Soviet Physicians and Struggle against Epidemics in Xinjiang: Late 1920s – 1940s

Introduction. The long-overlooked topic of Soviet–Xinjiang medical cooperation can facilitate a better understanding of why Xinjiang was that important to the USSR in the interwar period. Paradoxically, the ‘soft power’ of Soviet medicine was able to come into fruition not in the ideologically friendly Mongolian and Tuvan People’s Republics — but in the turbulent Xinjiang against the background of disastrous social cataclysms of the 1930s and 1940s. Goals. The article aims to examine Soviet medical and sanitary assistance to the region through the prism of epidemic control efforts that constituted an important aspect of interaction. Materials and methods. The study analyzes documents from collections A-482 (‘Ministry of Health of the RSFSR’) and Р-8009 (‘Ministry of Health of the USSR’) of the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The geopolitical, retrospective, and comparative approaches shape a basis of the research agenda. Results. Soviet physicians were implementing the ‘soft power’ of healthcare through professionalism and selfless service to humanistic ideals under constant ethnic disturbances and strictly limited propaganda opportunities. The struggle against epidemics constituted one of the ‘pillars’ of interaction, since the medical advisers not only saved thousands of lives in Xinjiang but also instilled respect for the power of Soviet healthcare and protected the Soviet frontiers from dangerous pathogens. Conclusions. The Soviet Union invested significant human and material resources to support Xinjiang at the peril of Soviet physicians’ lives not out of mere altruism but rather following rational security concerns with a view to expand influence. The struggle against epidemics in the traditional, archaic Xinjiang society with utmost fear of plague and smallpox strengthened the authority of not only health professionals but also that of the USSR as a scientific and medical power.

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