| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines everyday realities of the state-building process in early Soviet Tajikistan. The work concentrates exclusively on the experiences of 'European' state workers, that is, their uncertain position as 'imperialists', and points to nuances of the early Soviet state building. By observing the mundane micro-level experiences of the state actors from the European parts of the Soviet Union in Central Asia, the author proposes to treat sentiments of state actors as important indicators of the Soviet statehood practices and poses the following question: why did the European state workers feel isolated, unsupported and even helpless and how can we understand their experiences as an integral part of the Soviet empire state-building process? The author argues that individuals' power and powerlessness was at the core of the early Soviet political structure since individual state representatives were to palliate institutional and legal deficiencies - a task that required enormous physical and emotional sacrifices and also included personal responsibility for anything that might have been deemed by the top as a failure.
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