A time for feasting? Autarky in the Tajik Ferghana Valley at war, 1941–45

The well-established narrative of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War emphasizes the enormous sacrifices that it entailed, and the extraordinary sufferings of both the Red Army and the entire civilian population. Throughout the war years, however, reports of lavish feasting and conspicuous consumption taking place on collective farms in northern Tajikistan continued to be submitted to Moscow. The ‘culprits’ were usually local Soviet officials, who appear to have reverted to traditional redistributive practices and modes of patronage. I argue that such acts of ‘anti-Soviet sabotage’ do not necessarily prove that Central Asians understood themselves as colonized subjects making the most of a temporary reprieve from state intrusion. The war in fact casts into sharp relief the extent to which many local officials of the Tajik SSR perceived themselves as loyal Soviet citizens – and as good Muslims, too.