May Alash Orda Prosper!
A Telegram from ataman Dutov to Alikhan Bukeikhanov
D. Shmarin. The whites have come! Christ is Risen! 2007.
As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, a great wave of awakening surged through Kazakh intellectuals, sparking a passionate quest for knowledge. This outpouring of intellectual zeal led to an explosion of new magazines and newspapers being published in Kazakh, heralding the dawn of a new era in sharing culture.
However, what these intellectuals wrote went beyond only spreading knowledge. Soon, a variety of publications emerged, covering topics like business, society, politics, art, and humor. Qalam invites you to explore snippets from Kazakh publishing culture and history compiled by historian Abai Myrzagali, offering a glimpse into the important issues of the past.
After the proclamation of Alash Orda, or the Alash Autonomy, in December 1917, the situation in the Kazakh steppe changed rapidly. By the summer of 1918, when the Czechoslovak Legion's uprising marked the beginning of a large-scale civil war, most of the Kazakh steppe fell under the control of anti-Bolshevik forces, including both Alash Orda troops and the Cossacks. Despite significant ideological differences, the self-proclaimed Kazakh government had to both fight and occasionally negotiate with both the Bolsheviks and the White movement. A clear example of these diplomatic maneuvers is a telegram from Alexander Dutov,1
1Alexander Dutov (1879–1921) was the ataman (supreme military commander) of the Orenburg Cossack Corps. He was the first military leader to declare war on the Bolsheviks the day after the coup in Petrograd, and he later fought against the Reds in the Steppe region and Semirechye. In 1920, with the remnants of his troops, he fled to China, where he was killed by agents of the Cheka. the ataman of the Orenburg Cossack Army, to Alikhan Bukeikhanov, the chairman of the Alash autonomous government. Dutov’s telegram, the first military leader to declare war on Soviet rule, was published in the Kazakh newspaper Saryarqa in 1918.
Page from the newspaper “Saryarka” №47. 1918
By God's grace, on behalf of the Orenburg Cossacks, I speak to you and the entire Kazakh people!
This year, while I was among the Kazakhs, I felt their favor and special respect not only for me personally but for the Cossacks in general. Across the area, they asked me for your whereabouts. I believe this is evidence of the special closeness between the Kazakhs and the Cossacks and the commonality of their goals.
May Alash Orda prosper! My congratulations to its chairman, who has always sacrificed himself on the bright path of his people.
Ataman Dutov
1918
General Dutov, October 1918, Orenburg/Wikimedia commons
The Saryarqa newspaper, famous as a herald of important social issues, was launched in Semipalatinsk in 1917, coinciding with the founding of Alash, the Kazakh political party and liberation movement. It was published on a weekly basis in Semipalatinsk from 1917 to 1919. During its brief existence, several prominent Kazakhs took on the role of editor-in-chief, including Raimjan Marsekov, Khalel Gabbasov, and Alikhan Bukeikhanov. After it was banned in 1919, the newly established Qazaq tili (Kazakh language) newspaper took its place.
A group of commanders and fighters of the Kazakh national squadron, 1919/Wikimedia commons
