Why was cotton called ‘white gold’ in the USSR? (PICS)
Like gold, cotton was an exceptionally profitable commodity. In the Russian Empire and, later, in the USSR, it was a valuable resource for domestic textile production and, during the Soviet period, it became an important agricultural export.
Cotton cultivation and processing formed the basis of the economies of entire Soviet republics in Central Asia, primarily Uzbekistan. Furthermore, the process of growing and harvesting cotton was very labor-intensive. Therefore, the contents of the cotton bolls were associated with a precious metal, which was also mined with hard labor.
Cotton has been cultivated in Central Asia and the Caucasus since ancient times, where climate conditions were favorable and irrigated agriculture with traditional irrigation systems existed. After its decline during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, cotton cultivation was again revived during the Soviet period. In the USSR, cotton became a symbol of prosperity not only in the cotton-growing regions of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, but also in the entire country. That's why propaganda posters on the "cotton" theme could be found literally everywhere – from schools to city council offices.
You can learn more about the cult of cotton at the ‘White Gold’ exhibition, which is on display at the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow until November 30, 2025.
