‘A Bridge for Revolutions’ or ‘Looming Danger’? The Instrumentalization of the Border of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.

The Bukharan-Afghan border between 1917-1924 is an often-overlooked borderland during an important moment of change. When this border is mentioned in academic literature, it is most frequently described through the lens of the cross-border insurgencies that fought against Bolshevik and Bukharan state authority. While security was an important component for the people and governments concerned with this border, it was not the only narrative. The Bolsheviks considered the borderland to be a springboard to launch themselves further into Asia, or as one Bolshevik propagandist put it, “Bukhara has been and continues to be a crucial center for her neighboring countries in the East. …In our modern era it has continued to play a prominent political role, serving as a bridge, a transit point, for the triumphant march of the revolutions….” The Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic used the border as a tool that affirmed its legitimacy as a state, and border communities in Bukhara used the lack of state control at the border to ‘vote with their feet’ during this period of political and societal upheaval. The symbolism, migration strategies, and politics that emerged along the border demonstrated the complexities of early Bolshevik, Bukharan, and Afghan relationships with local actors and society.