BEGINNING: CREATIVITY AND PARTNER CAREER (1945 - 1950). SHARAF RASHIDOV AS A YOUNG EDITOR FOR THE NEWSPAPER KIZIL UZBEKISTAN
Sharaf Rashidov worked as secretary of the Samarkand Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan for three years. "In early 1946, Usman Yusupov summoned Sharaf Rashidov to Tashkent. Usman Yusupov, warmly greeting Sharaf-aka, as if they were old acquaintances, asked him: "Son, what do you think about working for Komsomol?" Sharaf-aka realised that it was not easy to get out of the situation that arose as a result of the unexpected question and openly expressed what was in his heart. He said that he wished very much to continue his creative activity and asked, if possible, to let him stay at the newspaper. "Is it really hard in the regional committee?" asked the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Party. "The newspaper is closer to my heart," Sharaf-aka replied.
Seeing that their opinions did not coincide, Usman Yusupov called the first secretary of the Samarkand Regional Party Committee, Nosir Makhmudov: "Nosir Makhmudovich, what do you think about recommending Comrade Rashidov for the position of the First Secretary of the Republican Komsomol Committee?" he asked. After a long conversation on the phone, Usman Yusupov, concluding the conversation, said: "Goodbye, I understand you, Nosir Makhmudovich," and, without attempting to hide he was received with strong opposition regarding the issue under discussion, continued: "Nosir Makhmudovich is a very stubborn person. He says he would not let you out for the Komsomol. Okay, son, work for some more time in Samarkand. We will find you a decent job in Tashkent."
One year passed, and Sharaf Rashidov became the editor of the newspaper Kizil Uzbekistan. "So our family moved to Tashkent," said Sharaf Rashidov's wife Khursandoy Gafurovna.
Sharaf Rashidov became the editor of the newspaper at the age of thirty – this was very unusual for a time when candidates were trained for high party and state positions for decades. Sharaf Rashidov received his appointment as a high responsibility and tried to build the work of the newspaper at the highest possible quality – it informed readers about everything most important that took place in the world, the USSR and Uzbekistan, in a timely and interesting manner.
Sharaf Rashidov himself chose high-level political and social journalism as his genre. Many of his articles were dedicated to ordinary workers. There is evidence of how Sharaf Rashidov worked with potential heroes of his articles and future books.
"MY PARENTS AND RELATIVES OFTEN TOLD ME HOW SHARAF RASHIDOV, WHO RETURNED FROM THE WAR, TRAVELED TO DIFFERENT VILLAGES ACROSS THE REGION. HE KNEW EVERYONE BY NAME, WAS FRIENDLY WITH EVERYONE – HE WROTE ABOUT TEACHERS, COTTON PICKERS, INCLUDING MY MOTHER. MY PARENTS THOUGHT WELL ABOUT SHARAF-AKA, AND THEY NEVER CHANGED THEIR MINDS," – FROM THE MEMOIRS OF DILORA MARDIEVA, INCLUDED IN THE BOOK FATES AND TIME. THE PAST OF UZBEKISTAN IN THE ORAL STORIES OF WOMEN – WITNESSES AND CONTEMPORARIES OF THE EVENTS.
