The 1917 Decree "On land"

In a similar November 102 years ago, historical events unfolded in Petrograd. The Bolsheviks had just overthrown the Tsar. The country was changing its governmental and political structure. The Russian monarchy was going down in history, and in its place came a new power - the power of workers and peasants. A revolutionary storm swept through all the outskirts of the former empire. And the Bolshevik party leaders had to fulfill their promises - to give land to the people. And one of the first decrees of the new power was the Decree "On Land". This document was the subject of heated debates. Some were in favor of the complete abolition of private ownership of land, others demanded its complete nationalization. Despite the loud statements of the Bolsheviks, they did not solve the land issue in the Kazakh steppe.

The national intelligentsia offered its solution to the land issue.

Leaders of the national intelligentsia of the "Alash" party published their vision of solving the land problem in the "Kazak" newspaper in November 1917. This document was very interesting. They pinned all their hopes on the convening of the Constituent Assembly. They were sure that this very body of power would be able to develop the main directions of agrarian policy, to gradually assign land to the local population. Until the land issue of the steppes was resolved, the resettlement in the regions were to be prohibited. All the plots of land that had been taken away from the indigenous population were to be returned to them. Final decisions on land among Kazakhs were to be made by local committees. The size of plots depended on the quality of the soil itself and what was to be grown on it. And most importantly, the sale of land was to be prohibited, and its wealth was recognized as state property. The Alashordinians outlawed all Bolshevik decrees on the territory of the autonomous "Alash". But history dictated differently.

Bolsheviks decided otherwise.

The land issue in Kazakhstan was solved by the Bolsheviks at the First Congress of Soviets of the Kazakh Autonomy. Nobody got land. But it was at this Congress that the forms and methods of developing land resources were raised. Thus, the new government finally decided on the further policy of land use - the transition to the communalization of agriculture. This congress is unique for another reason as well. For the first time after the October coup the emphasis was made on the national aspect of land management. And it was in some ways similar to the proposals of the national intelligentsia. In 1923 the authorities adopted the Land Code of the RSFSR with some changes. "until the organization of the use of land is finalised the entire local population, both Kyrgyz and Russian, to completely suspend colonization of the region by the newcomer peasant population".  Another legislative solution to the land issue of the Soviet power in Kazakhstan was the return of valuable lands seized by the resettlement practice. Thus, according to the Resolutions of the First All-Kirghiz Congress of Soviets, the Central Executive Committee adopted a decree on the "Provisional Regulation of Land Use in the KASSR".  In 1923 the authorities adopted the Land Code of the RSFSR with some changes. And in 1923 they adopted the Land Code of 1923, according to which they also lived in KazSSR. This document became one of the first land acts of the Soviets, which reflected the dependence of economic activity of farmers on its direction and natural and climatic conditions.