MARGILAN SERICULTURE AND THE HISTORY OF ITS COOPERATIVIZATION

Abstract

Handicraft production based on manual labor occupied an important place in the economic system of Central Asia. As early as the fifteenth century, cotton growing and sericulture began to play a significant role in the regional economy. The production of cotton yarn and textiles was well established, while sericulture became widely developed.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the historical conditions that led to the organization of sericulture craftsmen into cooperatives (artels). The study employs a combination of historical methods, including the comparative-historical, systemic, and problem-chronological approaches, which make it possible to trace the development of sericulture in Margilan and the process of its cooperativization during the late imperial and early Soviet transformations.

The article examines the stages of development of the sericulture industry and the factors that contributed to its decline during the First World War and the revolutionary upheavals of the early twentieth century. With the establishment of Soviet rule in the region, handicraft production, like other sectors of the economy, underwent substantial changes. Recognizing the importance of sericulture for the national economy, the Soviet authorities regarded it as an important supplementary branch of peasant farming and paid particular attention to its development.

Craftsmen and artisans who had worked in their own workshops for centuries were gradually incorporated into the process of socialist construction. Through state procurement policies and economic support, the government sought to transform small-scale producers from individual хозяйствование into collective forms of production. At the same time, restrictions on private economic activity led to a serious crisis in the industry and a temporary decline in silk production.

The article is based on both historical scholarship and archival documents drawn from the collections of the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State Archive of the Fergana Region.