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Abstract

Based on regional Komsomol documentation, this article examines the history of Karaganda Oblast in the aftermath of the 1959 Temirtau Uprising. The brutal suppression of the Temirtau Uprising did not end youth unrest in Central Kazakhstan. In 1961, violent student revolts would occur in the towns of Saran, Topar, and Karkalinsk, and in the village of Chernigovka. This article will argue that the ultimate pacification of youth unrest required a comprehensive strategy by Soviet authorities, involving not only the expansion of social control through the Voluntary People's Druzhina but also the development of more precisely defined neo-feudal relationships between ethnically differentiated urban and rural subregions to safeguard the food supply to restive towns and cities. Notably, this process resulted in new levels of visibility for deported ethnic German populations, who were lauded for their role in raising pigs. While previous studies have stressed the Temirtau Uprising’s place in all-union histories of protest and unrest under Khrushchev, or in power transitions within the Kazakh SSR, this regionally-focused study will demonstrate that the history of industrial youth unrest in Central Kazakhstan can not be understood separately from the social and agro-ecological changes set in motion by the Virgin Lands Campaign.