180 Chapter Five
later investigation revealed that the Soviet consul in Tabriz had not received
this order, and had issued hundreds of transit visas to Muslims.^77 Sovtorgflot
was unable to care for them all: they needed housing, help with visas and quar-
antine procedures, and interpreters to guide them. To the embarrassment of
the NKID, the local branch of the Red Crescent (the Muslim version of the Red
Cross) stepped in to help, housing and feeding pilgrims. Their staff was more
experienced and adept than Sovtorgflot’s in managing pilgrims’ needs.^78
Service aboard Sovtorgflot’s ships was terrible. Concerned about onboard
conditions that pilgrims experienced, the fleet sent the head of its passenger
division in Batumi, Comrade Taraian, aboard the Ilʹich in 1929. Taraian wrote
a damning report that described poor communication among Sovtorgflot offi-
cials and rough treatment of pilgrims, and stressed a “lack of discipline” among
the crew. He was taken aghast by the crew’s surly treatment of two international
quarantine representatives, who boarded in Samsun to observe sanitary proce-
dures. There were no sheets or blankets and when they asked for some, an irri-
tated captain’s assistant descended to their cabin and angrily jabbed his fingers
in the air, pointing to the steam pipes. He told them the heat was coming up
and that they did not need blankets; the two resorted to sleeping with their
coats on.^79
Then came the “glass scandal.” The leadership of Sovtorgflot had invited a
delegation of dignitaries and pilgrims from Yemen to board the Ilʹich, as part of
Soviet efforts to build diplomatic and trade ties with the Yemeni ruler. Despite
orders to give them the royal treatment, the crew of the Ilʹich treated the delega-
tion shabbily. The delegation had boarded at 11:00 a.m. but received nothing to
eat or drink until 8:00 p.m. They asked for glasses of water, and were made to
wait a long time. Finally, a worker from the mess hall arrived in their cabin and
slammed a single glass on the table, angrily telling them he was not “obliged to
work after 9:00 p.m!” The next day, one of the ship’s mechanics came to their
cabin to extort money, and screamed insults at them when they refused. Merci-
fully, a fellow passenger intervened—a Soviet writer who reproached the crew
and befriended the delegation. Taraian was sorry to report that the crew mem-
bers in question were Communist Party members.^80 This episode was one of
many that worried Soviet officials, and made them fear a backlash from their
hajj campaign.
By 1929 tensions had deepened among Soviet officials over the ideological
and political implications of Soviet involvement in hajj transport. The OGPU
had long resisted the project, but now the NKID, too, began to question some of
the strategies being used, and worry about their long-term implications. NKID