Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as Kazakh SSR (in Kazakh: Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы, in Russian Казахская Республика), was one of the fifteen constituent republics of the former Soviet Union, from 1936 to 1991. It was the second largest republic in area (after the Russian SFSR), with 2,717,300 square kilometers.

The region was named after the Kazakh people, Turkic-speaking nomads who had a powerful Khanate in Central Asia before Russian domination (see Kazakh Khanate). In this republic there was the Baikonur cosmodrome near the town of Tiuratam, with the secret city of Leninsk, built to house the cosmodrome workers.

History

Created on August 26, 1920, it was initially called the Kyrgyz SFSR (the 'A' is for Autonomous) which was part of the Russian SFSR. In April 1925 it was renamed the Kazakh RSSA. On December 5, 1936, it became a republic of the USSR.

On February 19, 1925, Filipp Goloshchyokin was appointed first secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in the newly created Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1925 to 1933 he led the RASSK of Kazakhstan with virtually no outside interference. He played a leading role in the construction of the Turkestan-Siberia railway, which was built to unlock the mineral wealth of Kazakhstan.

After Joseph Stalin ordered the forced collectivization of agriculture throughout the Soviet Union, Goloshchyokin ordered that the largely nomadic population of Kazakhstan be forced to settle on collective farms. This led to the deadly 1930-1933 Kazakh famine in Kazakhstan that some historians estimate between 1 and 2 million people died.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the government urged Soviet citizens to colonize the "virgin lands" of the Kazakh SSR. The flow of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also other deported national minorities) produced an ethnic mix, causing non-Kazakhs to outnumber them. Other nationalities include Ukrainians, Germans, Belarusians, Koreans, and others. Germans, at the time of independence, represented 8% of the population, which was the largest concentration of Germans in the entire Soviet Union. After independence, many of these immigrants emigrated again.

Another event of global importance occurred in 1978, when the International Conference on Primary Health Care was held in Alma Ata, which highlighted the importance of primary health care as a development strategy for the towns.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, on December 10, 1991 it changed its name from the Kazakh SSR to the Republic of Kazakhstan, and fifteen days later it proclaimed its independence. It was the last socialist republic of the former USSR that proclaimed its independence.

Population

According to the 1897 census, the first census carried out in the region, Kazakhs constituted 81.7% of the total population (3,392,751 people) within the territory of contemporary Kazakhstan. The population of Russians in Kazakhstan was 454,402, or 10.95% of the total population; there were 79,573 Ukrainians (1.91%); 55,984 Tatars (1.34%); 55,815 Uyghurs (1.34%); 29,564 Uzbeks (0.7%); 11,911 Moldovans (0.28%); 4,888 Dungans (0.11%); 2,883 Turkmens; 2,613 Germans; 2,528 Bashkirs; 1,651 Jews; and 1,254 Poles.

Economy

The basis of the economic system of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was socialist ownership of production equipment in the form of state ownership and collective agricultural cooperative. Furthermore, property necessary for the fulfillment of the statutory duties of the union and other public organizations was considered to be socialist property. The basis of self-ownership of the citizens of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was their hard-earned income. The state protected the private property of citizens and their inheritance.

It was determined that production equipment and other property necessary for the implementation of the legal duties of collective farms and other cooperative organizations, their associations, were the property of that organization. Lands occupied by collective farms are approved for free and indefinite use.

After the start of World War II, many large factories moved to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and the Baikonur cosmodrome were also built here.

After the war, the Virgin Lands Campaign began in 1953. This was led by Nikita Khrushchev, with the aim of developing the vast lands of the republic and helping to increase Soviet agricultural yields. However, it did not work as promised, the campaign was eventually abandoned in the 1960s.

Industry

Leading industries of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic:

• Mining
• Non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy
• Coal
• Chemical
• Mechanical engineering
• Light
• Food

The electric power industry was based on its own coal, oil and hydroelectric power. Large thermal power plants were built in Alma-Ata, Karaganda, Ekibastuz, Petropavlovsk, Dzhambul, Chimkent, Yermak, Pavlodar and other cities.

Coal (Ekibastuz basin and Karaganda basin), oil and gas (on the Mangyshlak peninsula, in the Emba region), iron ore, polymetallic, copper, nickel ores, bauxite and other minerals were mined. Non-ferrous metallurgy was represented by the copper, lead, zinc, aluminum industry.

A titanium and magnesium industry was established. The main centers of mechanical engineering (production of forged presses, mining equipment, machine tools, excavators, agricultural machines) are Karaganda, Alma-Ata, Tselinograd, Kentau, Pavlodar, Ust-Kamenogorsk and others.

The Republic also had a highly developed chemical industry. The commissioning of the Dzhambul and Chimkent plants for the production of yellow phosphorus placed Kazakhstan in first place in the world in terms of available capacities. Chemical industry enterprises produced mineral fertilizers, phosphorus, plastics, synthetic rubber, chemical fibers and others (the main industrial centers are Karatau, Chimkent, Dzhambul, Guryev).

In the Soviet years, dozens of light industry enterprises were put into operation, including the Almaty cotton factory, the Kustanai and Semipalatinsk worsted and cloth factories, the Dzhambul leather and shoe factory. and many other companies equipped with the latest technology. In the Kazakh SSR, there were 18 garment factories, which, on the eve of the collapse of the USSR, were equipped with imported equipment. The most developed branches of light industry were: leather, footwear, sheepskin coats, wool, knitwear and cotton.

The food industry was represented by large companies from the meat, dairy, oil, sugar and canning industries.

The construction industry included the production of cement, lime, bricks, reinforced concrete structures and others. A striking example was the largest housing construction plant in the Kazakh SSR in the city of Alma-Ata.

Agriculture

In 1985, there were 2,140 state farms and 388 collective farms in the republic. Agricultural land amounted to 198.0 million hectares, of which:

• Agricultural land - 35.7 million
• Hectare - 157.0 million hectares

The area of irrigated land is 2.23 million hectares (1986), large irrigation canals and irrigation systems were created in the Kyzylorda, Chimkent, Dzhambul, Taldykorgan and Alma-Ata regions.

Kazakhstan was one of the main producers of meat, wool and grain in the Soviet Union. The livestock population, which in 1955 was about 4 million head of cattle (cattle) and 18 million sheep, in 1983 exceeded 9 million and 36 million, respectively. Animal husbandry provided 58% of the value of gross agricultural production.

Agriculture combined large-scale mechanized grain cultivation on irrigated and rainfed lands, sheep breeding for meat and wool, and cattle breeding. With the development (1954-1960, 25.5 million hectares) of virgin and fallow lands, the republic became one of the main grain-producing regions of the USSR (28.3 million tons in 1986).

Cereal crops (mainly wheat), industrial crops (sunflower, cotton, flax-curly) and forage crops. Fruit growing, viticulture, melon cultivation. Livestock (for 1987, in millions of heads): cows - 9.5, sheep and goats - 36.4, pigs, camels and horses are also raised.

The area dedicated to forage crops in 1990 was 11 million hectares. In 1990, the annual production volume of compound feed was more than 4 million tons.

Administrative subdivision

Oblasts

The Kazakh SSR was divided into 17 oblast (provinces) as shown in the table below (data from January 1, 1972, source: Great Soviet Encyclopedia).