People of the Revolution and the USSR

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Soviet communism 1902–1966 ↓ Removed 1954

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.

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Soviet communism 1912–1993 ○ Natural causes

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.