Akhmet Baitursynov (Akhmet Baitursynuly) (28.01.1873 – 08.12.1938) – Kazakh statesman, scientist, educator, poet, publicist, reformer of the Kazakh script, founder of Kazakh linguistics and literary studies, one of the leaders of the national liberation movement of the Kazakh people in the early 20th century.
In 1895-1909 he worked as a teacher in the Russian-Kazakh schools of Aktobe and Kostanay, headed the city school in Karkaraly.
Baitursynov’s political activity began in 1905. He is one of the authors of the Karkaraly petition, which was signed by 14,500 people. The document raised issues of local government and the court; changes in the public education system; freedom of worship and religion; publication of newspapers, opening printing houses; adoption of new laws.
On 1 July 1909, Baitursynov was arrested and imprisoned in the Semipalatinsk prison on charges of spreading the idea of autonomous self-government, inciting national enmity between Russians and Kazakhs. The tsarist authorities decided to banish him from Kazakhstan.
From 9 March 1910 until the end of 1917, Baitursynov lived in Orenburg. Together with Alikhan Bokeikhanov and Myrzhakyp Dulatov, Baitursynov published the first national newspaper titled “Kazakh”, which opposed the transfer of the best lands to Russian peasant settlers, warned against the hasty transition of nomadic villages to settled lifestyle, introduced new farming and animal husbandry methods, called for the unity of the people and active political struggle, increased literacy and cultural level.
In January 1916, Baitursynov participated in a meeting of the Muslim faction of the State Duma.
Baitursynov formulated his point of view on the people’s attitude towards the February and October revolutions: “As much as Kazakhs understood the February Revolution, to the same extent they didn’t understand the October Revolution. Kazakhs took the first one literally and accepted it with joy, because it saved them from the exploitation and oppression of the tsarist authorities, and their long-standing dream of self-government grew stronger in them.” Baitursynov explained the Kazakhs’ cautious attitude to the October Revolution by the absence of capitalist relations in the society and the corresponding class strata of the society.
Baitursynov, Bokeikhanov and Dulatov are the founders of the Alash Party and the Alash Orda government, the “fathers” of the Kazakh national state idea.
In March 1919, Baitursynov was sent to Moscow to negotiate with the Soviet government. In July of the same year, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars.
In 1920, Baitursynov wrote letters to Vladimir Lenin, where he sharply criticised the first steps of the Soviet government in Kazakhstan. As a member of the Kazrevkom, he took active part in establishing borders between Kazakhstan and Russia.
In April 1920, Baitursynov applied to join the RCP (b), but in 1921 he left the party due to disagreements with the Bolsheviks. In 1920-1921 he was the People’s Commissar for Education of the KazASSR. In 1922-1925 he headed the scientific and literary commission of the People’s Commissariat of Kazakhstan. Along with the state service, Baitursynov was engaged in pedagogical activity: in 1921-1928 he taught Kazakh language and literature, cultural history at public education institutions.
On 2 June 1929, in Almaty, together with other members of the Alash Orda, Baitursynov was arrested and transferred to the Moscow Butyrskaya prison. On 4 April 1930, he was charged with counter-revolutionary activities, preparation of an armed uprising in the Kazakh steppe. Baitursynov was sentenced to death.
In February 1931, the sentence was replaced with 10 years of camps, in November 1932 it was changed to a three-year exile in Arkhangelsk.
In 1934 Baitursynov was released early and returned to Almaty.
On 8 October 1937, he was arrested again. While in custody, he answered the interrogators’ question with the following words: “My ideal is to enhance the welfare and culture of the Kazakh people as high as possible, and since this good deed is in its beginning stage, I will bow my head to the power that will turn my wish into reality.”
On 8 December 1938, Baitursynov was executed by shooting.
Baitursynov’s first book “Qyryq Mysal” (“Forty Fables”) was published in 1909. The author castigates Russia’s colonialist policy, the arbitrariness and violence of the authorities. Using traditional plots of fables by Aesop, La Fontaine, Krylov and Abai as a base, he created a number of original works in which the genre of fable acquired national features. Baitursynov’s book “Masa” (“Mosquito”, 1911) encompasses his civic idea-dream, which is to introduce the people to knowledge and diligence, to promote the development of art and enhance the culture. The poet calls for getting rid of ignorance, indifference and negligence. While continuing and developing the educational and critical traditions of Abai, Baitursynov raised Kazakh literature to a new level.