Table Of ContentLABORATORY OF SOCIALIST
DEVELOPMENT
LABORATORY
OF SOCIALIST
DEVELOPMENT
Cold War Politics and Decolonization
in Soviet Tajikistan
Artemy M. Kalinovsky
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON
Portions of the following articles are used in this text with permission.
“Not Some British Colony in Africa: The Politics of Decolonization and
Modernization in Soviet Central Asia, 1955–1964.” Ab Imperio 2013, no. 2 (2013):
191–222.
“Tractors, Power Lines, and the Welfare State: The Contradictions of Soviet
Development in Post-World War II Tajikistan.” Asiatische Studien-Études Asiatiques
69, no. 3 (2015): 563–592.
“Central Planning, Local Knowledge? Labor, Population, and the Tajik School of
Economics.” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 17, no. 3 (2016):
585–620.
“A Most Beautiful City for the World’s Tallest Dam: Internationalism, Social
Welfare, and Urban Utopia in Nurek,” Cahiers du Monde russe 57, no. 4, (2016):
819–846.
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First published 2018 by Cornell University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kalinovsky, Artemy M., author.
Title: Laboratory of socialist development : Cold War politics and decolonization
in Soviet Tajikistan / Artemy M. Kalinovsky.
Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017056273 (print) | LCCN 2017057140 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501715570 (ret) | ISBN 9781501715587 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501715563 |
ISBN 9781501715563 (cloth ; alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Tajikistan—Politics and government—20th century. | Economic
development—Tajikistan—History—20th century. | Communism and society—
Tajikistan—History—20th century. | Elite (Social sciences)—Tajikistan—
History—20th century. | Central-local government relations—Tajikistan—
History—20th century. | Soviet Union—Politics and government—1953–1985.
Classification: LCC DK928.86 (ebook) | LCC DK928.86 K35 2018 (print) |
DDC 958.608/5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056273
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover illustration: Workers on the construction of the Nurek Dam. Photograph
courtesy of the Tajikistan State Archive of Photo and Video Documentation.
For Jeske and Sophia Irina
KAZAKH SSR
Leninobod Kanibadam
KIRGHIZ SSR
Shurab
UZBEK SSR Urateppe
Panjikent
CHINA
Gharm Vakhsh
Dushanbe
Rogun
Tursunzade Nurek
Nurek
Yavan
Kalininabad
Qurghonteppe Khorog
Kulob
Shaartuz
Panj
Panj
AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN
Industries Hydropower sta(cid:15)ons
Non-ferrous Hydropower plants
Engineering and metalworking
Agriculture
Electrical engineering
Chemical Cotton growing N
Mineral fertilizer Viticulture
Building materials Vegetable growing
Textile Horticulture 0 50 100 mi
Ginning Sheep breeding
0 50 100 150 km
Cotton
Silk
Food
Soviet Tajikistan: cities, major rivers, and industrial sites.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration xiii
Introduction: The Promise of Development 1
1. Decolonization, De-Stalinization, and Development 19
2. Ayni’s Children, or Making a Tajik-Soviet Intelligentsia 43
3. Defining Development 67
4. Plans, Gifts, and Obligations 91
5. Nurek, “A City You Can Write About” 117
6. Shepherds into Builders 144
7. The Countryside Electrified 175
8. “A Torch Lighting the Way to Progress and Civilization” 199
9. The Poorest Republic 219
Conclusion: A Dream Deferred 244
A Note on Sources 257
Notes 263
Bibliography of Primary Sources 305
Index 309
vii
Acknowledgments
Any attempt to account for all of the debts accumulated in writing this book
would quickly take a Borgesian turn, taking up many more pages than the work
itself. Nevertheless, I am going to try.
My greatest debt is to the people who shared their time, experiences, and
knowledge. I am particularly grateful to Azizjon Rahmonov, Munira Shahidi,
Olle Andersen, Ravshan Abdullaev, and Hojamamat Umarov. Abudrashid Sa-
madov shared his knowledge of Persian literature over the years and became an
invaluable guide into the world of the Tajik-Soviet intelligentsia. In Nurek, Rust-
ambek and Kurbon Ashurov were my initial guides. Ismoil Tolbakov, Zaragul
Mirasanova, and the staff at the Institute of Party History in Dushanbe kindly
provided access to the party archives. Tahmina and her staff at the Central State
Archive of the Republic of Tajikistan provided invaluable assistance over the
years. Many thanks also to the staff of the Indira Gandhi Library at the Academy
of Sciences, who were unfailingly kind, welcoming, accommodating, and patient.
Since I started conducting research in Moscow in 2004 I have had the privi-
lege of feeling at home in Russia, a feeling unavailable to many emigrants. This
is largely because Evgeny Golynkin and Alla Shashkova have shared their home
with me. I am also grateful to Mikhail Lipkin, Sergey Abashin, Natalia Kapi-
tonova, Vladimir Shubin, Viacheslav Nekrasov, and other Moscow scholars who
facilitated my research there and provided intellectual food for thought. Again,
the staff at the various archives listed in the bibliography deserve special thanks.
Mentors new and old have helped me conceptualize this project and offered
valuable criticism and advice. Odd Arne Westad has continued to provide en-
couragement, support, and feedback long after his formal responsibility to do
so ended. David Priestland has also given invaluable advice and considered feed-
back on some chapters. Adeeb Khalid encouraged me to pursue this project and
helped me sharpen my thinking in the early stages. Muriel Atkin has been one of
my sharpest critics since I first sat in her Russian history course as a freshman and
used her encyclopedic knowledge of Tajikistan to help me develop this project.
I have been shameless in asking friends and colleagues to read my work and
offer feedback. Particular thanks to Flora Roberts, Patryk Reid, and Till Mostow-
lansky, who read earlier versions of this manuscript from beginning to end and
offered helpful comments. Dina Fainberg read many of these chapters more than
once; I cannot imagine finishing this project without her input. Same goes for
ix
x AcKnowledgMents
Vanni Pettina, who helped me see connections between what took place in Cen-
tral Asia and the experience of development as far away as Latin America. David
Engerman pushed me to sharpen my arguments at several points over the past
few years and provided valuable feedback on the introduction. I feel a particular
bond to the people I met “in the field.” Talks with Masha Kirasirova, although
infrequent because of geographical distance, provided food for thought and
spiritual nourishment for many months. Particular thanks to Malika Bahovadi-
nova and Isaac Scarborough, with whom I hope to collaborate for years to come.
Conversations with Daniel Beben and James Pickett were always educational, and
I am grateful to them for sharing their linguistic expertise over the years. Gabri-
elle van der Berg graciously responded to queries. Thanks to Christian Bleuer, a
brilliant guide to Tajikistan’s history, politics, and outdoors.
Academics are encouraged to go beyond their silos and engage other disci-
plines. Doing so involves finding experts willing to share their knowledge and
offer a critical eye. This book would have been very different without the input
of Julie McBrien and Yakov Feygin. I am also grateful to P. W. Zuidhof, Luiza
Bialasiewicz, Sophie Roche, and Jeanne Feaux de la Croix. George Blaustein was
my go-to source for all things American, whether he liked it or not. My thanks
also to Shirin Akiner and Zayra Badillo y Castro for hosting me in London and
engaging in very helpful discussions.
This project was first conceived when I was at the London School of Econom-
ics, but most of it was developed at the University of Amsterdam. My colleagues,
and in particular Michael Kemper, have gone out of their way to be supportive
and create a stimulating intellectual environment. I am forever grateful to Hanna
Jansen, among the first to make me feel at home in Amsterdam. Many thanks also
to Danis Garaev, Sara Crombach, Alfrid Bustanov, Erik van Ree, Ben de Jong,
Marc Jansen, and Tatjana Das for their company and stimulating discussions
over the years.
This research has received generous support from several institutions. An
IREX grant allowed me to make my initial trip to Tajikistan in 2011, and the IREX
office in Dushanbe continued to offer support in subsequent years. My thanks
to Radik Naibullin and Ibrahim Rustamian. The bulk of this research was con-
ducted with the support of a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Organization,
NWO. The Dutch Royal Academy of Science provided support for a workshop on
development in Central Asia held in 2015. The Amsterdam School of Regional,
Transnational, and European Studies provided additional support as the project
neared publication. My thanks to Christian Noack and Paul Koopman.
Ever since Roger Malcolm Haydon said “I hate book proposals” I knew this
was an editor with whom I wanted to work. My thanks to him for taking a chance
on the book and seeing the manuscript through. Many thanks also to production
