The Agony of Socialism: Kazakh Memoirs of the Soviet Past

Amid continuing debate in the early 21st century, in the former Soviet states, the West, China and elsewhere, over the alleged merits and demerits of socialism as a political system, this work aims to expose its dark sides as experienced by the Kazakh (and other former Soviet) peoples during the Soviet era. The author, Garifolla Yesim, was born (1947) and raised in Soviet socialist Kazakhstan, emerging thereafter as a top national academic and Kazakhstani senate deputy in the post-Soviet period. Drawing on his many long years of personal life and political experience as well as academic training, he weaves together a compelling narrative interspersed with his own insightful commentary and the real-life stories of those who endured the tragedies he has preserved through oral transmission and now bequeaths as a memoir for this and all future generations to carefully ponder.