The establishment of socialist power within the USSR was embodied in physical change, vulnerable to differences in the character of regions, and dependent on transnational exchanges of commodities. My talk considers the impact of this material reality on the Soviet creation of Tajikistan as a national republic in 1924. This formerly colonial Central Asian territory had never before hosted a car, train, or any industrial facility; it is almost entirely mountainous. How did such legacies of the native terrain affect socialist desires for economic growth? I argue that economic life in the Tajik SSR of the 1920s and 1930s was an endeavor in environmental management. The introduction of new forms of mobility on land and water of the republic facilitated physical relationships that established modern Central Asia and the USSR. The implementation of these founding events after borders were drawn raises questions that are at odds with many familiar views and narratives of Soviet politics, economy, and geography. Transnational freightage also exacerbated regional disparities of socialism, co-constituting dependency in Tajikistan. In comparative global perspective, this unconventional case of “international development” indicates ways to reconsider Stalin-era mobility and its effects on societal upheaval.