The Soviet Union, by the time of its creation, was the first modern state that had to confront the rising issue of nationalism. With a progressive nationality policy, it systematically promoted the national consciousness of its ethnic minorities and established for them institutional forms comparable of a modern state. In the 1920s, the Bolsheviks, seeking to defuse national sentiment, created hundreds of national territories. They trained new national leaders, established national languages, and financed national cultural products. This was a massive historical experiment in governing a multiethnic state. Later under Stalin, these policies had to be revised to comply with emerging domestic and international problems, which resulted from those once progressive policies.
This paper will present the issue of Russian nationalism and nationality policy in the Soviet Union. The analysis will be based on six different monographs dealing with the issue at different periods of Soviet history. Each has a different approach and at times a different thesis on Russian nationalism or an interpretation of the political events accompanying the Soviet nationality policy.
First, on the following pages, I will give a brief summary of the six books discussed in this paper. Then, I will tell the main thesis of each book and underlie it by the author’s arguments. In the conclusion, I will compare the book’s arguments in a historiographical manner and see where similarities between the arguments exist, where the books complement each other and at which points they disagree with each other. At the end, I will try to give a comprehensive overview of the issue discussed, due to the frame and limited space of this paper.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Summary of the Books
- Eric Lohr, Nationalizing the Russian Empire
- Richard Pipes, The Formation of the Soviet Union
- Jeremy Smith, The Bolsheviks and the National Question
- Terry Martin, Affirmative Action Empire
- David Brandenberger, National Bolshevism
- Yitzhak M. Brudny, Reinventing Russia
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper examines the issue of Russian nationalism and nationality policy in the Soviet Union through a historiographical analysis of six different monographs. The paper aims to analyze the authors’ perspectives on Russian nationalism and the implementation of nationality policy during different periods of Soviet history.
- The evolution of Russian nationalism and nationality policy in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991.
- The impact of the Bolshevik Revolution on the national question and the development of nationality policy.
- The role of ethnicity and nationality in Soviet state-building and the implementation of industrialization.
- The interplay between Russian nationalism and internationalism in Soviet ideology and policy.
- The legacy of Soviet nationality policy and its impact on post-Soviet societies.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The paper summarizes six books dealing with Russian nationalism and nationality policy in the Soviet Union:
- Eric Lohr, Nationalizing the Russian Empire: Analyzes the Tsarist regime during World War I and how the campaign against enemy aliens contributed to the strengthening of the national state, setting a precedent for Soviet policies. This includes expansion of documentary control over the population, increased state oversight of foreigners and immigrants, and the creation of a network of inspectors and administrators.
- Richard Pipes, The Formation of the Soviet Union: Examines the Bolshevik regime during the revolution and civil war, focusing on the military and political unification efforts of the newly established regime. It highlights the challenges the regime faced in bringing back peripheral territories that had gained autonomy or declared independence.
- Jeremy Smith, The Bolsheviks and the National Question: Provides a chronological and country-by-country analysis of the Bolshevik administrative policies of nation-building, drawing borders, creating state structures, and granting autonomy in cultural policies such as education, language, and culture promotion. Smith's approach contrasts with Pipes's focus on military and political conquest.
- Terry Martin, Affirmative Action Empire: Explores the practical implementation of nationalities policy during the 1920s, its gradual transformation in the years 1928-1932, and the “Great Retreat” in 1933-1939. Martin examines the aspects of korenizatiia (indigenization) and the emergence of Russian nationalism under the concept of “the Friendship of the People.”
- David Brandenberger, National Bolshevism: Explains the failure of early Bolshevik nationalities policy due to the inability of Marxism, internationalism, and socialist slogans to mobilize the population. It argues that Stalin's “National Bolshevism” was a new approach that appealed to Russian identity as the greatest common denominator and used Russian history to serve Soviet state-building interests.
- Yitzhak M. Brudny, Reinventing Russia: Examines how Khrushchev's abandonment of Russian nationalism and the Stalin cult alienated the Soviet intelligentsia, pushing them toward russocentric and nationalist positions. It analyzes how Brezhnev's support for nationalist intellectuals backfired, leading them to oppose the regime.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The paper focuses on key concepts like Russian nationalism, nationality policy, Soviet state-building, ethnic minorities, Bolshevik Revolution, korenizatiia, “Friendship of the People,” National Bolshevism, and historiographical analysis.
- Quote paper
- M.A. Pouyan Shekarloo (Author), 2009, Russian Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1917-1991, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/144892
