Leninshil Zhas
The principal newspaper of the Kazakh SSR Communist Youth Union, or Komsomol, the Leninshil zhas was published five times a week. The roots of the Leninshil zhas are found in the prerevolutionary Kazakh youth organization Birlik (Unity) and its newspaper, Sary arka (often translated as "The Wide Steppe"). Birlik followed the editorial line of the Kazakh political party Alash Orda (The Horde of Alash [mythical founder of the Kazakh people]), which advocated greater political and cultural autonomy for Kazakhs.
Leninshil zhas was first published on 22 March 1921 as Zhas Alash ("Young Alash"), with the goal of educating Kazakh young people in the virtues and attitudes sanctioned by the Communist Party and the government. On 8 February 1924 the name was changed from Zhas Alash to Leninshil zhas to honor Vladimir Lenin and to weaken the nationalist tendencies among Kazakh intellectuals.
Numerous Kazakh writers, poets, and scholars published articles in its pages, including Akhmet Baitursynov, Saken Seifullin, Turar Ryskulov, and Mukhtar Auezov. During the 1950s many articles were devoted to the Virgin and Idle Lands program and to agricultural and industrial development in Kazakhstan. In March 1991 the newspaper's name was changed back to Zhas Alash, and presently it generally supports current Kazakh government policies.
This is the complete article, containing 204 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
