Srym Datov’s image in M.P. Vyatkin’s works: theoretical and methodological installations and practical embodiment

Abstract

The article reviews the influence of M.P.Vyatkin on the research of one of the most complicated issues in the history of Kazakh societyrelated to the national liberation movement led by Syrym Datov. The researcher admits active participation of many common nomads in the movement and explains it as the consequence of patriarch-tribal anachronisms and the recognition by the Kazakhs of the biy’s decisive authority as a judge, i.e. the figure of trust for vital interests and needs of the Kazakhs. The author states that M.P. Vyatkin showed the national and liberation character of the movement despite the trend in the Soviet historiography to consider biys as the class enemies of Soviet government.