Modern Kazakhstan is the largest in territory after Russia and one of the most economically developed countries of the CIS. Its direct predecessor was the republic of the Soviet Union - the Kazakh SSR. The history of this state formation is simultaneously connected with our common Soviet past and modern realities of Kazakhstan. Let's look at it through the prism of the past.
Background
But in order to establish what processes led to the emergence of such a state entity as the Kazakh SSR, we need to return a few centuries ago to the roots of Kazakh statehood.
The origin of Kazakh statehood refers to the period of the collapse of the Golden Horde and the separation of the Kazakh Horde from the Uzbek Khanate based on its ruins. This event is usually dated back to 1465, when the leaders Kerey and Zhanibek, dissatisfied with the rule of the Uzbek khan Abulkhair, led their nomads to split off from his state. The compatriots who followed them began to call themselves Kazakhs, which is translated from Turkic as “free people”.
However, the new state formation was rather unstable, and was never fully centralized. In 1718, under the pressure of the Dzungar raiding, it finally fell into three parts: the Younger, Middle and Senior Zhuz. Then the bloody period of the Kazakh-Dzungarian military began. Only the gradual adoption of Russian citizenship by the Kazakh khans during the 18th century helped save the Kazakhs from complete extermination. At first, the khanates had considerable autonomy, but during the 19th century it was more and more abolished, which led to rebellion. In 1824, the khan’s power was finally liquidated, and Kazakh lands became part of the Russian Empire.
The southern part of modern Kazakhstan, which used to be the Senior Zhuz but lost its independence, was annexed to Russia during the Central Asian campaigns in the second half of the 19th century. The territory of the resettlement of the Kazakhs was divided between the Turkestan and West Siberian governor generals, as well as the Orenburg province. During this period they began to be called Kyrgyz-Kaisaks, so as not to be confused with Russian Cossacks.
But in 1917 the collapse of the Russian Empire took place, the period of the Civil War began, which had a significant impact on the fate of the Kazakhs and played a decisive role in the formation of the Kazakh SSR.
Period of confrontation
During the Civil War, political and armed struggle was waged on the territory of modern Kazakhstan. At this time, national autonomies formed - in the north - Alash (Alash-Orda) with a center in Semipalatinsk, and in the south - Turkestan with its capital in Kokand. Both state entities were liquidated during the Civil War by the Bolsheviks: the first in 1920, and the second in 1918. On their territory, respectively, the Kyrgyz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic and Turkestan Soviet Republic were formed.
Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
At the time of its formation on July 16, 1920, the territory of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic included most of modern Kazakhstan. It did not include only the territories in the south of the country, which, as mentioned above, were included in the Turkestan Soviet republic. But in the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were Karakalpakia and the modern Orenburg region, and Orenburg was its administrative center. The Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the rights of autonomy was included in the RSFSR, as, indeed, Turkestan.
During its existence, the territory of the KASSR has undergone significant changes. So, in 1924-1925, it included the southern territories of modern Kazakhstan, which until then had been an integral part of the Turkestan Soviet Republic.
Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Considering that the “Kyrgyz-kaisaki” variant was not the self-name of the Kazakhs, in April 1925 the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed into the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The capital was moved from Orenburg to Kyzyl-Orda, previously called the Ak-Mechet, and the Orenburg region itself was separated from the territory of autonomy and transferred to the direct administration of the RSFSR. In 1927, there was another transfer of the capital, this time to Alma-Ata, which remained the administrative center of various state entities of the Kazakhs until 1997, that is, 70 years.
In 1930, the Karakalpak Autonomous Region was separated from the KazASSR, which was transferred to the direct subordination of the RSFSR. Thus, the territory of the future Kazakh USSR was formed almost completely, and only minor changes occurred in the future.
Education of the Kazakh SSR
In 1936, a new Constitution was adopted in the USSR, according to which the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic acquired the status of a union republic. In this regard, she was removed from the RSFSR, having received equal rights with her, and since then she began to be called the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. So there was the formation of the Kazakh SSR.
Management in the Kazakh SSR
In fact, the administration of the Kazakh SSR was completely concentrated in the hands of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, formed in 1937, which was an integral part of the CPSU. The main person of the republic was the First Secretary of the party. Although the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan was considered the nominally collective head of the republic. And the Supreme Council itself was the legislative body. It was headed by the Chairman of the Presidium until 1990, and then by the Chairman of the Supreme Council.
The territorial division of the Kazakh SSR
The Kazakh SSR had an administrative structure similar to the territorial division of other Soviet republics. In total, 19 regions were formed at different times. At the beginning of the 60s, some regions of the Kazakh SSR were united into territories (Tselinny, West Kazakhstan, South Kazakhstan), however, with the preservation of their administrative functions. But already in the mid-60s, it was decided to abandon such territorial division.
Symbolism
Like any state entity, the Kazakh SSR had its own symbols - a flag, coat of arms and anthem.
The first flag of the republic was a red banner with the inscription "Kazakh SSR" in Russian and Kazakh, as well as with a hammer and sickle in the upper left corner. It was this banner as a state that was fixed in the Constitution of the Kazakh SSR of 1937. But in 1953 significant changes took place: the inscription was removed, but a five-pointed star and a blue stripe in the lower part of the panel were added. In this form, the flag of the Kazakh SSR existed until the republic left the Union.
Then, in 1937, the coat of arms of the Kazakh SSR was adopted. Unlike the flag, it has undergone minimal changes during its existence. His image is presented below.
The anthem of the Kazakh SSR was approved in 1945. In it, to the music of Mukan Tulebaev, Eugene Brusilovsky and Latif Hamidi, the words of Kayum Mukhamedkhanov, Abdilda Tazhibaev and Gabit Musrepov were put .
The development of the national economy
During the years of Soviet rule, the Kazakh SSR reached unprecedented economic indicators and the level of development of the national economy. At this time, industry was actively developing, construction of factories and factories was carried out, virgin lands were rising, Baikonur cosmodrome was built, the capital of the Kazakh SSR Alma-Ata was rebuilt. Particularly intensively developed metallurgy, engineering, coal mining.
But one should not forget the period of mass starvation, forced collectivization, and repressions of the national intelligentsia that the people of Kazakhstan survived in the 1920s and 1930s.
Liquidation of the Kazakh SSR
The democratic processes that began in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 80s could not but touch the Kazakh SSR, in which centrifugal tendencies intensified. In 1986, the first anti-government rally in the USSR was held in the capital of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata. He was a protest at the appointment from Moscow of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan as a person who had never been in the republic before. The movement was brutally suppressed with the use of military units.
In 1989, Nursultan Nazarbayev, formerly the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, became the First Secretary. On April 24 of the following year, the Supreme Council elected him president. In October 1990, the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Kazakhstan was adopted. After the August putsch Nazarbayev quit the CPSU. In December 1991, the full independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan was proclaimed. So the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic ceased to exist.