Public Attitudes and Propaganda of Heroic Labor in Ego and Official Sources: A Case Study of Kazakh SSR during WWII

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The 80th anniversary of World War II’s end, along with ongoing commemorative practices, brings renewed focus to the post-Soviet republics' struggle for an impartial analysis of their Soviet past. This includes revisiting the mechanisms the Soviet state used to mobilize citizens for selfless labor and endurance, ultimately contributing to victory.

Propaganda played a central role in Soviet society, becoming a key instrument of state policy. Scholars often describe the USSR under Lenin and Stalin as the world’s first ‘propaganda state’, defined by ideology, mass indoctrination, and cultural practices designed to politicize and shape public consciousness.

In the Kazakh SSR, propaganda efforts aimed to intensify labor, improve discipline, and prevent absenteeism and defective work. The promotion of ‘heroic labor’, sought to equate labor achievements with military feats, reinforcing the unity of the war front and home front. These efforts also intersected with broader policies of modernization, ‘okul'turivanie,’ and the eradication of traditional norms among the indigenous population of the republic.

This panel examines public sentiment and regional propaganda practices in the Kazakh SSR, using ego documents and declassified archival sources to assess the effectiveness of ideological campaigns and their reception among different social groups.

Sub Unit

• History: 1900-1945

Chair

• Natalie Belsky, U of Minnesota Duluth

Papers

• Public Sentiments in the Kazakh SSR: From Patriotic Sentiments to Anti-Soviet Manifestations - Roza Zharkynbayeva, al-Farabi Kazakh National U (Kazakhstan)

• Understanding the Past through Examination of Heroic Labour Propaganda among Women of the Kazakh SSR - Ardak Abdiraiymova, ALT U (Kazakhstan)

• The Regional Practices of Agitation and Propaganda Work at Defence Factories across the Kazakh SSR - Meruyert Doskaliyeva, Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Kazakhstan

Discussant

• Natalie Belsky, U of Minnesota Duluth