THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

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THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND
The primary task of Soviet historians was to work on essential problems
of the people, the working class, and the peasantry. The most
significant tasks of the Soviet historians were the examination of the
class struggle, revolution and national liberation struggle, and the
investigation of the historical development of the economic structure
based on Marxist ideology. Soviet historians determined the system
as “we” and “others” proceeding from Soviet ideology and keep this
concept alive through its historiography and history books.
To fulfill the duties imposed by the system, Soviet historians needed
an environment for researching. Works would be produced in this
place. The Soviet system provided research centers, institutions, and
universities to create such an environment. But, at the same time, it
controlled the work that the environment produced. It would command
and control the type of product to be developed, which ingredients
will be used and how they will be prepared, the amount of latitude
and how it was presented. Therefore, Soviet historians were never free
or independent in choosing the profession of historian, in determining
the subject of research, in accessing to resources, in reading the
sources, and in approaching the writing and publications. They had
to follow the established rules. In the end, Soviet historians became
the owner of the product, which were fully determined by the rules
of the system. The ones who refused the rules were subjected to punishments.
They have been silenced in the different ways, deported
to Siberia, expelled abroad or were shot.
After the collapse of the Soviet system, Soviet historians and the
environment were also eliminated. However, the product of the system
and its environment, and Soviet historiography, which already
completed its mission, took its place in history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ağayev, Elnur, Sovyet İdeolojisi Çerçevesinde Türk Cumhuriyetlerinin
Tarih Yazımı ve Tarih Eğitimi: Azerbaycan Örneği (History Writing and History
Education of Turkic Republics in the Framework of Soviet Ideology:
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and Reforms, Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Ankara 2006.
“Акaдемик РАН И. Д. Ковaльченко (1923-1995). Труды и концепции”,
Отечественнaя история, Moscow, 1996. No. 6, pp. 85-109.
Azerbaycan’da Kabul Edilmiş Akademik Tezlerin Bibliyografyası, (1920-
1975 yılları), [Bibliography of the Accepted Academic Thesises in Azerbaijan
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Bünyadov, Teymur, “Gözəl İnsan, Böyük Alim”, Tarixvə Onun Problemləri