Abstract
This paper examines the impact of Kazakh Muslim poetry, known as the Zar Zaman period (meaning ‘The Era of Sorrow’ or ‘The Era of Laments’ in Kazakh), on the anti-Soviet dissident movement of the 1950s. This research pays particular attention to two historical figures: the Kazakh anti-colonial poet and singer (known as aqïn in Kazakh) Shortanbay Qanaiuly (1818–1881), and Kazakh Soviet dissident, political prisoner and writer Kämel Zhu̇nīstegī (1939–2023). This article argues that the pre-Soviet Muslim poetic heritage of Zar Zaman poetry – particularly the works of Shortanbay aqïn had a profound influence on the post-World War II Soviet generation of Kazakh rural intelligentsia. This influence was transmitted and absorbed by young Kazakh nationalists, such as Kämel Zhu̇nīstegī, who went on to create an anti-Soviet underground organization called ESEP (Eldï Süygen Erler partiyasï, or the “Party of Men Who Love Their Nation”), or Zhas Qazaq (Young Kazakh), which was active from 1958 to 1962. Moreover, Shortanbay became a role model for Kämel Zhu̇nīstegī, whose poetry served as inspiration for the creation of the anti-Soviet movement. Kämel witnessed, at a young age, the rapid expansion of Soviet culture and the Russian language in many aspects of Kazakh life. The catalyst for the formation of ESEP was the outcomes of N. Khrushchev’s agricultural reforms of the 1950s, particularly the Virgin Lands Campaign (Tselina).