Abstract

This paper studies satirical periodicals, such as Mushtum and Mashrab, in shaping early Soviet Uzbekistan between 1923 and 1927. Satire was highly praised by the Bolsheviks as a tool to destroy the remnants of the past and to create a new world. In Turkestan, and later in the Uzbek SSR, however, the Bolsheviks had yet to establish a strong hold over power and governance. In this window from 1923 to 1927, satirists, many former Muslim reformists (Jadids), enjoyed relative freedom in expressing their understanding of what the ideal society should look like. This paper argues that these journals functioned as semi-institutional mediators: although spurred by state newspapers, they were not directly funded by the state and occupied an ambiguous position between official and independent print culture.

While criticizing conservative religious authorities (ulama), contributors also targeted the “ravagery” (their term) brought by revolutionary transformation to Soviet Uzbekistan. Prior to the tightening of political and religious oversight beginning in 1927, Central Asian “Great Break,” satirical critique was neither fully oppositional nor fully aligned with state objectives. At the same time, the context of nationality policy made contributors utilize Soviet categories for expressing these conflicting views. Thus, satirical periodicals were platforms where the state and local intellectuals engaged in defining the emerging Soviet Uzbekistan. They served as semi-institutionally embedded sites in which Soviet nationality policy was mediated and translated into locally recognizable social forms by local intellectuals. Through caricature, recurring typologies, pseudonyms, and visual exaggeration, abstract administrative categories were made legible to a largely illiterate population.

This study analyzes the textual and visual content of Mushtum and Mashrab alongside memoirs by contributors’ children and friends, editorial materials, and state decrees regulating the satirical press. The paper contributes to scholarship on Soviet cultural history, Central Asian nation-building, visual and humor studies.