The Campaign of Confiscation and Forced Collectivization in Southern Kazakhstan in the late 1920s–early 1930s of the 20th Century

Abstract

Today, historians and researchers are paying considerable attention to the period of collectivization in Kazakhstan. The vast territory of Kazakhstan requires a regional approach to studying materials from the 1920s and 1930s. In this regard, this article analyzes the history of collectivization in Southern Kazakhstan. The collectivization of agriculture was carried out in Kazakhstan in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The goal was to transform small and inefficient private farms into large communal farms to increase agricultural productivity. The collectivization of agriculture in Kazakhstan, including in Southern Kazakhstan, was carried out by force. Accordingly, the peasants opposed the Soviet government’s collectivization policy. The purpose and objectives of the study are to examine the confiscation of the property of the bais (wealthy Kazakhs) and the process of collectivization of agriculture in Southern Kazakhstan based on archival documents. The study clarified the number of collective farms and the mass reduction of livestock in southern Kazakhstan during the collectivization period. The guilt of Stalin’s administrative-command system, including Goloshchekin’s course “Little October” policy and local authorities in the violent implementation of the collectivization policy, and concludes that the socio-economic situation of peasants deteriorated and traditional Kazakh society in Southern Kazakhstan entered a crisis.