Uzbek cotton: the turn of uzbekistan into the cotton raw materials base of the soviet state

Journal of History Culture and Art Research 
2 
industry. Although these khanates were part of Russia, they had virtually 
unlimited power in internal affairs. Russia still had to buy cotton from the US. 
About 60 percent of the cotton was imported. In this regard, in 1910, the 
question of turning the Khanates of Bukhara and Khiva into full colonies of Russia 
arose. 
"The Russian press encouraged the imperial authorities to do this, they 
compared Bukhara with French Tunisia in a whole series of articles of that time. In 
particular, they said that "a European country - Russia, should follow the example 
of France in Tunisia and lead the life of a wild Asian country", and also use the 
opportunities of the emirate in the interests of Russia by increasing cotton crops 
there. "Russia contributes to the liberation of the cotton market from American 
dependence." 
The Russian Empire's entry into World War I delayed the annexation of the 
Bukhara Emirate and Khiva Khanate to Russia. Thus, before the revolution, the 
Turkestan region could not ensure the cotton independence of the Russian state. 
Only from the 1930s, after the victory over the "Printers" (that is, the final 
annexation of Central Asia), Russia, represented by the USSR, achieved full cotton 
independence. 
The new power in Russia is the Bolsheviks, in particular, "V.I. Lenin attached 
great importance to the development of cotton production, equating its 
economic value with Donetsk coal and Baku oil, and considered the achievement 
of cotton independence of the country (USSR) as one of the most important 
conditions for successful socialist construction ... Achieving the full technical and 
economic independence of the country, including cotton production It became 
one of the main components of Lenin's plan to build socialism in the USSR... The 
Communist Party and the Soviet government highly valued the role and 
importance of cotton growing in the construction of the economic potential of 
the country developed in 1928-1932. A comprehensive program to significantly 
increase this branch of the national economy of the USSR. In its implementation, 
Uzbekistan took a special place as the main cotton base of the USSR." 
"Established in 1924. The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (UzSSR, Uzbekistan) 
was turned into the main cotton base of the Soviet Union, which was supposed to 
ensure the country's cotton independence. 
Since 1938, the construction of huge canals for the irrigation of cotton 
plantations in the territory of Uzbekistan began with the participation of rural and 
urban residents. Great Fergana, North Fergana and South Fergana canals, South 
and North Tashkent canals, Zaravshon canal, Karakum canal, Kattakorgon 
reservoir and many other structures were built in the folk construction method. 
Drainage canals were built and reconstructed, the reclamation of wetlands 
improved. As a result, during the Soviet era, drainage works were carried out on a 
large scale. Thanks to the vast network of canals built during the Soviet era, the 

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