THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

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THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND
Russian Empire in Soviet historiography. M. N. Pokrovskiy evaluated
the policy of Russia in Central Asia as occupation and said “Turkestan
is the official colony of Russia” 169 . Among the young historians
who supported this idea of Pokrovskiy, there was A. M. Pankratova 170
who was to be the master of E. Bekmakhanov. These historians were
evaluating the inclusion of other communities into Russian Empire
as the colonization policy of Czarist Russia and were using the “absolute
evil” 171 concept for this policy. They saw economic factors,
in other words, commercial capital, new markets, and raw material
sources as the important pushing factors for the inclusion process
of communities into Russia. But after the death of M. N. Pokrovskiy,
these views of him were criticized and changed with Stalin’s concept
of “minimum evil” in 1937. From this point, even if Soviet historians
confessed that Czarist Russia colonized Central Asia and other regions,
they tried to put forward the progressive ways of this, and tried
to prove that they were included into Russia from their own desire.
A. M. Pankratova, who had great role in the preparations of the monograph
of the comprehensive work “Kazakh Soviet Union History,”
as the editor in chief, never gave up her principles. She wrote “We
can never legitimize the colonization policy of Czarist Russia.” 172 A.
M. Pankratova was among the scholars who were sent to Kazakhstan
during the Second World War. A. M. Pankratova had great influence
on E. Bekmakhanov’s understanding of the circumstances of the historical
period he was researching and also keeping his critical attitude
in spite of the negative dimensions of the period. During the Second
World War Soviet, historians had to propagandize for the ideology of
Pokrovskiy School were labeled as “the home for agents, terrorists and evils who masked
themselves properly”. But after the death of Stalin he was cleaned in 1960p. Mentor of E.
Bekmakhanov, A. M. Pankratova was among the scholars who adopted his opinions.
169 Pokrovski. M.N., Diplomatiya i Voyny Tsarskoy Rossii v XIX.Veke, Moscow,1923, p. 8
170 Anna Mihaylovna Pankratova is one of the Soviet Period historians who had great contributions
to Kazakhstan history and also E. Bekmakhanov’s mentor as in his own words,
“Second mother”. During Second World War she was among the scholars who were evacuated
from Moscow to Kazakhstan. During the years she lived in here she played an important
role in the preparation and publication of “Kazakh USSR History”. When E. Bekmakhanov
was criticized because of his studies, she was among a couple of people who supported his
acquittal when he was penalized.
171 Until 1936 Shamil, Kenesary and others were labeled as leaders who fought for freedom
against “public jail”. Bolshevists were castigating all the practices of Czarist Russia. As one
of the scholars who were known with the perspective criticizing colonizing policy of Czarist
Russia, M. N. Pokrovskiy defined this with “absolute evil”. But in 1937 Stalin described this
opinion as anti-Russian and changed with “minimum evil”.
172 Archive RAN, f.1577, opis 2. d.71.