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Uzbekistan
Russification and Resistance
Following the death of Stalin in 1953, the relative relaxation
of totalitarian control initiated by First Secretary Nikita S.
Khrushchev (in office 1953-64) brought the rehabilitation of some
of the Uzbek nationalists who had been purged. More Uzbeks began
to join the Communist Party of Uzbekistan and to assume positions
in the government. However, those Uzbeks who participated in the
regime did so on Russian terms. Russian was the language of state,
and Russification was the prerequisite for obtaining a position
in the government or the party. Those who did not or could not
abandon their Uzbek lifestyles and identities were excluded from
leading roles in official Uzbek society. Because of these conditions,
Uzbekistan gained a reputation as one of the most politically
conservative republics in the Soviet Union.
As Uzbeks were beginning to gain leading positions in society,
they also were establishing or reviving unofficial networks based
on regional and clan loyalties. These networks provided their
members support and often profitable connections between them
and the state and the party. An extreme example of this phenomenon
occurred under the leadership of Sharaf Rashidov, who was first
secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 to 1982.
During his tenure, Rashidov brought numerous relatives and associates
from his native region into government and party leadership positions.
The individuals who thus became "connected" treated their positions
as personal fiefdoms to enrich themselves.
In this way, Rashidov was able to initiate efforts to make Uzbekistan
less subservient to Moscow. As became apparent after his death,
Rashidov's strategy had been to remain a loyal ally of Leonid
I. Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, by
bribing high officials of the central government. With this advantage,
the Uzbek government was allowed to merely feign compliance with
Moscow's demands for increasingly higher cotton quotas.
Data as of March 1996
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