This year is the 106th anniversary of the founding of "Alash" and its government - "Alash-Orda", which are considered the origins of modern Kazakhstan, formed in 1917 in Semey and existed until 1920, being disbanded by the Soviet authorities. Later, most of the figures of Alash-Orda were subjected to repression.
The establishment of the Alash national liberation movement was decided in July 1917 at the First All-Kazakh Congress in Orenburg. The main goal of Alash was the establishment of Kazakh statehood. The authors of the party programme were the statesman and politician Alikhan Bokeykhanov (leader of the Alash party), the educator and linguist Akhmet Baitursynov, the writer and poet Mirzhakyp Dulatov.
Colonial pressure, backwardness of traditional economy and patriarchal-clan relations, socio-economic difficulties gave a sharp impetus to the awakening of national identity and sense of patriotism among the advanced part of Kazakh society in the early twentieth century and pushed it to search for a way out of the situation. The Alash autonomy was established soon after the Bolsheviks came to power in the country. The reason for the formation of the autonomy was the desire of the intelligentsia to protect the people in the conditions of the collapse of the state, growing anarchy and the beginning of the Civil War.
This was facilitated primarily by the mutual influence of cultures, the formation in Kazakh society of a new generation of intellectual elite, brought up on national traditions and received, in addition to the Muslim spiritual, European education.
As is known, the figures of the Alash Orda were educated in Tsarist Russia, some of them even had the opportunity to receive European education at that time. In addition to Kazakh and Russian languages, representatives of the Alash Orda intelligentsia spoke Arabic, French, German and other foreign languages. It was the goal of Alash-Orda figures such as Baitursynov, Zhumabayev or Dulatov to educate themselves as a key way to improve the quality of life of the society.
The leaders of the national liberation movement were Alikhan Bukeykhanov, Akhmet Baitursynov, Mukhamedjan Tynyshpayev, Myrzhakyp Dulatov, Khalel and Zhansha Dosmukhamedov and many others, mostly graduates of higher educational institutions. For example, from the 20s of the XIX century until 1917, about 30 young Kazakhs studied at Kazan University only; 17 of them received legal education, the rest - medicine.
During this period, about 20 Kazakh students received higher education at St. Petersburg University, including Bakytzhan Karataev, Mustafa Shokai, Zhansha Dosmukhamedov and others who later became prominent public and political figures. Khalel Dosmukhamedov was a graduate of the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy, Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpayev was graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Railway Transport. According to incomplete data, before the revolution about 120 Kazakhs had higher education and about 700 had secondary education.
The Alash Party was created out of the national movement of Kazakh intellectuals. Its participants fought for the rights of the Kazakh population to land, self-government, preservation of language, national culture and traditions. They were members of the first two State Dums of the Russian Empire and took part in the activities of the main political parties of that time. The leaders of the Alash movement opposed the resettlement policy of the tsarist government and the seizure of indigenous lands in favour of settlers. They sought for the Kazakh population to obtain ownership of their land.
The leaders of Alash-Orda were guided by the principles of democracy and belonged to the liberal-democratic wing of the intelligentsia of the last century. They demanded voting rights for Kazakhs from Tsarist Russia, and afterwards from the Bolsheviks. Their idea was based on the idea that within a federal state there should be an autonomy capable of independent governance and endowed with proper political rights.
In 1913, the main core of the future party gathered around the newspaper "Kazakh" (founded by Alikhan Bukeikhanov, Akhmet Baitursynov and Mirzhakyp Dulatov). The authors of the publication popularised culture and science in their articles, covered issues of history, and supported and developed literature in the Kazakh language. Representatives of "Alash" also proposed to introduce income tax, to protect the rights of workers (according to the Menshevik programme), to introduce free compulsory education in the native language. The land issue was considered in detail in the programme. The ownership of land was assigned first of all to the indigenous population. "Alash" proposed to suspend the resettlement of peasants in Kazakhstan and return to the Kazakhs the unpopulated seized land areas.
According to the resolution of the All-Kazakh Congress, the future autonomy was to include the Bukeev Horde, the Ural, Turgai, Akmola, Semipalatinsk, Semirechensk, Syr Darya regions, Kazakh counties of Fergana, Samarkand and Amu Darya regions, areas of Transcaspian region and Altai province inhabited by Kazakhs. In fact, the Alash autonomy never fully controlled these territories. The city of Zhana-Semei, a suburb of Semipalatinsk, later renamed Alash, was chosen as the capital of the autonomy.
In Kazakhstan, in parallel to the Alash autonomy, the Turkestan autonomy was proclaimed at a Muslim congress held in Kokand under the leadership of the Shura-i-Islami. The leading place in its government was taken by representatives of the Alash movement - Mukhamedjan Tynyshpayev and Mustafa Shokai. The autonomy existed until February 1918 and was liquidated by the Bolsheviks.
Despite its short time of existence, the Alash autonomy and the Alash-Orda movement had a great impact on the history of Kazakhstan. Alash leaders first put forward the idea of creating a sovereign Kazakh state. The Alashordins made great efforts for the growth of self-consciousness and culture of the Kazakh people. Despite the defeat in the Civil War, the Alash intellectuals did not abandon the idea of creating Kazakh autonomy within the Soviet state.
By the coincidence of circumstances, the Republic of Alash as a sovereign state existed for a historical moment - a little more than two years. But this does not minimise its enduring historical role and significance. Alash autonomy became the first national territorial formation on the territory of the Russian part of Central Asia in the XX century, which had a very important historical significance. Thus, we can safely say that the formation of the Alash autonomy largely predetermined the creation of the Kazakh ASSR, then transformed into a union republic, which, in turn, gained independence and is now called the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The history of the Alash movement is one of the brightest and most worrying pages of Kazakhstan.
