FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COOPERATIVE SYSTEM IN AGRICULTURE OF UZBEKISTAN (1918-1929)

Аннотация

This article analyzes the socio-economic and political foundations, stages, and evolution of the agricultural cooperation system formed in the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1918-1929. The article covers economic management implemented through cooperatives, the impact of state policy, reforms during the NEP period, and stages of preparation for collectivization. The impact of this system on the lives of farmers, production efficiency, and market relations will also be studied. Keywords: Uzbekistan, agriculture, cooperation, NEP, collectivization, peasantry, agrarianreform, Soviet policy, economic management, 1918-1929. The years 1918-1929 are an important historical period, characterized by the formation and development of the cooperative system in the agriculture of Uzbekistan. During this period, when the new Soviet system was being established in place of the former Turkestan Governor- Generalship, fundamental socio-economic reforms began in the agrarian sphere. After the October Revolution of 1917, land ownership was nationalized, and many large landowners were deprived of theirlands. The state also began to actively promote cooperative structures for the purpose of centralized management and regulation of agriculture. Agriculture of Uzbekistan is a set of economic structures created for the purpose of uniting farmers, coordinating production and supply. This system manifested itselfmainlyin thefollowing forms: ● Consumercooperatives -thesupply ofeveryday goods to farmers at affordable prices; ● Credit cooperatives - support for production by providing low-interest loans to farmers andartisans; ● Cotton and trade cooperatives - establishing connections with the market by centralizing thepurchase, processing, andsale ofproducts; Productioncooperatives - thecreation ofa basis for collective farming by combining land and labor resources. This system was viewed by the Soviets as a means of gradually building a socialist economy. Especially from the second half of the 1920s, the struggle against large land ownership through cooperatives intensified, and special attention was paid to the voluntary unification of small peasant farms. Cooperation was initially introduced on a voluntary basis. He mediated the land reform and the establishment of economic ties between the new landowners - smalland medium-sized peasants. Especially under the conditions of the New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced from 1921,cooperatives acted as a kindof bridge between the state andthe private sector. As the main https://ijmri.de/index.php/jmsi volume 4,issue5,2025 1263 forms of cooperation, credit cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, production cooperatives, and trade and exhibition units were formed. Through them, farmers gained access to means of production, seeds, equipment, financial assistance, and connections with themarket. By the mid-1920s, the scale of agrarian reforms in Uzbekistan expanded. Due to the special strategic attention of the Soviet government to cotton growing, a large part of agricultural cooperatives was directed to the organization and processing of raw cotton. These cooperatives played a decisive role in the implementation of state cotton policy at the local level, in particular, inthecollection, delivery, and pricing ofcotton. Also, through these cooperatives, farmers were encouraged to produce on the basis of quotas established by the state. Cooperatives began to become a unified supply and sales system forfarmers. At the same time, during this period, cooperatives were actively used not only as an economic tool, but also as a political tool. Through them, the Soviet government sought to strengthen its social base in rural areas. The Soviet system, viewing cooperation as a tool of class struggle, served to displace the wealthy peasant (kulak) stratum. Nevertheless, until the end of the 1920s, the cooperative operated on a relatively voluntary basis and in a form adapted to the economic interests of the peasants. By 1929, the situation changed dramatically. Starting this year, the Sovietleadership, headed byStalin, began apolicy ofgeneral collectivization. As a result, cooperatives previously formed on a voluntary basis will be transformed into collective farms - collective farms - under state pressure. At this stage, the cooperative system became an administrative tool of the Soviet regime, preventing the peasants from gaining economicfreedom. In conclusion, between 1918 and 1929, the cooperative system in Uzbekistan's agriculture gradually took shape, initially functioning as a means of coordinating economic relations and later at the level of political strategy. This system developed in accordance with the needs of the peasantry under the conditions of the NEP policy, but by 1929 it was subordinated totheauthoritarian collectivization policy.