Political and socio-economic modernization of the Kazakh steppe in the first half of the ХХ century in Kazakhstan and foreign historiography

Introduction. The article is devoted to the analysis of the main approaches existing in domestic and foreign historiography on the process of modernization of the Kazakh steppe in its political and socio-economic format. The objectives of the study will be to analyze the impact on the nomadic Kazakh society of certain Soviet political and socio-economic experiments in Kazakhstan in this period. We will focus on the characteristics of the implementation of the NEP, land and water reform, collectivization, industrialization and the virgin soil campaign, although it will not be possible without historical excursions. The main method of investigation will be the historiographic analysis of the works of specialists in both domestic and foreign historiography in this field. Results. Nomadism as a form of economy eventually becomes an object of modernization. Because of modernization reforms, the nomadic people became victims of Soviet state-economic experiments. Discussion. Soviet modernization was carried out in Kazakhstan with reliance on the Russian-speaking population, as the core of Soviet modernization was accelerated industrialization, and the nomadic population did not have the skills of industrial labor. The modernization was superficial and incomplete. Conclusion. We concluded that in many positions today opinions of the foreign and Kazakhstan scholars have become closer, or even coincide. For example. Conclusions on the use of republican resources to please the center, unequal ethnic representation, the incompleteness of modernization reforms, the highest price for these reforms, etc.