Abstract
The article examines the issue of the driving forces and structural components of the intellectual potential of auls and rural settlements in Kazakhstan. The study's chronological framework covers the so-called post-war period, namely 1946–1991. In a brief overview, the authors describe the weak intellectual potential of the pre-war years, when the demand for qualified personnel was largely met through specialists arriving from outside the region. It is noted that the republic lacked higher educational institutions that trained specialists for the agricultural sector. Only the accelerated development of the educational system beginning in the 1960s strengthened the position of educated specialists in auls and rural settlements. At the same time, the article documents an acute shortage of agricultural personnel and analyzes the Party and government's efforts to eliminate these shortcomings. Based on archival sources and statistical data, the authors present gender and age differences among specialists with higher and secondary specialized education in auls and rural settlements, and demonstrate the dynamics of their growth. The impact of the Virgin Lands campaign on the social and cultural life of auls and rural settlements is also highlighted. The article clearly traces the differentiation of the rural intelligentsia into humanitarian, production and technical, medical, law enforcement, and military groups, substantiated by archival evidence. In addition, from the 1970s onward, the emergence of a scientific intelligentsia is observed. The authors emphasize the steady growth of all groups of the intelligentsia within the republic's agrarian space. The article aims to examine the driving forces and structural components of the intellectual potential of auls and rural settlements in Kazakhstan during the period from 1946 to 1991.