The Resistance of the sharuas in the Semipalatinsk region during the period of forced modernization of aul (1929-1931)

Research Article

Abstract

The article analyzes the causes, driving forces, and consequences of peasant resistance during the forced modernization of the village in 1929-1931. The authors examine the political and socio-economic factors that led to the resistance of peasants, including forced collectivization, dekulakization, and the repressive measures of the Soviet authorities. The article explores the nature and excesses of agrarian policies, including the campaigns for the settlement of nomadic and semi-nomadic Kazakh households, meat and grain procurement campaigns, and the policy of eliminating wealthy farms. It is noted that the forced modernization of the late 1920s led to the destruction of traditional Kazakh society and provoked open discontent among peasants in the form of armed uprisings. However, the Soviet authorities, ignoring the people's grievances, viewed the protests of workers in rural centers and villages as actions of counter-revolutionary organizations and brutally suppressed them. Using the examples of the Shyngystau, Tolstoukhov, Abraly, and other uprisings in Eastern Kazakhstan, the article examines the forms of armed resistance, key participants, and tactics of opposing state structures, as well as the significance of popular resistance in the context of the socio-economic transformations of that period. Special attention is given to the authorities’ response, the use of punitive measures, and the consequences of suppressing the uprisings. The study concludes that peasant resistance was a reaction to radical transformations that disrupted the traditional way of life of the nomadic and semi-nomadic populations. The research is based on archival sources stored in Kazakhstan’s state archives, including the State Archive of the Abai Region, the State Archive of the East Kazakhstan Region, the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Additionally, the article utilizes published documentary materials from the State Commission for the Full Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repressions.