Politics and Social Circles of North Caucasians in France in the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

During the 1920s, France saw an influx of immigrants from the Soviet Russia, which included new comers from the North Caucasus who could not accept the change of political power in their region. This article draws on field and archival research to examine the social and cultural milieu in which North Caucasian émigrés found themselves in France of the 1920–1930s. I discuss the part that the factors of ethnic identity and origin played in the adaptation of highlanders to the new condition of life, and argue that it was in fact the factor of “political” orientation (monarchic or nationalistic) that lay in the foundation of their new social way of living. The ethnic factor was not significant but with in a framework of certain political groups. Furthermore, as time went on, the national identity of North Caucasians tended to gradually fade and become less distinct.