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Abstract

If religious accommodation and ideological struggle against belief systems defined Soviet religious policy during and after the Second World War, the pre-war period is more commonly remembered for a comprehensive and aggressive assault on religion under the banner of Soviet modernization. In Soviet Central Asia, this offensive took the form of the violent unveiling campaign (hujum), systematic harassment of religious customs, the closure of mosques and religious schools, and the widespread purging of Muslim clergy. Yet, portraying early Soviet religious policy in Central Asia solely as a campaign of destruction risks oversimplification. Even after consolidating Communist authority in the region, Soviet officials initially adopted a more cautious and pragmatic stance toward religion, extending limited accommodations to religious institutions and communities under the new regime.

Drawing on local archival materials from Kazakhstan, my paper reconstructs the contours of Soviet religious policy as they unfolded in Semey during the 1920s and early 1930s. It pursues two central objectives. First, it investigates the various strategies employed by the Soviet state to manage and engage with religious communities and institutions. Despite the increasingly repressive climate, there remained—particularly in the early years—a degree of institutional tolerance, with Islamic schools and mosques continuing to function in some capacity. Second, the paper explores how Muslim communities responded to these evolving political and legal circumstances. Far from being passive victims, many local actors actively negotiated with Soviet authorities in efforts to preserve religious life. They sought official recognition of religious associations, worked to register mosques, and even initiated religious educational programs within the limits imposed by the new regime.