; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , year_start = 1936 , event_start = Elevation to a Union Republic , date_start = 5 December , event1 = Jeltoqsan riots , date_event1 = 16 December 1986 , event2 = Sovereignty declared , date_event2 = 25 October 1990 , event3 = Renamed Republic of Kazakhstan , date_event3 = 10 December 1991 , event4 = Independence declared , date_event4 = 16 December 1991 , date_end = 26 December , event_end = Independence recognised , year_end = 1991 , p1 = Kazakh ASSR , s1 = Kazakhstan , status = Soviet socialist republic , religion = State atheism , image_flag = Flag of Kazakh SSR.svg , flag_type =

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

(1953–1991) , image_coat = Emblem of Kazakh SSR.svg , symbol_type = State emblem
(1978–1991) , national_motto = " Барлық елдердің пролетарлары, бірігіңдер!"
"Barlyq elderdıñ proletarlary, bırıgıñder!"
"Proletarians of all countries, unite!" , national_anthem = " Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасының мемлекеттік гимны"
"State Anthem of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic"

, government_type =

Unitary Unitary may refer to: Mathematics * Unitary divisor * Unitary element * Unitary group * Unitary matrix * Unitary morphism * Unitary operator * Unitary transformation * Unitary representation In mathematics, a unitary representation of a grou ...

Marxist-Leninist one-party soviet republic (1936–1990)

Marxist-Leninist presidential republic (1990–1991) , legislature =

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet (russian: Верховный Совет, Verkhovny Sovet, Supreme Council) was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USS ...

, demonym = Kazakh

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, title_leader = QKP First Secretary , leader1 = Levon Mirzoyan , year_leader1 = 1936–1938 (first) , leader2 = Nursultan Nazarbayev , year_leader2 = 1989–1990(last) , title_representative =

Head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

, representative1 = Uzakbay Kulumbetov , year_representative1 = 1936–1937 (first) , representative2 = Nursultan Nazarbayev , year_representative2 = 1990–1991 (last) , title_deputy =

Head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

, deputy1 = Uraz Isayev , year_deputy1 = 1936–1937 (first) , deputy2 = Sergey Tereshchenko , year_deputy2 = 1991 (last) , image_map = Soviet Union - Kazakh SSR.svg , image_map_caption = Location of Kazakhstan (red) within the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, capital = Alma-Ata , largest_city = capital , official_languages = Kazakh Russian , languages_type = Minority languages , languages = Uzbek Uyghur

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

Korean , time_zone = ( UTC+4 to +6) , calling_code = 7 31/32/330/33622 , cctld =

.su .su is an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that was designated for the Soviet Union (USSR) on 19 September 1990. Even though the Soviet Union itself was dissolved a mere 15 months later, the .su top-level domain remains in use to ...

, iso3166code = KZ , currency = Soviet rouble (Rbl) , currency_code = SUR , today =

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, HDI = 0.684 , HDI_year = 1991 , flag_p1 = Flag of The Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (1920-36).svg , flag_s1 = Flag of Kazakhstan (1992).svg The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the

transcontinental Transcontinental may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Transcontinental", a song by the band Pedro the Lion from the album ''Achilles Heel'' * TC Transcontinental, a publishing, media and marketing company based in Canada, a subsidiary o ...

constituent republics Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

of the

(USSR) from 1936 to 1991 in northern

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

. It was created on 5 December 1936 from the Kazakh ASSR, an autonomous republic of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. At in area, it was the second-largest republic in the USSR, after the

. Its capital was Alma-Ata (today known as Almaty). During its existence as a Soviet Socialist Republic, it was ruled by the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR (QKP). On 25 October 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR declared its sovereignty on its soil. QKP first secretary Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

in April of that year – a role he remained in until 2019. The Kazakh SSR was renamed the Republic of Kazakhstan on 10 December 1991, which declared its independence six days later, as the last republic to secede from the USSR on 16 December 1991. The Soviet Union was officially

disbanded The fifth season of the American television series ''Arrow'' premiered on The CW on October 5, 2016, and concluded on May 24, 2017, with a total of 23 episodes. The series is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, a costumed crime-fight ...

on 26 December 1991 by the

Soviet of the Republics The Soviet of Nationalities (russian: Совет Национальностей, ''Sovyet Natsionalnostey'') was the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal an ...

. The Republic of Kazakhstan, the legal successor to the Kazakh SSR, was admitted to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

on 2 March 1992.

Name

The republic was named after the Kazakh people, Turkic-speaking former

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

s who sustained a powerful khanate in the region before

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n and later Soviet domination. The Soviet Union's spaceport, now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome, was located in this republic at Tyuratam, and the secret town of Leninsk (now known as Baikonur) was constructed to accommodate its personnel.

History

Formation

Established on 26 August 1920, it was initially called Kirghiz ASSR ( Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and was a part of the

. On 15–19 April 1925, it was renamed Kazak ASSR (subsequently Kazakh ASSR) and on 5 December 1936 it was elevated to the status of a Union-level republic, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. On 19 February 1925

Filipp Goloshchyokin Filipp Isayevich Goloshchyokin (russian: Филипп Исаевич Голощёкин) (born Shaya Itsikovich) (russian: Шая Ицикович) ( – October 28, 1941) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, and party functiona ...

was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party in the newly created Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic. From 1925 to 1933 he ran the Kazakh ASSR with virtually no outside interference. He played a prominent part in the construction of the Turkestan-Siberia railway, which was constructed to open up Kazakhstan's mineral wealth. After Joseph Stalin ordered the forced collectivization of agriculture throughout the Soviet Union, Goloshchyokin ordered that Kazakhstan's largely nomadic population was to be forced to settle in collective farms. This caused the deadly

Kazakh famine of 1930–1933 The Kazakh famine of 1930–1933, also known the Goloshchyokin Genocide, or Asharshylyk ( Kazakh: Ашаршылық, meaning 'famine' or 'hunger') was a famine during which approximately 1.5 million people died in the Kazakh Autonomous Social ...

in Kazakhstan which killed between 1 and 2 million people. In 1937 the first major deportation of an ethnic group in the Soviet Union began, the removal of the Korean population from the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

to Kazakhstan. Over 170,000 people were forcibly relocated. Over one million political prisoners from various parts of the Soviet Union passed through the Karaganda Corrective Labor Camp (KarLag) between 1931 and 1959, with an unknown number of deaths. During the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet citizens were urged to settle in the Virgin Lands of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The influx of immigrants, mostly

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

, skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. As a result, the use of the Kazakh language declined but has started to experience a revival since independence, both as a result of its resurging popularity in law and business and the growing proportion of Kazakhs. The other nationalities included

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, Belarusians,

Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply r ...

and others; Germans at the time of independence formed about 8% of the population, the largest concentration of Germans in the entire Soviet Union. Kazakh independence has caused many of these newcomers to emigrate.

Dissolution

Following the dismissal of Dinmukhamed Konayev, the First Secretary of the

Communist Party of Kazakhstan The Communist Party of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Коммунистік партиясы, ''Qazaqstan Kommunistık Partiasy'', QKP; russian: Коммунистическая партия Казахстана) is a banned political pa ...

by the last

Soviet general secretary The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...

, riots broke out for four days between 16 and 19 December 1986 known as Jeltoqsan by student demonstrators in Brezhnev Square in the capital city, Alma-Ata. Approximately 168–200 civilians were killed in the uprising. The events then spilled over to

Shymkent Shymkent (; Шымкент, Şymkent), known until 1993 as Chimkent ( uz, Çımkent, چىمكېنت; Yañalif: Çimkent ()); russian: Чимкент, translit=Chimkent (), is a city in Kazakhstan. It is near the border with Uzbekistan. It is ...

Pavlodar Pavlodar ( ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located 450 km northeast of the national capital Astana and 405 km southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. , the ci ...

, Karaganda and Taldykorgan. On 25 March 1990, Kazakhstan held its first elections with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet elected as its first president. Later that year on 25 October, it then declared sovereignty. The republic participated in a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

to preserve the union in a different entity with 94.1% voted in favour. It did not happen when hardline communists in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

took control of the government in August. Nazarbayev then condemned the failed coup. As a result of those events, the Kazakh SSR was renamed to the Republic of Kazakhstan on 10 December 1991. It declared independence on December 16 (the fifth anniversary of Jeltoqsan), becoming the last Soviet constituency to secede. Its capital was the site of the

Alma-Ata Protocol The Alma-Ata Protocols were the founding declarations and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus had agreed to the Belovezh Accords on 8 December 1991, dissolving the Soviet Union ...

on 21 December 1991 that dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010 ...

in its place which Kazakhstan joined. The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist as a sovereign state on 26 December 1991 and Kazakhstan became an internationally recognised independent state. On 28 January 1993, the new Constitution of Kazakhstan was officially adopted.

Population

According to the 1897 census, the earliest census taken in the region,

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also part ...

constituted 81.7% of the total population (3,392,751 people) within the territory of contemporary Kazakhstan. The Russian population in Kazakhstan was 454,402, or 10.95% of total population; there were 79,573

(1.91%); 55,984

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different Turki ...

(1.34%); 55,815 Uyghurs (1.34%); 29,564 Uzbeks (0.7%); 11,911 Moldovans (0.28%); 4,888

Dungans Dungan, Xiao'erjing: ; zh, s=东干族, t=東干族, p=Dōnggān zú, w=Tung1kan1-tsu2, , Xiao'erjing: ; russian: Дунгане, ''Dungane''; ky, Дуңгандар, ''Duñgandar'', دۇنغاندار; kk, Дүңгендер, ''Düñgende ...

(0.11%); 2,883

Turkmens Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...

; 2,613

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

; 2,528 Bashkirs; 1,651

; and 1,254

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...

Famines

The most significant factors that shaped the ethnic composition of the population of Kazakhstan were the 1920s and 1930s

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompan ...

s. According to different estimates of the effects of the

, up to 40% of Kazakhs (indigenous ethnic group) either died of starvation or fled the territory. Official government census data report the contraction of Kazakh population from 3.6 million in 1926, to 2.3 million in 1939.

Economy

Upon the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, many large factories were relocated to the Kazakh SSR. The Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site and Baikonur Cosmodrome were also built here. After the war, the Virgin Lands Campaign was started in 1953. This was led by

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, with the goal of developing the vast lands of the republic and helping to boost Soviet agricultural yields. However it did not work as promised, the campaign was eventually abandoned in the 1960s.

Culture

In the early days of the Soviet Union,

Kazakh culture Kazakhstan has a well-articulated culture based on the nomadic pastoral economy of the inhabitants. Islam was introduced to Kazakhstan in the 7th to 12th centuries. Besides lamb, many other traditional foods retain symbolic value. Kazakh culture i ...

was both developed and restrained, and later many Kazakh cultural figures were imprisoned, exiled, or killed in

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

's purges. However, after the Stalinist era,

's efforts to reinvigorate internationalism and furtherly weaken Kazakh culture were controversial in the Kazakh SSR. Kazakhs viewed his internationalist goals as a call for " Russification".

Notes

References

External links

''Kazakhstan: Seven Year Plan for Prosperity''
by Dinmukhamed Konayev, a 1958 Soviet propaganda booklet {{authority control Communism in Kazakhstan Republics of the Soviet Union States and territories established in 1936 States and territories disestablished in 1991 1936 establishments in the Soviet Union 1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Former socialist republics