Party Problems and Factionalism in Soviet Uzbekistan Evidence from the Communist Party Archives Nicklas Norling Party Problems and Factionalism in Soviet Uzbekistan: Evidence from the Communist Party Archives Nicklas Norling © Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program – A Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center American Foreign Policy Council, 509 C St NE, Washington D.C. Institute for Security and Development Policy, V. Finnbodavägen 2, Stockholm-Nacka, Sweden www.silkroadstudies.org ”Party Problems and Factionalism in Uzbekistan: Evidence from the Communist Party Archives” is a Silk Road Paper published by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, Joint Center. The Silk Road Papers Series is the Occasional Paper series of the Joint Center, and addresses topical and timely subjects. The Joint Center is a transatlantic independent and non-profit research and policy center. It has offices in Washington and Stockholm and is affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council and the Institute for Security and Development Policy. It is the first institution of its kind in Europe and North America, and is firmly established as a leading research and policy center, serving a large and diverse community of analysts, scholars, policy-watchers, business leaders, and journalists. The Joint Center is at the forefront of research on issues of conflict, security, and development in the region. Through its applied research, publications, research cooperation, public lectures, and seminars, it functions as a focal point for academic, policy, and public discussion regarding the region. The opinions and conclusions expressed in this study are those of the authors only, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Joint Center or its sponsors. The opinions and conclusions expressed in this study are those of the authors only, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Joint Center or its sponsors. Cover pictures: (Left to right) Uzbek Soviet Socilist Republic Coat of Arms Wikimedia Commons, Usman Yusupov courtesy of the Uzbek Soviet Encyclopedia (Tashkent) and photo of archival document by Nicklas Norling. © Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, 2017 ISBN: 978-91-88551-00-9 Printed in Lithuania Distributed in North America by: Central Asia-Caucasus Institute American Foreign Policy Council 509 C St NE, Washington DC 20002 E-mail: [email protected] Distributed in Europe by: The Silk Road Studies Program Institute for Security and Development Policy Västra Finnbodavägen 2, SE-13130 Stockholm-Nacka E-mail: [email protected] Editorial correspondence should be addressed to Frank Esparraga, Editor, at the European offices of the Joint Center (preferably by e-mail.) Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 5 Foreword .............................................................................................................................. 6 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 14 Soviet “Affirmative Action” and Uzbekistan’s New National Elite ..................... 21 Pre-Soviet Central Asia ................................................................................................................... 21 Soviet Nationality Policy and the National Delimitation .......................................................... 24 Conflicts and Solidarities in the New National Elite .................................................................. 27 “Empowering” the New Nationally and Career-Oriented Elite ............................................... 33 End of the “Honeymoon”: The Power Transfer from Bukhara to Tashkent and Ferghana .. 38 Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces ............................................................................................... 42 Usman Yusupov: Stalin’s Strong Leader ..................................................................... 44 The Party Hierarchy: A Primer ...................................................................................................... 44 The Nomenklatura System: A Skein, Not a Hierarchy .............................................................. 46 The Post-Purge Leadership Constellation: Tashkent and Ferghana Unscathed ..................... 48 Nationality Frictions and Power Usurpation in the Central Committee Bureau ................... 50 Yusupov’s “Family Circle” ............................................................................................................ 52 Party Violations in Yusupov’s Uzbekistan .................................................................................. 55 Regionalism Reversed .................................................................................................................... 58 Party Violations in Niyazov’s Uzbekistan ................................................................................... 60 Leninabad Hegemony in Tajikistan .............................................................................................. 62 Sharaf Rashidov’s National Orientation ..................................................................... 66 Uzbekistan’s Post-Stalin Leadership ............................................................................................ 66 Samarkand Plunges Back into Power ........................................................................................... 71 Crackdown on Zemlyachestvo and Party Problems in Central Asia and Elsewhere ............ 73 The Khrushchev-Brezhnev Leadership Transition ..................................................................... 79 Sharaf Rashidov: A Biographical Sketch ...................................................................................... 82 Rashidov’s Unrelated Relatives: The Tashkent Party Conference ............................................ 85 The Primacy of Career-Based Loyalties ....................................................................................... 88 Nicklas Norling 4 The Twilight of Rashidov’s Rule ................................................................................................... 92 Zemlyachestvo in Rashidov’s Uzbekistan: The Party Control Commission’s Scoresheet in 1982 .................................................................................................................................................... 93 The Rashidov Era: An Evaluation ................................................................................................. 95 Misreading and Mythmaking: The Cotton Affair ..................................................... 98 The Cotton Affair Unfolds ............................................................................................................. 98 Usmankhodzhaev and Rashidov’s “Local Favoritism” ........................................................... 100 “Tribalizing” Central Asia ........................................................................................................... 104 Gorbachev’s Misreading of the Situation ................................................................................... 107 Usmankhodzhaev’s Credibility Questioned ............................................................................. 110 Uzbekistan’s Silent Rehabilitation .............................................................................................. 111 The Politics of Rehabilitation ....................................................................................................... 115 “Clans” and Mythmaking ............................................................................................................ 118 Whither the Clan/Region Hypothesis? ...................................................................... 123 Authors’ Bio .................................................................................................................... 130 Acknowledgements This monograph builds on my doctoral dissertation, Myth and Reality: Politics in Soviet Uzbekistan (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University, 2014). I should like to express my gratitude to my faculty advisor, Bruce Parrott, as well as S. Frederick Starr, Svante E. Cornell, Brenda Shaffer and Stephen Blank. I am also grateful for the generous financial assistance that was made available to me through the SAIS Ph.D. Fellowship and the Zartman Fellowship. Lastly, I would like to thank Frank Esparraga for his valuable editorial remarks. Any errors or shortcomings are, needless to say, my own. Foreword Central Asian history did not begin anew with the demise of the USSR. All those who built the newly sovereign states were born, educated, and formed as professionals under the ancient regime. When the Soviet system collapsed, some citizens strove to identify and master the techniques and habits that the new circumstances required. Most, however, like people everywhere, dealt with change by applying what they already knew to the transformed world around them. The history of the first quarter century of independence in Central Asia is the story of the interaction of these two approaches, e.g., of the interplay between continuity and change. Those seeking to understand the new states of Central Asia have focused on the new laws, political and economic