CONSEQUENCES OF THE COTTON CAMPAIGN IN THE CITY OF SHYMKENT AND THE SAYRAM DISTRICT

Abstract

According to the materia ls of the newspaper Sovetskaya Steppe, preserved in the State Archive of the Turkestan Region, there are numerous documents describing how collective farms were constructed in Shymkent and the Sayram District through the use of forced labor during cotton s owing, which was characteristic of the southern region. In addition to the grain procurement campaign, there were also campaigns for meat collection and harvesting, which were carried out primarily through coercion. This article examines cases that occurred in the city of Shymkent and the adjacent Sayram District. By the so-called "struggle for cotton independence" of the USSR, or "cotton struggle—the struggle for socialism," we do not mean a symbolic “struggle,” but rather the reality of the third d ecisive year of the Five -Year Plan, when cotton sowing became an actual, fierce class struggle. As is well known, the decree of the Head of State K. Tokayev, dated November 24, 2020, instructed to "fully complete the work on restoring historical justice to victims of political repression and unlawful persecution." In our study, we sought to highlight the experiences of those who suffered during those years, including the victims of the cotton harvesting campaign.