Tashkent. FAN Publishing House, 1975, 355 p. The print run is 1000. Price 2 rubles. 66 kopecks.
In 1975, by the decision of the XXVII session of the UN General Assembly, the peoples of all countries celebrated for the first time in history the International Year of Women, the motto of which was to ensure equal rights and broad participation of women in the economic, social and cultural development of all countries, to fully enhance their role in strengthening peace, friendship and cooperation between peoples. Fighting for their rights, the happiness of their children, and social progress, women all over the world turn their eyes to the Soviet country, where for the first time in history social equality of all members of society was achieved, and Lenin's teaching about the social liberation of women was implemented. The Communist Party and the Soviet State, guided by this teaching, implemented important socio-economic, ideological, and organizational measures to involve women in all spheres of social production, ensure their participation in state and public life, and create conditions for the flourishing of their abilities and talents. The success of Soviet women, their equal position in society, and their great role in building communism and governing the State are great examples for working women all over the world. Special attention is drawn to the experience of the Soviet East in addressing the women's issue, because this experience reflects changes in the situation of women, who in the recent past were the most oppressed and disenfranchised among the working people of tsarist Russia. Soviet researchers, primarily women scientists, have already created a significant literature on this problem .1 A further step in its development is taken by corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR R. Kh. Aminova. It follows the path of a more in-depth study of the problem of emancipation of women in the East, in particular Uzbekistan. The monograph is based on a broad source base. The author draws on new archival materials, especially on the initial period of emancipation of women in Uzbekistan.
R. H. Aminova's book covers a wide range of issues related to the history of women's emancipation in Uzbekistan from the establishment of Soviet power to the victory of socialism. The author presents a Marxist-Leninist interpretation of the women's question, analyzes Soviet and bourgeois historiography. The stages of development of the problem in Soviet literature, given by R. H. Aminova, basically correspond to the generally accepted periodization of the history of the USSR. Considering the bourgeois historiography of the 60s and 70s about Soviet Central Asia in general and Uzbekistan in particular, which distorts reality, including the situation of women in these republics, R. Kh. Aminova exposes their slanderous fabrications (pp. 33-44).
The author describes in detail various aspects of the activities of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government to overcome the age-old prejudices that belittled the Uzbek woman; shows the formation of Soviet legislation that established equal rights for women; the activities of the republic's courts directed against the bearers of feudal Bayan remnants; reveals the variety of forms and methods of involving Uzbeks in economic, cultural and social life. Particular attention is paid to "Khujum" as a turning point in the struggle for the solution of the women's issue in the Uzbek SSR. R. H. Aminova drew extensive factual material describing the growth of political activity of Uz women-
1 Kh. S. Sulaimanova. A woman of Uzbekistan is an active participant in communist construction. Tashkent, 1955; V. L. Bilshay. The solution of the women's question in the USSR, Moscow, 1959. The emancipation of women in the Soviet East and the transition of the formerly backward peoples of the USSR to socialism. "Questions of the history of the CPSU", 1964, N 10; B. Palvanova. Victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution and emancipation of Turkmen women. Ashgabat. 1957; her own. Daughters of the Soviet East, Moscow, 1961. October and women of Turkmenistan. Ashkhabad, 1967; Kh. Shukurova. Socialism and women of Uzbekistan. Tashkent. 1970; "The Liberated Woman of the Soviet East". Ashgabat. 1972; "Emancipation of women in Central Asia and Kazakhstan". Ashgabat. 1972, et al.
page 149
of the Bekistan region, involving them in the ranks of the Communist Party, the Komsomol, in the work of Soviets, trade unions, women's departments and delegate meetings, the Koshchi Union, people's courts, etc. The monograph reflects the Soviet government's relentless concern for the labor protection of women workers, for expanding the network and improving the activities of women's and children's institutions.
Analyzing the role of women of Soviet Uzbekistan in the struggle for the rise of the socialist economy and culture, the author shows that the broad involvement of women in the national economy was part of the Communist Party's goal of building socialism in the USSR. In 1940, the total share of women in the working class of the republic reached 40.7% (p. 229) (before the October Revolution, Uzbek women did not participate in social production). The author notes that the highest proportion of women was in the silk-winding and food industries, but the growth of machinery, the mechanization of heavy and labor-intensive work allowed women on the eve of the Great Patriotic War to master complex professions in coal, printing, cotton gin and other industries. The book tells about the system of industrial training of women, the role of female workers in the multi-employee movement, in the struggle for combining professions, and other innovative initiatives.
The collectivization of agriculture has caused fundamental changes in the situation of the Dehkanki people. The author emphasizes that the land and water reform ensured the economic equality of dehkan women, writes about the importance of cooperation in involving women in agricultural production, consumer cooperation as a form of women's participation in economic construction, and the contribution of women to the formation and development of collective farm production. The high labor activity of dehkan women in growing rich crops of cotton and other agricultural crops is confirmed by generalized digital data (p. 254). Public organizations of the republic were already seriously engaged in training female machine operators in the pre-war years. The book shows how, at the call of prominent women of the country P. Angelina, P. Kovardak and M. Mukhtarova, a movement for training women tractor drivers and combine harvesters was launched in Uzbekistan.
Not limited to the chronological framework of the study, the author traces in general terms the participation of women in the economic life of the republic up to the present day.
R. H. Aminova pays great attention to the steady improvement of the cultural level of Uzbek women. Based on extensive factual material, the monograph examines such issues as the elimination of illiteracy among women and the development of women's education in the republic during the first five-year plans, cultural and educational work among Uzbek women, the activities of special women's clubs, training of women's personnel for the national economy and culture, measures to protect motherhood and infancy. Summarizing the presented material, R. H. Aminova emphasizes the historical significance of the victory of the Great October Revolution in the emancipation of women in the East, in solving the women's issue in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics, notes the difficulties of the path traveled, the enormous, enduring importance of the experience of the CPSU, the party's versatile political, organizational and ideological work for solving the women's issue in the country; analyzes the struggle for the emancipation of women in the conditions of Uzbekistan, which has come to socialism, bypassing capitalism; shows the international significance of this struggle.
It is regrettable that R. Kh. Aminova limited the study of 1917-1941, without revealing in detail the participation of women of Uzbekistan in the struggle to complete the construction of socialism and build communism in our country. In the historiographical part of the monograph, which, unfortunately, does not differ in completeness, the author, describing the main publications on the problem under consideration, notes that they cover mainly the 20 - 30s. I would like to see more attention paid to highlighting the unexplored periods and aspects of the topic, considering them at the level of modern tasks.
Unlike the authors of other works on this issue, R. H. Aminova comprehensively reveals the features of solving the women's issue in the republics of Central Asia in the process of building socialism, bypassing capitalism, and dwells in more detail on the initial stage of the struggle for the emancipation of Uzbeks. However, the book does not contain generalized data (to the beginning and end of the AP).-
page 150
on the number of women workers, collective farmers, and the level of their education. Unfortunately, the issues of women's participation in the formation and development of national art and literature are also not covered, but such Uzbek artists as X. Nasyrova, T. Khanum, S. Ishanturayeva, gained fame both in our multinational country and abroad during the period under consideration by the author.
These shortcomings do not detract from the value of the work. This is a serious study of one of the most important problems in the history of socialist construction in the republics of the Soviet East.
page 151
New publications: |
Popular with readers: |
News from other countries: |
![]() |
Editorial Contacts |
About · News · For Advertisers |
![]() 2020-2025, BIBLIO.UZ is a part of Libmonster, international library network (open map) Keeping the heritage of Uzbekistan |