The Struggle of Musa Bigiev for the Return of Voting Rights in 1929

Abstract

The publication presents recently discovered archival documents dating back to 1929 that shed light on the circumstances of the life of Musa Bigiev (1875–1949) a year and a half before his departure from the country. The article explores some aspects of M. Bigiev’s social activities in the last years of his life in the USSR before emigration in 1930. It also considers the testimonies of M. Bigiev’s contemporaries, providing insights into the reason for his relatively late departure from the homeland. The main part of the article introduces into scientific discourse a number of recently discovered archival documents related to M. Bigiev’s biography on the eve of his emigration. The case containing archival documents preserved in the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg was declassified in 2023. The materials of the case indicate that in 1929 M. Bigiev was deprived of voting rights. The paper presents a short retrospective of the policy of discrimination against citizens of the RSFSR on social grounds by depriving them of their voting rights, as well as how the deprivation of rights dramatically complicated and worsened the living conditions of the so-called “deprived”, putting them on the brink of survival. M. Bigiev, who was classified by the authorities as a minister of religious worship, also became a victim of this policy. The documents highlight the struggle of M. Bigiev, who made several attempts tried to persuade state authorities at various levels to restore his right to vote and to be elected. The materials indicate that his attempts repeatedly ended in failure. Among the discovered materials, the most valuable are the autobiographical papers written under the dictation of M. Bigiev and certified by his signature. They bring clarity to some points of M. Bigiev’s biography, which have remained ambiguous to date. The studied materials allow us to draw several important conclusions about the stages and events of the Tatar religious philosopher’s life. The appendix contains a list of documents of the archive case.