ABSTRACT
On December 16, 1986, tass announced that a plenum of the Central Committee of the communist party of Kazakhstan had released Dinmukhamed Kunaev from the post of first secretary in connection with his retirement. While the "Kazakhization" of Kazakhstan proceeded, the republic's economic performance was declining. Both industry and agriculture made a poor showing during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, with the grain harvest ranging from poor to indifferent. In Kazakhstan, a seemingly unending series of "lessons" were being drawn from the events in Alma-Ata. Emigrants from the Kazakh SSR had complained that the Kazakhs were "taking over" the best jobs as well as official positions in the republic. For most of the year the Moscow press seemed to delight in focusing on the shortcomings of the republican economy. Moscow chose to stress the multinational character of the republic and to restore ethnic balance in the staffing of official positions.
