As they did during the Soviet era, educated Tajiks define their cultural heritage broadly, laying claim to the valuable legacy of the supraethnic culture of Central Asia and other parts of the Islamic world from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Soviet rule institutionalized Western art forms, publishing, and mass media, some elements of which consequently attracted spontaneous support in the republic. since the beginning of Soviet rule in the 1920s, the media and the arts always have been subject to political constraints.

Abu'l-Qasem Lahuti was an Iranian poet who emigrated to the Soviet Union for political reasons and eventually settled in Tajikistan. He wrote both lyric poetry and "socialist realist" verse. Another poet, Mirzo Tursunzoda ,collected Tajik oral literature, wrote poetry of his own about social change in Tajikistan, and turned out various works on popular political themes of the moment. Since the generation that included those three writers, Tajikistan has produced numerous poets, novelists, short story writers, and playwrights.