The article considers the history of national workers in the pre-revolutionary period as one of the most important stages in the history of national industrial personnel in Kazakhstan. It is known that the process of formation of Kazakh workers began precisely before the October Revolution of 1917, when, in the course of the stratification of the Kazakh traditional society, a certain part of the impoverished sharua, in search of work, had to go to the construction of local railways, crafts and industrial enterprises. At the same time, they did not break economic ties with their native aul and returned there as needed to participate in agricultural work. This widespread phenomenon was called otkhodnichestvo. In the sectoral context, a fairly large number of Kazakh workers were employed in the salt, fisheries and mining industries. In the manufacturing industry, where skilled labor was required, their numbers were negligible. There were few qualified personnel among the Kazakhs. They were mainly engaged in auxiliary work, unskilled labor and, accordingly, received meager salaries. Difficult working conditions, low wages, numerous fines, fraud, cheating, i.e. permissiveness, arbitrariness of the authorities and the administration of enterprises pushed local workers to fight for the improvement of their economic and political situation. In the second half of the 19th century and early of the 20th century, Kazakh workers also participated in the labor movement in the region, which had a spontaneous, unorganized character. For example, the largest strike in Kazakhstan, where Kazakh workers actively participated, took place at the Uspensky mine during the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907.