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Accepted Paper:
Pakhta Gul and Pakhta Bairam: the Cultural Representation of Cotton Quota Propaganda in postwar UzSSR
Zukhra Kasimova
(Bucknell University)
In 1935, The Central Asian Soviet Republics for the first time filled their cotton quotas ahead of schedule by delivering 1,500,000 tons. With the onset of World War Two, the need for cotton continued to grow exponentially, along with the need to "educate" and stimulate the masses on producing higher cotton yields. In his 1943 meeting with Uzbek writers, the first Secretary of UzSSR, Usman Yusupov, called for new poems, essays, paintings, and films directed to stimulating cotton production and cotton quota fulfillment. This paper analyzes some of the most ubiquitous postwar cotton propaganda tools in UzSSR, from WWII to the Brezhnev era, by looking at various forms of artistic production, from the film strip titled "Pakhta-oy" (Little Cotton) and Uzbek poems hailing the most prominent cotton pickers, to an annual Pakhta-Bairam cotton harvest festival and popular cotton-themed tableware.