EIGHTIES (1980 - 1983). SHARAF RASHIDOV'S LAST OCTOBER
Autumn is the time for picking cotton. Sharaf Rashidov devoted much of his time to this issue. Throughout September, he was engaged in discussing plans for the cotton harvesting campaign and the introduction of automated control systems into the national economy.
"ABOUT A WEEK BEFORE HIS DEATH, RASHIDOV VISITED OUR SAMARKAND. THE FIRST SECRETARY OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE AND I ACCOMPANIED HIM ON A TRIP, WHICH INCLUDED VISITS TO DIFFERENT DISTRICTS OF THE REGION. RASHIDOV MADE SUCH TRIPS 2-3 TIMES A YEAR. HE TOURED ALL THE DISTRICTS OF THE REGION AND MET WITH COTTON PICKERS, URGING THEM TO WORK AS HARD AS THEY COULD," RECOLLECTS EVGENY BEREZIKOV, WHO IN 1983 WORKED IN THE SAMARKAND REGIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF UZBEKISTAN.
The Khorezm region was one of the first to collect all the cotton that autumn and reported on the implementation of the plan before anyone else. There Sharaf Rashidov met with TV journalist Mukhtar Ganiev, who came to do a report on the labour feat of the region.
DURING A CONVERSATION WITH THE JOURNALIST, SHARAF RASHIDOV NOTED: "MUKHTARJON, I'VE LONG WANTED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. IN SOME OF YOUR MATERIALS ON COTTON PRODUCTION, THE AVERAGE COTTON YIELD YOU GIVE IS SOMETIMES AROUND 5-6 TONNES FROM A HECTARE. AN EXPERIENCED COTTON GROWER WOULD NOT ARGUE WITH YOU BUT JUST LAUGH TO HIMSELF. THIS IS A VERY LARGE, SOMETIMES UNFOUNDED FIGURE. OF COURSE, SUCH YIELDS CAN BE OBTAINED AT INDIVIDUAL TEST SITES AND EXPERIMENTAL PLOTS AT COTTON-GROWING INSTITUTES THROUGH THE USE OF LARGE AMOUNTS OF FERTILISERS AND WATER. BUT MIND YOU, ONLY ON SMALL TEST SITES. IN ORDINARY LIFE, IN THE GENERAL PRACTICE OF COTTON GROWING IN THE REPUBLIC, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. So, BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN ASSESSING THE YIELD. WE GIVE A PLAN OF 1.5-1.7 TONNES FOR NEWLY DEVELOPED VIRGIN LANDS. THE COTTON GROWERS OF THE FERGANA VALLEY AND KHOREZM PRODUCE AN AVERAGE OF 3.1-3.2 TONNES, AND THE REPUBLICAN AVERAGE, YOU KNOW, IS 3.0-3.1 TONNES FROM A HECTARE. PLEASE, QUESTION THE INFLATED YIELD FIGURES."
The statistics that investigators and Egor Ligachev would later use at the 16th Plenum of the Uzbek Communist Party had the same errors. The degree of falsification was calculated based on comparing a yield in a region and an average in the republic. It was the wrong way to calculate. But Sharaf Rashidov would never know about this error. After meeting with journalists, he went to Karakalpakstan. On 30 October, he informed Andropov about the implementation of the plan by the Khorezm region – the people collected 300,000 tonnes of white gold. However, instead of congratulations, Sharaf Rashidov heard a promise that these figures would be rechecked.
ON THAT DAY, SHARAF RASHIDOV TRAVELLED MORE THAN 500 KM BY CAR, VISITING, AS USUAL, ALL COTTON HARVESTING FARMS. HE FELT BAD WHEN HE WAS ALREADY RETURNING TO HIS CARRIAGE. THE LEADING CARDIOLOGIST RAFAIL KATSENOVICH WAS BROUGHT FROM TASHKENT TO PRONOUNCE HIS DEATH FROM HEART FAILURE.
