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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| About 'Kazakhstan, which we lost.' |
| 2024-01-31 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Text taken from the Telegram page of Red Kazakh [ColonelCassad] Our anti-Soviet public writes sweet articles about the life of Kazakhs before Soviet rule. They write that there were no rich and poor. Almost steppe communism, where everything is common. A classless society with caring bays. And then the communists came and created poverty and genocide. But in fact, each clan fought for water sources and pastures. Whoever first captured a lake or well controls all the pastures in the circle. Steppe is an endless survival game. From the mid-18th century until the beginning of the 20th century, MOST people on the steppe were poor. Low-power and poor business associations accounted for 60%, which were completely dependent on wealthy owners. Almost all the livestock was accumulated by 8-12% of the population, the feudal class, where each such owner had up to 10 thousand horses. The nomads joined groups, where each one took turns grazing a common herd, into which the cattle of each participant were poured. But most of them had little livestock. And virtually everyone grazed the livestock of the largest livestock owner. And every six, 12 and 36 years there is Jud, when 60% of the livestock die. And the impoverished nomads, who had lost their livestock, went to work as farm laborers for the same bai. When we are told about millions of heads of cattle before the arrival of the Bolsheviks, you must understand that most of these were Bai cattle, which were herded by numerous poor relatives. It’s like GDP growth has no effect on the standard of living of ordinary citizens. How bad life was for ordinary Kazakhs is well described in the novel “Blood and Sweat.” That is why in 1916 not only tsarist officials were slaughtered, but also bais. That's why the people for the most part sent the Bai's offspring - the Alashorda residents - to hell. And when collectivization began, these bais stole their numerous livestock, dooming the poor Kazakhs to starvation. This reminds me of our modern Kazakhstan, where 50% of all wealth has gradually accumulated in the hands of a small handful of Kazakh oligarchs and where 50% of the population lives in poverty. That’s why they feed stories into our ears about caring farmers and happy farmhands. |
| Posted by:badanov |