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What drove anti-capitalist sentiments from Kazakh intellectuals and economists in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union?

It is my understanding that Kazakhstan was a low level resource provider in the chain of manufacturing and it was left largely to its own devices after breaking away from the Soviet Union. Why then would intellectuals argue that capitalism would bring ruin to the post-Soviet state? It would seem that they would support an economic paradigm that was at least different from communism which had brought them to the state of relative poverty in the first place.

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    Any references to the sentiment? Any indication that there was any special sentiment in Kazakhstan compared to other post-Soviet states?
    – Anixx
    Mar 28, 2013 at 5:10
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    Unless you can cite the sentiment, it is difficult to critcize it.
    – MCW
    Mar 28, 2013 at 10:40
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    A large portion of ex-USSR intellectuals have never relinquished their idealistic beliefs in the ideals of communism and evils of capitalism (being in the "trade" was always considered a put-down, "you can't make money if you are honest" etc...), even if they didn't like Soviet government. When faced with the half-assed "capitalism" being implemented in post-Soviet space (which pretty much combined the worst aspects of capitalism with the worst aspects of soviet/russian mentality), the sentiment is less surprising than you think.
    – DVK
    Mar 28, 2013 at 15:17
  • You might want to ask Borat.
    – Tom Au
    Aug 7, 2016 at 15:18

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