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Uyghur intellectual Abdurehim Äysa

“Local Nationalism" in Xinjiang, 1957-1958

At the end of 1957, the Xinjiang Party Committee announced the convening of an enlarged plenum, with the goal of exposing and criticizing so-called local nationalist deviations. Originally scheduled to last only a few weeks, the meeting dragged on for an extraordinary six months, only concluding in June 1958. This collection is introduced by David Brophy in an essay for Sources and Methods. For other collections about Xinjiang, see "China and the Soviet Union in Xinjiang, 1934-1949," and "The Yi-Ta Incident, 1962."

Uyghur intellectual Abdurehim Äysa

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February 5, 1958

Iu. Andropov to the Central Committee of the CPSU, 'On the Struggle with Local Nationalism in China'

Iu. Andropov of the Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU describes Chinese Communist Party meetings in Xinjiang and "local nationalism" in China's far northwest.

January 17, 1958

Memorandum of a Discussion held by USSR Consul-General in Ürümchi, G S. Dobashin, with First Secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Comrade Wang Enmao, and Chair of the People’s Committee, Comrade S. Äzizov

In a conversation with the Soviet Consul-General, Wang Enmao describes "local nationalism" within Xinjiang and open hostility towards Chinese Communist Party rule.

August 18, 1958

M. Zimianin to the Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU and to Comrade Iu. V. Andropov

E. I. Shalunov meets with the Chief of the Education Department of the People’s Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Comrade Zakirov, to discuss criticisms against other local leaders in XUAR and recent Party meetings.

March 3, 1958

M. Zimianin to the Central Committee of the CPSU and to Comrade Iu. V. Andropov, 'On Manifestations of Local Nationalism in Xinjiang (PRC)'

During party meetings in Xinjiang, some individuals advocated for the creation of an independent Uyghur republic.

January 7, 1958

Memorandum on a Discussion held by the Consul-General of the USSR in Ürümchi, G.S. DOBASHIN, with the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Comrade LÜ JIANREN

Lü Jianren briefs Dobashin on calls for an independent Uyghur republic.
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Exterior of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

The 1957-58 Xinjiang Committee Plenum and the Attack on “Local Nationalism”

Writing for Sources & Methods in late 2017, David Brophy analyzes Soviet archives that reveal a turning point in the Chinese Communist Party’s relationship with Uyghur and Kazakh elites in Xinjiang.

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