The Hajj and Socialist Revolution 177It committed precious ruble resources to building Sovtorgflot’s service, allot-
ting a subsidy of up to 330,000 rubles from Sovnarkom’s reserve fund to cover
losses from the transport.^68
In 1928 the NKID expanded support for hajj pilgrims in Arabia. That year the
newly arrived Soviet consul general in Jeddah, a Kazakh from Kokand named
N. T. Tiuriakulov, set up a Soviet medical aid station for pilgrims. He assured
the Soviet government that it would be strategically and politically useful. “It
will be tremendously significant in the struggle for the USSR,” he wrote to the
NKID in Moscow, “as tens of thousands of Muslims come to the Hejaz from all
over the Muslim world.”^69
With the support of the NKID and the Commissariat of Transport, Sovtorg-
flot in 1928 created regular service for hajj pilgrims between Odessa and Jed-
dah. The fleet instructed Soviet embassies and consuls to advertise its new
service, and to provide estimates of expected volume of hajj traffic, so that it
could plan accordingly.^70 That year it drafted “Instructions on Procedure for
Transporting Pilgrims to Jeddah and Back.” This document appears to have
been modeled on plans developed by ROPiT and the Volunteer Fleet, and it
gives a clear sense of how Sovtorgflot envisioned hajj transport would work.
The instructions had eight sections that covered timing; steamship sched-
ules; cost of travel; transport of valuables; transport of religious objects; trans-
port of baggage; lodging in Odessa; and passports. The hajj was scheduled to
begin on May 23, 1928. All pilgrims taking Sovtorgflot ships were to follow the
same route, from Odessa to Jeddah, and for the convenience of pilgrims steam-
ships were to leave Odessa on four separate dates in March, April, and May for
Jeddah. They would return from Jeddah to Odessa also on four separate dates
in June and July, allowing enough time for pilgrims to complete the rituals in
Mecca and visit Medina (this usually took three to four weeks), and, for some,
to spend extra time in the holy cities to study or visit with relatives. The trip
from Jeddah to Odessa would take ten days, and pilgrims would be given a
choice of first-, second-, or third-class tickets, with payment in US dollars or
local hard currency. Pilgrims were allowed to carry valuables and money in
unlimited amounts: they would receive papers to document their valuables and
money, and show these at customs. Returning pilgrims were allowed to bring
into the USSR from Mecca religious objects and souvenirs in the following
quantities per person: twenty-five jars of holy water; thirty pounds of dates; two
hundred strings of prayer beads; two belt-scarves; two turbans; and two small