Hujum

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Hujum (Russian: Худжум Khudžum [xʊd͡ʐʐʊm]; Arabic: هجوم, transl. 'onslaught') refers to a broad campaign undertaken by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to remove all manifestations of gender inequality within the Union Republics of Central Asia. Beginning in the Stalinist era, it particularly targeted prevalent practices among Muslims, such as female seclusion from society, female veiling practices and the practice of inheriting women as property after the death of their husbands.^[1] While it was often symbolized by the burning of the veils that Muslim women wore, the removal of veiling practices was not the campaign's sole goal. The Party began re-emphasizing their message of women's liberation within class consciousness. By abolishing Central Asian societal norms and heralding in women's liberation, the Soviets believed they could clear the way for the construction of socialism. The campaign's purpose was to rapidly change the lives of women in Muslim societies so that they would be able to actively participate in public life, formal employment, education, and ultimately membership in the Communist Party. It was originally conceived to enforce laws that gave equality to women in patriarchal societies by creating literacy programs and bringing women into the workforce.

The campaign was initiated on International Women's Day; 8 March 1927. It was a change from the earlier policies that were in place under the Bolsheviks, who prioritized unrestricted religious freedom for Central Asians.^[2] In contrast to how it was presented to the populace, Hujum was seen by Muslims as a campaign through which outsiders (i.e., Slavs) sought to force their cultural values onto the indigenous Turkic populations. Thus, the veil inadvertently became a marker of cultural identity;^[2] wearing it became an act of pro-Islamic political defiance as well as a sign of support for ethnic nationalism.^[2] However, over time, the campaign was a success: the rate of female literacy increased, while polygamy, honour killings, child marriages, and veiling diminished. Paranjas were rare by the 1950s in Soviet Central Asia and the same happened in Afghanistan by the 1960s (although they became popular again in Afghanistan after the fall of the communist secular government in the 1980s and the rise of Islamists).^[3][4]