Publications of A. Tsalikov in the newspaper Volny Gorets as a Source on the History of the Revolutionary Period in Kabarda

The article analyzes A. Tsalikov’s essay The Struggle of Social Forces in Kabarda, published in the newspaper Volny Gorets. It is noted that the author’s observations, as a contemporary and participant of the events described, serve as a valuable source for a comprehensive understanding of the essence of the revolutionary era in the region, particularly the processes that unfolded here after the fall of autocracy in February 1917 and up to the proclamation of Soviet power in March 1918. Based on this source, it can be summarized that the contradictions emerging in Kabardian society were rooted not in involvement with the socio-political platforms of competing all-Russian actors, but in a local sociocultural discourse, which contemporaries characterized as a confrontation between adat and sharia. On one side of this discourse stood the local aristocracy, drawing from adat the justification of its privileged position, integrated into the Russian administrative, legal, and cultural field, and striving to preserve the status quo in the new political realities. On the other side stood the clergy, advocating for a reorganization of society on the principles of sharia, with its ideas of equality and social justice, and seeking political representation in Kabarda as a means to implement its vision.

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