Stalin's Campaign Against Kazakhstan
The end of the Cold War brought down the Iron Curtain and began to bring the full truth of Soviet Atrocities to the world. Many in the world had heard of numerous Soviet atrocities such as the Holodomor Famine of the Ukraine that killed over 7 million Ukrainians, the Red Army Purges of the 1930's, the Katyn Forest Massacre, and many more, but there are other atrocities that have not received as much attention, one of which is the campaign that Stalin launched against the region that is today known as the nation of Kazakhstan.
For centuries, the Kazakhs identified themselves not by their nationality, but by their clan. The clans lived nomadic lifestyles, migrating with their herds with the changing seasons. The clans were predominantly Muslim, but their religion was typically considered of secondary importance. Prior to the rise of Stalin, there had been long-standing tension between the Kazakh nomads who were the native inhabitants of the region and European settlers (mainly Russian, but other ethnic groups) who migrated into the region. Beginning in the 18th century, the Russians under the Czar wanted to settle the region, and some of the Kazakhs began to follow their lead in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but most stayed with the nomadic way of life that dominated the region for centuries. This created tension between the European settlers who wanted to modernize the region and who viewed the nomadic lifestyle as "backward," and the Nomadic Kazakhs who wanted to maintain their traditional way of life.
The chaos of the First World War and the Russian Civil War destabilized the region. Some clans launched armed revolts against Czarist forces in 1916, but were repressed. By 1920, the Bolsheviks took over the region. At this time, the Kazakhs had no understanding of Communism. The entire Bolshevik system was built on confusion and terror. Nobody knew who Stalin would target next, or why. Some of the Kazakh clans, usually minority ones, sided with the Soviets in the hopes of pursuing their own advancement in the new regime. When Stalin began to implement his policy of "collectivization" and "modernization," he faced some opposition from within his own party. Some Communist officials favored the nomadic lifestyle. They rightly concluded that this was the most best economy for the Steppe region and warned that destroying this nomadic lifestyle would devastate the economy of the Steppe. However, their opponents insisted that through forced collectivization, over 60% of the nomadic populace would eventually settle. At the same time that this was being debated, tension between European settlers and native Kazakhs continued to grow. The Kazakhs wanted all immigration stopped as they felt that it becoming too much and leading to competition of the regions resources. Unfortunately, immigration would not stop until 1975. In the meantime, Communist officials encouraged more immigration and also used the region to set up Gulags, as the vast territory made it perfect for setting up the Gulag prison camps. Unfortunately, the Communist officials who wanted to transform the region did not understand the life in the Steppe, nor did they know how to use the region effectively. They simply wanted their desires met without bring these matters into consideration, and this results were a disaster. Reverend Wurmbrand, who spent 14-years in Communist prisons in Romania after the Second World War, explained this mindset in his book Tortured for Christ. He explained that the Communists officials were blinded by materialism. For them, nothing exists besides matter, and to them, a man is like wood that can be shaped into what they want it to me. If many have to die so that the state prospers, then it's a necessary sacrifice. They cite quotes like "you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs," or "you cannot cut wood without making chips fly." These officials failed to realized that they were not cutting and shaping wood, they were cutting and shaping people and communities, but they didn't see it this way. Communist ideology destroyed any moral sense within them.
Prior to the outbreak of the famine, the first victims were the Kazakhs who fell victim to the "anti-Kulak campaign." Kulaks were considered to be a "privileged class," and the goal was to target influential Kazakhs and those deemed "prosperous" in order to destroy the leadership of the tribal communities. It's estimated that the Communist officials considered 5% of the population to be "Kulak" and 15% to be "class enemies." The Kulak campaign began in 1928 and began seizing property of well-off peasants. Many were eventually arrested and deported to labor camps elsewhere in the country. Children of Kulaks were also forbidden to attend Soviet schools as their families were considered "enemies of the state." The reason for attack on Kulak’s was that peasants were not joining the collective farm, so Stalin blamed the well-off peasants for this & decided to destroy them. The hope was to put an end to prosperous nomadic tribes and force the remaining tribes to collective farms and turn the region into a farming society. By the end of the first year of this program, over 20,000 Kazakh families (not counting individuals) had been deported for the crime of being a "Kulak." The tribes that remained were ordered to procure "grain quotas" for the state, for face imprisonment or deportation. Many had to sell their livestock to purchase grain to give to the state to avoid this. This ultimately decimated the tribes livestock holdings and gradually pushed to populace to starvation.
The Kazakhstan Famine was one of the many tragedies that resulted from Stalin's Five Year Plan of forced collectivization and industrialization. Stalin wanted strong results immediately and the authorities under him had no ideal how to get these results. They only thing they reasoned that they could do was to seize the livestock quickly and force the nomads onto collective farms right away. This was a disaster. Communist officials rapidly seized nomadic livestock. In 1929 the average number of animals per Aul was 41. By 1933 it was 2.2. Much of the livestock was seized too quickly, leading the animals to die and the meat to spoil during the transportation process, thus devastating the meat supply of the region. In addition, nomads had no idea how to farm, and much of the Steppe wasn't suited to collective farming, leading to a much lower agricultural output than what was planned. Communist authorities often forced the nomads into remote areas of the Steppe after they seized their grain. Upon arrival, they simply left the nomads to fend for themselves, which ultimately led many to starve. Making matters worse, much of the grain produced by these farms was seized by Communist Authorities and not given to the farm workers, which made the precarious food supply even bleaker. Collective farmers barely received enough food to live to the next day. This all resulted in a disastrous famine which in turn led to the increase in disease throughout the region.
The famine began in earnest in 1931 and lasted until 1934. The population of the region dropped from 4.2 million in 1926 to less than 3 million in 1934. It is estimated that 1.5 million Kazakhs died from disease, starvation, or from deportation/execution. This amounted to 1/3 of the Kazakh population. Making matters worse was the fact that the Communists showed favor to the European settlers, granting them better rations and further fueling the long-existing animosity between the two communities. Nevertheless, the Famine also affected European settlers living in the region and many perished as a result. It's estimated that a 1/4 of the entire population perished as a result of Stalin's policies. The ones who suffered most were the children. Thousands of children were abandoned by clans who could no longer care for them and there were crowded into orphanages where many died of diseae and starvation. None of this resonated with the authorities in Moscow. They wanted rapid industrialization, and Kazakhstan was of littler interest to them. Moreover, the Communist authorities cared about production and results, not the cost of human life.
The Kazakhs responded to this campaign in different ways. Some tried to resist, but this is what Stalin wanted, as it gave him a clear way to determine who was an enemy. Armed resistance also led to an increase in terror tactics, which ultimately came down on the entire populace, including those who did not resist. Communist Raiders repeatedly raided Auls and seized what animals were left. Rebels also lacked unity. Communists officials began to view all Kazakhs as potential rebels, leading to massive retaliatory actions. Revolts failed to succeed as the rebels were outnumbered and not unified. Most revolts were localized and focused on survival, not on overthrowing the repressive regime that destroyed their society. This reality led others to try fleeing, but that proved to be a dangerous undertaking as well. The only area where most Kazakhs could flee was to the Xinjiang province of China. However, the route was dangerous and even upon arrival there was no guarantee of safety. Xinjiang was also racked with Civil War and famine, and many Kazakhs were not welcome by the populace there. A feeling of self-preservation gripped the whole region and refugees brought only disease and starvation. This led many to turn them away. Even if the Kazakhs crossed the borders successfully, many Red Army units followed them in and continued to try and hunt them down. The only other options were to go to the labor camps and take you chances, or to become collaborators with the Communists. In different areas, some of the poorest Kazakhs tried to take advantage of the situation by joining the Communists and enrich themselves with the goods seized from the wealthier members of the populace. The dominant feeling that dominated the region was self-preservation. People simply tried to survive. Women and girls married themselves off if it helped them obtain food. People stole from each other, whatever aid that the Soviets brought was welcomed despite their repression. The entire clan unit crumbled and the populace became entirely dependent on the State, which is what Stalin wanted. In the end, it was only by the change in state policy that the famine ended.
By 1935, the Communist leaders finally realized what the natives had already known for centuries: the region was best served for raising livestock rather than massive collective farming, therefore the Bolshevik authorities allowed the nomadic lifestyle to resume. Despite the harsh measures of the Communist officials, they didn't want to entire populace wiped out, they desired production and without people, there would be no production. This led the officials to enact changes. The collective farm ideas began to be abandoned, and the nomad lifestyle permitted to resume, but it would be under Soviet Regulation. The Five-Year Plan affected numerous other regions of the country. Areas like the Ukraine, Volga, & North Caucuses also suffered severe famine due to Stalin's policies of forced collectivization. Stalin's purpose in Kazakhstan was similar to that of many other regions that were ultimately affected by famine. He wanted to modernize the nation (far more rapidly than the Czars did) and he wanted to force the populace to rely completely on Soviet Institutions.
Stalin viewed the nomadic life of the Kazakhs as "backward" and decided to implement a drastic change to the entire society within a few year period. Stalin pursued his own interests and goals for the region, not caring about the societal consequences. It was a disastrous decision. To implement his goals Stalin ordered the Communist authorities to forcibly seize the livestock that the nomads relied on for their survival and to bring the clans under direct control of the state.
The issue on whether or not Stalin's actions in Kazakhstan constituted a Genocide is an area of contention for many Genocide scholars. It's an undeniable fact that Soviet policies were to blame for this calamity. The seizing of livestock and forced collectivization on a land unsuitable to this kind of farming created this catastrophe. However, unlike the Armenian Genocide, Rwandan Genocide, or the Holocaust, there was no carefully organized plan for the systematic extermination of an entire group of people. It wasn't Stalin's intention to wipe out the indigenous Kazakh population. Stalin's desire was to transform the region into what he wanted it to be, and the fact that over a million people perished as a result wasn't of importance to him. Nevertheless, while this policy was not a plan of systematic extermination, it was without question a Crime Against Humanity. Sadly, it's a travesty that is not well-known in the world, but it should be. This terrible calamity must be realized and it should also serve as a dire warning about the danger of egotism. All too often people believe that they can make nations and lands into what they want it to be. They think they know more than those who've resided in the land and community for generations. They believe that they can tear down an existing society and rebuild it from the ground up, but this cannot be done. The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia tried to follow a similar philosophy, with catastrophic results, and the Kazakhstan famine is further illustration of the failure of this mentality. Too often, dictators try to make themselves into God, believing that they have the power over the world. The results are always fatal.
Sources:
Kinder, Robert. Stalin's Nomads. Power & Famine in Kazakhstan. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018.
Shayakhmetov, Mukhamet. The Silent Steppe: The Memoir of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin. New York: Overlook/Rookery, 2006.
Wurmbrand, Richard. Tortured for Christ. Bartlesville, OK: VOM Books, 1967.
For centuries, the Kazakhs identified themselves not by their nationality, but by their clan. The clans lived nomadic lifestyles, migrating with their herds with the changing seasons. The clans were predominantly Muslim, but their religion was typically considered of secondary importance. Prior to the rise of Stalin, there had been long-standing tension between the Kazakh nomads who were the native inhabitants of the region and European settlers (mainly Russian, but other ethnic groups) who migrated into the region. Beginning in the 18th century, the Russians under the Czar wanted to settle the region, and some of the Kazakhs began to follow their lead in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but most stayed with the nomadic way of life that dominated the region for centuries. This created tension between the European settlers who wanted to modernize the region and who viewed the nomadic lifestyle as "backward," and the Nomadic Kazakhs who wanted to maintain their traditional way of life.
The chaos of the First World War and the Russian Civil War destabilized the region. Some clans launched armed revolts against Czarist forces in 1916, but were repressed. By 1920, the Bolsheviks took over the region. At this time, the Kazakhs had no understanding of Communism. The entire Bolshevik system was built on confusion and terror. Nobody knew who Stalin would target next, or why. Some of the Kazakh clans, usually minority ones, sided with the Soviets in the hopes of pursuing their own advancement in the new regime. When Stalin began to implement his policy of "collectivization" and "modernization," he faced some opposition from within his own party. Some Communist officials favored the nomadic lifestyle. They rightly concluded that this was the most best economy for the Steppe region and warned that destroying this nomadic lifestyle would devastate the economy of the Steppe. However, their opponents insisted that through forced collectivization, over 60% of the nomadic populace would eventually settle. At the same time that this was being debated, tension between European settlers and native Kazakhs continued to grow. The Kazakhs wanted all immigration stopped as they felt that it becoming too much and leading to competition of the regions resources. Unfortunately, immigration would not stop until 1975. In the meantime, Communist officials encouraged more immigration and also used the region to set up Gulags, as the vast territory made it perfect for setting up the Gulag prison camps. Unfortunately, the Communist officials who wanted to transform the region did not understand the life in the Steppe, nor did they know how to use the region effectively. They simply wanted their desires met without bring these matters into consideration, and this results were a disaster. Reverend Wurmbrand, who spent 14-years in Communist prisons in Romania after the Second World War, explained this mindset in his book Tortured for Christ. He explained that the Communists officials were blinded by materialism. For them, nothing exists besides matter, and to them, a man is like wood that can be shaped into what they want it to me. If many have to die so that the state prospers, then it's a necessary sacrifice. They cite quotes like "you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs," or "you cannot cut wood without making chips fly." These officials failed to realized that they were not cutting and shaping wood, they were cutting and shaping people and communities, but they didn't see it this way. Communist ideology destroyed any moral sense within them.
Prior to the outbreak of the famine, the first victims were the Kazakhs who fell victim to the "anti-Kulak campaign." Kulaks were considered to be a "privileged class," and the goal was to target influential Kazakhs and those deemed "prosperous" in order to destroy the leadership of the tribal communities. It's estimated that the Communist officials considered 5% of the population to be "Kulak" and 15% to be "class enemies." The Kulak campaign began in 1928 and began seizing property of well-off peasants. Many were eventually arrested and deported to labor camps elsewhere in the country. Children of Kulaks were also forbidden to attend Soviet schools as their families were considered "enemies of the state." The reason for attack on Kulak’s was that peasants were not joining the collective farm, so Stalin blamed the well-off peasants for this & decided to destroy them. The hope was to put an end to prosperous nomadic tribes and force the remaining tribes to collective farms and turn the region into a farming society. By the end of the first year of this program, over 20,000 Kazakh families (not counting individuals) had been deported for the crime of being a "Kulak." The tribes that remained were ordered to procure "grain quotas" for the state, for face imprisonment or deportation. Many had to sell their livestock to purchase grain to give to the state to avoid this. This ultimately decimated the tribes livestock holdings and gradually pushed to populace to starvation.
The Kazakhstan Famine was one of the many tragedies that resulted from Stalin's Five Year Plan of forced collectivization and industrialization. Stalin wanted strong results immediately and the authorities under him had no ideal how to get these results. They only thing they reasoned that they could do was to seize the livestock quickly and force the nomads onto collective farms right away. This was a disaster. Communist officials rapidly seized nomadic livestock. In 1929 the average number of animals per Aul was 41. By 1933 it was 2.2. Much of the livestock was seized too quickly, leading the animals to die and the meat to spoil during the transportation process, thus devastating the meat supply of the region. In addition, nomads had no idea how to farm, and much of the Steppe wasn't suited to collective farming, leading to a much lower agricultural output than what was planned. Communist authorities often forced the nomads into remote areas of the Steppe after they seized their grain. Upon arrival, they simply left the nomads to fend for themselves, which ultimately led many to starve. Making matters worse, much of the grain produced by these farms was seized by Communist Authorities and not given to the farm workers, which made the precarious food supply even bleaker. Collective farmers barely received enough food to live to the next day. This all resulted in a disastrous famine which in turn led to the increase in disease throughout the region.
The Kazakhs responded to this campaign in different ways. Some tried to resist, but this is what Stalin wanted, as it gave him a clear way to determine who was an enemy. Armed resistance also led to an increase in terror tactics, which ultimately came down on the entire populace, including those who did not resist. Communist Raiders repeatedly raided Auls and seized what animals were left. Rebels also lacked unity. Communists officials began to view all Kazakhs as potential rebels, leading to massive retaliatory actions. Revolts failed to succeed as the rebels were outnumbered and not unified. Most revolts were localized and focused on survival, not on overthrowing the repressive regime that destroyed their society. This reality led others to try fleeing, but that proved to be a dangerous undertaking as well. The only area where most Kazakhs could flee was to the Xinjiang province of China. However, the route was dangerous and even upon arrival there was no guarantee of safety. Xinjiang was also racked with Civil War and famine, and many Kazakhs were not welcome by the populace there. A feeling of self-preservation gripped the whole region and refugees brought only disease and starvation. This led many to turn them away. Even if the Kazakhs crossed the borders successfully, many Red Army units followed them in and continued to try and hunt them down. The only other options were to go to the labor camps and take you chances, or to become collaborators with the Communists. In different areas, some of the poorest Kazakhs tried to take advantage of the situation by joining the Communists and enrich themselves with the goods seized from the wealthier members of the populace. The dominant feeling that dominated the region was self-preservation. People simply tried to survive. Women and girls married themselves off if it helped them obtain food. People stole from each other, whatever aid that the Soviets brought was welcomed despite their repression. The entire clan unit crumbled and the populace became entirely dependent on the State, which is what Stalin wanted. In the end, it was only by the change in state policy that the famine ended.
Stalin viewed the nomadic life of the Kazakhs as "backward" and decided to implement a drastic change to the entire society within a few year period. Stalin pursued his own interests and goals for the region, not caring about the societal consequences. It was a disastrous decision. To implement his goals Stalin ordered the Communist authorities to forcibly seize the livestock that the nomads relied on for their survival and to bring the clans under direct control of the state.
The issue on whether or not Stalin's actions in Kazakhstan constituted a Genocide is an area of contention for many Genocide scholars. It's an undeniable fact that Soviet policies were to blame for this calamity. The seizing of livestock and forced collectivization on a land unsuitable to this kind of farming created this catastrophe. However, unlike the Armenian Genocide, Rwandan Genocide, or the Holocaust, there was no carefully organized plan for the systematic extermination of an entire group of people. It wasn't Stalin's intention to wipe out the indigenous Kazakh population. Stalin's desire was to transform the region into what he wanted it to be, and the fact that over a million people perished as a result wasn't of importance to him. Nevertheless, while this policy was not a plan of systematic extermination, it was without question a Crime Against Humanity. Sadly, it's a travesty that is not well-known in the world, but it should be. This terrible calamity must be realized and it should also serve as a dire warning about the danger of egotism. All too often people believe that they can make nations and lands into what they want it to be. They think they know more than those who've resided in the land and community for generations. They believe that they can tear down an existing society and rebuild it from the ground up, but this cannot be done. The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia tried to follow a similar philosophy, with catastrophic results, and the Kazakhstan famine is further illustration of the failure of this mentality. Too often, dictators try to make themselves into God, believing that they have the power over the world. The results are always fatal.
Sources:
Kinder, Robert. Stalin's Nomads. Power & Famine in Kazakhstan. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018.
Shayakhmetov, Mukhamet. The Silent Steppe: The Memoir of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin. New York: Overlook/Rookery, 2006.
Wurmbrand, Richard. Tortured for Christ. Bartlesville, OK: VOM Books, 1967.
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