in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1960s, during the period of "Great Leaps" and the social disasters they caused in China, including in Xinjiang, a large group of Uighurs migrated to Kyrgyzstan. As a result of various migration movements: organized resettlement, deportation, evacuation, re-evacuation, and repatriation, the 1959 census recorded 101 nationalities in the republic (up from 76 in 1939) (Kushubekov, 2010. p. 94).

Number of Kyrgyz in 1897 and 1916