Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2021) |
| 1936–1991 | |||||||||
;_Flag_of_Kazakhstan_(1991%E2%80%931992).svg) Flag (1953–1991)
 State emblem
(1978–1991) | |||||||||
| Motto: "Барлық елдердің пролетарлары, бірігіңдер!" "Barlyq elderdıñ proletarlary, bırıgıñder!"(transliteration) "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" | |||||||||
| Anthem: "Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасының мемлекеттік гимны" "State Anthem of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic" | |||||||||
 Location of Kazakhstan (red) within the Soviet Union | |||||||||
| Status | 1936–1990: Union Republic of the Soviet Union 1990–1991: Union Republic with priority of the legislation of Kazakhstan | ||||||||
| Capital | Alma-Ata | ||||||||
| Largest cities | Karaganda Pavlodar Shymkent Semipalatinsk Nikolsk | ||||||||
| Official languages | Kazakh · Russian | ||||||||
| Minority languages | Uzbek · Uyghur · Tatar · Kyrgyz · Azerbaijani · Korean · German · Ukrainian | ||||||||
| Religion | State atheism | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Kazakh Soviet | ||||||||
| Government | Unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party Soviet socialist republic (1936–1990) Unitary presidential republic (1990–1991) | ||||||||
| First Secretary | |||||||||
• 1936–1938 (first) | Levon Mirzoyan | ||||||||
• 1991 (last)[2] | Nursultan Nazarbayev | ||||||||
| Head of state | |||||||||
• 1936–1937 (first) | Uzakbai Kulymbetov | ||||||||
• 1990 (last) | Nursultan Nazarbayev | ||||||||
| Head of government | |||||||||
• 1936–1937 (first) | Uraz Isayev | ||||||||
• 1991
(Last) | Sergey Tereshchenko | ||||||||
| Legislature | Supreme Soviet | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Elevation to a Union Republic | 5 December 1936 | ||||||||
| 16 December 1986 | |||||||||
• Sovereignty declared | 25 October 1990 | ||||||||
• Renamed Republic of Kazakhstan | 10 December 1991 | ||||||||
• Independence declared | 16 December 1991 | ||||||||
• Independence recognised | 26 December 1991 | ||||||||
| HDI (1991) | 0.684 medium | ||||||||
| Currency | Soviet rouble (Rbl) (SUR) | ||||||||
| Time zone | (UTC+4 to +6) | ||||||||
| Calling code | +7 31/32/330/33622 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | SU | ||||||||
| Internet TLD | .su | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Kazakhstan | ||||||||
| Eastern Bloc |
|---|
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| History of Kazakhstan |
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The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Being located in northern Central Asia, the Kazakh SSR was created on 5 December 1936 from the erstwhile Kazakh ASSR, which was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. It shared borders with its fellow Soviet republics of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, while also sharing an international border with the People's Republic of China.
At 2,717,300 square kilometres (1,049,200 sq mi) in area, it was the second-largest republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata (today known as Almaty). During its existence as a Soviet Socialist Republic, it was ruled by the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR (QKP). It was the most economically advanced of the central Asian Soviet Republics, having a significant base in mineral extraction and agriculture.[3]
On 25 October 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR declared its sovereignty on its soil. QKP first secretary Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected president in April of that year – a role he remained in until 2019. On 17 March 1991, the Kazakh SSR accepted the New Union Treaty wirh 95% of citizens voting in favor.[4]
The Kazakh SSR was renamed the Republic of Kazakhstan on 10 December 1991, which declared its independence six days later, as the last republic to secede from the USSR on 16 December 1991. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved on 26 December 1991 by the Soviet of the Republics. The Republic of Kazakhstan, the legal successor to the Kazakh SSR, was admitted to the United Nations on 2 March 1992.
Name
[edit]The republic was named after the Kazakh people, a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia who formed the majority in the Kazakh SSR's territory. Historically, the Kazakhs were nomads who created a powerful khanate in the region before being defeated and annexed by the Russian Empire.
History
[edit]
Established on 26 August 1920, it was initially called Kirghiz ASSR (Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and was a part of the Russian SFSR. On 15–19 April 1925, it was renamed Kazak ASSR (subsequently Kazakh ASSR) and on 5 December 1936 it was elevated to the status of a Union-level republic, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
In September 1920, the Ninth Soviet Congress of Turkestan called for the deportation of illegal settler colonists in the Northern parts of the country.[5] The proposed land reform began in 1921 and lasted until 1927, targeting Russian settlers, Ukrainians and Cossacks in the region and from 1920 to 1922, Kazakhstan's Russian population dropped from approximately 2.7 to 2.2 million.[5] A further 15,000 Cossack settler colonists were deported between 1920 and 1921 as part of the process of returning control and sovereignty of land to the Kazakhs.[6]
On 19 February 1925 Filipp Goloshchyokin was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party in the newly created Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic. From 1925 to 1933 he ran the Kazakh ASSR with an iron grip, surprisingly with virtually zero interference from Moscow.[7] He played a prominent part in the construction of the Turkestan-Siberia railway, which was constructed to open up Kazakhstan's mineral wealth.
After Joseph Stalin ordered the forced collectivization of agriculture throughout the Soviet Union, Goloshchyokin ordered that Kazakhstan's largely nomadic population was to be settled in collectivized farms. This, alongside the disastrous agricultural and scientific policies of Trofim Lysenko, eventually culminated in the deadly Kazakh famine of 1930–1933 in Kazakhstan which killed between 1 and 2 million people.[8][7]
In 1937 the first major deportation of an ethnic group in the Soviet Union began, with the removal of the Korean population from the Russian Far East to Kazakhstan. Over 170,000 people were forcibly relocated to the Kazakh and Uzbek SSRs.[9]
Kazakhstani Korean scholar German Kim assumes that one of the reasons for this deportation may have been Stalin's intent to oppress ethnic minorities that could have posed a threat to his socialist system or he may have intended to consolidate the border regions with China and Japan by using them as political bargaining chips.[10] Additionally, historian Kim points out that 1.7 million people perished in the Kazakh famine of 1931–1933, while an additional one million people fled from the Republic, causing a labour shortage in that area, which Stalin sought to compensate by deporting other ethnicities there.[10]
Over one million political prisoners from various parts of the Soviet Union passed through the Karaganda Corrective Labor Camp (Karlag) between 1931 and 1959, with an unknown number of deaths.[11] The Great Purge affected many Kazakh families, sometimes even decimating entire lineages.[7][12]
Major improvements in literacy were recorded, by the 1960s nearly 97% of the country was literate with minimal disparity between male and female citizens. Various forms of technical and research-oriented education were provided to the citizens, which led to the fading away of the traditionalist culture systems.[13][14]
During the industrialization drives ordered by Joseph Stalin and the shift of key industries from the Eastern Front (World War II), Kazakhstan developed many oil wells, mines, steel plants and mineral refineries. However, the focus on heavy industry stunted the development of light industries that could manufacture consumer goods.[15] In 1949, the Turkestan–Siberia Railway was constructed in the Kazakh SSR which linked the country to Russia via rail. Thousands of kilometers of road were constructed throughout the country, linking the previously disconnected parts of the country and facilitating development.[16] Many Kazakhs served with distinction in the Great Patriotic War, with Bauyrzhan Momyshuly, Manshuk Mametova and Sadyk Abdujabbarov becoming household names. (see List of Kazakh Heroes of the Soviet Union)
During the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet citizens were urged to settle in the Virgin Lands of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. This was initiated by Nikita Khrushchev to utilize potential land for cultivation and to boost agricultural production.[16] From the 1960s onwards, many manufacturing units for chemicals, defense equipment and alloys sprung up throughout the country.[15] Agriculture soon became an important part of the economy, with wheat, beetroot, rice and cotton being grown in the country.[16]
The Baikonur Cosmodrome was built in the 1950s and served as a launchpad for the ambitious Soviet space program, which intensely competed with the Americans' space efforts. Baikonur was the launch site of several landmark operations, launching the pivotal missions involving Sputnik 1, Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and Toktar Aubakirov.[17][18]
During the 22 year tenure of Dinmukhamed Kunaev, the Kazakh SSR saw further advancements in economic prosperity, energy production and industrialization.[7] He enjoyed a strong working relationship with Leonid Brezhnev, which saw him rise to prominence in the Soviet Politburo. Kunaev was extremely popular among the people due to his growth-oriented policies and improvements in living standards. Many people in modern day Kazakhstan express fondness for his premiership.[19][20]
The immigration policies of the USSR led to a drastic influx of Russians, eventually skewing the ethnic composition of the republic. With non-Kazakhs becoming the majority, the use of the Kazakh language declined and would only see a revival after the dissolution of the USSR. The Russian language would become the Lingua franca and dominant language. Other immigrant nationalities in the SSR included Ukrainians, Germans, Kyrgyz, Belarusians, Koreans, Tatars, and Uyghurs. Kazakhs mixed well with the immigrants and helped create an inclusive multi-ethnic state.[7] The Kazakh SSR had the highest concentration of Germans in the enitre country. Post Kazakh independence, many of these immigrants have chosen to emigrate to countries like Russia, Germany and Ukraine.
Dissolution
[edit]In 1986, the dismissal of Dinmukhamed Kunaev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan by the last Soviet general secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, proved to be highly controversial. Riots would break out for four days between 16 and 19 December 1986 [now known as Jeltoqsan] by student demonstrators in Brezhnev Square in the capital city, Alma-Ata. The replacement of Konayev, who was very popular, by Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian, would stoke major discontent among the native population. 168–200 civilians were killed in the uprising. The events then spilled over to other prominent cities such as Shymkent, Pavlodar, Karaganda and Taldykorgan.[21][22]
On 25 March 1990, Kazakhstan held its first elections with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet elected as its first president. Later that year on 25 October, it then declared sovereignty. The republic participated in a referendum to preserve the union in a different entity with 94.1% voting in favour. It did not happen when hardline communists in Moscow took control of the government in August. Nazarbayev then condemned the failed coup and prepared to declare independence.
As a result of those events, the Kazakh SSR was renamed to the Republic of Kazakhstan on 10 December 1991. It declared independence on 16 December[23] (the fifth anniversary of Jeltoqsan), becoming the last Soviet constituency to secede. Its capital was the site of the Alma-Ata Protocol on 21 December 1991 that dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States in its place, which Kazakhstan promptly joined. The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist as a sovereign state on 26 December 1991 and Kazakhstan became an internationally recognized independent state. On 28 January 1993, the new Constitution of Kazakhstan was officially adopted.
Population
[edit]
According to the 1897 census, the earliest census taken in the region, Kazakhs constituted 81.7% of the total population (3,392,751 people) within the territory of contemporary Kazakhstan. The Russian population in Kazakhstan was 454,402, or 10.95% of total population; there were 79,573 Ukrainians (1.91%); 55,984 Tatars (1.34%); 55,815 Uyghurs (1.34%); 29,564 Uzbeks (0.7%); 11,911 Moldovans (0.28%); 4,888 Dungans (0.11%); 2,883 Turkmens; 2,613 Germans; 2,528 Bashkirs; 1,651 Jews; and 1,254 Poles.
| Ethnic Composition of Kazakhstan (census data)[24] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | 1926 | 1939 | 1959 | 1970 | 1979 | 1989 |
| Kazakh | 58.5 | 37.8 | 30.0 | 32.6 | 36.0 | 40.1 |
| Russian | 18.0 | 40.2 | 42.7 | 42.4 | 40.8 | 37.4 |
| Ukrainian | 13.88 | 10.7 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| Belarusian | 0.51 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| German | 0.82 | 1.50 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 6.1 | 5.8 |
| Tatar | 1.29 | 1.76 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.0 |
| Uzbek | 2.09 | 1.96 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.0 |
| Uyghur | 1.01 | 0.58 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| Korean | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | ||
Famines
[edit]The most significant factors that shaped the ethnic composition of the population of Kazakhstan were the 1920s and 1930s famines. According to different estimates of the effects of the Kazakh famine of 1930–1933, up to 40% of Kazakhs (indigenous ethnic group) either died of starvation or fled the territory.[25] Official government census data report the contraction of Kazakh population from 3.6 million in 1926, to 2.3 million in 1939.[26][27]
Economy
[edit]Upon the start of the Second World War, many large factories were relocated to the Kazakh SSR.
The Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site and Baikonur Cosmodrome were also built here.
After the war, the Virgin Lands Campaign was started in 1953. This was led by Nikita Khrushchev, with the goal of developing the vast lands of the republic and helping to boost Soviet agricultural yields. However it did not work as promised, the campaign was eventually abandoned in the 1960s.[28]
Culture
[edit]In the early days of the Soviet Union, Kazakh culture was both developed and restrained, and later many Kazakh cultural figures were imprisoned, exiled, or killed in Joseph Stalin's purges. However, after the Stalinist era, Nikita Khrushchev's efforts to reinvigorate internationalism and furtherly weaken Kazakh culture were controversial in the Kazakh SSR.[12] Kazakhs viewed his internationalist goals as a call for "Russification".[12]
Beginning in 1937, the Soviet Government began a series of forced deportations of ethnic minorities, such as Soviet Koreans, the Volga Germans and various other minorities to the Kazakh SSR, a programme that ended only with Stalin's death in 1953.
References
[edit]- ^ Historical names:
- 1936–1991: Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian: Казахская Советская Социалистическая Республика; Kazakh: Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы, romanized: Qazaq Sovettik Sotsialistik Respublikasy)
- 1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (Russian: Республика Казахстан; Kazakh: Қазақстан Республикасы, romanized: Qazaqstan Respublikasy)
- ^ On 24 October 1990, article 6 on the monopoly of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan on power was excluded from the Constitution of the Kazakh SSR
- ^ Zhetibayev, Zhanture (2017). "The Economic Policies Applied To The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic In Khrushev's Period". Bulletin of Economic Theory and Analysis. 2 (2): 169–187. doi:10.25229/beta.293239.
- ^ "Independence Day of Kazakhstan | TURDEF". turdef.com. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
- ^ a b Martin, Terry (2001). The Affirmative Action Empire. Cornell University. p. 60.
- ^ Martin, Terry (2001). The Affirmative Action Empire. Cornell University. p. 61.
- ^ a b c d e "History of Kazakhstan | Map and Timeline". history-maps.com. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Volkava, Elena (26 March 2012). "The Kazakh Famine of 1930–33 and the Politics of History in the Post-Soviet Space". Wilson Center. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
- ^ Chang, Jon K. (31 January 2018). Burnt by the Sun: The Koreans of the Russian Far East. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 157–158, 170–171, 236. ISBN 978-0-8248-7674-6.
- ^ a b Kim, German N. (1 January 2003). "Koryo Saram, or Koreans of the Former Soviet Union: In the Past and Present". Amerasia Journal. 29 (3): 23–29. doi:10.17953/amer.29.3.xk2111131165t740. ISSN 0044-7471.
- ^ Peter Ford (25 May 2017). "Dark Tourism in Kazakhstan's Gulag Heartland". The Diplomat.
- ^ a b c Olcott, Martha (30 November 2011). "Kazakhstan's Soviet Legacy". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ "Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir". ccas.uok.edu.in. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Mynbayeva, Aigerim; Pogosian, Victoria (June 2014). "Kazakhstani School Education Development from the 1930s: History and Current Trends". Italian Journal of Sociology of Education. 6 (Italian Journal of Sociology of Education 6/2): 144–172. ISSN 2035-4983.
- ^ a b "Kazakhstan – ERIH". www.erih.net. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ a b c "Industrial development of pre-war Kazakhstan | world-nan.kz". world-nan.kz. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Mikovic, Nikola (8 June 2025). "Baikonur at 70: A Legacy Site Poised for a New Space Age". Modern Diplomacy. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ "Astronaut: Toktar Aubakirov". Space Launch Schedule. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ "Dinmukhamed Kunayev (1912 - 1993) - about him". library.kz. Archived from the original on 16 May 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Bigozhin, Ulan; Burkhanov, Aziz; Sabitov, Zhaxylyk (2025). "Qonaevstalgia: various images of Dinmukhammed Qonaev in post-Nazarbayev Kazakhstan". Central Asian Survey. 0: 1–21. doi:10.1080/02634937.2025.2511638. ISSN 0263-4937.
- ^ Pannier, Bruce (2 February 2012). "20th Anniversary Of Zheltoqsan Protest Marked". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Kara, Füsun (29 August 2024). "Almaatada 1986 Aralık Olayları:Jeltoksan". Journal of Turkish Studies (in Turkish). 7 (Volume 7 Issue 4-I): 417–426. doi:10.7827/TurkishStudies.3975.
{{cite journal}}:|issue=has extra text (help) - ^ Конституционный закон Республики Казахстан от 16 декабря 1991 года № 1007-XII «О государственной независимости Республики Казахстан»
- ^ Dave, Bhavna (11 March 2012). "Minorities and participation in public life: Kazakhstan". Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ Рыскожа, Болат (25 January 2012). "Во время голода в Казахстане погибло 40 процентов населения". Радио Азаттык.
- ^ "Äåìîñêîï Weekly - Ïðèëîæåíèå. Ñïðàâî÷íèê ñòàòèñòè÷åñêèõ ïîêàçàòåëåé". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ "Äåìîñêîï Weekly - Ïðèëîæåíèå. Ñïðàâî÷íèê ñòàòèñòè÷åñêèõ ïîêàçàòåëåé". Archived from the original on 16 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ Durgin, Frank A. Jr. (1962). "The Virgin Lands Programme 1954–1960". Soviet Studies. 13 (3). JSTOR: 255–80. doi:10.1080/09668136208410287.
Further reading
[edit]- Cameron, Sarah (2018). The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1501730436 online review.
External links
[edit]- Kazakhstan: Seven Year Plan for Prosperity by Dinmukhamed Konayev, a 1958 Soviet propaganda booklet
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