University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1989 Qazaqjylyq| Nationalism and revolution in Kazakhstan, 1900-1920 Lyn R. Fisher The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Fisher, Lyn R., "Qazaqjylyq| Nationalism and revolution in Kazakhstan, 1900-1920" (1989). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 3337. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3337 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976 THIS IS AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT IN WHICH COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS. ANY FURTHER REPRINTING OF ITS CONTENTS MUST BE APPROVED BY THE AUTHOR, MANSFIELD LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA DATE : 1989 QAZAQJYLYQ: NATIONALISM AND REVOLUTION IN KAZAKHSTAN, 1900-1920 By Lyn R. Fisher B.A., University of Montana, 1979 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Montana 1989 Approved by: Chairman, Board of Examiners Dean, Graduate School 1 /•* "J $ : /} P Cf er*- / i / f ;) / _ t/-7— //77 ^ f '— Date UMI Number: EP34335 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. OiMsrtatfcm Publishing UMI EP34335 Copyright 2012 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Fisher, Lyn R., M.A., July 1989 History Qazaqjylyq: Nationalism and Revolution in Kazakhstan, 1900-1920 (215 pp.) Director: Frederick Skinner The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of modern nationalism by the Kazakhs of northern Central Asia at this time. The Russian empire conquered and colonized Kazakhstan in the 1800s. The Kazakhs were traditional pastoral nomads. They had developed a unique "nomad nationalism,11 a powerful self-identity as "free riders of the Steppe." Russian rule imposed modernization on the Kazakhs. By the late nineteenth century, Kazakh nomadism was declining rapidly. A small Kazakh educated elite arose due to the introduction of modern education. As the Kazakh nomad masses grew more desperate, the intellectuals sought to prevent the complete destruction of Kazakh culture. Russian colonization flooded the Steppe. The Kazakh intellectuals were compelled to develop rapidly. Just as they were coalescing, the educated elite was confronted by the turmoil of Russia1s revolutionary era. Between 1900 and 1920, the Kazakh intellectuals transformed from social reformists to democratic nationalists to revolutionaries. That transformation, and the dynamic relations between the Kazakh secular intellectuals, religious reformists, and traditional leadership, against the background of the Russian revolutions, is one theme of this study; the goal is to provide perspective on modernization of nomads, as well as to contrast modern and nomad nationalism. This study is based on exhaustive research into English-language sources. Russian and Kazakh sources in translation were utilized extensively as well. The intention was to synthesize the scholarly findings in this field. The bibliography is intended as a detailed research tool in the study of pastoral nomads, particularly the Kazakhs, modernization, and nationalism. The transliteration system is based on that of the Library of Congress, modified to achieve consistency due to the peculiar history of Kazakh orthography. All dates to 1917 are Old Style, thirteen days behind the modern calendar; New Style chronology begins with 1918. This study of Kazakh nationalism in the revolutionary era provides useful perspective regarding pastoral nomadism in the modern world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1 . The Free Horsemen of the Steppe 4 Chapter 2. Kazakhstan and the Tsars 11 Chapter 3. Russification as Modernization 21 Chapter 4. Nomad Nationalism, 1800-1900 31 Chapter 5. Qazaq Nationalism, 1900-1916 48 Chapter 6. Steppe Aflame: Revolt of 19 16 75 Chapter 7. Revolutionary Nationalism, 1917-1920 95 Conclusion 118 Appendix Figure 1. Physical Geography 125 Figure 2. Natural Vegetation 126 Figure 3. The Kazakh Hordes 126 Figure 4. The Kazakh Khanate 127 Figure 5. Tsarist Oblasts 128 Figure 6. Tsarist Uezds 129 Figure 7. Population Centers, 19 11 130 Figure 8. Population Statistics, 1896-1916 131 Figure 9. The Impact of Russian Colonization, 1896-1916 . 132 iii Figure 10. The Revolt of 19 16 133 Figure 11. Portraits 134 Figure 12. Ali Khan Bukeykhanov 135 Notes 136 Bibliography Reference 160 History General 161 Tsarist Era ..... 163 Soviet Era 167 Travelers* Tales 170 Documents 171 Historiography 172 Nationalism 174 Related Works Nomadism 180 Geography 183 Demography 185 Political ; 186 Cultural 188 Industrialization 191 Agriculture 192 Index 194 iv INTRODUCTION Modern Kazakh nationalism arose in the latter 1800s, from the consolidation of tsarist rule, intense Russian colonization, and the influence of modern education and Western ideas. The Russians crushed armed resistance by the nomadic Kazakhs by the mid-1800s. Kazakh society was gripped by the forces of modernization. Kazakh thinkers were enveloped by Russian cultural developments and their world became ordered by Russian definitions. There arose naturally two clashing perspectives between bitter anti-Russian hostility and the desire for the opportunities of westernization. Thus, from the outset, the Kazakh intelligentsia was split between those who opposed all Russian, thereby Western, socioeconomic changes, who are characterized as "traditionalists," and those who sought to advance the Kazakh nation via Russian, that is, Western, progress, who are termed "westernizers." By the early twentieth century, this dichotomy developed into opposition between traditionalist nationalists and progressive westernists. A third element was Islam, itself split between reformists and conservatives, and the related pan-Turkist idealists. The Kazakh intellectual leaders were divided by perspective but all shared deeply 1 2 the goal of a modern Kazakh nation, Qazaqjylyq. These first Kazakh nationalists were few in number but very significant politically. In the dozen years prior to World War I, they matured swiftly in their nationalism. By the time of the Russian revolutions, the Kazakh intellectual leaders were divided between westernists who included class-struggle in their outlook and nationalists distressed by the ethnocultural struggle between Kazakh nomad and Russian colonist. Yet another fracture-line appeared in this period, that between the Kazakhs of the northern steppe and those of the southern desert-mountain region. The northern Kazakhs were much more experienced with the Russian invaders. The southern Kazakhs were enmeshed in the sedentary culture of Turkestan. The northern Kazakhs tended to be more nationalistic and Russified, while the southern Kazakhs were much more anti-Russian and pan-Islamic. In cruder form, these characteristics applied to the general population as well as the educated elite. During the revolutions, the Kazakh intelligentsia fragmented along these major faults and therefore they never presented a united front, but rather a complex amorphousness. The great majority of Kazakhs were barely aware of the ideological struggle in their desperate battle to survive the wrenching blows of modernization upon their nomadic culture and economy. The intellectuals were divided by too many variant forces — inter-tribal rivalries, religious attitudes, class-consciousness, regionalism, educational differences — that they shifted from camp to camp during the civil war in response to the complicated dynamics of Russians versus natives, Whites versus Reds, liberals versus extremists, 3 pan-Turkists versus national autonomists versus federalists, and, not least, nomads versus sedentes. In the end, those Kazakh intellectuals who resisted the Soviet triumph were destroyed, while those who compromised with the Bolsheviks for their people's sake were eliminated when their stewardship was no longer needed. Independent Kazakh nationalism flowered and withered within a single lifetime. CHAPTER ONE The Free Horsemen of the Steppe Are your livestock and your soul still healthy? — Traditional Kazakh greeting. The Kazakhs were one of the last great nomadic peoples of the modern age. Pastoral nomadism evolved in relation to its natural environment, in contrast with the civilized pattern of conquering the land. Sedentary societies thus relegate nomads to the primitive world, desiring to save them by settling them. Pastoral nomads detest civilization with a .2 fervent belief in the spiritual supremacy of nomadism. These opposing prejudices have always colored the historical interactions of nomads with the civilized world, and even more so the study of nomads by scholars. The student of nomadism must seek to appreciate, as much