YOUTH (1917 - 1941). UZBEK STATE UNIVERSITY
Studying at the Uzbek State University (present-day Samarkand State University) was easy for Sharaf. He soon gained respect among students for his diligence and high erudition.
AS A STUDENT, HE GOT THE JOB OF AN EXECUTIVE SECRETARY IN THE SAMARKAND REGIONAL NEWSPAPER LENIN YULI (LENIN'S WAY), AND CONTINUED TO WRITE POEMS AND SHORT STORIES. AS A RESULT, VERY SOON SHARAF RASHIDOV ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF NOT ONLY READERS, BUT ALSO PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS WHO APPRECIATED HIS LITERARY TALENT.
Sharaf Rashidov's journalistic works always were in the spirit of the times. In the 1930s, Uzbekistan on the one hand became a major industrial centre, where cotton processing, silk-reeling and textile factories were built, on the other hand, it was the main supplier of cotton, thanks to which the collective farm system was established in the republic.
The entire country was quickly fulfilling the tasks of the first Five-Year Plans. (Five-year plans known as pyatiletkas aimed at rapid development of the national economy of the USSR. They were developed centrally on a nationwide scale by a specially created state body (Gosplan of the USSR) under the leadership of the CPSU).
TECHNICAL EDUCATION WAS HIGHLY POPULAR WITH YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO WORK IN THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR; THE OLDER GENERATION WORKED IN COLLECTIVE FARMS; MANY SPECIALISTS FROM THE CENTRE ARRIVED IN UZBEKISTAN.
Sharaf Rashidov followed all this with irrepressible interest. But he was particularly impressed by the feat of compatriots during the construction of the Great Fergana Canal (a major irrigation canal in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan; built in 1939-1940, it was one of the largest hydraulic structures in the USSR).
WE HAVE REBELLED AGAINST THE SANDS,
WE WILL CURB FAST STREAMS WITH DAMS,
WE WILL CREATE MAN-MADE SEAS HERE;
AND FREE SPRINGS WILL SET IN THE STEPPES.
GARDENS WILL BLOOM THERE,
FLOWER BEDS WILL GROW,
THE ENDLESS DESERT WILL BECOME A COTTON FIELD.
(line-by-line translation of a verse by twenty-year-old Sharaf Rashidov)
Sharaf Rashidov grew, was brought up, matured, learnt his people, and gained everyday and political experience in an environment of large-scale social, political and economic changes.
