The Hajj and Socialist Revolution 179superior comfort based on Sovtorgflot’s “flashy” newspaper advertisements,
Persian pilgrims instead found chaos and primitive conditions. Some Sovtorg-
flot officials refused to help hajj pilgrims, either because they had never been
informed of the plan, or out of subversion. When more than two hundred Per-
sian hajj pilgrims showed up at the Sovtorgflot office in Baku, the official in
charge, Comrade Slutskii, told them he was not interested in “profiting from
pilgrims,” and refused to let them in the door, for fear that they carried “infec-
tious diseases.”^74
Sovtorgflot officials had no plan to receive Persian pilgrims in Baku or
Batumi, and lacked the local knowledge and connections needed to quickly put
one in place. In Baku, local officials bundled pilgrims onto freight cars, instead
of the promised passenger cars. There was no specially outfitted khadzhikhane
in Baku: pilgrims were ushered into an empty customs warehouse instead. Rail
transport from Baku to Batumi was not free, as advertised. In Batumi, where
they expected a prompt departure by steamship to Odessa, they were delayed
for two weeks. Next came a mix-up about the port of departure. The fleet sent
pilgrims on a pointless trip from Batumi to Odessa, and then back to Batumi,
the actual departure point for the fleet’s steamships to Jeddah. Pilgrims were
exhausted and angry and worried that they would miss the scheduled hajj ritu-
als in Mecca. The NKID official was beside himself with anger: he warned
Sovtorgflot about the potential “scandals” that could come from this disaster,
especially given that several “distinguished people” were aboard one of the
ships.^75 Poor conditions created an ugly scene at the Baku train station between
Sovtorgflot officials and the city’s Persian consul. Witnessing Persian pilgrims
boarding freight cars intended for horses, the consul berated the fleet’s officials,
who vainly tried to explain that pilgrims had chosen these third-class cars over
more expensive options. There was a shortage of cars, and the local OGPU had
to intervene to bring in more rolling stock.^76
Sovtorgflot had also failed to monopolize the flow of Persian hajj pilgrims
through the USSR by ensuring that all bought round-trip tickets on its ships.
This created problems for many Soviet officials, especially those in the OGPU,
which opposed unescorted foreigners moving through Soviet lands. The NKID
official noted that many “wild” pilgrims—more than 1,000—showed up in
Batumi with just transit visas from the Soviet consulate in Tabriz. They spoke
no Russian, had no steamship tickets, no plan for travel, and little money. This
was not supposed to happen. Sovtorgflot and the NKID had agreed that foreign
consuls and ambassadors would issue transit visas only to those Muslims hold-
ing Sovtorgflot tickets. But miscommunication bungled this well-laid plan: a