The Surrogate Proletariat

Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central Asia, 1919-1929

Gregory J. Massell

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780691618487
  9780691075624
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400870295
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

The attempted modernization of Central Asia by the central Soviet government in the 1920's was a dramatic confrontation between radical, determined, authoritarian communists and a cluster of traditional Moslem societies based on kinship, custom, and religion. The Soviet authorities were determined to undermine the traditional social order through the destruction of existing family structures and worked to achieve this aspect of revolution through the mobilization of women.

Gregory J. Massell's study of the interaction between central power and local traditions concentrates on the development of female roles in revolutionary modernization. Women in Moslem societies were segregated, exploited, and degraded; they were, therefore, a structural weak point in the traditional order—a surrogate proletariat. Through this potentially subversive group, it was believed, intense conflicts could be generated within society which would lead to its disintegration and subsequent reconstitution.

The first part of the book isolates the trends that made Central Asia vulnerable to outside intervention, and examines the factors that impelled the communist elites to turn to Moslem women as potential revolutionary allies. In the second part, Professor Massed analyzes Soviet perceptions of female inferiority and of the revolutionary potential of Moslem women. Part Three is an account of specific Soviet actions based on these assumptions. The fourth part of the book deals with the variety of responses these actions evoked.

Originally published in 1974.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Map
• Part 1. Revolution and Tradition: The Initial Confrontation
• Part 2. Justification for Action: The Potential Use of Women in Revolutionary Transformation
• Part 3. Early Soviet Actions, 1924-1927
• Part 4. Responses and Outcomes, 1925-1929
• Bibliography
• Index