The Salsk Incident: or How Autonomous Oblast of the Kalmyk Working People Was Never Joined by the Don Kalmyks

The creation of Kalmyk national autonomy has been examined in many works. However, some its aspects still remain unexplored. Among the latter is the issue of the Don (Salsk) Kalmyks that never joined Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast in 1920, having constituted a community of their own within Don Oblast. Goals and Objectives.. The article seeks to understand why the mentioned group preferred to stay back in Salsk Okrug. To facilitate this, the paper examines the circumstances of the 1st Congress of Salsk Kalmyks and its outcomes; describes attempts of the Kalmyk Central Executive Committee (Rus. TsIK) to integrate Salsk Kalmyks back into the Kalmyk autonomy; analyzes reasons for the failure of Kalmyk leadership. Materials and Methods. The article analyzes documents of Don Oblast Executive Committee housed by the State Archive of Rostov Oblast. The study also employs other historical and historiographic sources. The investigation of sources involves the use of comparative-historical, problem-chronological, and source criticism methods. Results. Initially, it was planned to unite all Kalmyks into one administrative unit – Autonomous Oblast of the Kalmyk Working People as part of the RSFSR. The 1st All-Kalmyk Congress of the Kalmyk Working People approved this decision, but the Salsk Kalmyks stayed back in Don Oblast. That was caused by disagreements within the new Kalmyk party-and-state elites, as well as by controversies between the Kalmyk TsIK and Salsk Okrug Executive Committee. Those indicate certain travails in the interaction between various Soviet authorities in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War. In the early 1920s, many Don Kalmyks resettled to Bolshederbetovsky Ulus of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. The remaining Kalmyks joined Zimovnikovsky District (since 1928 – Kalmytsky District) of Salsk Okrug of North-Caucasus Krai.

1. Archives

2. State Archive of Rostov Oblast

3. Collections of Documents

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