November 7 was celebrated in Uzbekistan for decades. The photos show how it was marked in 1919, 1931, 1965, 1970, 1973, and 1981. The last official celebration of November 7 in Uzbekistan took place in 1990.
History of the November 7 holiday in Uzbekistan
The October Revolution in Russia (then part of the empire that included the territory of present-day Uzbekistan) happened 108 years ago. Not that long ago — my grandmother was already 18.
According to the new calendar, the revolution became the “November Revolution”: October 25 (old style) corresponds to November 7 (new style).
A generation has already grown up that has only a vague idea of what happened then in Petrograd.
Let me remind you that during the armed October uprising of October 25–26, 1917, organized by Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Yakov Sverdlov, and others, the Provisional Government was overthrown.
As a result of the coup, power passed to the government formed by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, whose delegates were mostly Bolsheviks. In November 1917, the new government was also supported by the Extraordinary Congress of Peasants’ Deputies.
The October Revolution had far-reaching consequences not only for Russia but for the entire world. The Soviet government formed at the Second Congress of Soviets, led by Lenin, began dismantling the old state apparatus and building new Soviet institutions. Despite the resistance of armed anti-Bolshevik groups, all of Central Asia (now five independent states) became part of the USSR in the 1920s.
Parades on Lenin Square
In Soviet times, preparations for workers’ demonstrations and holidays, including November 7, were carried out carefully in enterprises and schools. Artists made banners and bright slogans in workshops.
Early in the morning, workers gathered near their enterprises and headed by bus or on foot toward the main city square. Roads around the square were closed, and many Tashkent residents had to walk to the parade. Along the way, old women sold flags, whistles, and balloons.
Photos and memories
Let me clarify — I’m not a fan of the Soviet Union. The only good thing I can point out was the social mobility that worked back then. Our family never received free housing. Education and healthcare at that time could only be called relatively free (private tutors, bribes of the late Soviet period). There was no shortage of money because there was a shortage of goods — society has to choose which shortage it preferred.
For me, November 7 is associated with many hours of rehearsals for school performances on the main square of Tashkent (now Mustaqillik Square), and later, as a first-year student, with gathering leftover cotton under the snow in Jizzakh region in 1979.
Nevertheless, it is important to remember history. For some, the memories of celebrating the October Revolution may still have bright, even rosy tones. Let’s look at the old photos.
When the November 7 holiday was abolished
The last parade dedicated to November 7 in Uzbekistan took place in 1990. The Law “On the Fundamentals of State Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan” was adopted on August 31, 1991. Therefore, in 1991 and the following years, November 7 was no longer celebrated officially.