The Communists and the Kadro Movement Shaping Ideology in Atatü rk's Turkey © 2002 The Isis Press Published by The Isis Press Şemsibey Sokak 10 Beylerbeyi, 81210 Istanbul Tel.: (0216) 321 38 51 Fax.: (0216) 321 86 66 e-mail: [email protected] www.theisispress.com ISBN: 975-428-229-3 George S. HARRIS THE COMMUNISTS AND THE KADRO MOVEMENT SHAPING IDEOLOGY IN ATATÜRK'S TURKEY THE ISIS PRESS ISTANBUL George S. Harris received his Ph. D. in History of the Middle East from Harvard University in 1957. He then served at the American Embassy in Ankara until 1962, when he returned to Washington for various assignments dealing with the Middle East. In 1977 he became Director of Analysis for Western Europe in INR in the Department of State, and in 1979 he was made Director of Analysis for Near East and South Asia, a post which he occupied until his retirement from the Department of State at the end of December 1995. In addition to his government career, he was a Professorial Lecturer at the School for Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University from 1968 to 1981 and at The George Washington University. He has written many article and a number of books on Turkey including The Origins of Communism in Turkey (1967). For Colin and Margot Who have known about Turkey from their earliest years. TABLE OF CONTENTS Prefeœ ..................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................ 11 Chapter I: Preparing the Ground .......................................................... 15 Chapter II: Turkish Communism: The Legal Phase ........................... 39 Chapter III: Adapting to Underground Life .......................................... 69 Chapter IV: The Challenge of the Great Depression ........................... 93 Chapter V: Kadro .................................................................................... 115 Chapter VI: The Communists and the Kadro Movement ................... 131 Chapter VII: Toward the United Front and Beyond ............................. 143 Appendix 1; Türkiye Kommunist Fırkası: Fealiyet Programı .......... 173 Appendix 2: Kadro ................................................................................. 206 Appendix 3: Exchange of letters between Latife and Kameneva ......... 224 Bibliography ........................................................................................... 227 Index ........................................................................................................ 237 Preface My work on the Turkish Communist Party began in the depths of the Cold War with the publications in 1968 of The Origins of Communism in Turkey. That study covered the legal phase of Communist experience in Turkey, a period ending in 1925. At the time when that analysis was completed, documentation available to me appeared too sparse to permit tracing the continuation of the party as an underground entity or to elucidate, except in the most sketchy fashion, the relationship of the Communist movement to the ideologists who attempted to develop a systematic formulation of Kemalism in Turkey. The present study draws heavily on material that has become available since the original investigation. It does not, however, aim to repeat in detail the data presented in my earlier treatment or to provide a detailed account of the legal period of Turkish Communist existence, that is the pre-1926 period. Instead, while the text that follows will present some of the more important new findings relating to the period before the Communist Party became illegal in 1925, the primary emphasis of the current work will be on the period during Atatürk's lifetime when the Communist Party was underground, i.e., the late 1920s and 1930s. This era was one of decisive influence on the development of contemporary Turkey. But it has been the focus of less scholarly attention than was the earlier period, evidently because the events from 1925 to Ataturk's death appeared less striking than the unmistakable political landmarks of the struggle for independence after the First World War and the establishment of the Republic. Yet for a more balanced understanding of the politics of the Atatürk era, it is necessary to pay attention to even such competing movements as the Turkish Communist Party, which left an imprint on Turkish economic thinking which lasted for decades. The debts of a researcher attempting to delve into this difficult terrain are many and obvious. The present work could not have been produced without the assistance of some of the more prominent early defectors from the Turkish Communist movement who came together to found the influential journal, Kadro. I was fortunate indeed to have been able to arrange lengthy sessions with Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, and Ismail Hüsrev Tökin to discuss their involvement with the Turkish Communist Party and their subsequent role in contributing to the elaboration of Kemalist ideology. Not only did they provide insights into their own thinking and intentions, but Aydemir made available documentation not heretofore at the disposal erf scholars. 10 THE COMMUNISTS AND THE KADRO MOVEMENT The growing ranks of investigators in Turkey who have added to the documentary record have also been of inestimable value in informing the present study. I would cite especially the efforts of Mete Tunçay to locate and publish party documents and photographs, particularly relating to the party’s period of legal operation. It is also a pleasure to note the contributions of Aclan Sayilgan, whose personal generosity saved me much unnecessary labor. Among others who helped me along the way I would like to single out the administration of Bilkent University and its professors in the political sciences, public administrations and international relations departments. In addition, I have had the opportunity to discuss these issues with a number of other scholars and observers reflecting a wide spectrum of political opinion in Turkey. Although they have thus contributed materially to my understanding, none of those who were kind enough to provide their interpretations is responsible for the way I have used their observations or the conclusions I have drawn. I have also sought to base my work as far as possible on data from underground Communist Party publications circulated in the 1920s and 1930s and on Comintern documents published in the same period. I have also used some of the memoirs penned by members of the Turkish Communist Party, although they were often later adherents and were at times reporting hearsay. Taken together, this material allows new light to be shed on the twists and turns of the Communist line. Many of these documents were published by a branch of the Turkish Communist Party in London in the 1980s, some in photocopy and others merely in transcription. They seem entirely genuine, although they were published in the service of conducting a doctrinal fight within the party against the Moscow-line leadership. As this material was banned in Turkey at the time of publication and is somewhat ephemeral in nature, it has apparently been unavailable to most researchers who have sought to understand and explain the Turkish Communist Party during its period of illegality. Finally, in crediting those who have substantially enriched my labors, it is a happy obligation to be able to express here my great thanks and deep appreciation to my wife for her patient encouragement during the extravagantly long effort to put this analysis into its present form. GSH Westmoreland Hills 2002