West Alash and its role on the way to the idea of Kazakh statehood

Abstract

In modern development of independent Kazakhstan, despite the global economic crisis, the pandemic and other difficulties, scientists pay special attention to the problem of differentiation of the pages of our history that have not yet been opened and thoroughly studied. And particular importance among them is attached to famine in Kazakhstan in the 1920s and 1930s and the history of Alash Orda. In connection with the new requirements for the social sciences and increased access to previously closed archival documents, historians make a significant contribution to the elimination of "white spots" in the history of Kazakhstan. In recent years, as a result of activities of the creative community of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the names of many social, political and cultural figures, unreasonably punished during the period of the Stalin’s cult of personality, have been returned. The leaders of the national movement in the early 20^th century were the leaders of Alash Orda, who defended justice, equality and national statehood in the Kazakh steppe. The main goals of the Alash movement were the following: preservation of the Kazakh nation, ensuring its integrity, preventing its division into classes and groups; revival of the Kazakh statehood; return of the seized lands of the Kazakh peasantry; establishment of complete equality of all the nations living in the territory of Kazakhstan; creation of a national military detachment, etc. Complete and realistic reconstruction of the past history is one of the main tasks of historical sciences today, including the history of national movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that occupies a significant place. This relates, first of all, to the Alash movement in Kazakhstan. In this article the authors describe West Alash, that was Alash Orda’s part, and Zhahansha Dosmukhamedov, who was one of its leaders and his hard work on the way to realizing all these goals.