International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
20
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijhps
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue07 2025
PAGE NO.
20-22
10.37547/ijhps/Volume05Issue07-05
The Role of Trade Unions in Protecting the Rights of
Workers in Karakalpakstan In the Post-War Period
Erniyazova Dilarom Bekniyazovna
Basic doctoral student of Nukus State Pedagogical Institute, Uzbekistan
Received:
25 May 2025;
Accepted:
21 June 2025;
Published:
23 July 2025
Abstract:
This article examines the evolution and functions of trade unions in Karakalpakstan during the post-
World War II period. Drawing on archival sources, Soviet publications, and regional studies, it analyzes the role of
trade unions in safeguarding labor rights, improving working conditions, supporting economic reconstruction, and
contributing to the social and cultural development of the workforce.
Keywords:
Trade unions, Karakalpakstan, labor rights, post-war reconstruction, Soviet labor policy, worker
protection.
Introduction:
The end of World War II brought
profound social and economic challenges to the Uzbek
Soviet Socialist Republic, including Karakalpakstan.
Despite relative geographic isolation, Karakalpakstan
was deeply affected by wartime mobilization, resource
depletion, and the loss of working-age men. In the
immediate post-war years, rebuilding the economy and
restoring basic social services became the state’s
highest priorities.
Within this context, trade unions played a significant
role as instruments of state labor policy and as
organizations formally responsible for protecting
workers’ rights and improving welfare. While their
activities were closely aligned with Communist Party
directives, trade unions were also the principal
institutions through which workers could raise
concerns, secure entitlements, and participate in social
initiatives.
MЕTHОDS
By 1945, Karakalpakstan’s economic infrastructure was
severely underdeveloped compared to other parts of
Uzbekistan. The region remained predominantly
agrarian, with cotton and rice production as key
sectors. The Amu Darya basin suffered from irrigation
challenges, salinization, and periodic shortages of
agricultural equipment.
The industrial workforce was small but growing, with
factories processing raw cotton, fish from the Aral Sea,
and wool. Reconstruction required significant human
resources, often supplied by demobilized soldiers,
evacuated populations, and women entering the
workforce in unprecedented numbers.
Trade unions thus operated under conditions of labor
scarcity, low wages, and high pressure to meet
production targets established by post-war Five-Year
Plans.
RЕSULTS АND DISСUSSIОN
Trade unions in Karakalpakstan, as in the rest of the
USSR, were structured according to all-Union sectoral
organizations (such as the Trade Union of Agricultural
Workers, the Trade Union of Industrial Workers, and
the Trade Union of Education and Health Workers).
Their activities were governed by:
➢
The 1936 Soviet Constitution, which guaranteed the
right to organize in trade unions.
➢
The Labor Code of the Uzbek SSR.
➢
Regulations issued by the All-Union Central Council
of Trade Unions (VTsSPS).
Each enterprise or collective farm (kolkhoz) had a local
trade union committee (profkom), which reported both
to district and republic-level trade union councils and
ultimately to central bodies in Moscow.
A further critical dimension of trade union activities in
Karakalpakstan in the post-war period was their role in
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
21
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijhps
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2222)
promoting gender equality and protecting the rights of
women workers, who formed an increasingly
significant share of the labor force.
During and after World War II, tens of thousands of
men were mobilized to the front, leaving acute
shortages in agriculture and light industry. As a result,
many women entered paid labor for the first time,
particularly in cotton production, rice cultivation, and
fish processing. While their contribution was essential
to post-war reconstruction, working conditions were
often harsh, and traditional social norms limited their
ability to assert their rights.
Archival reports from the late 1940s and early 1950s
indicate that the Karakalpak Regional Council of Trade
Unions regularly inspected compliance with these
rules. For example, in 1952, special commissions visited
collective farms to verify whether nurseries functioned
during harvest campaigns and whether women
received entitled rations and rest periods.
Trade unions also played a prominent role in
addressing illiteracy among women, which remained
widespread in Karakalpakstan. They organized literacy
courses and cultural circles (kruzhki), where women
workers learned not only to read and write but also to
understand labor legislation and basic health practices.
These educational activities often took place in the
evenings in union-
run cultural houses (domy kul’tury).
Beyond women’s rights, unions had responsibilities in
engaging and educating youth workers, many of whom
were orphans or semi-orphans of the war. The
industrial expansion of Karakalpakstan, including the
development of cotton-processing plants and fish
canneries along the Aral Sea, created demand for
young labor [1].
These measures were part of a broader Soviet effort to
integrate young people into socialist production while
protecting their health and development.
An additional dimension was the role of trade unions in
promoting socialist emulation and labor discipline. In
Karakalpak enterprises and collective farms, unions
helped implement systems of socialist competition
(sotsialisticheskoe sorevnovanie) aimed at increasing
productivity. While critics have noted that such
campaigns sometimes placed undue pressure on
workers, unions also used them to negotiate
improvements, such as better food supplies for high-
performing brigades and preferential access to
housing.
Trade
unions
further
contributed
to
the
implementation of social justice policies. For example,
they were involved in distributing scarce consumer
goods
—
textiles, footwear, domestic equipment
—
through factory-based stores (rabochie lavki). They
helped compile lists of workers eligible for special
assistance, such as war invalids and families with
multiple children. In the early 1950s, the Karakalpak
Regional Trade Union Council reported that it had
coordinated the allocation of winter clothing and fuel
allowances to thousands of low-income households.
The unions also played a mediating role between
workers and management in cases of labor disputes or
disciplinary measures. Although the scope for
independent labor protest was highly limited, formal
grievance procedures existed. Workers could appeal to
trade union committees to contest wage calculations,
request revisions of disciplinary penalties, or seek
redress in cases of unfair treatment. Protocols of trade
union meetings often record such complaints and their
outcomes [2].
Finally, the cultural mission of trade unions remained
central. In a region where traditional Karakalpak and
Uzbek cultural forms coexisted with Soviet ideology,
trade unions operated numerous cultural clubs,
libraries, and amateur performance groups. These
institutions were used not only to promote loyalty to
the Soviet system but also to enrich workers’ lives. For
many laborers in remote settlements, the trade union
reading room or the traveling cinema organized by
union committees represented their main contact with
modern culture.
Another significant aspect of trade unions’ work in
Karakalpakstan during the post-war period was their
involvement in addressing the acute housing crisis
created by wartime destruction, rapid industrialization,
and demographic shifts.
In the late 1940s, returning soldiers and resettled
populations dramatically increased the number of
people requiring accommodation in the region’s
limited urban centers such as Nukus and Turtkul. Many
families were forced to live in overcrowded barracks or
makeshift mud-brick dwellings without electricity,
running water, or adequate heating.
Trade unions worked alongside local Soviets and the
Communist Party to coordinate housing allocation,
giving priority to certain categories of workers [3]:
War veterans and disabled ex-servicemen.
Skilled industrial workers essential for production
targets.
Women with large families.
Union housing commissions compiled detailed
registries of applicants and monitored the construction
and repair of residential units. Though resources were
chronically inadequate, archival documents show that
by 1953, Karakalpak union committees had helped
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
22
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijhps
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences (ISSN
–
2771-2222)
distribute more than 1,000 housing assignments and
organized voluntary labor brigades (subbotniks) to
improve sanitation in workers’ quarters.
Another domain in which trade unions exerted
considerable influence was the improvement of
workplace health and safety standards, especially in
sectors with high occupational risks such as cotton
ginning, fish processing, and irrigation construction.
Accidents were frequent in this period due to outdated
equipment and a lack of protective gear. For example,
in cotton processing plants, dust inhalation caused
chronic respiratory illness, while in fisheries, exposure
to cold and moisture contributed to rheumatic
conditions.
Minutes of union safety committees from the early
1950s detail hundreds of such inspections and note
that repeated infractions could be referred to higher
authorities or publicized in local newspapers to
pressure enterprise directors into compliance [4].
Trade unions also played an important role in
reorganizing agricultural labor to meet state economic
objectives, especially in the context of campaigns to
expand cotton cultivation. The post-war period saw the
introduction of new mechanized techniques and
irrigation infrastructure, but many collective farms in
Karakalpakstan remained under-mechanized and
dependent on seasonal manual labor.
Unions contributed to agricultural modernization by:
Organizing technical training for machine operators
and tractor drivers.
Holding meetings to explain the benefits of
mechanization
and
dispel
fears
about
new
technologies.
Distributing handbooks and posters in the Karakalpak
language describing best practices in cotton planting,
pest control, and harvesting [5].
СОNСLUSIОN
In the post-war decades, trade unions in
Karakalpakstan played a multi-faceted role: protecting
labor rights, distributing welfare, promoting education,
and supporting reconstruction. Although they operated
within the limits of a centrally planned economy and a
one-party system, they contributed to tangible
improvements in working conditions and social
services.
The experience of Karakalpakstan illustrates the
complexity of Soviet labor relations, where trade
unions were both instruments of state policy and the
main channel through which workers accessed
entitlements, expressed needs, and participated in
collective social life.
RЕFЕRЕNСЕS
Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan,
Fond R-239, Reports of Karakalpak Regional Trade
Union Council, 1945
–
1960.
The All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS).
Sbornik dokumentov po profsoiuznomu dvizheniyu,
Vol. 3. Moscow, 1954.
Keller, Shoshana. To Moscow, Not Mecca: The Soviet
Campaign against Islam in Central Asia, 1917
–
1941.
Praeger, 2001.
Massell, Gregory. The Surrogate Proletariat: Moslem
Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet Central
Asia, 1919
–
1929. Princeton University Press, 1974.
Edgar, Adrienne Lynn. Tribal Nation: The Making of
Soviet Turkmenistan. Princeton University Press, 2004.
