Alash (, ) was a political party and liberation movement in the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federal Republic. in the Decree on the system of government of Russia (1918), 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state (polity), state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territ ...

and Socialist Russia, and the ruling party of

Alash Autonomy The Alash Autonomy ( kk, Алаш Автономиясы; Alaş Avtonomiasy, italic=no, ; russian: Алашская автономия, italic=no, ) was a Kazakh provisional government, or proto-state, located mainly in Central Asia, and partly ...

on the territory of present-day

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. They advocated for equal treatment between

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...

and

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and the cessation of Russian settlement on the Kazakh lands. It was notably the first modern organized political Kazakh and Kyrgyz elite group. Alash party attempted to reinforce Kazakh identity rather than embracing Russian identities. Western

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

and ties to the

Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

were the major dividing issues among the party

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

and the Kazakh elites, through the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

. Chairman of the party and president of the Alash Autonomy was Alikhan Bokeikhanov. Prior to the formation of Alash party, he and other notable members of the party were members of the liberal

Constitutional Democratic Party ) , newspaper = ''Rech'' , ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism , position = Centre to centre-left , international = , colours ...

, which they maintained some relations with. Alash party ceased to exist on August 26, 1920, after the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

defeated

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

that was occupying territory of the Alash Autonomy, and formed the Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic.

Etymology

The word "Alash" means tribesman or relative in

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...

, but according to some sources, Alash may be used as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

to "Kazakh". Qadyrgali Jalaiyr - Kazakh chronicler and politician, often used Alash as the word to replace Kazakh. The party had plans to unite all

Turkic peoples The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West, Central, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members speak languages belonging t ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and create an independent state. For that they didn't want Kazakhs to be titular nation, so they decided to choose word Alash, creating a new Turkic identity between nations. However, this plan didn't work out. Kazakh politician

Mustafa Shokay Mustafa Shokay ( kk, Мұстафа Шоқайұлы, , romanized: ''Mūstafa Şoqaiūly'', Russian: Мустафа́ Шока́й); 25 December 1890 – 27 December 1941) was a Kazakh social and political activist and ideologue of the Turkest ...

commented the first congresses of Alash: "Congress became a symbolic scene to show our unity, by common goal to unite great Turkic peoples".

History

Formation and Existence of Party

The party was founded by the former

members, thus making the party one of the successors of the Constitutional Democrats. After

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

, Russia has weakened, and Kazakh elite used the moment to found a party. At all-Kazakh congress in

Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...

from July 21 to 28, 1917, party was organized and main questions were answered such as form of government of Russia, which they decided that Russia should become

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...

. Alash Party was founded in December 1917, the information of founding of party was published on Qazaq journal. Alash won elections in most of regions of Kazakhstan, ''de-facto'' founding an

Alash during Kazakh ASSR

Alash party ceased to exist on August 26, 1920, after the

defeated

that was occupying territory of the Alash Autonomy, and formed the Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic. However, Kazakh elite decided to continue working to improve Kazakhstan. Some of former Alash members joined

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

Former Alash members started translating textbooks for schools. During Asharshylyk, Kazakh elite showed big protest towards Soviet political system, criticizing propaganda and totally ignoration of famine. They wrote two letters to Soviet government. First is "The letter of five" written on July 4, 1932, by

Gabit Musirepov Gabit Makhmutuli Musirepov ( kz, Ğabit Mahmūtūly Müsırepov, Ғабит Махмұтұлы Мүсірепов; russian: Габит Махмутович Мусрепов; 22 March 1902 – 31 December 1985) was a Soviet Kazakh writer, playwrig ...

, Mansur Gataulin, Embergen Altynbekov, Mutash Dauletkaliev and Kadir Kuanyshev. Second is "The letter to J. V. Stalin", a letter written by

Turar Ryskulov Turar Ryskululy Ryskulov ( kk, Тұрар Рысқұлұлы Рысқұлов, ''Tūrar Rysqūlūly Rysqūlov''; Russian: Турар Рыскулович Рыскулов; 26 December 1894 – 10 February 1938) was a Soviet politician, the chair ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. In the 1930s, most of elite was caught and sent to

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

s for alleged support of

nationalistic Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: T ...

ideas. Intolerable prison conditions and constant stress in prison made detained age faster, which is shown on last photos of them. In period of 1935-1938 most of Kazakh elite was shot.

Memory

On July 04, 2021, the leaders of the Alash movement

Akhmet Baitursynov Ahmet Baitursynuly ( kk, Ахмет Байтұрсынұлы, , romanized: ''Ahmed Baitūrsynūly''; Russified: Ахмет Байтурсынов) ( 5 September 1872 — 8 December 1937) was a Kazakh intellectual who worked in the fields of poli ...

Alikhan Bukeikhanov Alikhan Nurmukhameduly Bukeikhanov,, Arabic graphics: ٴالىيحان نۇرمۇحامەدۇلى بوكەيحان, romanized: ''Älihan Nūrmūhamedūly Bökeihan'', pronunciation: �ləj'χɑn no̙r'mo̙hɑmmjed'o̙ɫə bøkej'χɑn or Bökeih ...

and Mirzhakip Dulatov were unveiled a monument in

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

References