Q )   M A R C H , 1 9 4 3   -   C O L L E C T I V I Z A T I O N   I N   B U R Y A T I A

In the years following the October revolution, the Red Army convinced the Southern Buryat of the Transbaikal to fight with them against the Mongolians, pledging that in return the Communist government would create for them a semi-autonomous region around Lake Baikal. The Soviets also promised to open hospitals and schools, even to develop textbooks in native languages transliterated into Cyrillic. Although few of these promises were kept, and the so-called “autonomous region” was anything but that, the situation for the Southern Buryat was not bad. But when Stalin initiated his large scale purges of Siberian tribes to collectivize agricultural practices, local traditions and nomadic herding techniques, well-suited to the Siberian climate, were destroyed in a single stroke. Some fifty thousand of the Southern Buryat fled back into Mongolia, often slaughtering their cattle rather than let them fall into the hands of the Soviets.

News of these atrocities the country was slow to reach the circular river kingdom. (In certain isolated pockets, people did not even know of the War’s existence until six years after it was over, when NKVD officers suddenly appeared to accuse them of collaborating with the Americans.) However, Tasak, the old shaman who instructed Peter, had had a prophetic dream many years earlier in which he foresaw the persecution of his people at the hands of the Soviets, and urged the tribe to resist to the last man. (see plate 40) It is remarkable that the Buryat living within the circular river kingdom remained unscathed for as long as they did; like the Tuvans, their geographical isolation spared them the worst of the horrors.

Having managed to survive the reign of Stalin with their culture intact, the Northern Buryat today remain a very isolationist tribe, an attitude rendered quite understandable by the near annihilation of many so-called “primitive” peoples during the past two centuries. A special permit, approved by both the tribal office and the Russian Federation, is required to travel to their territory. Requests are seldom granted.