178 Chapter Five
rugs. Pilgrims were allowed unlimited luggage in transit through the USSR; on
the steamship they were allowed free transport of up to 180 pounds of luggage.
During their stay in Odessa they would stay free of charge in the khadzhikhane.
Each pilgrim was required to carry a passport.^71
To attract pilgrims to its ships in larger numbers in 1928, Sovtorgflot placed
advertisements in newspapers across Persia and China, and sent thousands of
pamphlets to its agents there and in Afghanistan to hand out to local Muslims.
The advertisements, printed in local languages, depicted Muslims praying at
the Kaaba in Mecca, underneath which was a schedule for Sovtorgflot’s service
from Odessa to Jeddah. Sovtorgflot’s advertising campaign was a great success.
In 1928 and 1929 many thousands of hajj pilgrims took Soviet routes and
Sovtorg flot ships to Mecca and back. Pleased by the results of the 1928 hajj sea-
son, Sovnarkom gave Sovtorgflot a subsidy for the 1929 season, too, to help it
expand its “pilgrim operation.” Officials involved cited the economic benefits,
noting that the hajj transport brought “a substantial flow of foreign currency
into the USSR,” and was consistent with the USSR’s “hard-currency politics.”^72
But as the hajj traffic through Soviet lands grew, logistical problems multi-
plied, and Soviet officials grew increasingly concerned about the political and
ideological implications of the project. They had embraced hajj transport hop-
ing to impress foreign Muslims and pique their interest in socialism, but by
19 28 many worried that it was having the opposite effect. There were numerous
reports of Soviet officials’ poor treatment of pilgrims along their journey
through the USSR. The NKID complained that Soviet border guards were
mocking and mistreating pilgrims as they entered Soviet territory. In Irkesh-
tam, a border-crossing point between the USSR and China, for instance, there
were no customs buildings, and Soviet border guards forced Chinese hajj pil-
grims to undress in the snow, to search their belongings.^73 And by all accounts,
the transport of hajj pilgrims was worse in these years than before. Sovtorgflot’s
meticulous organization of transport outlined in its instructions existed on
paper only. Disorganization, miscommunication, and poor planning were
endemic in both the 1928 and the 1929 hajj seasons, and made conditions along
the Soviet routes awful for many pilgrims.
Surveying the scene in 1928 in Baku and Batumi—Caspian and Black Sea
ports, respectively—an NKID official was appalled. Both of these ports lay
along Persian routes to the Black Sea. And yet until the last minute, Sovtorgflot
officials posted there had no idea how many pilgrims to expect. In mid-April
the Batumi official learned that as many as 3,000 pilgrims were on their way,
leaving him inadequate time to prepare. The results were disastrous. Expecting