The Kazakh intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20 th century in search of nation al identity and prospects of the cultural survival of the Kazakh people GUL NAR KENDIRBAEVA Men qazaq, qazaqpyn dep maqtanamyn, Uranga alash degen atty alamyn. Su È igenim qazaq o È miri, o È zim qazaq, Men nege qazaqtyqtan saqtanamyn? I am a Kazakh, and I am proud of that, I use the name of Alash as my war-cry. I am a Kazakh, and I love my Kazakh life, Why should I keep away from my kazakhness? Sultanmakhmud

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... aigyrov,'Aitys' By the beginning of the 20th century econom ic and social problems caused by the Russian colonization of Kazakhstan had reached a critical point. In general the Russian colonization was characterized by the seizure of the best Kazakh grazing lands, connected with the m ass immigration of Russian muzhiks (peasants) to Kazakhstan. The Russian bureaucratic system of rule aimed at the destruction of the traditional social structure of Kazakh nom adic society, as well as the Russi® cation of the Kazakhs with subsequent conversion to Christianity. All these factors further intensi® ed the general crisis of the Kazakh nom adic way of life and a critical decline in the Kazakhs' standard of living. The political crisis in Russia itself after the revolution of 1905 and later W orld W ar I resulted in an intensi® cation of political activity both in Russia and its provinces. At the head of the Kazakh national-liberation m ovem ent Alash stood Alikhan