Speech to Crimean Tartars

[p065] SPEECH TO CRIMEAN TARTARS Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p066] Dear comrades, My closest friend, Alexis Yevgrafovich Kosterin, who, as you know, is confined to hospital with thrombosis, en- trusted to Vera Ivanovna his wife, and myself the job of representing him at this even- ing’s affair. It is a great honour for me. I am especially moved by the fact that he charged me with expressing our mutual views on the struggle of the Crimean Tartars for national autonomy. Alexis Kosterin, who was born and raised in the multi- national northern Caucasus, was able to see, from his childhood, the cruel oppres- sion of smaller nations, the discord and national hatred stirred up by the oppressors and odious imperialist chauvin- ism. Suffering cruelly from seeing his own people playing the role of oppressor, Kosterin, as a Russian patriot, decided to dedicate his life to the struggle for national equality and friendship among different peoples. In his entire life he has never betrayed this youthful . pledge. The three years he spent in Tsarist prisons could not break his revolutionary spirit —— on the contrary, they hardened it. Liberated by the February revolution, he immersed him- self in the task of organizing and teaching the northern Caucasus peoples. He never abandoned these peoples, even when the Whites occupied the territory. He then organized detachments’ of partisans in the mountains and participated in the partisan movement until the Whites were chased out of _ the Caucasus. w After the Civil War the problem of national equality continued to occupy a central place in his Party and literary activities. Only once the voice of writer Kosterin was not heard. This was when the Volga Ger- mans, the Kalmyks, and the smaller nations of the northern Caucasus — like your people, the Crimean Tartars — were brutally banished from their - native lands. ; If he was silent, it was because he could not speak. He was behind the barbed wire of Beria’s and Stalin’s camps. But 17 years of concentra- tion camp nightmare did not break him. As soon as he was free he raised his voice with courage and firmness for the ‘weak: and forgotten’. I will not speak of his cur- rent struggle. You know of it as well as I. The Leninist- Bolshevik Alexis Kosterin has dedicated all his strength to the fight for the re-establish- ment of the Leninist policy of nationalities. Unhappily the burden rest- ing on him has been too heavy for his heart . . . But we are all sure that this is only tem- porary and the day is near when his voice will again resound— loud and clear. (Loud applause. Cries of ‘Long life and good health to the best of our friends!’. How can I evoke the true spirit of Alexis Kosterin? What can I say that will give a whole picture of the man? It is not easy but I will try. Alexis Kosterin is a Leninist- Bolshevik, a revolutionary in the noblest sense of the word. This is a true humanist, who has given all his strength to the defence of small peoples and nations, to the struggle for national equality and for friendship between all peoples. This is a remarkable and original writer who carries on the best humanist traditions of Russian literature. Sadly, life has not given him the possibility of fully developing his talent. Even today his work ‘is not published and, as you know, this cannot but influence the creative activity of a writer. This is also an exemplary father whose life served as an example for such a person as his daughter, Nina Kosterin. You no doubt know that Nina Kosterin’s diary has had millions of copies published in almost all languages and, like Anne Frank’s diary, has served the cause of the struggle - against fascism in all its forms, the cause of friendship be- tween peoples and the cause of the development of humanist ideas and traditions. Such is Alexis Kosterin, the man whose 72nd birthday we are celebrating today. Allow me to speak now of Kosterin and my views regard- ing the actual problems of your movement. It will soon be a quarter of a century since your people were turned out of their homes, the land of their Documents from the Soviet Opposition ancestors, and parked in a reservation where the _ con- ditions were such that the disappearance of the entire Crimean Tartar nation seemed inevitable. - But the resilient and hard- working people surmounted all trials and survived, much to the anger of their enemies. After losing 46 per cent of their number, the people started, little by little, to recover their strength and fight for their national and human rights. This struggle resulted in some gains. The statute of exiles has been abrogated and the Crimean Tartars have been politically rehabilitated. This last step however, was taken with various reservations that considerably reduced the effect of the gesture. The great mass of the Soviet people who were informed that the Tar- tars had sold the Crimea could not learn that this sale was pure invention. But most serious of all is that the very edict which ordered the political rehabilita- tion of the Crimean Tartars simultaneously legalized the liquidation of that nation... According to it, the Crimean Tartars no longer exist; there are only the ‘Tartars who at one time lived in the Crimea’. This fact alone demonstrates conclusively that not only has your struggle not attained its goal, but in a certain sense has taken a few steps back. It was as Crimean Tartars that you were formerly per- secuted, but since the ‘political rehabilitation’ this nation doesn’t exist. The nation has disappeared but the discrimina- tion remains. You did not commit the crimes for which you were exiled from the Crimea, but you do not have the right to return there. Ww What basis is there for plac- ing your people in a position of such inequality? Article 123 of the constitu- tion of.the USSR reads: ‘Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights . . . of citizens on account of their race or nationality is punishable by law’. Therefore the law is on your side. (Lengthy applause.) But your rights are trampled underfoot. Why? We believe that the main reason for this lies in the fact that you underestimate your enemy. You think you are dealing only with honest people. This is not so. What happened to your people was not the work of Stalin alone. And his accomplices are not only still alive, they hold res- ponsible positions. They fear that if you are given back what was unlaw- fully taken away from you, they must sooner or later answer for their participation in such arbitrary acts. (Loud applause.) That is why they are doing everything they can to prevent you from succeeding in your struggle. If things stay as they are, it gives the impression that there were no broken laws in the past. You have chosen a tactic that helps them preserve this state of affairs. You address humble supplications to the Party leadership which pass into the hands of those hostile to your struggle for national equality. And since your pleas con- cern matters for which there are no indisputable, hard and fast rules, they are presented to persons who are bound to rule on them as_ doubtful, debatable issues, and thus your case becomes enmeshed in judgements and opinions which have nothing to do with the basic problem. For instance: ‘There is no room in the Crimea for settling the Tartars.’ ‘If the Tartars move, there will be no one left in Central Asia to do the work.’ ‘The Crimean Tartars already feel at home where they are. Besides, they do not represent an independent nation. Those who wish to live in a Tartar republic can go to the Tartar Autonomous Republic’ (ASSR). ‘The migra- tion would require consider- able sums of money’, etc. All these claims, as well as an infinity of others, put for- ward by the enemies of your national rebirth, are not worth a pin. But as long as you request, and against your requests these ‘weighty’ objec- tions are raised, the case does not go forward but even goes backwards. In order to end this abnor- mal] situation you must under- stand once and for all that what is prescribed by law is not requested but demanded! (Enthusiastic applause. Cries of ‘that’s right!’.) 41

[p067] Start to demand! And do not just demand fragments— demand everything that was unlawfully taken away from you. Demand the ré-establish- ment of a Crimean Autonom- ous Soviet Socialist Republic! (Wild applause.) Do not limit yourselves to the writing of petitions. Strengthen your demands by all the means that are available to you under the constitution —make good use of the free- dom of speech and of the press, of meetings, street pro- cessions and demonstrations. A newspaper is put out for you in Tashkent. But its editors do not support your movement. Kick them out and choose your own editorial staff. If you are prevented, boy- cott the newspaper and start another one, your own. A movement cannot’ develop normally without its own press. In your struggle, do not lock yourself in a narrow national- ist shell. Establish contacts with progressive people in other nations in the Soviet - Union—first of all with those nationalities among whom you live, the Russians and Ukrain- ians who have been and continue to be persecuted like your people. Do not look at your case as an internal affair. Seek the support of world public opinion and international organizations. There is a specific name for what was done to your people in 1944. It is genocide, ‘one of the worst crimes against humanity’. (Complete Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 10, p. 441.) The convention adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948, included in the category of genocide ‘“. . . acts committed with in- tent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such’ by any of various methods, and specifically, ‘by deliberately inflicting on the group con- ditions of life calculated to bring about its physical de- Struction in whole or in part...’ Such acts of genocide are from the viewpoint of inter- national law, crimes con- demned by the civilized world, for which the chief culprits and their accomplices are liable to punishment under law. So you see, international law is also on your side. (Wild applause.) If you cannot obtain a solution of the problem within the country, you have a right to appeal to the UN and the international tribunal. w Stop begging! Take back what was unlawfully taken from you! (Wild applause. Members of the audience jump from their seats and start chanting in unison, ‘Crimean ASSR’.) And remember, in this just and noble struggle, you must not allow your enemies to pick off with impunity the fighters who are in the foremost ranks of your movement. There have already been a series of trials in Central Asia in which fighters for equal rights for the Crimean Tartars have been sentenced unlaw- fully and on false grounds. Right now in Tashkent, such a trial is being prepared for Mamed Enver, Yuri and Savri Osmanovy, and others. Do not allow judicial re- prisals to be carried out against these people. Demand a public trial and come in a body to this trial. Do not allow the court to be filled with a specially selected public .. . And finally, Alexis Kosterin has asked me to tell you that he has received many letters and congratulatory telegrams from Crimean Tartars. He cannot answer them at the present time and therefore wishes me_ to convey his and most thanks to all who sent him greetings and their best wishes for his recovery. He affirms that in the future he will devote all his efforts to the struggle for full and equal rights for all nations, for sincere friendship between all peoples of the world. I raise my glass in honour of all brave and unyielding fighters for national equality. I raise my glass in honour of one of the most eminent fighters on this front, the writer and Bolshevik inter- Nationalist, Alexis Yevgrafo- vich_ Kosterin, and to the health of the Crimean Tartar Peoples. I wish full success to your people in their struggle. To our future meeting in Crimea, dear friends, on the territory of a _ re-established and reborn Crimean Autonom- ous Soviet Socialist Republic! (Wild applause. Toasts are drunk to A. Kosterin, the friendship of all peoples, a future meeting in Crimea, and to the Russian and Ukrainian peoples represented by com- trades A. Kosterin and P. G. Grigorenko. Singing of the songs ‘Port Arthur’ ‘Shompol’ and others.) March 17, 1968 Reprinted from the ‘Workers Press’ of Tuesday, November 25, 1969. 42 Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p068] Start to demand! And do not just demand fragments— demand everything that was unlawfully taken away from you. Demand the ré-establish- ment of a Crimean Autonom- ous Soviet Socialist Republic! (Wild applause.) Do not limit yourselves to the writing of petitions. Strengthen your demands by all the means that are available to you under the constitution —make good use of the free- dom of speech and of the press, of meetings, street pro- cessions and demonstrations. A newspaper is put out for you in Tashkent. But its editors do not support your movement. Kick them out and choose your own editorial staff. If you are prevented, boy- cott the newspaper and start another one, your own. A movement cannot’ develop normally without its own press. In your struggle, do not lock yourself in a narrow national- ist shell. Establish contacts with progressive people in other nations in the Soviet Union—first of all with those nationalities among whom you live, the Russians and Ukrain- ians who have been and continue to be persecuted like your people. Do not look at your case as an internal affair. Seek the * * 42 support of world public opinion and international organizations. There is a specific name for what was done to your people in 1944, It is genocide, ‘one of the worst crimes against humanity’. (Complete Soviet Encyclopedia, volume 10, p. 441.) The convention adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948, included in the category of genocide - + + acts Committed with in- tent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such’ by any of various methods, and specifically, ‘by deliberately inflicting on the group con- ditions of life calculated to bring about its physical de- struction in whole or in Bate. . Such acts of genocide are from the viewpoint of inter- national law, crimes con- demned by the civilized world, for which the chief culprits and their accomplices are liable to punishment under law. So you see, international law is also on your side. (Wild applause.) If you cannot obtain a solution of the problem within the country, you have a right to appeal to the UN and the international tribunal. Stop begging! Take back what was unlawfully taken from you! (Wild applause. Members of the audience jump from their seats and start chanting in unison, ‘Crimean ASSR’.) And remember, in this just and noble struggle, you must not allow your enemies to pick off with impunity the fighters who are in the foremost ranks of your movement. There have already been a series of trials in Central Asia in which fighters for equal rights for the Crimean Tartars have been sentenced unlaw- fully and on false grounds. Right now in Tashkent, such a trial is being prepared for Mamed Enver, Yuri and Savri Osmanov, and others. Do not allow judicial re- prisals to be carried out against these people. Demand a public trial and come in a body to this trial. Do not allow the court to be filled with a specially selected public . . . And finally, Alexis Kosterin has asked me to tell you that he has received many letters and congratulatory telegrams from Crimean Tartars. He cannot answer them at the present time and therefore wishes me_ to convey his deepest and most sincere thanks to all who sent him greetings and their best wishes for his recovery. He affirms that in the future he will devote all his efforts to the struggle for full and equal rights for all nations, for sincere friendship between all peoples of the world. I raise my glass in honour of all brave and unyielding fighters for national equality. I raise my glass in honour of one of the most eminent fighters on_ this front, the writer and Bolshevik inter- Nationalist, Alexis Yevgrafo- vich_ Kosterin, and to the health of the Crimean Tartar peoples. I wish full success to your people in their struggle. To our future meeting in Crimea, dear friends, on the territory of a re-established and reborn Crimean Autonom- ous Soviet Socialist Republic! (Wild applause. Toasts are drunk to A. Kosterin, the friendship of all peoples, a future meeting in Crimea, and to the Russian and Ukrainian peoples represented by com- rades A. Kosterin and P. G. Grigorenko. Singing of the songs ‘Port Arthur’ ‘Shompol’ and others.) March 17, 1968 Reprinted from the ‘Workers Press’ of Tuesday, November 25, 1969. Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p069] DOCUMENTS FROM THE OPPOSITION PIOTR GRIGORENKO’S