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Paper abstract:

One of the resonant (significant) political events in the USSR in the early 1980s was the so-called "cotton case" in which the majority of the leadership of Uzbekistan was convicted. Along with them, their close relatives were brought to criminal punishment. Collective farm chairmen, foremen, and directors of cotton factories were also subjected to criminal penalties.

1. In the archival funds of Uzbekistan there are facts that prove that false reporting was a characteristic phenomenon of the Soviet planned economy. For example, in Soviet Uzbekistan, even during the period of strict totalitarian rule (in the second half of the 1940s and early 1950s) by Stalin, there was false reporting, although not on such a large scale as it was in the 1970s-1980s.

2. After the fall of the USSR, some former leaders of the republic (Radzhabov, Usmankhodzhaev, A. Odilov, and others) in their memoirs and interviews tried to clear themselves, pointing out that the criminal prosecutions against them were fake and fabricated, and that they were tortured by investigators like Gdlian, Ivanov and their investigation team was forced to recognize themselves as leaders..

There are facts that reveal the participation of the leadership of the republic in the falsification of figures of cotton and corruption. It should be noted that the heads of some ministries of the USSR also participated in the corruption scheme associated with the “cotton case”.

3. In the post-Soviet national historiography, the cotton case is considered a political campaign by Moscow, and it was fabricated by the leadership of the USSR to humiliate the honor and dignity of Uzbekistan and the Uzbek people. However, many Uzbek researchers keep silent about the economic crimes committed by the Uzbek leadership of the highest, middle, and lower levels, and they were convicted according to the Soviet laws in force.

4. In my interviews with numerous people who took various positions and were related to the "cotton case", I found that some of the leaders of Uzbekistan, especially the top and middle managers, deliberately went for false reporting of cotton. At the same time, they pursued their personal interests: for fake implementation of the cotton harvesting plan, these leaders received medals and various government awards, and they also considered false reporting as a way of personal enrichment. .