Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic
Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика Республикаи Советии Социалистии Тоҷикистон
1929–1991
Flag State emblem
Anthem Anthem of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic
Location of the Tajik SSR (red) within the Soviet Union.
Capital		Dushanbea
Languages		Tajik Russian
Government		Soviet Socialist Republic
History
•	Established	5 December 1929
•	Independence declared	9 September 1991
Area
•	1989
Population
•	1989 est.	5,112,000
Density
Calling code		+7 377/379
Preceded by Succeeded by Tajik ASSR Tajikistan
Today part of		Tajikistan China
a.	"Stalinabad" between 1929 and 1961.

The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR; Tajik: Республикаи Советии Социалистии Тоҷикистон, Respuʙlikaji Sovetiji Sotsialistiji Toçikiston; Russian: Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Tadzhikskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), also commonly known as Soviet Tajikistan or simply Tajikistan was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Located in Central Asia, the Tajik SSR was created on 5 December 1929 as a national entity for the Tajik people within the Soviet Union. It succeeded the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik ASSR), which had been created on 14 October 1924 as a part of the predominantly Turkic Uzbek SSR in the process of national delimitation in Soviet Central Asia. On 9 September 1991, the Tajik SSR declared independence from the Soviet Union and was renamed the Republic of Tajikistan. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the state ceased to exist on 6 November 1994 with the adoption of the new Constitution of Tajikistan

History

One of the new states created in the process of national delimitation of Soviet Central Asia in October 1924 was the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic – Uzbek SSR or Soviet Uzbekistan. Soviet Tajikistan was created at the same time within the predominantly Turkic Uzbek SSR as an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik ASSR) – one rank below a Soviet Socialist Republic in USSR geopolitical hierarchy. The new autonomous republic included what had been eastern Bukhara and had a population of about 740,000, out of a total population of nearly 5 million in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic as a whole. Its capital was established in Dyushambe (today's Dushanbe), which had been a village of 3,000 in 1920. In December 1929, Tajik ASSR was detached from the Uzbek SSR and given full status as a Soviet Socialist Republic – Tajik SSR. At that time, its capital was renamed Stalinabad and the territory that is now northern Tajikistan (Sughd Province) was added to the new republic. Even with the additional territory, the Tajik SSR remained the smallest Central Asian republic.

With the creation of a Tajik republic defined in national terms came the creation of institutions that, at least in form, were likewise national. The first Tajik-language newspaper in Soviet Tajikistan began publication in 1926. New educational institutions also began operation at about the same time. The first state schools, available to both children and adults and designed to provide basic education, opened in 1926. The central government also trained a small number of Tajiks for public office, either by putting them through courses offered by government departments or by sending them to schools in the Uzbek SSR.

Under Soviet rule, the Tajik SSR experienced some economic and social progress. However, living standards in the republic were still among the lowest in the Union. Most people still lived in rural qishlaqs, settlements that were composed of 200 to 700 one-family houses built along a waterway.

References

• Tajikistan at the Library of Congress Country Studies.
• (Russian) History of Tajik SSR, edited by B. A. Antonenko, Maorif Publ. House, Dushanbe, 1983.

External links

• Tajikistan, land of sunshine by Nazarsho Dodkhudoev.