THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

76
THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND
concerning the national and religious identity must not be touched, and
must be written in the context of materialist and atheist viewpoints.
Besides, the success of the Soviet people had to be underlined. It was
also essential to praise Party and its leaders in Moscow.
Kenesary Kasymuly had to be evaluated as a reactionary feudal
and monarchical movement’s leader in the Kazak historiography during
the Soviet period, while he was considered as a hero of the national
liberation movement in the post-Soviet era. The reason for this
radical change in views and assessments is clear. It is the fact that
history books of the Soviet period needed to be written according
to Marxist-Leninist principles and within the ideological framework.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the countries gained their
independence, there have been efforts to re-search, revise, reinterpret
and rewrite the history, as well as to purify it from the ideological
stereotypes of the Soviet era.
The recording of the Kenesary Kasymuly rebellion began immediately
after his death, during the era of Tsarist Russia. Baron Peter
Uslar’s 102 work is considered as the first record mentioning Kenesary
in details. Uslar’s “Chetyre mesyatsa v Kirgizskoy Stepi” (Four Months
in the Kazak Steppe), was published in 1848. The author, who reflects
the Russian point of view, called Kenesary a “bandit” and a “rioter”,
and called the people around him a “gang”. He depicted the moment
he met Kenesary as “I was face to face with a famous bandit who had
been shaking the steppes for a long time”. Baron stated that as he
was familiar with the mentality of the Kazaks and because he knew
the importance given to the body structure of the heroes by the
Kazaks as well as his great influence over his people, he expected a
body unique to a hero. Surprisingly and contrary to his expectations,
he found Kenesary not so tall and also thin. Uslar described him as
“His slightly slanted eyes gleamed with intelligence mixed with cunningness,
while his physiognomy never demonstrated the brutality,
which he exhibited in many cases”. 103
Baron Uslar also recorded that Kenesary treated him not as a prisoner
but as a guest, and even indicated that he was pleased to meet
Uslar. Kenesary added that he himself was the most diligent servant
102 Baron Peter (von) Uslar was a Russian officer, military engineer, linguist and ethnographer.
He was a prominent Caucasian specialist of the 19 th century. Uslar participated in the
military campaigns, sent to suppress Kenesary movement in 1843-44 (http://myaktobe.kz/
archives/38393).
103 Uslar, P.K. “Chetyre mesyatsa v Kirgizskoy Stepi” (Four Months in the Kazak Steppes),
Otechestvennye zapiski, 1848, no: 10, http://rus-turk.livejournal.com/400427.html (Accessed
October 2015).