Cities of the northern part of Kazakhstan at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries had played the role of administrative units for a long period; however, the gradual development of the urban environment and the integration of the cities of the national outskirts into the system of socio-economic relations of the empire led to the formation cooperation of a citizen not only in the economic aspect, but also, in the political aspects. The research attempted to analyze the processes associated with the formation of a political space in a colonial city, where representatives of the national intelligentsia were the subjects, and the emerging media and public spaces were the tools. The author insists that the political component of the city had developed in the context of the all-Russian political situation. The systemic crisis in all spheres of the state's life demanded new formats of their rights struggle. Under these conditions, the intelligentsia takes the initiative and develops its own style of struggle, expressed in the creation of newspapers, which will later become the print organs of the parties. For example, the newspaper "Kazakh" will become the official organ of the Alash party. Thus, the author argues that the formation of the political space in the colonial city is the result of the activities of the intelligentsia. The article uses the data of the regional archives of Kostanay, Petropavlovsk and NurSultan cities. One of the methods of this research was the historical and genetic one, which allows considering the problems in its development and identifying patterns. The use of the historical-comparative method revealed differences in the development of Kazakhstan historiography.