Speech #910076401

But the Kalmyks remained an alien and hostile element in European Russia. The Tsars 19th century "Kalmyk policy" consisted of ousting them from economically viable areas and curtailing their fishing rights in the Caspian Sea and the Volga River. The source of their livelihood discontinued. the plight of the impoverished Kalmyks steadily worsened. At first the Kalmyks benefited from Bolshevik rule. The Kalmyk Autonomous Province was created in 1920. During the interwar period literacy among the Kalmyks rose from 4 to 90 percent. But the foundations of a Kalmyk culture were not laid by Moscow. Robert Conquest. The Soviet Deportation of Nationalities. New York. St.