BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Maksat Bolotbekov crouched down, rubbed his blackened hands and caught the last waves of warmth from the fire's grey ashes. Across the street the darkened windows of a Soviet-era munitions factory stared out blankly, coldly.

Bolotbekov, 37, is a construction worker. He and 10 of his comrades gather daily on the side of Lev Tolstoy Street, in the center of this small ex-Soviet republic's capital, waiting for someone to come by and offer them part-time work....