Editing Interhelpo

{{Short description|Cooperative of workers and farmers in Soviet Kyrgyzstan}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2020}}

[[File:Interhelpo.jpg|thumb|Interhelpo logo]]

'''Interhelpo''' (''international laboristal helpo'') was an industrial [[cooperative]] of workers and farmers ([[Esperantist]]s and [[Ido (language)|Idist]]s) between 1923 and 1943, established for the special purpose of helping to build up [[socialism]] in [[Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Kyrgyzstan]]. The legal framework for the migration of working forces from the West to the Soviet Union was established through a resolution on “Proletarian help for Soviet Russia” (proletarskaya pomoshch’ sovetskoy Rossii) adopted by the Fourth World Congress of the Communist International (1922).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leupold |first=David |date=2021 |title='Building the Internationalist City from Below': The Role of the Czechoslovak Industrial Cooperative "Interhelpo" in Forging Urbanity in early-Soviet Bishkek |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0147547920000228/type/journal_article |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |language=en |volume=100 |pages=27 |doi=10.1017/S0147547920000228 |s2cid=229513972 |issn=0147-5479|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

On May 1, 1923, Interhelpo — an acronym of the [[Ido]] compound ''international laboristal helpo'' — was founded in [[Žilina]], [[Czechoslovakia]] (now Slovakia) on the initiative of the Czechoslovak Bolshevik [[Rudolf Pavlovič Mareček]], who had actively participated in fights against Basmachis in [[Jetisu|Semirechye]] and was editor of the newspaper ''Zarya Svobody'' ("The Dawn of Freedom") in neighboring Verniy.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Kanimetova |editor-first=A. M. |title=U istokov druzhby. Istoriya promyslovogo kooperativa Intergelpo. Sbornik dokumentov i materialov |year=1982 |location=Frunze |pages=7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kokaisl |first=Petr |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/829661782 |title=Dějiny Kyrgyzstánu očima pamětníků : 1917-1938 |date=2012 |publisher=Nostalgie |others=Amirbek Usmanov, Za hranice Společnost pro rozvojovou spolupráci při Provozně ekonomické fakultě ČZU v Praze |isbn=978-80-905365-0-0 |location=Praha |pages=166 |oclc=829661782}}</ref> Other Czechoslovak agricultural cooperatives founded with the aim of building socialism in the USSR were the ''Kladno Commune'' (Armavir, [[Krasnodar Krai]]), the ''Slovak Commune'' ([[Stalingrad Guberniya]]), ''Reflector'' (Ershovsk, [[Saratov Oblast]]), ''Pflug'' (“plow”), ''Solidarita'', and ''Čechocentr''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Miroslav |title=Die tschechoslowakische Auswanderung in die Sowjetunion in der Zwischenkriegszeit (1921-1939) |publisher=Dissertation defended at Universität Regensburg |year=2007 |pages=81–114}}</ref>

From 1925 onwards, trains from the railway station in [[Žilina]] transported 1078 people (including mainly [[Czechs]] and [[Slovaks]], but also [[Hungarians]], [[Ruthenians]] and other nationalities, and including both direct members and their families) to [[Kyrgyzstan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leupold |first=David |date=2021 |title='Building the Internationalist City from Below': The Role of the Czechoslovak Industrial Cooperative "Interhelpo" in Forging Urbanity in early-Soviet Bishkek |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0147547920000228/type/journal_article |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |language=en |volume=100 |pages=32 |doi=10.1017/S0147547920000228 |s2cid=229513972 |issn=0147-5479|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Activities in Kyrgyzstan ==
Its members made many products on the ‘green meadow’. The famous Slovak politician [[Alexander Dubček]] also participated in this cooperative in his youth.

The cooperative's most notable projects include:
*in 1925: an electric power station
*in 1927: a textile factory  
*in 1928: a melting-house
*a furniture factory 
*railroads, hospitals, main government building in the capital of Kyrgyzstan
*a club house and cultural venue (klub pařížských komundartů)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pollák |first=Pavel |title=Internacionálna pomoc československého proletariátu národom SSSR : dejiny česko-XIII. 5. slovenského robotníckeho družstva Interhelpo v sovietskej Kirgízii |publisher=Slovenská Akadémia Vied |year=1961 |location=Bratislava |pages=185}}</ref>

In 1925, the Interhelpo was declared the best cooperative in the Soviet Union. At one point, it produced 20 percent of Kyrgyzstan's industrial products.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-day-the-soviets-arrived-to-crush-the-prague-spring-in-rarely-seen-photos|title=The Day the Soviets Arrived to Crush the Prague Spring, in Rarely Seen Photos|last=Canby|first=Peter|date=2018-08-26|access-date=2019-09-24|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

In 1927, members of the cooperative formed a theatre group, which performed plays under the supervision of the theatre director Eduard Peringer in the carpenter’s workshop in Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and other languages.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Samuel |first=I.I. |title=Chekhoslovatskiy Promyslovy Kooperativ v Kirgizii |year=1935 |location=Leningrad |pages=68}}</ref>

In 1930, the Czechoslovak journalist [[Julius Fučík (journalist)|Julius Fučík]] visited the cooperative.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leupold |first=David |date=2021 |title='Building the Internationalist City from Below': The Role of the Czechoslovak Industrial Cooperative "Interhelpo" in Forging Urbanity in early-Soviet Bishkek |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0147547920000228/type/journal_article |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |language=en |volume=100 |pages=42 |doi=10.1017/S0147547920000228 |s2cid=229513972 |issn=0147-5479|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

By 1932, the cooperative comprised members of different backgrounds of whom many were recruited from within Soviet Kyrgyzstan: 223 Russians, 92 Czechs, 66 Ukrainians, 43 Slovaks, 37 Kyrgyz, 26 Germans, 22 Hungarians, 3 Uyghurs (Kasghar), 2 Uzbeks, 2 Mordovians, 2 Tatars, 1 Jew, 1 Armenian, and 1 Rusyn.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pollák |first=Pavel |title=Internacionálná pomoc československého proletariátu národom SSSR : dejiny československého robotníckeho družstva Interhelpo v sovietskej Kirgízii |publisher=Slovenská Akadémia Vied |year=1961 |location=Bratislava |pages=206}}</ref>

In 1943, during the Second World War, the property of the Interhelpo cooperative was transferred into the hands of the state.

== Legacy ==
Today the cooperative's residential buildings on Intergel'po Street (former site of the cooperative) are in a desolate state and are inhabited mostly by marginalized segments of society (such as e.g. internal working migrants from Southern Kyrgyzstan): <blockquote>"In the accounts of most residents, the builders of the districts where either unknown, or misrepresented as “Czech prisoners of war” or “Czech war refugees,” who had ended up in Central Asia in the aftermath of World War II. Today, almost a hundred years later, little reminds today’s residents of the achievements of the cooperative. Only ''Nazdar'', a small Czechoslovak association, tries to preserve its historical heritage with financially limited funds."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leupold |first=David |date=2021 |title='Building the Internationalist City from Below': The Role of the Czechoslovak Industrial Cooperative "Interhelpo" in Forging Urbanity in early-Soviet Bishkek |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0147547920000228/type/journal_article |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |language=en |volume=100 |pages=49 |doi=10.1017/S0147547920000228 |s2cid=229513972 |issn=0147-5479|url-access=subscription }}</ref></blockquote>In 2008, Czech National Television released the documentary ''Interhelpo. Historie jedné iluze'' (“Interhelpo – The History of an Illusion”) which portrays the historical experience of the cooperative largely in negative terms, highlighting human losses and the ultimate failure of the cooperative.<ref>Jaromir Marek, “Interhelpo. Historie jedné iluze”, documentary film, https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10123387223-interhelpo-historie-jedne-iluze/30729535042</ref>

==See also==
* [[Neutral Moresnet]]

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050202031749/http://interhelpo.host.net.kg/ Site dedicated to Interhelpo] {{in lang|ru}}
* [https://readymag.com/sensorysociology/1127806/ Multimedia tour through the history of Interhelpo (2019)/]
* [https://www.eastjournal.net/archives/116165 STORIA: Interhelpo, la cooperativa esperantista cecoslovacca nel Kirghizistan sovietico] (Interhelpo, the Czechoslovakian Esperanto cooperative in Soviet Kyrgyzstan) Article by Martina Napolitano {{in lang|it}}.
* [https://nellyd.medium.com/the-ruins-of-socialism-in-bishkek-industrial-cooperative-interhelpo-1cc5d0badeec The ruins of socialism in Bishkek: industrial cooperative Interhelpo] by Nelly Dzhamanbaeva, Nov 19,  2019.
* [https://world.lisagermany.com/interhelpo-making-of-industrial-bishkek-walking-tour/ Interhelpo and the making of industrial Bishkek – walking tour] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509225338/https://world.lisagermany.com/interhelpo-making-of-industrial-bishkek-walking-tour/ |date=9 May 2021 }} a blog article (rich of photos) by Lisa Germany, July 6, 2019.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic]]
[[Category:Esperanto history]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Cooperatives in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Esperanto in Slovakia]]