Hujum

Hujum (in Turkic languages, "storming" or "assault") was a series of policies and actions taken by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, initiated by Joseph Stalin, to try and have women in the Muslim majority areas of the Soviet Union remove their veils.

The program initiated around 1927, and was a change of the previous Bolshevik policy of religious freedom for the Muslims in Central Asia. [http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=181&issue=110 The Bolsheviks and Islam] , "International Socialism" - Issue: 110] However, quite in contrary to its aim, Hujum was seen by many Muslims as an outside foreign force, namely Russians, attempting to force their culture upon the indigenous population, namely Tajiks, Tatars and Uzbeks and so the veil became a cultural identity marker. Wearing it became an act of religious and political defiance, and a sign of support for the respective ethnic nationalism. Prior to Hujum many women were in positions of power in the soviets of Muslim areas, however, despite Hujums aim of "emancipating" the "oppressed" Muslim women, after its instigation the number of women in power decreased remarkably. [ [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jwh/16.2/br_7.html Book Review of Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia by Douglas Northrop] - Sharon A. Kowalsky - June 2005 ]

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