Text preparation, introductory article and commentary by V. M. ALPATOV

This letter, written in 1925 (there is no exact date), is kept in the Central Archive of the Ministry of National Security in Baku in the case of Ruhulla Akhundov (case No. Pr 16229. Vol. 5. L. 64-66; further references to the case are given only the numbers of volumes and sheets). It was written by party worker Gabib Jabiyev to his friend Ruhulla Akhundov, then second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.

G. Jabiyev and R. Akhundov were close friends from the time of joint underground activities during the Musavatist period of power in Azerbaijan (1918-1920); both were initially left-wing social revolutionaries, but later became Bolsheviks. After the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan in April 1920. they were in high positions: Jabiyev was a commissar of the Azerbaijani division, and later was in the leading party work; Akhundov was the secretary of the Baku City Committee, and in 1924 became the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan (the first secretary was then S. M. Kirov).

Relations between the two young Azerbaijani communists were initially very close, and for the first time after the victory of the Soviet regime, they even lived in the same apartment. Soon, the struggle for the first place in the Azerbaijani leadership, which lasted for many years, began. Jabiyev and Akhundov held similar positions in 1921-1923, but since 1924 they have diverged. Jabiyev was among the Communists who were declared "hidden Musavatists". His views in those years had a pronounced nationalist tinge. There is evidence in the case file that in 1923 or 1924 he managed to get only Azerbaijani workers elected to the governing body at one of the party meetings; he considered the outcome of the elections a victory (vol. 2, p. 434). Akhundov, along with Kirov, held internationalist positions, as the old communist O. G. Shatunovskaya, who was then working in Baku, testified during the rehabilitation period (vol. 4, l. 28). Jabiyev was outnumbered.

During this time, he wrote several letters to Akhundov, who, he hoped, could help him. One of the emails (probably later) Akhundov handed it over to Kirov, and it became the subject of proceedings. The same letter remained with Akhundov, which later contributed to the death of both its author and addressee.

A letter written without any "internal editor" certainly reflects the real thoughts and feelings of the author. Jabiyev emphasizes that the Soviet power in Azerbaijan was established not on Russian bayonets, but in many respects was the result of the struggle of Baku workers. At the same time, what is important is his testimony that both he and other Azerbaijani Bolsheviks "became Communists mainly due to external circumstances," and not because of any conscious choice. The letter certainly reflects the confusion in the minds of many national figures in Azerbaijan: having neither experience nor education, they gained great power and took on great responsibility, but they knew very little about what to do.

Then, in 1925, Dzhabiev's attempts to accuse Kirov of "Russification" were unsuccessful, and he was accused of"Musavatist sentiments". The relationship between the letter's author and addressee seems to have soured forever since then. During the rehabilitation period, Akhundov's widow recalled her husband's words from that time: "Gabib was always stubborn and crazy, and now he's becoming a bastard" (vol. 4, l. 29). However, when Kirov left Azerbaijan for Leningrad in 1926, the situation changed: Akhundov already lost his position and temporarily left Baku, and Jabiyev became head of the department. organizational department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, and during the period when Azerbaijan-

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N. F. Gikalo (1928-1929) was the head of the khanate, and his role in the republic was very significant (vol. 4, l.32). However, in 1929, with a new turn of events, Jabiyev was removed from Azerbaijan, as it turned out, forever; Akhundov had already taken up his former position.

During the period of mass repression, former friends, and then enemies, suffered a common fate. Akhundov was arrested on December 17, 1936, and among the "material evidence" was immediately recorded a letter from the "Trotskyist" Gabib Jabiyev (vol.1, l. 20), although he had never been a member of the Trotskyist opposition. Even during the first interrogations, the letter became one of the main points of accusation, since in the letter Jabiyev addressed Akhundova as a friend and (at least partially) like-minded person. When on February 9, 1937 Akhundov (who was still resisting the investigation) stated that he did not know about the author's nationalist views, he was told: "You are not telling the truth. You yourself stated that Gabib Jabiyev was your personal friend and there was no reason for him to hide his views in front of you " (vol. 1, l. 44). Of course, the investigators did not speak to the arrested person as politely as it looks in the protocol. As a result, on February 14, 1937, Akhundov was forced to declare: "By the fact that I did not do this (i.e., I did not hand over the letter. - V. A. ), I committed a crime before the party, allowing the double-dealing Musavatist to keep himself in the party " (vol. 1, l. 46).

At this time, the "double-dealing Musavatist" Jabiyev was still a party member and director of a sugar factory in Kupyansk, Ukraine. But four months later, it was his turn. He was arrested on June 26, 1937 and included in the same case as Akhundov (vol. 5, l. 50). They were both shot in Moscow on the same day, April 21, 1938.

For more information about the investigative case of Rukhulla Akhundov, see the publications prepared by the team headed by the late F. D. Ashnin: F. D. Ashnin, V. M. Alpatov. The case of Rukhulla Akhundov // East (Oriens). 2000. N 2; F. D. Ashnin, V. M. Alpatov, D. M. Nasilov. Repressed Turkology, Moscow, 2002.

GABIB JABIYEV'S LETTER TO RUKHULLA AKHUNDOV

My dear, clumsy, stubborn Roc!

Ibad ¹ writes to me that you are asking him in a special letter about my health. Thank you, and in gratitude I am writing you this letter. Such an indirect request of yours shows that I am right, that there are reasons and grounds that do not allow you to communicate directly with me. If they are of an independent nature, then God is with you, and if they are not, then it is a shame and a very big shame that you cannot overcome them and overcome them in yourself. In general, despite the first and the second, I do not hesitate to write to you, keeping in mind general questions and not for a moment being influenced by personal resentments.

You probably had to give your feedback on my lengthy statement that I sent ² tov to the CCCC. Mamiya ³ . I'm very interested in what you said about that. If you again, as always, approached the question and the content of my statement, i.e. from the height of the Olympic abstract abstraction of the cold north pole, approached this question, then you have once again ruined yourself and destroyed us, humiliated, destroyed. I want to believe that this is not so, and that even after so many losses and losses, you have become different and have seriously taken up the interests of the case.

The main misfortune of the Azerbaijani workers is not only that they have such drivers as Buniyat-zade 5, Bagirov, etc., but also such assistants as us in the struggle for cultural and economic development , in the movement towards socialism, etc. They had no one to scold, because there was no one else. Without experience, knowledge, blindly, without a clear, complete, ^consistent curriculum, we came to the aid of the Azerbaijani working masses in the greatest, decisive historical years, in the years of a turbulent historical maelstrom. During all these years, we have been tools of the elements, we have worked, done, talked, etc. spontaneously, because, I repeat, first of all, we did not have any Marxist Bolshevik past, and, secondly, we have become Communists mainly because of external factors.

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the struggle against Denikin, Dagestan, Anatolia, Persia, etc.), without any connection with the strictly class proletarian movement, especially the Turkish workers ^.7

Rukh! On the other hand, it cannot be said that the Turkic workers of Azerbaijan do not have their own revolutionary past. This is not true, and it can be proved that it is not true. True, they have no higher proletarian consciousness and a conscious attitude towards things, but instinctively, not understanding Russian, they took the most active part in all political and professional movements together with the Russian workers. The same can be said about the peasant revolutionary movement in Azerbaijan, etc.

And in 1919-1920, the Turkic workers played a decisive role, without them nothing would have worked out, but with them everything worked out quickly, successfully and completely.

In addition, in 1900-1917, the Turkic workers contributed their share to the general pot of the revolutionary struggle, and all this remains in the shadows and has no connection with our current movement and successes, and, of course, this has been reflected and is reflected in our work and, of course, first of all in any development of the Turkish workers. That is why now, better late, and more than ever, it is necessary to engage in self-discovery. Everyone who has free time should engage in self-knowledge of the Turkic working masses, their history, traditions, etc. Self-knowledge is the best tool for conscious self-organization, self-mobilization, self-development, self-movement of the Turkic workers and active conscious movement in the general mass of Azerbaijani and all workers of the USSR. To create this activity and consciousness, it is necessary to concentrate their attention on their own questions of growth and development, and to consciously link these questions with the general questions of the entire Bolshevik working-class movement. In this way, we will also destroy their national self-restraint. Their cultural and other needs will also be developed in this way. The higher their cultural and other needs are, the stronger and more certain will be the cause of Soviet power and socialism in Azerbaijan.

That is why we must try not only to satisfy these needs in every possible way, but in general strive to create them, develop them and provide them with them in general, and thus raise the Turkic workers higher and higher, equating them with the Russian workers.

So long, hello everyone. Why isn't Rahim ⁸ even responsible for himself? Hello to Frida ⁹ and Mom. I give you and Frida a big kiss.

Gabib

Right: Head of the 4th department of the UGB AzUNKVD Major of State Security Gerasimov ¹⁰

Case No. Pr 16229 (Rukhulla Akhundov). Vol. 5. L. 64-66.

The case is kept in the archive of the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan.

notes

¹ This may be Ibad Aliyev, a party worker who was shot in 1937.

² Transcaucasian Regional Control Commission.

³ At that time, Chairman of the Transcaucasian Regional Control Commission.

⁴ In the original: he has (an obvious typo).

⁵ Buniat-zade Dadash Khoja oglu (1888-1938) - Azerbaijani party and statesman, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan at the time of writing the letter. He was shot together with R. Akhundov and G. Dzhabiev.

⁶ Mir Jafar Bagirov (1897-1956) - at that time Chairman of the GPU of Azerbaijan, later, in 1933-1953, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. He was shot as an organizer of mass repressions in the republic.

⁷ Here and further on, the term "Turkic workers" refers to Azerbaijanis by nationality.

⁸ Unidentified person.

⁹ Shlemova Frida Naumovna (1901 -?) - wife of R. Akhundov, party worker.

¹⁰ V. Gerasimov-Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan in 1937-1938, shot in 1938.

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