Return of the remains of Smagul Saduakasuly to Astana

As you know, in 2011, the remains of a prominent public and state figure, famous enlightener, minister of education of the Kazakh autonomy, a true patriot of the Kazakh land, Smagul Saduakasuly, mysteriously died in the severe thirties of the last century in Moscow, were buried in Astana. Astana airport was then crowded with the current descendants of the glorious Alash people. As you know, his body was burnt and the remains were placed in a small funeral urn in the Don cemetery in Moscow. Through the efforts of a small group of patriots, his remains returned to their homeland. In recent years, this is almost one of the first such cases of "returning" worthy sons to their homeland. His father was repressed four years later for being the father of his famous son. The survivors of his family and relatives for many years were forced to live with the stigma of the relatives of the "enemy of the people" in a situation of constant persecution, fear and suspicion. The remains of the glorious son of Alash are buried in a Muslim cemetery in the Zhastar micro district of Astana.

Years of study and formation

Smagul Saduakasuly was born in 1900 in the village of Zharkyn in the Kurgan Volost of the Omsk district of the Akmola region. Originated from the ancient tribe of Kereys, the subgenus of malai-baktybai, caught up in the Omsk region in the beginning of the XIII century under the onslaught of the troops of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.

Smagul from a young age was distinguished by a great desire to gain knowledge. Primary education received from the local aul Mullah Abil Kuanyshuly. And in 1915 the national favorite graduated from the famous Poltava Russian-Kazakh School in the territory of the modern Omsk region, which he completed with very good and excellent marks.

It is known that in 1916-1918 he studied at the Omsk Agricultural College and at the cooperative faculty of the Omsk Agricultural Institute. In 1915-1916 he worked as a folk teacher in his native village, and in 1931 a noticeable yearning for new knowledge led him to the completion of the prestigious Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers at that time.

In 1917-1918 Smagul was an active member of the Kazakh youth organization "Birlik" (Unity) in Omsk, becoming one of the recognized leaders of its right wing, and was also elected secretary of the board of the youth organization "Zhas Azamat" ("Young Citizen"), that then held position of the Alash elite.

And in 1918-1920 he was an employee of the Kazakh department at county management in the territory of Akmola region, as well as a teacher of teaching courses. In 1920, at the age of 20, he actively collaborated in the Kazakh-Tatar section of the Siberian Bureau of the RCYU, a member of the Central Committee of the Youth Union of the East, and also the secretary of the Kazakh Regional Committee of the RCYU.

Educational and government activities

Despite his youth, he became the editor of the Omsk regional newspaper “Kedey Sozi” (Poor Man's Voice). His excessive public activity led him to the editorial board of the newspaper "Ushkyn", "Yenbek Tuy".

And at the founding congress of the Kazakh autonomy in October 1920 he was elected a member of the CEC of the Councils of the KASSR, the political secretary of the KazCEC.

Smagul up to the last days defended the idea of ​​the Kazakh statehood and territorial integrity of the republic. He insisted on the full study and detailing of all the controversial issues of the external border of Kazakhstan, raised the problems of conflict resolution in the areas of Kazakhs' migratory living with the resettled peasantry: "As is known, the Kyrgyz territory since the time of its conquest by the Cossacks was colonized by migrants not as a solid mass but as interspersed. They occupied all the best land plots suitable for farming, along the banks of rivers, lakes and along forest edges. In tsarist times, the Russian settlements were separate from the Kirghiz administrative volosts, which have survived to the present. If we strictly adhere to economic principles, then the lion's share of the Kyrgyz volosts will have to be attached to the Russians. But what will be their joint work, what results we will get from this in the end; this is now extremely difficult to say. At present, unfortunately, we do not have at least one experience of a district volost with a mixed population. It is necessary to conduct such an experience, and then we will have at least an approximate perspective. The question is really serious and requires careful and thoughtful attitude of the places."

By the way, thoughts and reflections of Smagul Saduakas were fully confirmed on the example of Omsk district of Akmola region. The "impregnations" of resettlement settlements on the territory of Kazakh volosts led to the fact that in Soviet times almost one hundred thousandth of the Kazakh population did not have any central manor of a state farm or collective farm on the basis of any former Kazakh aul. Moreover, by 1917 the Kazakh population of the county was a minority, while in 1892 it was on the contrary - almost the only one hundred percent majority, not counting the Cossack population on the Irtysh and Presnogor lines and residents of Omsk. According to the statistics of A. Kuznetsov's expedition in Omsk district, there were about 800 auls.

He severely and negatively criticized the colonial policy of the Russian Empire: "Kyrgyzstan was a typical colony before the revolution. The tsarist government knew only to pump raw materials and natural resources from it, it populated the "surplus" of its land with immigrants, crushed all the measures for the cultural movement, planting missionaries, and other enlighteners."

Since 1921, he actively participated in the process of administrative and territorial delimitation of the Semipalatinsk region through the withdrawal from the subordination of Sibrevcom (Siberian Revolutionary Committee) to the Kazakh Autonomous Republic. On the part of the Siberian Bolsheviks, fierce resistance was met when they wanted to preserve the former Kazakh lands beyond Western Siberia, which is subordinate to the Russian Federation. Moreover, he zealously took up defending the territory of the vast modern Kostanay region in favor of Kazakhstan. There are many such examples. For excessive patriotism and a desire to return the original Kazakh lands, he received a strict party punishment. When the question arose of how to deal with Akmola and Semipalatinsk oblasts, he openly opposed transferring them to Sibrevcom, considering it both economically inexpedient and historically unjustified.

Smagul was a true patriot of the republic, unlimitedly expressing his love and respect for his people, as evidenced by the following words: "In spiritual terms, the Kirghiz belong to the number of richly gifted peoples. Their language is sonorous and imaginative. People's literature is very developed and distinguishes breadth and diversity. Proverbs and sayings differ in the conciseness and accuracy of expressions. The song tunes are very original. Kirgiz is proud, witty, mocking and energetic; his speech is refined, foldable and imaginative. He is merry, loves society and conversation."

In 1922-1925 he occupied such important state posts as: plenipotentiary of the KASSR under the Turkestan Central Executive Committee, deputy land commissioner of the Kazakh autonomy, Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic. In 1925-1927, he became a People's Commissar of Education of Kazakhstan, a member of the Kazakh regional bureau of the CPSU (B.), then an editor of the newspaper "Yenbekshi Kazakh" (the current newspaper "Egemen Kazakhstan").

As a writer and publicist

Smagul Sadukasuly has also established himself as a brilliant writer: what is the only novel "Sarsenbek", as well as such interesting stories as "Kumis konyrau", "Kulpash" and many other priceless creations that have markedly enriched the young Kazakh literature, beautifully capturing everyday life and customs, aspirations and thoughts, dreams of citizens of our republic.

As a brilliant and talented publicist, he clearly took up such important literary posts as: the editor of the newspaper "Orten", a member of the editorial board of the "Zhas Kazakh" magazine, the executive secretary of the magazine "Kyzyl Kazakhstan". At the same time, despite its relative youth by today's standards, he was completely devoted to the task entrusted to him.

Talented Smagul wrote such books as: "The New Way of Youth", "On the Problems of Education in Kazakhstan" and others. Many of them have not lost their relevance to this day.

Smagul wrote a lot on the need to strengthen public education. In the article "The Need of the Aul", which he wrote back in 1919, he expressed thoughts that were ahead of the time: "Every person who works for the benefit of the people must remember hard and forever that without education all his aspirations for the better will be either unproductive, or completely vain. The unenlightened and ignorant people have no strong convictions." Speaking at the opening ceremony of the first pedagogical university in the republic, he again enthusiastically wrote: "Kazakh youth literally knocks at the door, climbs in the windows, regretfully, does not always find help from the departments of public education."

To solve the urgent problems of society, to educate the youth in the spirit of utility to society in 1921, Smagul suggested that young people actively unite: "What should youth do? They need to organize themselves and unite! In these organizations, young people will prepare themselves for the future life, taking positive experience from the past, studying, adding to themselves knowledge."

For example, in 1924, in the pages of the magazine "Kyzyl Kazakhstan", he particularly dwells on the issues of the centralized edition of textbooks for Kazakh schools and the development of common terms in their native language.

He especially dwells on the issues of self-education and the development of self-criticism: “A person should educate himself, only a self-critical person who sees his shortcomings can lead a huge mass of people. He can also point out the shortcomings of others and be example to follow”.

Smagul categorically opposed corruption and spoke about the need to nominate honest and respectable citizens for leadership positions: “Our duty is to achieve honesty and order. We must push forward those who think about the needy. Our youth must fight against the phenomenon when bribe-takers and unjust people seek to get to the posts of volost governors”.

He also spoke for the development of public health in the region, being not quite satisfied with the people's physicians who did not have a special medical education. He also proposed effective measures to prevent various diseases among the steppe inhabitants: "it remains to wish nevertheless the county that, to the best of their ability, they save the dying population. For this they need, first and foremost, to organize a rational statement of the case in the existing hospitals and paramedic centers. Secondly, the county needs to publish publicly available leaflets and brochures on the issues of medicine and sanitation in the Kyrgyz language, in order to contribute to the greatest resistance of the population to epidemic diseases."

The people's tribune was very positive about the role and place of the mullahs, making a significant difference with the Orthodox priests. If the latter mainly read prayers, then the Kazakh mullahs, on the one hand, taught people the basics of religion, on the other hand taught the basics of reading and writing. If in the tsarist times Orthodoxy enjoyed moral and material support from the autocracy, then in relation to Islam, tsarism pursued a policy of segregation and a noticeable restriction of their activities, especially those who came from the former Central Asian khanates.

The people's favorite spoke openly against the forced collectivization inspired by the henchmen of the mass hunger center, which killed more than half the indigenous inhabitants of the region, and also the gradual transformation of the province into a real raw material appendage of the Center, for which he was persecuted, as well as political ostracism.

Political persecution of Smagul Sadukasuly

Smagul himself and his close associates were a notable and influential opposition to the central authorities in the province. A number of his closest associates were removed from leading positions and later physically destroyed.

With the arrival of I. Goloshchekin, he became unnecessary and harmful: in 1927 - 1928 he was elected rector of the Kazakh Pedagogical Institute in Tashkent. In his article "On the Nation and Representatives of the Nation", published in the journal “Bolshevik” (1928, No. 1), he boldly exposed the unlimited dictatorship of the Bolsheviks. In his opinion, the Soviet authorities practically did not solve the main issue in the Steppe - a solution of the land issue. As well as his elder Alash brothers, compiled and signed in 1905 under the Karkaralin petition, in strict form put forward such demands as: the cessation of the colonization of Kazakh lands by the peasant migrants from the European part of Russia; prime land management of the local population. He was forced to take these measures, since the Soviets practically continued the colonial resettlement policy of the Russian Empire. Moreover, as later events show, even it surpassed: if in 1897, according to the results of the All-Russian population census of the Russian Empire, the indigenous population was 80% of the total population of the region, then in 1959 - 29%!

Removing Smagul from public and political activities led to the fact that in 1928-1931 he became an ordinary researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, simultaneously began to study at the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers, and in 1931 - 1933 he worked as a simple engineer on the construction of the railway Donbass - Moscow.

In the autumn as of 1933 in Voronezh, according to the official version, he fell ill with typhoid fever and as of December 16 that year died under very mysterious circumstances in a hospital in Moscow. A significant part of his contemporaries, close relatives, as well as researchers of his creative heritage, including the well-known researcher of the Alash movement D. Kamzabekuly, unequivocally believe that he was poisoned by NKVD officers, as he enjoyed great authority and influence among his fellow countrymen and from a position of then Soviet government, which did not tolerate dissent, represented a very serious danger for the totalitarian Stalinist regime.

The fate of his relatives

The fate of "enemies of the people" befell his close people. His father Mullah Saduakas, highly revered among the steppe people, was illegally repressed and shot in 1937 for being the father of his outstanding son. His wife Elizaveta Alikhankyzy (1903-1971), the daughter of the prominent Alash movement leader Alikhan Bukeikhan, a doctor by training, a veteran of the Second World War, for a long time could not return to Kazakhstan because of fear of political persecution. And his son Iskander died heroically during the war, defending his homeland, which pursued his family.

His mother Majiken (1879 - 1938), unable to withstand the terrible grief that fell on her unfortunate head went to another world for the second year after the death of her husband. The only sister of Smagul Orynbasar (1916 - 1990), lived her whole life in a situation of suspicion and persecution, not even received a pension and a little before she survived the long-awaited independence, for which her brother and father were killed.

We think that the day is not far off when young citizens will swear allegiance to their homeland at the future monument to Smagul Saduakasuly in Astana, new streets and squares bearing his name will appear, and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan will establish nominal scholarships in the good memory of a noble person. But the fact that his name remains forever in the memory of descendants is beyond any doubt.

Translated by Raushan MAKHMETZHANOVA

Use of materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires written or oral permission from the Board of Editors or the author. Hyperlink to National Digital History portal is necessary. All rights reserved by the Law RK “On author’s rights and related rights”. To request authorization email to kaz.ehistory@gmail.com or call to (7172) 79 82 06 (ext.111).