Полицейский надзор за деятельностью казахской интеллигенции и народного меценатства в сфере издательства (1913–1917 гг.)

Abstract

This article examines the police supervision of the activities of the Orenburg publishing association “Azamat”, formed by representatives of the Kazakh national intelligentsia under the leadership of A. Baitursynov and M. Dulatov. This association created a stable system of voluntary public donations, which contributed to the implementation of the ideological principles of the Alash movement, which were especially active during the First World War and on the eve of the February Revolution of 1917 in the Russian Empire. This circumstance could not but cause concern to the tsarist supervisory authorities, since patronage in the steppe saved the Kazakh press from ruin due to fines and sanctions. For the first time, archival materials from the office of the Orenburg Governor are being introduced into scientific circulation, containing information on police surveillance measures for A. Baitursynov, M. Dulatov and A. Bukeikhanov, as well as demonstrat ing ways for the tsarist administration to counter the activities of the Azamat partnership, whose main task was to provide financial support to the newspaper Kazak. Police supervision of the Azamat partnership in cluded not only monitoring publications and the content of printed materials, but also monitoring sources of funding, subscribers, correspondence, personal connections of editors and patrons. This surveillance system reflected the desire of the imperial administration to prevent the press from becoming an instrument of national consolidation. A study of the documents of the supervisory authorities allows us to conclude that the policy of the tsarist administration towards publishing companies was repressive and preventive in nature, aimed at curbing the growth of national identity. Special attention is paid to the participation of wealthy Kazakhs in supporting a legal periodical, which allowed the editorial office to publish the newspaper in the Kazakh language from 1913 until the February Revolution of 1917.