The article is devoted to the study of the activities of Mambetali Serdalin, an outstanding representative of the Kazakh intelligentsia of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Particular attention is paid to Serdalin’s protest against the reforms, expressed by him in official correspondence and formalized in the report “On the exploitation of the steppes of Western Siberia through cattle-breeding culture”. The author of the article analyzed the social and political context in which the events took place, as well as the causes and consequences of the conflict between traditional steppe societies and the new reforms. Serdalin’s speeches and journalistic activities reveal his role in preserving the cultural and economic foundations of a nomadic society and his influence on public consciousness and the political processes of that time. The article will be useful to historians, sociologists and anyone interested in the interaction of traditional and modern systems, as well as the peculiarities of the struggle to preserve cultural identity in the face of radical change.