ADHERENTS OF “A STRONG STATE”

With the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (ADR) on May 28, 1918, lifting the state of severe economic crisis was one of the top priorities of the new government. Complete economic devastation, as well as the actual isolation of Azerbaijan, failure to access former markets due to the world war and revolutionary upheavals in the former Russian Empire were main causes of economic crisis.

Right Course

In mid-June 1918, after the dissolution of the National Council and resignation of the first coalition government of Azerbaijan because of direct pressure of the Turkish military command involved in the military campaign for the liberation of Baku, Fatali-khan Khoysky formed a cabinet of right-wing forces in ADR. The government made up of the representatives of non-party democrats, the Ittihad Party, and right-wing Musavatists began taking steps to create the foundations of political, economic, and social course of the state.

Among significant economic measures of the second cabinet were the introduction of controlled commodity exchange with foreign countries, resumption of banking operations, establishment of a single exchange rate for currencies circulating in the republic, as well as the organization of independent tax system. The right-wing nature of the new government was manifested by the abolishment of agrarian laws adopted by the Transcaucasian authorities and the denationalization of oil industry. It also attached a secondary importance to the labour issue by dissolving the governmental system responsible for the labour protection. At the same time, the majority of right-wing politicians did not put social issues at the centre of their policies, albeit they recognised the instrumental role of the state in the system of economic control and regulation.

One of the key figures of the right-wing government was the representative of the Ittihad Party, Khosrov-bey Sultanov, Minister of Agriculture. It was he who first had to face the situational dilemma when the agrarian reforms initiated by the government faced serious resistance from the landlords, despite all political forces supported the idea of ​​gratuitous transfer of land to the peasantry. At the same time, although Sultanov himself was a representative of conservative circles, he also did not see an alternative for transferring land to the peasantry in the strategic perspective.

A representative of non-partisan democrats, Agha Ashurov, former Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Food before the cabinet changes at the beginning of October 1918, played a special role in addressing the economic crisis. He was an ardent supporter of decisive steps to combat speculation and those representatives of private capital, whose actions were in conflict with state interests.

Right-wing political forces, as well as the representatives of commercial and industrial circles largely held the view that the only way to address economic problems was to eliminate the normalized trade and complete transition to a free economic system. The leftist movement, workers, and cooperative organizations advocating the establishment of a state monopoly in industrial and food sectors opposed this approach.

The members of the cabinet also had disagreements surrounding this question. In August 1918, the majority of the members rejected the establishment of state monopoly on food products. The Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the introduction of free trade in all products within Azerbaijan. Simultaneously, the so-called permission system in foreign trade was introduced, which allowed private manufacturers to contact foreign entrepreneurs only with the permission of the government.

Between labour and capital

In mid-November 1918, following the withdrawal of Ottoman troops defeated in the First World War from Azerbaijan and the deployment of British military forces in ADR, it was decided to organize the Azerbaijani parliament. With the opening of the parliament on December 7, 1918, power in ADR passed to the centre-left coalition, the core of which was made up of the Musavatist-socialist majority supporting two centre-left government offices.

The main task of the new government led by Khoysky was to lift the country from economic crisis.

After the restoration of the Ministry of Labour, social issues became one of the priority areas of state policy. Socialist Aslan-bey Safikurdsky advocating for decisive measures for the social protection of the working population became the Minister of Labour.

Among the priority measures taken by the centre-left coalition on the labour question in early 1919 were the holding of a special convention under the Ministry of Labour, designed to prevent acute forms of struggle between workers and entrepreneurs, and the development of measures associated with labour protection. On January 26, 1919, Safikurdsky issued a resolution, which provided for almost complete restoration of collective agreements, fishing committees, and a total increase in wages for adult workers (360 roubles), hence relaxing the social tension.

The government crisis began February 1919. Facing increasing pressure from both the extreme right and far left political flanks, Prime Minister Khoysky decided to resign.

Musavatist Nasib-bey Usubbekov (Yusifbeyli) headed the second centre-left government established in April 1919. Prime Minister Yusifbeyli announced the intention of his government to release a sufficient amount of goods to the market in order to lower market prices and to regulate the food situation in the country through facilitating the import of goods with complete freedom of domestic trade.

Since the spring of 1919, there has been a slight improvement in the activity of the centre-left cabinet. Minister of Trade, Industry and Food Agha Aminov (Musavat) initiated a certain degree of liberalization in economic sector. In May 1919, the government set a course for establishing free trade within Azerbaijan and abolishing the permissions system “to put an end to speculation.” On September 1, the government allowed the export of oil from Azerbaijan. Two months later, the government also decreed on free export of cotton, wool and other raw materials abroad. Moreover, individuals and enterprises willing to export raw materials abroad were charged with the condition that they transfer 25% of the exported goods to state treasury.

Meanwhile, the government carried out its activities in extremely difficult conditions. On the one hand, after the withdrawal of British troops from Azerbaijan in August 1919, the republic was free from any external military presence. On the other hand, the ruling coalition continued to operate under the economic crisis, which led to the growth of labour movement and the strengthening of the influence of the Bolsheviks, who took the course to destroy the independent Azerbaijani statehood.

Despite the difficulties, the centre-left coalition continued organizational development of social reforms such as the decree on increasing the salaries of civil servants, laws on temporary rise of civil servants’ salaries and on raising the subsistence level, according to which income not exceeding five thousand roubles was exempt from income tax.

In September-October 1919, Minister of Labour Safikurdsky organised a commission to resolve the issue of wage increase for the employees and workers of industrial enterprises in Baku. In addition, he created under the Ministry of Labour a special commission made up of representatives of enterprises owners and parliamentary factions of the Socialist bloc and Musavat. Its task was to improve the economic situation of workers engaged in the oil industry.

Ministry of Labour played a significant role in the settlement of conflicts between workers and entrepreneurs. In May 1919, the Arbitration Body created by the Safikursky began operations.

The establishment of the State Bank of Azerbaijan became an outstanding achievement of the centre-left coalition. At the same time, the currency issuing practice of the government was criticized, which contributed to fall of rouble’s exchange rate and the growth of inflation.

The agrarian issue remained the key problem of the social and economic life of Azerbaijan. By mid-summer 1919, the agrarian commission of the parliament headed by the socialist Samedagha Aghamalov had completed the drafting of the law, which provided for the transfer of land to state ownership on a no-cost basis and the leaving of some land areas for their former owners. However, the law was not ratified mainly because of the resistance of right forces associated with the planned free-of-charge alienation of private lands.

A bill drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture was also doomed to failure. Considering that the pro bono appropriation of lands might negatively influence private property rights, the department headed by Aslan-bey Kardashev (Ehrar Party) proposed to appropriate lands for a fee calculated by income from the land exploitation.

However, this project aroused dissatisfaction within the leftist circles. The failure of the bill affected the new government crisis that broke out in the fall of 1919.

Conflicting issues and the objective of reformers

The split within the centre-left coalition forced Prime Minister Yusifbeyli to declare in mid-September 1919 the resignation of his cabinet. At the end of December, Musavat, non-partisan democrats, Ehrar, Ittihad and the Hummetist part of the socialist faction reached an agreement on the creation of a broader coalition.

The fifth ADR government once again headed by Yusifbeyli began its activities amidst the direct intention of Soviet Russia to take Azerbaijan under its sphere of influence.

Hence the attempts of the broader coalition to reach an agreement on agrarian reforms failed. The socialist draft law of the Minister of Agriculture Ahmed-bey Pepinov, as well as the draft law of the Musavat Party developed on the reconciliation of interests of big landowners and the peasantry failed similar to previous agrarian initiatives.

Government policies on trade, industry and food were much more effective. In January 1920, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Food headed by non-party leader Khudadat-bey Melik-Aslanov recognized the urgency of supplying workers and employees with basic food products and necessities. An ardent advocate of a “strong state”, Melik-Aslanov held a meeting on the food issue, which adopted resolute measures including compulsory appropriation of excess grain products from owners. In addition, the Council of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Food concluded that it was necessary to procure necessary products and essentials, as well as the use of repressive measures against speculators.

In early 1920, Governor of Baku Puda Gudiyev imposed tax on proprietary classes in favour of the poor and established a special commission for this purpose. He also organised a contribution from the Baku bourgeoisie of 136 million roubles to reduce the cost of bread and other food products.

Finally, just before the fall of ADR, Minister of Interior Mustafa-bey Vekilov (Musavat) took measures to seize money from the rich in favour of the Committee on the reduction of product costs and organized a special Penalties Department at the Baku Police Department.

The government's policy of broadening state intervention in commercial and industrial sectors and lifting of the country from the food crisis was positively received by most of the society.

During this period, the regulation of the exchange rate of Azerbaijani currency through the export of goods and the sales of oil only in exchange for Azerbaijani currency were significant changes in the currency policy of ADR. In early February 1920, Minister of Finance Rashid-bey Kaplanov (Ehrar) decided to stop the exchange of Baku bills to Transcaucasian ones by the Agency of the ADR Ministry of Finance in Tiflis. In addition, a week before the April coup, Kaplanov ordered the collection of excise duties from oil and oil products exported to Batum only in Azerbaijani roubles.

Nevertheless, economic reforms so eagerly pursued by the government of the young republic were interrupted due to the occupation of Azerbaijan by Soviet Russia in late April 1920. The Bolsheviks imposed total control over all sectors of state and public life, including the economy.

Thus, the main problem of ADR’s economic development was reduced mainly to a choice between models with a free or state-controlled economy. The country's leading political force, the Musavat Party, combined these two approaches. Its position was to combine the advantages of state monopoly, liberal economy and socialist control, but it was impossible to implement them in practice at that historical moment.

ASLAN-BEY SAFIKURDSKY

(1881-1937)

Aslan-bey Safikurdsky, one of the outstanding state and political figures of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (ADR), was a major figure among Azerbaijan's leftist movement. He has become interested in social and political processes since his student years at the St. Petersburg Imperial University. For participation in political actions, he was even expelled from the university but was soon reinstated and received a higher legal education.

In 1907-1911, Aslan-bey served as assistant attorney but at the same time was engaged in charity being one of the leaders of the Muslim Charity Society, as well as the chairman of the Association of Actors. In subsequent years, he served as assessor of the Shusha City Duma, and then as a sworn attorney.

Safikurdsky’s entrance to politics began after the February Revolution of 1917. He was a member of the Uyezd Executive Committee and the Muslim National Council of Yelizavetpol (Ganja). In the Transcaucasian Sejm, Safikurdsky led the Muslim Socialist bloc and was one of the active members of the Muslim (Azerbaijani) faction, demanding in particular the adoption of decisive measures to protect the Azerbaijani population of the Baku Province, which was destroyed by the Dashno-Bolshevik military forces of the Baku Council.

A new stage in Safikurdsky political activity began after the declaration of independence of ADR. At the end of 1918, he was elected to parliament from the Gazakh District, and in June 1919, he became a member of the State Defence Committee. However, Aslan-bey made the most significant contribution to the statehood of independent Azerbaijan at ministerial posts. In the third government, he held the post of Minister of Post, Telegraph and Labour, and in the fourth, he served as Minister of Justice and Labour.

Safikurdsky played a major role in the implementation of ADR's social policy. Being one of the prominent representatives of the Socialist bloc and leader of the Azerbaijan Socialist Revolutionaries, he became, perhaps, the most vivid conductor of leftist ideas in the young republic.

When he became the Minister of Labour, Safikurdsky first appealed to the workers of the country. Underlining that the economic crisis might threaten the country with rising prices for basic foods and necessities, which in fact “leads to malnutrition of the working class,” Aslan-bey appealed to them “to focus all forces on creating normal conditions for industrial life”, and to employers “to consider the workers as their allies in the reconstruction and development of industry.”

The social measures implemented by Safikurdsky aroused dissatisfaction of the owners of big capital. Council of the Congress of Oil Industrialists, in address to the head of the government, expressed “extreme regret that the government represented by the Minister of Labour appears to enter the path of state management of the oil industry.”

Safikurdsky consistently pursued a policy of protecting the economic interests of the working population and, at the same time, tried to achieve social harmony between the conflicting forces of labour and capital. However, if the first factor made the Minister of Labour one of the political figures most unacceptable by commercial, industrial and financial circles, the second one aroused sharp criticism from the most radical spokesmen of the interests of the poor.

In the last months of the ADR, Safikurdsky was only working in the parliament. He remained committed to the ideas of liberation of the workers and peasants. However, as the course of events showed, radical Bolsheviks soon replaced the Azerbaijani socialists in the left camp.

After the Soviet occupation of Azerbaijan in April 1920, Safikurdsky worked in the Collegium of the People's Commissariat of Justice of Azerbaijan SSR. However, in 1922 he was arrested on the “issue of Transcaucasian Socialist Revolutionaries” and sentenced to 3 years in prison. After his release from the Chelyabinsk prison, Safikurdsky got a job as a legal consultant in the Azneft association. Nevertheless, he was persecuted for the rest of his life by the Soviet government, which considered the former activist of the Musavat government an unreliable “subject”.

The life of Aslan-bey Safikurdsky, who will forever remain in the history of Azerbaijan as one of the representatives of the brilliant group of ADR leaders, ended in 1937 due to chronic illness that he acquired during the years of imprisonment in the Bolshevik prison.