THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 83
Mukhamedzhan Seralin, the Kazak poet and the editor of the Kazak
periodical Ai qap, published his collection of poems in 1903 (and
re-published for several times in the following years) long before the
Soviet regime. Seralin, in his poem “Top zhargan”, written in 1898, described
Kenesary as a “dishonest dictator who allied himself with other
biis and rich Kazaks merely to enrich themselves at the expense of
the Kazak masses”. 126 In this context, Seralin’s depictions fit the Tsarist
Russia’s discourse, and Kenesary was reflected as the one who used
the masses in his personal interests rather than the public problems.
Sanjar Aspendiyarov 127 , one of the first Kazak historians of the
Soviet period, published his work Qazaqstan Tarihynyn Ocherkteri
(Notes on the History of Kazakstan) in 1935. After describing for pages
Kenesary and his movement in a negative way, at the very end, the
author indicated that this revolt was one of the biggest mass uprisings
by the Kazaks, emerged to get rid of the colonial yoke of the
Tsarist Russia. In addition, Aspendiyarov stated that this period of the
Kazak history should be evaluated as the first phase of the national
liberation movement. 128 Probably the author had to criticize Kenesary
and his revolt and describe as a negative figure and event due to the
circumstances of his period. The oppression of the Kazak people by
the brutal Tsarist regime and by the local feudal lords was appropriate
according to the classical Marxist discourse in the Soviet Union.
However, it is quite significant that Aspendiyarov assessed Kenesary
revolt as the first phase of the national independence movement. A
few years later, Aspendiyarov lost his life due to Stalinist repression
and purges of the intelligentsia.
Eltok Dilmukhamedov was one of the Kazak intellectuals, who
wrote the thesis on Kenesary Kasymuly rebellion. Dilmukhamedov
tersburg, 1904, IV-XXXIV; Potanin, Grigorii. “Biyograficheskie svedeniya o Chokane Valikhanove”
(Biographical Data about Chokan Valikhanov), Valikhanov, Chokan. Sobraniye
sochineniy v pyati tomah (Collection of Chokan Valikhanov’s Works in Five Volumes),
Almaty, 1985, vol. 5, p. 365; Semiluzhinski (Yadrintsev), N. “Chokan Valikhanov i kul’turnye
vzyaimosvyazi narodov” (Chokan Valikhanov and Cultural Interrelations of the Peoples),
Valikhanov, Chokan. Sobraniye sochineniy v pyati tomah (Collection of Chokan Valikhanov’s
Works in Five Volumes). Almaty, 1985, vol. 5, p. 286; Valikhanov, Chokan. “The Genealogy
of the Kazak Khans and Sultans”, Sobraniye sochineniy v pyati tomah (Collection of
Chokan Valikhanov’s Works in Five Volumes), Almaty, 1985, vol. 4, p. 491.
126 Sabol, Steven, “Kazak Resistance to Russian Colonization: Interpreting the Kenesary
Kasymov Revolt, 1837–1847”, Central Asian Survey (June/September, 2003) 22(2/3), pp.
244-245; Kazak SSR Tarihy (History of Kazak SSR). Almaty, 1982, vol. 3, pp. 510-511.
127 Aspendiyarov is sometimes written as Asfendiyarov.
128 Aspendiyarov, Sanjar. Kazakstan tarihynyn ocherkteri (Notes of Kazakstan’s History). Almaty,
(1935) 1994, pp. 57-60.