Kazakh politician who founded the Alash party and led the Alash Orda government in 1917–1920
Born in Semipalatinsk Oblast in 1866 (some sources say 1870), he graduated from the Omsk Technical School and the Saint Petersburg Forestry Institute and wrote the first biography of Abay Kunanbayev. He joined the Constitutional Democrats (Kadets) in 1905, entered the State Duma in 1906 and, after signing the Vyborg Manifesto, was imprisoned and then lived in exile in Samara until 1917. Appointed the Provisional Government’s commissioner for Turgay Oblast in 1917, he broke with the Kadets over Kazakh autonomy, founded the Alash party and that year was elected head of the Alash Orda government. He sided with the White governments of Siberia until late 1919, then came to terms with Soviet power, worked in publishing in Moscow and was shot in 1937. He was rehabilitated in 1989.
Career timeline
1895–1897Mathematics teacher at the Omsk school for Kazakh children
1906Member of the First State Duma
1908–1917Exile in Samara
1917Provisional Government commissioner for Turgay Oblast
1917–1920Head of the Alash Orda government
1922–1927Literary staff member of the Kazakh section of the Central Publishing House of the Peoples of the USSR
The Kazakh Bolshevik strategist who argued for a unified Turkestan against Stalin's national delimitation
In June 1923, Stalin accused Ryskulov of 'pan-Turkism.' From the floor, Ryskulov retorted: "Just months ago, Comrade Stalin, you praised Sultan-Galiev as a devoted communist. Reversing that now is sheer political convenience."
Kazakh Bolshevik revolutionary and a pivotal leader of the Turkestan ASSR. He argued that the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia constituted a single historical nation and opposed Stalin's national delimitation; at the June 1923 IV Conference he openly rebutted Stalin's accusation of 'pan-Turkism.' As RSFSR deputy Sovnarkom chairman (1926–1937), he drove the Turkestan–Siberian Railway and Karaganda industrial complex. During the 1932–1933 Kazakh famine, he wrote directly to Stalin documenting the mass starvation from forced collectivisation and secured food relief. Executed 1938, rehabilitated 1956.
Career timeline
1910–1914Merke Russo-Kazakh boarding school; graduated from Pishpek Agricultural School
1916–1917Took part in the Central Asian national liberation uprising, arrested; studied at Tashkent Teachers' Seminary; founded the 'Bukhara' Revolutionary Union of Kazakh Youth
1919Chairman, Muslim Bureau of the Turkestan Communist Party
1920.01–08Chairman, CEC of Turkestan ASSR
1920.09Delegate, Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East; elected to the Council of Action
1921–1922RSFSR Narkomnats plenipotentiary in Azerbaijan → Deputy People's Commissar for Nationalities
1922–1924Chairman, Sovnarkom of Turkestan ASSR; advocated a unified Turkestan, openly debated Stalin in 1923
1924–1925Comintern plenipotentiary to the Mongolian People's Republic
1926–1937Deputy Chairman, RSFSR Sovnarkom; drove Turkestan–Siberian Railway and Karaganda industrialisation, intervened during 1932–1933 Kazakh famine
Kazakh SSR figure who chaired the Soviet of Nationalities
At the 1946 summer air parade in Tushino, Stalin introduced him to the assembled officials: "Comrades, this is Zhumabay Shayakhmetov — the first national secretary of Kazakhstan," and took to calling him "Eagle of the East."
Rising from the Kazakh party leadership, he chaired the Soviet of Nationalities. His career shows the republic-representation line from late Stalinism into early Khrushchev.
Career timeline
1930sRises through Kazakh republic NKVD and party administration
1946–1954First Secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party, a late-Stalin republic leader
1950–1954Chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities, entering the formal federal line as a Kazakh representative
1954Removed amid the Virgin Lands campaign and Khrushchev’s policy shift
The republic-builder who led Kazakhstan for 24 years as Brezhnev's partner, whose dismissal sparked the Zheltoksan uprising
In February 1986, after Nazarbayev's critical report, Kunaev went to Gorbachev and asked him to remove Nazarbayev. But when Gorbachev instead relayed complaints about Kunaev himself, the old leader who had steered Kazakhstan for 24 years replied calmly: "There's no need. I'll go myself."
A mining engineer by training, he served nearly 24 years as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan — longer than any other Soviet republican leader. Through his close friendship with Brezhnev, he built Kazakhstan into one of the three largest economies in the USSR and resisted Khrushchev's plan to transfer southern territories to Uzbekistan, preserving the republic's territorial integrity. He rose to full membership in the all-Union Politburo (1971–1987), but Gorbachev's abrupt removal of him in December 1986 triggered mass street protests in Almaty — the Zheltoksan (December) events.
Career timeline
1936–1939Chief engineer, Pribalkhashstroi mine
1942–1952Deputy Chairman, Council of People's Commissars/Council of Ministers, Kazakh SSR
1952–1955President, Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR
1955–1960Chairman, Council of Ministers, Kazakh SSR (first term)
1960–1962First Secretary, CP of Kazakhstan (first term)
1962–1964Chairman, Council of Ministers, Kazakh SSR (second term)
1964–1986First Secretary, CP of Kazakhstan (second term, 22 years)
