Ush Zhuz

Three Hordes Үш Жүз
Leader	Kölbai Tögisov
Founder	Mukan Aitpenov
Founded	17 November 1917 (1917-11-17)
Dissolved	c. 1920 (1920)
Split from	Alash Party
Merged into	Communist Party of Turkestan
Ideology	Pan-Turkism Pan-Islamism Socialism Anarchism
Political position	Left-wing
Religion	Islam
Politics of Kazakhstan Political parties Elections

Üsh Zhüz (Kazakh: Үш Жүз, lit. 'Three Hordes') was a Kazakh socialist political party. Founded in the wake of the Central Asian revolt of 1916 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, the party supported Pan-Turkism, federal republicanism and land reform. It was opposed to the Alash party, which aligned with the White movement, while Üsh Zhüz itself aligned with the Bolsheviks and eventually merged into the Communist Party of Turkestan. Some of its leading members, including Turar Ryskulov, became prominent figures within the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (TASSR).

History

During the Central Asian revolt of 1916, the Kazakh activist Mukan Aitpenov established the newspaper Alash in order to publicise support for the proposal of Alash Autonomy. It ceased publication during the Russian Revolution of 1917, by which point Aitpenov had dropped support for the Alash party and moved to establish a new political party.

Üsh Zhüz was established in Omsk in November 1917, and later moved its headquarters to Tashkent. Its leader was Kölbai Tögisov, a member of the Kazakh intelligentsia with a "shady reputation". The party's political programme blended together elements of anarchism, socialism, Pan-Turkism, and Pan-Islamism. Its stated aim was the unification of all Turkic peoples in the former Russian Empire into a federal republic. The party drew its support base largely from southern Kazakhs, with southern leaders such as Turar Ryskulov, Saken Seifullin, Amankeldı İmanov, Alibi Zhangildin all supporting it.

It was the main opposition to the Alash party, a liberal democratic and nationalist party, largely drawn from northern Kazakhs, that was aligned with the White movement. Points of disagreement between Alash and Üsh Zhüz included issues of land reform, Central Asian autonomy and the role of Islam in politics. Üsh Zhüz was among a number of radical Muslim parties, including the Milliy Firqa, Young Bukharans and Muslim Socialist Committee of Kazan, that sided with the Bolsheviks against the White movement in the Russian Civil War. In order to counter White influence in Kazakhstan, in 1918, the Bolsheviks formed an alliance with Üsh Zhüz. Over time, the party's positions moved closer to those of the Russian communists, purging members of the petite bourgeoisie from its ranks.

But the party's conception of Islamic socialism isolated it from the Kazakh masses, which were more inclined towards the political moderates. The party ultimately failed to gain a substantial following in Kazakhstan and, after the establishment of the Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, many of its members merged into the Communist Party. Ryskulov continued to promote pan-Turkism, in spite of Bolshevik aversion to the regional unity of Central Asia. By the end of the civil war in 1922, Ryskulov himself declared that the Alash Autonomy had been a legitimate representative of Kazakh interests, breaking from the Bolshevik line that it was a "tribal-nationalist" creation. Southern Kazakh leaders subsequently adopted the educational and land reform programmes of the Alash Autonomy, pushing for them within the new Soviet government.

Bibliography

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• Dave, Bhavna (2007). "From nomadism to national consciousness". Kazakhstan: Ethnicity, Language and Power. Routledge. pp. 29–49. ISBN 978-0-415-36371-6. LCCN 2007012294.
• Fisher, Lyn R. (1989). Qazaqjylyq Nationalism and revolution in Kazakhstan, 1900-1920 (MA). University of Montana.
• Karmazina, Lydia (2008). "Institutionalization of the party system in Kazakhstan and Russia: a comparative analysis" (PDF). Central Asia and the Caucasus. 6 (54): 141–154.
• Kendirbay, Gulnar (1997). "The national liberation movement of the Kazakh intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century". Central Asian Survey. 16 (4): 487–515. doi:10.1080/02634939708401009.
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• Saktaganova, Z.G.; Omarova, B.K.; Ilyassova, K.M.; Nurligenov, Z.N.; Abzhapparova, B.Zh.; Zhalmurzina, A.Zh.; Mazhitova, Zh.S. (2020). "The Alash Party: Historiography of the Movement". Space and Culture, India. 7 (4): 208–218. doi:10.20896/saci.v7i4.791.
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Further reading

• Alzhanova, A.B.; Tilepbergen, A.M. (2019). "The Role of National Intelligentsia in the Development of the First Kazakh Newspapers". Herald of Journalism. 2 (52): 32–37. doi:10.26577/HJ.2019.v52.i2.04. ISSN 1563-0242.
• Bektursunov, Mirlan (2023). "'Two parts – one whole'? Kazakh–Kyrgyz relations in the making of Soviet Kyrgyzstan, 1917–24". Central Asian Survey. 42 (1): 109–126. doi:10.1080/02634937.2022.2071837.
• Bowyer, Anthony Clive (2008). Parliament and Political Parties in Kazakhstan (PDF). Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program. ISBN 978-91-85937-27-1.
• Brill Olcott, Martha (1985). "The Politics of Language Reform in Kazakhstan". In Kreindler, Isabelle T. (ed.). Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages (Their Past, Present and Future). De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 183–204. doi:10.1515/9783110864380-010. ISBN 9783110864380.
• Camps Girona, Jaume (2023). "The impact of the Russian Revolution across the Muslim world: From the winds of freedom to geopolitical changes". In Serrano, Clara; Neto, Sergio (eds.). Revolution and (Post) War, 1917-1922. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003399209. ISBN 9781003399209.
• Galiyev, A.A.; Batkalova, K.M. (2018). "Kazakh Literature and the Formation of Modern Kazakh Identity". Journal of History. 4 (91): 32–40. doi:10.26577/JH-2018-4-295. ISSN 1563-0269.
• Glenn, John (1999). "Pre-Revolutionary Identities in Central Asia". The Soviet Legacy in Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 47–72. doi:10.1057/9780230376434_4. ISBN 9780230376434.
• Mustoyapova, Ainash (2024). "Suffered for Sincerity. Magzhan Zhumabaev (1893–1938)". Leaders of the Nation. The Steppe and Beyond: Studies on Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 295–303. doi:10.1007/978-981-97-0718-8_27. ISBN 978-981-97-0718-8.
• Naumkin, Vitaly V. (2005). "The Roots and Causes of Islamic Radicalism: The History of Islam in Central Asia". Radical Islam in Central Asia: Between Pen and Rifle. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 1–36. ISBN 0-7425-2929-0. LCCN 2004023936.
• Sabol, Steven (2003). "Epilogue: Alash Orda". Russian Colonization and the Genesis of Kazak National Consciousness. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 133–149. doi:10.1057/9780230599420_8. ISBN 9780230599420.
• Wendelken, Rebecca W. (2000). "Russian Immigration and its Effect on the Kazak Steppes, 1552–1965". In Bell-Fialkoff, Andrew (ed.). The Role of Migration in the History of the Eurasian Steppe. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 71–101. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-61837-8_5. ISBN 978-1-349-61837-8.