‘Building the Internationalist City from Below’: The Role of the Czechoslovak Industrial Cooperative “Interhelpo” in Forging Urbanity in early-Soviet Bishkek

Abstract

Off to the other promised land: Western émigrés in the “first country of workers and peasants” At first glance, present-day Bishkek, the capital of Republic of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, may seem like a typical representative of the (post-)Soviet city: prefabricated, modernist-style residential buildings along the old Sovyetskaya Boulevard (today named after the Soviet-Kirghiz politician Yusup Abdrakhmanov), extensive park areas, and a grid-like street network. Yet, as the Line 2 trolleybus leaves the hectic bustle of the Osh Bazaar on Den Xiaoping Avenue, an oddly tranquil world reveals itself to the visitor: one- and two-level residential buildings with gabled roofs, mullioned windows, and massive exterior walls are unmistakably reminiscent of a small town in Central Europe. The residential area, unofficially known among local residents as “Intergel'po” is made up of Intergel'po and Trudovaya Street, which run vertically from north to south, and six smaller alleys (Mozoleva, Kumarykskaya, Yanvarskaya, Livtinova, Dimitrovna and Kensuyskaya) that run from east to west. To the east, Intergel'po borders Fuchik Park—named after the Czech communist writer Julius Fučík—while to the east, it coalesces into a new settlement area.