The armed movement against Soviet power

The armed resistance to Soviet power began in late February 1918 around Kokand, after the Autonomy was crushed; its first leaders were Kichik Ergash (1885–1918) and Katta Ergash (1882–1921), while in Margilan Madaminbek (1892–1920) began the struggle. Soviet documents called the movement “basmachi” and portrayed its participants as raiders; the textbook and many Uzbek historians call it the independence movement, because participants saw themselves as fighting for the country’s independence and their faith. In reality the movement was not uniform: peasants, craftsmen and intellectuals took part, driven by requisitioning, restrictions on religion, forced labour and violence by Red Army soldiers, while historians also note that some armed gangs robbed civilians. In autumn 1919 the movement peaked in the Fergana Valley: Madaminbek’s forces took Jalalabad and Osh, on 12 October a provisional autonomous government of Fergana was formed, but in early 1920 the initiative passed to the Red Army; after a reconciliation agreement on 6 March Madaminbek was killed in May 1920. Commanders such as Shermuhammadbek, and in the Samarkand region Bahrombek and Ochilbek, carried on; a state of emergency was declared in Fergana on 13 September 1921, Bahrombek was captured and shot in 1922, Ochilbek was killed on 10 May 1923, and by the end of 1924 the first period of the movement was over.