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The 'Uzbek SSR' or 'Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic' was one of fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Today it is the independent state of Uzbekistan in Central Asia.

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History

History

In 1924, the borders of political units in Central Asia were changed along ethnic lines determined by Lenin’s Commissar for Nationalities, Joseph Stalin. The Turkestan ASSR, the Bukharan People's Republic, and the Khorezm People's Republic were abolished and their territories were divided into eventually five separate Soviet Socialist Republics, one of which was the 'Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic' ('Uzbek SSR'). The next year the Uzbek SSR became one of the republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union).
The Uzbek SSR included the Tajik ASSR until 1929, when the Tajik ASSR was upgraded to an equal status. In 1930, the Uzbek SSR capital was relocated from Samarkand to Tashkent. In 1936, the Uzbek SSR was enlarged with the addition of the Karakalpak ASSR taken from the Kazakh SSR in the last stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. Further bits and pieces of territory were transferred several times between the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR after World War II.
In 1928, the collectivization of land into state farms was initiated, which lasted until the late 1930s.
In 1937-38, during the "Great Purge", a number of alleged nationalists were executed, including Faizullah Khojaev, the first prime minister.

During World War II, many industries were relocated to the Uzbek SSR from vulnerable locations in western regions of the USSR to keep them safe. Large numbers of Russians, Ukrainians and other nationalities accompanied the factories, altering the demographics of the republic. The demographics situation was further aggravated by Stalin’s relocation of some ethnic groups suspected of collaboration with the Axis powers from other parts of the USSR to the Uzbek SSR. This included large numbers of ethnic Koreans, Crimean Tatars, and Chechens.
During the Soviet period, Islam became a focal point for the antireligious drives of Communist authorities. The government closed most mosques, and religious schools became antireligious museums. Uzbeks who remained practicing Muslims were deemed nationalist and often targeted for imprisonment or execution. On the positive side was the virtual elimination of illiteracy, even in rural areas. Only a small percentage of the population was literate before 1917; this percentage increased to nearly 100 percent under the Soviets.
Another major development, one with future catastrophic impact, was the drive initiated in the early 1960s to substantially increase cotton production in the republic. This drive led to overzealous irrigation withdrawals of irrigation water from the Amu Darya and the subsequent Aral Sea ecological disaster.
The Communist Party was the only legal party in the Uzbek SSR until 1990. The first secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan was consistently an Uzbek. Long-time leader of the Uzbek SSR was Sharaf Rashidov, head of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 to 1983. Islom Karimov, successor to Rashidov as leader of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan and subsequently head of that party's reincarnation, the 'People's Democratic Party' (PDP), became president of the Uzbek SSR in 1990.
On 1 September 1991, the Uzbek SSR was renamed into ''Republic of Uzbekistan'', formally remaining a part of the Soviet Union until December 26 1991. With the final collapse of the Soviet Union , the Uzbek SSR became the independent nation of Uzbekistan. Karimov has been its President ever since.