“Kazan phenomenon”: is it possible to repeat it?
Groupers from Naberezhnye Chelny. The “Kazan phenomenon” spread beyond the capital of the Tatar ASSR.
Death for asphalt
History The “Kazan phenomenon” began in the 70s of the last century and still causes controversy about the reasons for its origin. We’ll try to deal with them a little later, but for now let’s look at the key features of Volga banditry. It is necessary to distinguish the classic punks, which existed always and everywhere, from the groups of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Strictly speaking, it was in Kazan that the model of organized crime that would later sweep the country was born. The first was the notorious Tyap-Lyap gang, distinguished by a high level of organization and discipline. In just a few years, the structure became standard and spread to other groups.
At the very bottom were representatives of the “husk” aged from 9 to 13 years old, engaged in petty robberies and extortion. They were the ones who haunted schoolchildren in controlled neighborhoods - they beat them, took their pocket money, valuables and clothes. Next came the “supers” aged 14–16 years, whose duties included controlling the “husk”, as well as participating in quite serious crimes - burglaries, car thefts, racketeering. The older a member of the Tyap-Lyap group became, the more serious crimes he was involved in, including rape and murder.
At the head of the gang was a “grandfather” or “king”, about 30–35 years old, who controlled his retinue – the “elders” (20–30 years old) and the “young ones” (17–19 years old). Discipline within the group was brutal. For example, for being late or not showing up for a meeting, they were beaten, and smoking and alcohol were punished. However, the last rule did not apply to the top of the gang - the leaders allowed themselves to live in grand style.
Gang "Tyap-Lyap"
The Tyap-Lyap gang, from the Kazan region of the Teplokontrol plant, was followed by others. First “Hadi Taktash”, later - “Dirt”, “Bottoms”, “Vein” and many others. In total, there were at least a hundred groups in Kazan at different times. The first time law enforcement agencies took on organized crime in Kazan was in the late 70s. The reason was the so-called “run” of the Tyap-Lyap gang through one of the districts of Kazan, controlled by a hostile group.
On the evening of August 31, 1978, “Tyaplyapovtsy” with knives, pieces of reinforcement and firearms weapons maimed several dozen people and killed two. Even the Voice of America radio station (recognized as a foreign agent by decision of the Russian Ministry of Justice) reported about the massacre, which could not but cause a reaction from the center.
Allegedly, the police caught all the key persons of Tyap-Lyap and in 1980 most of them were sentenced to significant prison terms. The four leaders - Khantimirov, Kayumov, Maslentsev and Tazedinov - were sentenced to capital punishment. This significantly crippled the once powerful group, but only freed up a niche for new gangs.
The “Battle for Asphalt,” that is, the division of territory into zones of influence between factions, continued with renewed vigor.
As a result, almost every man from Tatarstan born between 1958 and 1979 was involved in youth gangs to one degree or another. Or he was part of the caste of “chushpans,” completely powerless teenagers who were humiliated, robbed and beaten with impunity by the so-called “boys.”
Repeat option
We remembered the “Kazan Phenomenon” once again at the end of 2023 with the release of the series “The Boy’s Word. Blood on the asphalt." You can have different attitudes towards the film, but one thing is clear: the gangster saga made an indelible impression on the younger generation. Influenced by the adventures of the heroes in certain regions, particularly violent teenagers organized several small skirmishes. Of course, this caused a wave of panic among some officials demanding a ban on the series.
By the way, the authorities of Tatarstan from the very beginning reacted with hostility to the filming of a film about the gangster youth of Kazan. Representative of the republic's leadership Liliya Galimova said:
Our culture is rich, and we have something to show – much deeper and more worthy of our younger generation than this.
As a result, filming, which started in February last year, had to be moved to Yaroslavl.
What is the series “The Boy’s Word” about? Blood on the asphalt?
If we ignore the generally simple twists and turns of the script, the film is intended to remind us of the difficult past. The point is not even about the late Soviet Union, but about what began after its collapse. The roots of the chaos and rampant crime of the 90s lie precisely in street banditry. And one more thing - the tragedy in the series revolved around a stolen VCR and cassettes with foreign films, including pornographic ones. Isn’t this a reference to pernicious Western values? It is difficult to argue with the authors of the series - one of the reasons for the destruction of the ideology of the USSR was precisely the propaganda of the Western way of life.
The role of police officers in the series is indicative. Major Ildar and KDN inspector Irina are perhaps the only positive characters who, unfortunately, do not succeed in everything. The rest of the characters have souls in varying degrees of depravity.
The Soviet police are shown to be a little naive, but never corrupt. It is enough to compare the picture with its analogues - “Gangster Petersburg” and “Brigade”, literally stuffed with corrupt cops. Although in the history of the “Kazan Phenomenon” there were many cases when police officers took tribute from the “groupers.” Largely due to such connivance by law enforcement agencies, the rampant youth gangs became possible.
The series is built from such nuances. Not everyone from the target audience, that is, young people, is able to grasp this. But it is much worse when officials did not see the subtext and, with stubbornness worthy of the best application, tried to ban the film. Zhory Kryzhovnikov stood up for the series on time. For example, Nikita Mikhalkov spoke about this:
“It's a very powerful picture, it's true. And if your children look at this and become like this, then you are bad parents.”
The bandits loved these photos. Source: VKontakte group “Kazan Phenomenon”
Against this background, it is necessary to understand how possible a repetition of the “Kazan phenomenon” is now?
Many seriously believe that excessive romanticization of the criminal world in the series “The Boy’s Word” can provoke irreversible processes among young people. Let's go back to the 70-80s and compare the situation in the country and the Republic of Tatarstan during the USSR and today.
One of the reasons for the surge in organized crime was the intensive industrialization of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The “Kazan phenomenon” is not only a problem of the republican center. Youth groups have also formed in other cities - Nizhny Tagil, Chistopol and Nizhnekamsk.
With the start of large-scale construction, young people from all over the Union flocked to the cities. A considerable part of them were from rural areas with their own mentality and special attitude towards their neighbors. Does everyone remember the traditional fights between villages and the hostile attitude towards “foreigners”? In Tatarstan, the conflict between urban and rural has acquired a special scope.
In addition to this, during and after the All-Union Komsomol shock construction of KamAZ in Naberezhnye Chelny, a lot of single-parent families developed. Mothers were forced to raise their children alone, with all the ensuing consequences - the role of a significant adult man for the guys was played not by the father, but by a local authority who served a couple of years in prison for petty theft.
Among the reasons for the emergence of youth gangs in Tatarstan, a low cultural level is highlighted. Industry was growing at an incredible pace, but the social infrastructure simply couldn’t keep up – at one point there was only one cinema per district of Kazan with a population of 150.
What were young people supposed to do in their free time from school? That's right, wandering the streets and joining gangs. After more than a million people were released from prison in 1953, there was no shortage of crime bosses to organize groups.
The low standard of living in certain areas and the outright marginalization of part of the population also played an important role in the “Kazan phenomenon”. The above-mentioned “Tyap-Lyap” grew out of the most depressing district “Teplokontrol”. Slums in Kazan could not be dealt with until the mid-90s.
And finally, the most important thing is that you cannot directly compare the youth of the USSR 40-50 years ago and today. Spending time on the street in those days was commonplace, but now schoolchildren would rather play Dota one more time than go out into the area to hang around.
Whether this is good or bad is up to you to decide how to draw conclusions about the potential for the revival of the “Kazan Phenomenon” in Russia.
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