Documents Characterizing the State of the National Economy of Kyrgyzstan During the War Years

Archives for 1941—1945

The first edition of the book "Soviet Kyrgyzstan in the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945" received positive reviews in the Soviet press regarding its structure and content. In preparing the second edition, dedicated to the glorious fortieth anniversary of the world-historical Victory of the Soviet people and its Armed Forces over fascist Germany and militarist Japan, the author sought to take into account the comments and wishes of readers—veterans of the war and labor, and to enhance the coverage of certain important issues by incorporating new archival documents and published materials that have not yet entered scientific circulation.

The methodological foundation of the monograph is the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of war and the army, of defending the socialist homeland, and of the decisive role of the masses in history. The fundamental documents for writing this work were the resolutions and orders of the Central Committee of the VKP(b), the State Defense Committee (GKO), and the Council of People's Commissars (SNC) of the USSR, decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, reports and speeches of leading figures of the Communist Party and the Soviet state, decisions of the bureau and plenums of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, resolutions of the SNC and decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR, and resolutions of local party and Soviet bodies.

The most important sources were documents from party, Soviet, military, Komsomol, economic, and statistical bodies, identified and extracted from the Central Party Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU (CPA IML), the Central State Archive of the National Economy of the USSR (CGANE USSR), the Central State Archive of the October Revolution and Socialist Construction in the USSR (CGAOR USSR), the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR (CAMO USSR), the archive of the Kyrgyz branch of IML, the Central State Archive of the Kyrgyz SSR (CGA KyrgSSR), the archive of the Osh Regional Committee of the Party, the Osh and Jalal-Abad Regional State Archives, as well as the archive of the Executive Committee of the Frunze City Council of Workers' Deputies.

Especially valuable materials and documents are stored in the CPA IML (f-17). The author studied information from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan to the organizational and instructional department of the Central Committee of the VKP(b), decisions of the bureau, transcripts of plenums of the Central Committee and regional committees of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, and documents from meetings of party activists. They provide a detailed critical analysis of the state and development of the most important sectors of industry, transport, grain farming, production of technical crops, public animal husbandry, as well as the condition of livestock owned by collective farmers. The documents reveal the reasons for the lag and define practical tasks for party, Soviet, and economic bodies to eliminate them. From these, we also extracted important information characterizing the tireless concern of the party and government for the material, household, and cultural needs of the workers, the state of ideological work of the party, the growth of its ranks, the activities of defense and mass organizations, and the preparation of combat reserves. Data on the activities of political departments of MTS and state farms, which existed from late 1941 to May 1943, were extracted from funds 112 and 349.

This edition for the first time uses documents identified in the funds of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. The valuable information contained in them helped the author clarify and more fully illuminate the participation and military feats of soldiers from Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyz units in the most important operations of the Great Patriotic War.

The richest primary sources included reports, memoranda, references, resolutions of the bureau, transcripts, and resolutions of plenums of the Central Committee and regional committees of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, stored in the archive of the Kyrgyz branch of IML (f. 56).

They characterize the state of the multi-sector national economy of the republic and its regions during the years of the war, the progress of enterprises and industries, collective farms, and state farms in fulfilling tasks. The documents show the activities of the party, government, trade unions, and Komsomol in solving issues related to labor force, fuel, electricity, and also reflect the participation of scientific institutions in addressing pressing national economic tasks.

A very important source was the materials of the plenums of the Frunze, Osh, Tian-Shan, and Jalal-Abad regional committees of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, which took place in late 1943 and early 1944, and the text of the report from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan to the Central Committee of the VKP(b) from 1944. These documents contain a critical analysis of the development of industry and gross output for 1941—1943, labor productivity and cost, dynamics of agricultural production, work of MTS and state farms; they illuminate the state of animal husbandry, feed base, and procurement of animal products, accounting and reporting in collective farms, and income distribution. Here, data on the composition of the party organization and the growth of the ranks of the VKP(b), as well as the control of party organizations over the economic activities of enterprises and collective farms, are also provided. The documents reveal the activities of the Councils, Komsomol, trade unions, the state of public education, agitation and propaganda work, issues of selection, placement, and training of personnel, and military-defense work. There is information on retail trade turnover, development of subsidiary farming and orchards, assistance to the families of front-line soldiers and war invalids, and the fight against the squandering and theft of collective and state farm property.

In the work, the fund 406—the Frunze regional committee and fund 539—the Frunze city committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan were widely used whenever possible. Equally interesting are the consolidated data on industry and its sectors, agriculture, transport and communication, capital construction, healthcare, and finance, extracted from the Central State Archive of the Kyrgyz SSR.

Especially valuable information is contained in the annual reports of enterprises, people's commissariats, and explanatory notes to them.

For example, in the explanatory notes of the Authorized People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry of the USSR in Central Asia (CGANE USSR, f. 8225) and the Main Sugar of the People's Commissariat of Food Industry of the USSR (f. 8715), the fulfillment of the production program, labor and workforce composition, mechanization of the main labor-intensive processes, rationalization and invention, organization of socialist competition, its results, and production leaders are highlighted.

Interesting data on the history of the working class of Kyrgyzstan were extracted by the author from the materials of the archive of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (CGAOR USSR, f. 5451). These include protocols of meetings of the presidium and plenums, reports, memoranda, references from the Central Committee of sectoral trade unions on the work of factory and plant committees in wartime, organization of socialist competition, the state of school education, assistance to the families of front-line soldiers and veterans of the Patriotic War. They illuminate the patronage of trade union organizations over military hospitals, household services for workers, the state of orchards, trade, organization of workers' control, collective and individual gardening, collection of warm clothing and funds for the defense fund.

Steps in studying the history of Kyrgyzstan during the Great Patriotic War