Early 20th century

Naim Saidov

1902–1939Enlightenment

Biography

Naim Saidov (1902, Kokand — 6 February 1939, Tashkent) was a journalist and translator. He studied at a Kokand madrasa and at the “Yangi Usul” and “Namuna” schools. In Moscow he attended a workers' faculty (1923–1924) and then the State Institute of Journalism (1925–1928). Returning to Tashkent, he worked as deputy editor of the newspaper “Qizil O'zbekiston” (1928–1930), managing editor of “Yangi Farg'ona” (Kokand, 1930–1931), and then editor-in-chief of the state publishing house O'zdavnashr (1931–1933). In his translation work he championed the purity of the mother tongue, opposing the artificial insertion of Russian words and terms into Uzbek and the Russification of the language. During the transition from the Arabic to the Latin script, so that the people would not remain illiterate, he produced primers such as “A Primer for Adults”, “A Primer for the Illiterate”, “A Primer for the Semi-literate”, “A Primer for the Blind” (1929–1930) and “A Reader for the Illiterate” (1936). He was an active figure in the Uzbek press of the 1920s–1930s. Accused of membership in the “Milliy Ittihod” organisation and of spreading nationalist sentiment among the youth, he was arrested on 30 January 1938 and died in prison.

Works

Kattalar uchun alifbo
Savodsizlar uchun alifbo
Ko'rlar uchun alifbo (1929–1930)
Savodsizlar uchun o'qish kitobi (1936)