Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

Name

The name, Uzbekistan, literally means "Home of the Free", taken from an amalgamation of uz (Turkic: "self"), bek (Turkic: "master", "bey in modern Turkish"), and -stan (Persian: "land of"). Officially, the name Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was the official name as defined by its 1937 and 1978 Constitutions.

History

In 1924, the borders of political units in Central Asia were changed along ethnic lines determined by Vladimir Lenin’s Commissar for Nationalities, Joseph Stalin. The Turkestan ASSR, the Bukharan People's Republic, and the Khorezm People's Republic were abolished and their territories were divided into eventually five separate Soviet Socialist Republics, one of which was the Uzbek Socialist Soviet Republic, created on 27 October 1924. The next year Uzbekistan became one of the republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union). In 1928, the collectivization of land into state farms was initiated, which lasted until the late 1930s.

Uzbekistan included the Tajik ASSR until 1929, when the Tajik ASSR was upgraded to an equal status. In 1930, the Uzbek SSR capital was relocated from Samarkand to Tashkent, which remained the capital since. In 1936, Uzbekistan was enlarged with the addition of the Karakalpak ASSR taken from the Kazakh SSR in the last stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. That same year in December, it was renamed to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Further bits and pieces of territory were transferred several times between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after World War II.

In 1937–38, during the Great Purge, a number of alleged nationalists were executed, including Faizullah Khojaev, the first prime minister.

During World War II, many industries were relocated to Uzbekistan from vulnerable locations in western regions of the USSR to keep them safe. Large numbers of Russians, Ukrainians and other nationalities accompanied the factories, altering the demographics of the republic. The demographics situation was further aggravated by Stalin’s forced deportation of some ethnic groups suspected of collaboration with the Axis powers (including Nazi Germany) from other parts of the Soviet Union to Uzbekistan. This included large numbers of ethnic Koreans, Crimean Tatars, and Chechens.

During the Soviet period, Islam became a focal point for the anti-religious drives of Communist authorities. The government closed most mosques, and religious schools became anti-religious museums. On the positive side was the virtual elimination of illiteracy, even in rural areas. Only a small percentage of the population was literate before 1917; this percentage increased to nearly 100 percent under the Soviets.

Another major development, one with future catastrophic impact, was the drive initiated in the early 1960s to substantially increase cotton production in the republic. This drive led to overzealous irrigation withdrawals of irrigation water from the Amu Darya and the subsequent Aral Sea ecological disaster.

Towards the end of the Soviet–Afghan War, several troops crossed the Uzbek border from Afghanistan as part of the its withdrawal on 15 February 1989.

The Communist Party was the only legal party in the Uzbek SSR until 1990. The first secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan was consistently an Uzbek. Long-time leader of the Uzbek SSR was Sharof Rashidov, head of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 to 1983. Islam Karimov, leader of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan since 1989 and subsequently head of that party's reincarnation, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), became president of the Uzbek SSR in 1990. On 20 June 1990, the Supreme Soviet adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Uzbek SSR, which took over the laws of the Soviet Union days after the Russian SFSR adopted theirs.

Independence

Uzbek SSR participated in the referendum in March 1991 as a part of the proposed Union of Sovereign States. This never came to pass after unsuccessful coup attempt events between 19-21 August 1991 in Moscow. In the aftermath, the Uzbek SSR was renamed the Republic of Uzbekistan and declared its independence on 31 August 1991, formally remaining a part of the Soviet Union until 26 December 1991. With the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the Uzbek SSR became the independent nation of Uzbekistan although the 1978 Constitution remained in use. The referendum was confirmed on 29 December 1991.

Politics

Uzbekistan, akin to the rest of the Soviet republics, was defined by a single-party socialist republic framework, whereby the First Secretary of the Central Committee was the head of the party, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet as the head of state and the Chairmen of the Council of Ministers served as the head of government in a one-party system led by the CPSU's republican branch, the Communist Party of Uzbekistan. Executive power was exercised by the government and the legislative power was vested in Supreme Soviet where it met for sessions in Tashkent.

Economy

Uzbekistan had an growing area with heavy industry and light industry developed such as the leading industries in electric power, engineering, and chemical industry.

The basis of the energy economy - large thermal power plants: Syrdarya TPP, Angren TPP Novoangren GRES, GRES Tashkent, Navoi TPP and others; Chirchik-Bozsu HPP cascade on the river Chirchik (Charvak HPP, HPP Hodzhikentskaya, Gazalkent hydroelectric and others), Farkhad hydropower plant on the Syr Darya River, Tyuyamuyun irrigation and energy complex in the Amu Darya river and others. National importance was the gas industry; the main producing areas - Bukhara (Gazly deposits and other) and Kashkadarya (Mubarak, Shurtan) area. Oil (Fergana valley, Bukhara and Surkhandarya region), brown (Angren) and Stone (Shargun field in Surkhandarya region) coal. Production of lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum and copper ores (Karamazarskaya group of deposits, etc.), gold (Navoi, Jizzakh region, and others).

Were developed colors (Almalyk, Chirchik and others) and ferrous metallurgy (Bekabad). In the chemical industry in particular stood out the production of mineral fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphorus) for cotton (Chirchik, Kokand, Samarkand, Fergana, Almalyk, Navoi); manufacture of chemical fibers (Fergana); plastics (Fergana, Namangan, etc.), rubber products, household chemicals, and more. Petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical, microbiological industry. Basic engineering industry: agriculture (machinery for the comprehensive mechanization of cotton cultivation, cotton harvesters, etc.), production of tractors, equipment for the cotton and textile industry, construction and road machines, electrical engineering; developed aviation, electronic and instrument-making industry, chemical and petroleum engineering. The main centers of Tashkent, Samarkand, Namangan, Ferghana, Andijan. Materials companies worked out cement, asbestos-cement pipes, Slate, ceramic, wall materials and other (Bekabad, Akhangaran, Angren, Navoi, Tashkent and others).

An important place in the industry engaged in traditional industries: light industry - the primary processing of cotton, silk cocoons, wool, fiber crops, raw hides, karakul pelts, and other; production of cotton (Tashkent, Andijan, Bukhara, Fergana and others) and silk (Margilan, Namangan and others) textiles, footwear, garments, carpets. Food industry (oil mills and fat - mainly oil production from cotton seeds, tinned vegetables, butter and cheese, milk, meat, etc.).

List of changes

1927

1936

Constitution of the USSR:

ARTICLE 26. The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Ferghana, and Khorezm Regions, and the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

1938

1989