Tashkent Metro – Uzbekistan

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Tashkent Metro

Tashkent Metro

Tashkent Metro – Uzbekistan

The Tashkent Metro was a relatively late addition to the Soviet Union’s mass transit system being the seventh to be completed in 1977. The system followed many of the conventions established since 1935 in Moscow; the design of the station platforms; the style (if not the content) of the decoration; the use of light to give the impression of not being underground; the use of the finest materials; and the method in moving people through the system as fast as possible. However, following the lead from the centre, which began with the Premiership of Khrushchev but continued after he was ousted, there was a general ‘depoliticisation’ of the decoration.

Although by 1977 Revisionism was well entrenched within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the newer metro stations in Moscow, for example, there was still some reference to the construction of Socialism, using images and motifs that had been part of Soviet culture since the 1920s – the image of the Hammer and Sickle, for example.

However, there was none of that in Tashkent. In fact, there’s barely a reference to the social system supposedly being constructed at the time. The Red Flags in the image at the top of this post are one of few such references and they stand out because they are so few. This would tend to reflect the anti-Communist views of the leadership of the local Communist Party and demonstrate the weakness of central control of the periphery.

The purge of the local Communist Parties in the 1930s are understandable at the time (although I have to admit I do not really know a great deal of the details) as in a part of the Soviet Union where there was little tradition of working class organisation it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the remnants of the feudal ruling class hadn’t been able to infiltrate the Communist Party leadership and manipulate it to their own personal ‘class’ advantage. Through the imagery in the metro it is possible to see how the replacement ‘leadership’ was as divorced from the ideology of Marxism-Leninism as the group they surplanted.

The themes represented in the various stations follow a traditional, folklore style. In place of drawing upon a new form of representation of the interests of the working class the artists commissioned to produce the art works in all the stations represented here took as their starting point traditions established during the feudal, pre-revolutionary period. Instead of creating images that could assist in the battle for the construction of Socialism the artists chosen to decorate the station harked back to feudal traditions and imagery, reinforcing the old social system, not the new. If there are any ‘new’ styles they tend to be in the more abstract images, especially in the imaginative use of metal.

The dominant material used in the decoration were ceramic tiles which were built up to create large images with rural themes dominating. Industry, which had been introduced to the predominantly agricultural society, appears only sporadically and briefly in the imagery.

The main reason for including these images is to allow viewers to compare and contrast the way the metro systems in the Soviet Union were seen during the different stages of its existence and the difference between the Revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist leadership (as represented in the decoration in the Moscow and Leningrad Metros) and the Counter-revolutionary, Revisionist leadership (represented in Tashkent) which eventually led the Soviet Union to its self-destruction.

There are also images included in the slide show below from some of the stations opened after so-called ‘independence’.

Plan of the Tashkent Metro.

Location;

Various places in the city.

Access;

All the stations have staffed ticket offices and entry to the system costs 3,000 Uz Som (in the summer of 2025). With that ticket you can visit all the stations on the network as long as you don’t go out into the street.

Kazakhskiy University – Almaty – Socialist bas reliefs

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Kazakhskiy University - Almaty

Kazakhskiy University – Almaty

Kazakhskiy University – Almaty – Socialist bas reliefs

This is a (relatively) unique example of Soviet art in Kazakhstan for a number of unrelated reasons;

this was the only such example that I came across in my travels in the summer of 2025, not just in Kazakhstan but in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan;

it has obviously been looked after and any repainting and renovation has been carried out with care and consideration;

it is unusual that in the images on both sides of the entrance to the building it is the women who are playing the leading role – it’s normally shared by the genders;

the Hammer and Sickle is in a central and therefore important location but it is depicted in a form that is unusual (although not, I think, unique as I am sure I’ve seen such a representation but – unfortunately – can’t remember where). Here, in place of the shaft of the hammer crossing the blade of the sickle, the back edge of the sickle rests on the head of the hammer and its shaft touches the tip of the sickle’s blade. I cannot think of a reason for this inversion of the hammer, especially as this is at the entrance of an educational establishment. However, the laurel leaves (representing achievement and success) cradle the symbol of the agricultural and industrial workers;

both the women are striving high in their respective endeavours. The one holding the flaming torch (the flame of which is painted red) is promoting – and striving for – technology, knowledge and civilisation, but here a civilisation based on a newer and finer ethic, that of Socialism and internationalism. The woman stretching to her utmost so that her book is as high as possible represents learning, literacy (an always primary goal of any society with a Socialist aspiration) and the acquisition of knowledge in general.

These images are now at the edge of a much bigger educational complex than it would have been in the immediate pre-Great Patriotic War period but it is good to see that there are some people in a position of authority to ensure that this important aspect of Kazakh history and culture is preserved and respected.

The black plaque notes that this was the Kazakh State Institute of Foreign Languages, 1938-1940. I assume that was the period it took to build the complex as the Soviet Union always – even in its revisionist manifestation – placed great importance on the country having people with an excellent understanding of many of the world’s languages.

The gold plaque states that the building was completed and opened on 1st September 1941.

This is now quite a large complex but the learning, and teaching, of foreign languages does not seem to have the same importance in capitalist Kazakhstan as it did in the Soviet Union. Presently the building is used for a whole variety of subjects – including the ubiquitous business/management’ courses (which will lead students into debt and then into a dead end ‘start-up’, in the vast majority of circumstances).

Location;

Tole Bi Street 84, Almaty

GPS;

43.253986 N

76.936108 E

Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum – Moscow

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Glory to the Soviet Union!

Glory to the Soviet Union!

Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum – Moscow

The main reason I wanted to go to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow was because I had learnt that it was there that the Nazi banners that had been thrown into the mud at the base of the Lenin Mausoleum (with Comrade Stalin accepting them on behalf of the Soviet people) on the first Victory Day on May 9th, 1945, were presently on display.

On my first visit to Moscow (way back in 1972) these banners were in a huge glass case which covered the whole floor of a room in what was then the Museum of the Revolution. This was up by Pushkin Square and close to the Izvestia offices. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the chaos that followed in the 1990s anything which smacked of revolution was a no-no and that particular museum went through a number of manifestations. In the process much that had been on display pre-1990 disappeared and it is only relatively recently that some of it has begun to be, yet again, on display to the general public.

(What used to be the Museum of the Revolution is now called the Museum of the Modern History of Russia – Muzey Sovremennoy Istorii Rossii. Although there are some interesting and valuable artefacts which help in the telling of the history of the Soviet Union following the October Revolution it is generally a poor shadow of what it once was. The final section, ‘bringing things up to date’, is more like something you’d expect at an international exhibition than a museum.)

However, I think the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR/Central Armed Forces Museum has much more to offer than just the Nazi banners on the floor. There is a manner in which to display objects to show utter contempt for what they represent. From my memory that was achieved in the original location in the centre of the city but there’s less of that impression (to my mind) in their present location, even though they are still displayed in cases on the floor.

From my experience Russian museums are crammed full of artefacts. Sometimes so many that very soon you feel assaulted by so many different objects. That being the case the best approach is to ‘skim’ what you pass, taking more time on anything, perhaps more unusual, that might catch your eye.

The starting point in the first room is the War of Intervention or the Civil War. This was when the Red Army was formed, first out of Bolsheviks and irregulars who volunteered to defend the Revolution from the reactionaries, both national and international. However, within a very short time this army took on the aspects of a fully organised and structured army which eventually was able to defeat all attempts to strangle the Revolution from birth.

Later rooms go through the events of the Great Patriotic War and into later, sometimes not well chosen wars (such as that in Afghanistan) and through to the present with a small room dedicated to the Special Military Operation in the Ukraine.

In the slide show at the end of this post you will see that I have concentrated on the various banners and standards under which those fighting to defend the Revolution fought, as well as artistic representations of those battles and achievements. There’s a limited depiction of military hardware as, with a few exceptions, these are more or less generic and were used by all fighting forces in any particular epoch or conflict. I find what is unique to the Soviet Union (the way it presented itself; the battle of ideas through posters and other types of propaganda; and how the struggles were presented to the masses to be much more interesting.

In any visit to the museum here are a few suggestions of what to look out for;

  • the large bust of VI Lenin at the top of the stairs immediately facing the main entrance;
  • the whole wall covering mosaic on the wall on the first floor landing – depicting on the right the struggle to maintain the Revolution during the civil war into the 1920s and on the other the Great Patriotic War and the defeat of German invading Nazism;
  • the large painting in the second room (on the left had side on entering the room) which depicts the members of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party at the time of the October Revolution. This is an unusual way to present the individuals who were the leading cadres of the Revolution. I foolishly didn’t take note of the artist or when the painting was created but note Trotsky skulking at the extreme left hand side;
  • the many banners, representing factories and places of work, of the volunteers who went to fight against the Whites and the fourteen, intervening imperialist powers;
  • the propaganda posters produced by both sides in the conflict;
  • the machine gun fitted to the back of a horse drawn buggy;
  • the various sculptures demonstrating the unity of the workers and the peasants;
  • the make-shift armoured vehicles;
  • the multi-ethnic and multi-national extent of the revolutionary forces;
  • the distinctive uniform of the first Red Army;
  • the ceramic vase with an image of Joseph Stalin, Mikhail Frunze and other civil war military commanders;
  • the huge, wooden fist with the words ‘пролстарский кулак врагм ссср’ which translates as ‘the proletarian kulak is an enemy of the USSR’;
  • the images of VI Lenin and JV Stalin on the banners of the Great Patriotic War;
  • the porcelain statue of an embrace and a kiss;
  • images of heroism;
  • ‘the battle in the rear’;
  • the Nazi standards on the floor in the Victory Room;
  • the Iron Crosses;
  • the shattered eagle that used to stand on top of the Reichstag in Berlin;
  • Hitler’s personal standard;
  • the image of Marshal Zhukov riding his horse over the Nazi standards in Red Square on May 9th 1945;
  • the fine bust of JV Stalin, together with his military dress uniform;
  • the shattered remains of the U2 American spy plane;
  • the Red Army and and women flanking the main entrance to the museum;

among much more.

Location;

Soviet Army Street, Moscow

GPS;

55.78503 N

36.61708 E

How to get there;

The museum is a little over a five minute walk from the Dostoyevskaya Metro station on the Line 10 (Green). Leave by the exit that leads to the Red Army Theatre. Go past the right hand side of the theatre and at the road junction/pedestrian crossing take the right, once on the other side go left and the museum is about 100 metres on the right.