1958 Grozny Riots - Immediate and Long-term Causes

Immediate and Long-term Causes

The riots were provoked by the killing of one Russian by an Ingush. The Russian, a sailor, had asked an Ingush woman to dance and tried to seduce her, but an Ingush man who was engaged to her intervened and the ensuing confrontation escalated into a brawl in which the Russian ended up dead.

However, the real motive of the riots was inter-ethnic conflict between the Russians and Chechen returnees from deportation to Siberia and Kazakhstan, most of whom were unemployed, as the Soviet rule did nothing to settle differences. The Russians had been living in the Grozny Oblast for 13 years before they returned in 1957 and resented their return, as they had been living in Vainakh houses on Vainakh land and doing jobs that had been done by Vainakh before the deportation. The return of the Vainakh (Chechens and Ingush) caused competition between the two groups over housing and jobs, which was overlaid with historical animosities, quickly escalating. Vainakh (especially Chechens) viewed Russians not only as oppressors but also as illegitimate interlopers living on stolen land. Russians meanwhile viewed Vainakh as being less than them, and furthermore as subversive agents of Turkish interests. Thus, the brawl and the death of the one Russian sailor was only the spark that lit the fuse leading to the formation of the Russian mob that rioted.