The post-war economy

Even after the war the republic lacked fuel, electric power and skilled staff. According to the textbook, recovery plans were drawn up from the Centre’s interests and Uzbekistan was treated mainly as a supplier of raw materials, with few processing enterprises. On 5 February 1946 the USSR government adopted a decision on restoring and expanding cotton growing in 1946–1953: part of the irrigated food-crop land was assigned to cotton, the cotton area for 1946 was set at 779,000 hectares (that year 218,000 hectares of irrigated land were freed for cotton alone). In the textbook’s view this cut food production and made supplies harder, while the purchase price of cotton was not raised. In December 1947 the rationing system for food and manufactured goods was abolished, while craftsmen were grouped into artels and individual craft work was banned. A decision of 6 August 1956 provided for irrigating virgin land in the Mirzachul steppe, planning to expand the cotton area by 200,000 hectares in Uzbekistan and 100,000 in Kazakhstan; in 1961 the settlement of Mirzachul became the city of Gulistan.