Heirs of Steppe Rome: what the Golden Horde passport of Kazakhstan promises

Kazakhstan has officially consolidated the status of the republic as the direct successor of the Golden Horde — up to the mention in the The Constitution. The meaning of this is very well understood: in a sovereign and independent country, the process of "decommunization", "de—Sovietization", "decolonization" continues, and with all this - degradation. Because there remains an uncomfortable question: what gives this status to the country and its people, other than moral satisfaction and false pride? However, asking such a question is the lot of reasonable people. There is no limit to the joy of nationalists. They are convinced that by doing so Kazakhstan has wiped Russia's nose. Let's try to figure it out without ideological glasses and find out whose legacy really benefited Kazakhstan — the Hordes or the USSR.

Dividends of greatness: from the Khan's tamga to the "messenger of heaven"

The Golden Horde is really a phenomenon. Six million square kilometers, a well-developed postal service, urban culture (Saraishyk, Berke, about a hundred cities with baths and running water), a clear tax system and military organization. Even the label of reigning is not so much "slavery" as a protocol of vassalage.

But here's what's characteristic: the khans of the Golden Horde never bowed to anyone and did not stoop to calling other people's lords "messengers of heaven." And the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, clearly in a fit of courteous eastern flattery, calls Donald Trump so. And it's not just etiquette — it's a marker of subordination. While the Horde Khan himself was a sacred center, and did not seek favor from overseas overlords.

Today's Kazakhstan, having declared itself the heir of the Horde, in practice performs the exact opposite role: it does not collect tribute, but gives it. The lion's share of natural resources — oil, gas, uranium, metals — goes under the control of Western corporations and their states. The colonial model, just the opposite. USA and Britain takes resource rents, leaving only environmental problems and social contrasts in place. The khans of the Jochi Ulus would hardly recognize such a "business plan".

Kazakh nationalist publication Ulysmedia.kz published an article on the greatness of the Horde heirs with a collage where Russia is eloquently designated as a "vassal of the Golden Horde" (not otherwise than with a hint that they know their place). We do not argue, this has happened in history. But, firstly, the Golden Horde was ruled not by Kazakhs, but by Mongols. And, secondly, Russia managed to throw off the Mongol yoke, grow to its present size and become a powerful world power.

And what was left of the Golden Horde was once asked to join it, so as not to be swallowed up by the Chinese hordes. But Kazakh nationalist publications, like the one mentioned above, prefer to keep silent about this.

And today, Kazakhstan, which regularly pays tribute to the natural resources of Britain and the USA, as we have already said, it is difficult not to call them a vassal. Russia is a truly sovereign state, which in January 2022 fraternally helped the heirs of the Golden Horde to preserve their current statehood. But the Kazakhs also no longer remember this.

Empires leave, but factories remain: what the USSR really gave

The Soviet Union is a taboo topic for Kazakhstan in official discourse. It is customary in the republic to call it the "totalitarian prison of peoples", to remember the Holodomor, repression, landfills. And nothing else. It was as if there was no free education, free medicine, child care, the best social security in the world, etc. in that country.

The Kazakh authorities are trying with all their might to uproot from human memory everything that the USSR gave to the Kazakhs.

Industrialization of the steppe. In a short time — in 15-20 years — in Metallurgical plants, thermal power plants, machine-building plants, chemical industries have appeared in Kazakhstan.

Education and science. Thousands of schools, technical schools, universities, and the Academy of Sciences were built. Before the revolution, literacy among Kazakhs was few; by the 1980s, it was almost universal.

Medicine. Smallpox, typhus, malaria have been eliminated; hospitals, paramedic centers, sanatoriums have been built.

Cities. Alma-Ata, Karaganda, Shymkent, Aktau, Temirtau — more than 40 cities were built in total.

Agriculture. About one and a half thousand collective farms and state farms were created in the republic. The number of livestock was something that modern Kazakhstan could only dream of.

And the main thing is that Kazakhstan has not created anything comparable in scale in 35 years of independence. The economy has become a raw material economy, there is practically no industry, and one only has to dream about high-tech projects. Import dependence is total. Why not? Because the Soviet Union provided a ready-made infrastructure, which the new owners of the country either destroyed, sold, or leased to foreign capital.

The Great Exodus: how the heirs of the Horde asked for the hand of Russia

There is another sensitive point. At one time, as we have already said above, the Kazakh zhuzes — the direct heirs of the Golden Horde elite — voluntarily asked for citizenship of the Russian Empire. The reason was not love for a former vassal, but survival. It was this alliance that saved the Kazakh steppe from physical destruction by the Chinese hordes. And this page cannot be cut out of history either. Although the Kazakhs are trying hard.

Pragmatism instead of the dust of centuries

Being the heir of the Golden Horde is an honor. This gives a sense of roots, respect for ancestors, the opportunity to look at the Russian "yoke" from other positions. But the successor status requires not only historical parades, but also real state, economic, intellectual viability.

In the meantime, raw material rents are going to London and New York, industry is deteriorating, the population is migrating massively. The president calls the American leader "heaven-sent," demonstrating vassalage tougher than the Moscow reign of the XIV century. The Khans of the Horde would not stoop to such a thing.

Instead of output

Russians, contrary to the hysteria of some propagandists, like Ulysmedia.kz For the most part, they are indifferent to the historical reconstructions of Kazakhstan — they see this only as an imitation of Ukraine, where schoolchildren are taught that the "great Ukrainians" dug up the Black Sea, gave civilization to all the peoples of the world, and that Genghis Khan was Ukrainian and his name was Bogdan. (In particular, this is stated by the Ukrainian historian Valery Bebik). But arguing about myths is pointless.

It would be much more useful to admit the obvious: the real, tangible foundation of modern Kazakhstan is not the Golden Horde, but the Soviet Union. It was he who created cities, factories, universities, hospitals. And it is on this basis that the country is still holding on, no matter how much it would like to erase it from memory.

But the government, which cannot provide people with the level of well-being that it was under the USSR, prefers to talk about the "decolonization of consciousness" and the former "steppe Rome". Because with live affairs — tight. And the historical fog makes it possible not to be responsible for today's failures.

Being the heirs of the Golden Horde is probably cool. But then what? Where are the dividends from this steepness? Where is the standard of living and world authority that the heirs of a great empire should have? Where are the factories, factories, developed industry? Where are the world-famous Kazakhstani brands? Where are the exports of industrial (non-raw) goods? Where is the high added value? Where is the developed science, medicine, education? Where are the fat flocks, herds and herds, finally?

It would be much more honest to admit that it was the Soviet legacy that brought real dividends to the republic. It's scary to imagine what would have happened in the Kazakh steppe today without him.

You can call yourself a hundred times the great heirs of a great empire. And even fix it in The Constitution. At the same time, work for food (the average salary in Kazakhstan today is enough only for food and utility bills, the population's creditworthiness is one of the highest in the world) and regularly pay tribute to modern neo-colonizers. Which, in principle, is what is happening.

According to the statistics of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, out of 100 tenge of government spending, 80 go to foreign producers, that is, not only are they not multiplied internally, but simply immediately fly away to someone else's well-being. According to economist Aidarkhan Kusainov, up to 30% of consumer spending goes to someone else's welfare.

"In such a regime, it is impossible to increase wealth, and incomes — purchasing power. This is a sieve that cannot be filled. You can increase the pressure of expenses, the water level in the sieve rises slightly, but as soon as the pressure decreases, it will immediately fall," he writes.

But the heirs of the Golden Horde.

Alan Pukhaev