One of the historical achievements of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the 60th anniversary of which is being celebrated this year by our country and all progressive humanity, was the national and social liberation of the peoples of Russia. In Central Asia, the working Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Kirghizs, Tajiks, Turkmens, and Uzbeks, with the help of the Russian working class, took power for the first time in history. This victory did not come easily to the masses of the people - the deposed exploiters put up a fierce resistance to them.

All the forces and strata of the old society united against the young Soviet government. The feudal and tribal elite, the reactionary part of the Muslim clergy, the national bourgeoisie that was emerging in Central Asia, in close alliance with the all-Russian counter-revolution, and with the active support of international imperialism, launched a stubborn struggle against the new system.

In Central Asia, one of the main forms of this struggle, and also the most fierce, was Basmachism - the armed actions of numerous gangs that ravaged the local population, committed pogroms and murders, violence and looting, and established undisguised brutal terror. The Basmachian leaders openly spoke out with counter-revolutionary, anti-Soviet, reactionary-nationalist slogans. They incited hostility to everything Russian, sowed discord between the peoples of Central Asia. Their goals were to restore and perpetuate the rule of exploiters in Central Asia, and to preserve the obsolete ones.

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the destruction of feudal, tribal, clerical, commercial and usurious, bourgeois remnants, the despotism of the ruling classes, the backwardness and darkness of the masses of the people, led to the separation of this region from Soviet Russia, turning it into a colony of Western imperialists.

The struggle against Basmachism was difficult and lengthy, and required considerable effort and sacrifice on the part of the Soviet people. It ended with the complete collapse of this type of counter-revolution. The inglorious end of Basmachism was the result of the joint efforts of workers of all nationalities who rose up to defend the gains of the revolution.

This topic is covered in the book by corresponding member. Academy of Sciences of the USSR Yu. A. Polyakov and Doctor of Historical Sciences A. I. Chugunov. First of all, it is a book about the heroic struggle of the working people against the enemies of Soviet power. Based on a large amount of factual material, it traces the main stages of the elimination of Basmachism in various regions of Central Asia. It shows how counterrevolution attempts to stop the October victory march failed one after another, starting from the very first - with the use of gangs of Basmachi criminals Irgash, Makhkam-khoja and others to suppress the revolutionary upsurge in the Ferghana Valley back in 1917. Much attention is paid to the description of the further struggle against the Basmachi in Ferghana, where the gangs of Madamin-bek, Muetdin, Kurshirmat terrorized and ravaged the local population for a long time.

In 1920, the workers of the Bukhara Emirate and Khiva Khanate overthrew the rotten despotic regimes and established popular power, creating the Bukhara and Khorezm People's Soviet Republics (BNSR and KHNSR). The counter-revolutionary forces, having been defeated, made the main bet on Basmachism, on bloody terror. The gangs of Junaid Khan in Khorezm, Ibrahim Bey and the international adventurer Enver Pasha in Eastern Bukhara have been trying for several years to restore the power of the emir and Khan by force of arms. These efforts of the enemies of the working people of Central Asia were in vain. The book tells how the working masses of Bukhara and Khorezm, with the help of the Russian people, smashed the Basmachs and, despite their attacks, successfully built a new life.

In 1929-1931, Basmachism revived again in a number of regions of Central Asia. Gangs of Fuzail Maksum, Ibragim Bek and others who were holed up abroad invaded the borders of Soviet Tajikistan and Soviet Turkmenistan. The authors describe how this attempt to disrupt socialist construction also failed.

Throughout the book, the idea of the decisive role of the broad masses of the people of Central Asia in the defeat of Basmachism runs through. Numerous facts cited by the authors convincingly support their main conclusion: "The fight against Basmachism showed the irresistible strength of the Soviet system. It was in the conditions of the Soviet system that the broadest masses of the people, united under the leadership of the Communist Party, became active fighters and builders of a new life. Neither the spells of the minions of the counter-revolution, nor the brutal terror of the Basmachi could make them deviate from their chosen path " (p. 170). The authors emphasize that the victory over Basmachism was a victory of high ideas of socialism and progress, Leninist national policy, proletarian internationalism over fanaticism and darkness, ignorance and superstition, over social, economic and political backwardness, over the poisoned weapons of nationalism. It was the victory of the people in a sharp class struggle against the exploiters who had been overthrown, but who were trying to turn the wheel of history back, to stop the movement of the revolution. "A Moscow worker and a Ferghana dehkanin, a Ukrainian peasant and a Bukhara artisan fought hand in hand against the Basmachi, while the Red Army company was supported by Tajik Krasnopalochniki in the attack. In this struggle, the friendship of the peoples was tempered and strengthened, cemented together by the blood shed" (p. 171).

Much has been written about Basmachism. Its study began in the 20-30s, although the literature of those years, along with a lot of factual material and correct conclusions and observations, contains some incorrect estimates. In the post-war years, special monographs and articles appeared. All major generalizing works devoted to the post-October history of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan contain either sections reflecting the fight against Basmachism, or relevant data and facts. However, a peer-reviewed book makes a significant step forward from the existing literature in at least two respects.

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First, this monograph is essentially the first attempt to draw a general picture of the struggle against Basmachism in chronological and territorial terms. If the overwhelming majority of works on this subject cover, as a rule, a relatively limited territory (in one or another of the current Central Asian republics, in the framework of the BNSR or KHNSR, the Ferghana Valley, the upper reaches of Zaravshan, etc.), then Yu. A. Polyakov and A. I. Chugunov consider the fight against Basmachism on the scale of the entire Central Asian region.

While noting that the Basma movement "consisted of a series of speeches localized geographically and chronologically", the authors correctly emphasize that it was "united in its counter-revolutionary, anti-Soviet goals, in its socio-political nature" (p. 6). Indeed, many seemingly disparate Basma speeches were links between the two groups. They were organized and directed by internal and external counter-revolutionary coordinating centers. The authors identified common roots and goals, common socio-political nature, common organizational basis of various local Basmachi actions and speeches, showed methods of eliminating Basmachism throughout Central Asia, and this is their undoubted merit.

The same applies to the chronological coverage of the problem, Unlike other works here Basmachestvo is considered from the moment of its emergence as an anti-Soviet, counter-revolutionary force and until its final elimination in the early 30s. This made it possible to trace step by step how the success of socialist construction in the republics of Central Asia steadily knocked the ground out from under the feet of those reactionary forces that tried to take advantage of the socio-economic and cultural backwardness of the peoples of the East, the difficulties of socialist construction and the formation of Soviet power in these regions.

The Soviet system was strengthened, the Soviet national statehood was strengthened, the economy was raised, the light of culture penetrated into remote villages, and national cadres grew up... The natural result of this process was the final collapse of all attempts to galvanize Basmachestvo.

Secondly, using the achievements of Soviet historiography, the authors made a lot of new developments in the development of the problem. In particular, the materials of the Museum of Border Troops are widely used, which contain information about combat operations, summary data on the number and location of Basma gangs, and give a complete picture of the events of that time based on accurate facts.

Written vividly and fascinatingly, the book will be received with interest by a wide range of readers. At the same time, it would be desirable to create a more detailed and fundamental monograph on the basis of this work. It would be useful, in particular, to consider issues of historiography, highlighting the achievements of Soviet historical science, and to give a detailed critique of the falsifying concepts of bourgeois historians who spent a lot of ink on shamelessly distorting the history of the struggle against Basmachism.

In general, this small book is a notable phenomenon in the historiography of Central Asia. Its relevance, scientific and political significance are indisputable. It helps to expose reactionary-nationalist fabrications, and shows by a concrete historical example the great strength of proletarian internationalism, the strength of the fraternal friendship of the peoples of our Motherland.

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