The Struggle of the Soviet Government against Famine and the Increase of the Homeless Children in the Akmola Governorate in 1921–1923

Гульмира Болатовна Карсакова ,Kadyrzhan Kabidenuly Abuev ,Р Г Буканова ,Зауреш Сактаганова ,Zhanna Mazhitova

doi:10.20896/saci.v6i2.362

Гульмира Болатовна Карсакова , Kadyrzhan Kabidenuly Abuev + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v6i2.362

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Abstract

The article presents the consequences of the famine of 1921–1923, which affected many regions of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (KASSR) and caused mass epidemics, having an impact on children. This article analyses, the activities of party-state bodies and children saving social organisations. Based on archival sources, the authors bring forward the data on the number of homeless children, both in the Republic and the regions. The article aims to cover the critical reasons for homelessness amongst children. In doing so, it includes not only the socio-economic factors but also the Soviet state's policy, which led to the destruction of families, famine, high mortality, etc. The findings conclude that child homelessness is a result of the difficult socio-economic situation of the Republic, caused by war, famine and devastation.

Highlights

The critical rationale underlying this research can be argued by the absence of complete and objective analysis of the 1921–1922 famine problem in the history of Kazakhstan
The emergence and growth of homelessness are exacerbated by economic crises, unemployment, poverty and child exploitation, as well as the conflict family environment, immoral behaviour of parents, child abuse, wars, revolutions, famines, natural disasters, epidemics and upheavals that result in orphancy
Creation of the productive care system for homeless children is impossible without taking into account the distinct historical experience of child abandonment elimination in the 1920s

Summary

Introduction

The critical rationale underlying this research can be argued by the absence of complete and objective analysis of the 1921–1922 famine problem in the history of Kazakhstan The study of this topic on a scale of a single region allows a better understanding of the full range of natural and climatic, social-economic and political problems caused by famine on a national level, revealing the essential characteristics of the historical events, which took place in the extreme situation of 1921– 1922. The research employed various methodological approaches as its methods, united by universal principles of scientific objectivity, systematic consistency, and historicism These allowed analysing the problem of child homelessness, considering events and phenomena of the past as an element of a unified system, and studying those events in the development process in the frame of a specific historical situation. The descriptive approach is based on involving a wide range of sources to demonstrate certain phenomena or processes

Discussion

Conclusion