Soviet people: Difference between revisions

Soviet people
Советский народ
	Flag of the Soviet Union
	Map of the country's constituent Union Republics in 1989
Total population
	286,730,819 (1989 census)
Languages
	Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Armenian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Latvian, Estonian, Romanian, Lithuanian, others (see: Languages of the Soviet Union)
Religion
	Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Atheism, others (see: Religion in the Soviet Union)
Related ethnic groups
	Citizens of the post-Soviet states

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The Soviet people (Russian: сове́тский наро́д, romanized: sovetsky narod) were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (новая историческая общность людей различных национальностей).^[2]

Nationality policy in the Soviet Union

During the history of the Soviet Union, different doctrines and practices on ethnic distinctions within the Soviet population were applied at different times. Minority national cultures were never completely abolished. Instead the Soviet definition of national cultures required them to be "socialist by content and national by form", an approach that was used to promote the official aims and values of the state. The goal was always to cement the nationalities together in a common state structure. In the 1920s and the early 1930s, the policy of national delimitation was used to demarcate separate areas of national culture into territorial-administrative units, and the policy of korenizatsiya (indigenisation) was used to promote involvement non-Russian nationalities in government on all levels and strengthen non-Russian languages and cultures. By the late 1930s, however, the policy was changed to a more active promotion of the Russian language and later to more overt Russification, which accelerated in the 1950s,^{[citation needed]} especially in Soviet education. Although some assimilation did occur, it did not on the whole succeed. The continued development of the many national cultures in the Soviet Union led to the drafting of the New Union Treaty in 1991 and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union.^[3]

Researchers' assessments

Assessments of the success of the creation of the new community are divergent. On the one hand, the ethnologist V. A. Tishkov and other historians believe that "for all the socio-political deformities, the Soviet people represented a civil nation."^[4]^[5] The philosopher and sociologist B. A. Grushin noted that sociology in the USSR "recorded a unique historical type of society that had already gone into oblivion". At the same time, according to the sociologist T.N. Zaslavskaya, it "did not solve the main task associated with the typological identification of Soviet society".

Some historians evaluating the Soviet Union as a colonial empire (Soviet empire), applied the "prison of nations" idea to the USSR. Thomas Winderl wrote: "The USSR became in a certain sense more a prison-house of nations than the old Empire had ever been."^[6]

In an interview with Euronews in 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recalled the use of the term "Soviet people" as a "unified community" in the Soviet Union but added that "these constructions were largely theoretical".^[7]

Post-Soviet Russia

In contrast to Soviet national identity politics, which declared the Soviet people as a supranational community, the post-Soviet Russian Constitution speaks of a "multinational people of the Russian Federation". From the outset, the idea of the "Russian nation" as a community of all Russian citizens has met with opposition.^[8]

In December 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pointed out the lack of an all-Russian unifying idea as a problem during a discussion in the State Council and proposed multiethnic patriotism as a replacement for the idea of "the Soviet people".^[9]

References

^ "Language Policy in the former Soviet Union". H. Schiffman. University of Pennsylvania. 19 November 2002.
^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia, article "Советский народ" by Suren Kaltakhchian [ru]
^ Anderson, Barbara A.; Silver, Brian D. (2019). "Some Factors in the Linguistic and Ethnic Russification of Soviet Nationalities: Is Everyone Becoming Russian?". In Hajda, Lubomyr; Beissinger, Mark (eds.). The Nationality Factor in Soviet Politics and Society. Routledge. pp. 95–130. ISBN 9781000303766.
^ "Российский народ и национальная идентичность". Известия (in Russian). 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
^ admin. "СОВЕТСКИЙ НАРОД: ГОСУДАРСТВЕННО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЙ КОНСТРУКТ | Аналитика культурологии". analiculturolog.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-08-09.
^ Bekus, Nelly (2010-01-01). Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness". Central European University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-963-9776-68-5.
^ ГРИШИН, Александр (2011-09-10). "Дмитрий Медведев: "Термин "советский народ" оказался теоретическим"". kp.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-08-09.
^ Malinova O. "Symbolic politics and the construction of macropolitical identity in post-Soviet Russia". Polis. Political Studies. 2: 90–105.
^ "Власти РФ предлагают укреплять общество "общероссийским патриотизмом"". РИА Новости (in Russian). 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2021-08-09.

External links

The Soviet People—A New Historical Community, a Soviet work from 1974 expounding on the concept
Present-Day Ethnic Processes in the USSR, a Soviet work from 1982

[1] "Language Policy in the former Soviet Union". H. Schiffman. University of Pennsylvania. 19 November 2002.

[2] Great Soviet Encyclopedia, article "Советский народ" by Suren Kaltakhchian [ru]

[3] Anderson, Barbara A.; Silver, Brian D. (2019). "Some Factors in the Linguistic and Ethnic Russification of Soviet Nationalities: Is Everyone Becoming Russian?". In Hajda, Lubomyr; Beissinger, Mark (eds.). The Nationality Factor in Soviet Politics and Society. Routledge. pp. 95–130. ISBN 9781000303766.

[4] "Российский народ и национальная идентичность". Известия (in Russian). 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2021-08-09.

[5] . "СОВЕТСКИЙ НАРОД: ГОСУДАРСТВЕННО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЙ КОНСТРУКТ | Аналитика культурологии". analiculturolog.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-08-09.

[:0-6] Bekus, Nelly (2010-01-01). Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness". Central European University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-963-9776-68-5.

[7] ГРИШИН, Александр (2011-09-10). "Дмитрий Медведев: "Термин "советский народ" оказался теоретическим"". kp.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-08-09.

[8] Malinova O. "Symbolic politics and the construction of macropolitical identity in post-Soviet Russia". Polis. Political Studies. 2: 90–105.

[9] "Власти РФ предлагают укреплять общество "общероссийским патриотизмом"". РИА Новости (in Russian). 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2021-08-09.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{dablinks|date=October 2022}}
 {{Short description|Citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union}}
+{{Redirect|Soviets|the bygone political organizations in Russia|Soviet (council)|5=Soviet (disambiguation)}}
-{{distinguish|Demographics of the Soviet Union}}
 {{Infobox ethnic group
+| group            = Soviet people
 | native_name      = Советский народ
 | native_name_lang = ru
-| image            = 1950 июл Померки дет лагерь (cropped).jpg
+| flag             = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
+| flag_caption     = [[Flag of the Soviet Union]]
-| image_caption    = Pomerki child sanatory in Moscow, 1950s.
+| image            = Soviet Union Administrative Divisions 1989.jpg
-| population       =
+| image_caption    = Map of the country's constituent [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Union Republics]] in 1989
-| languages        = official language <br>[[Russian language|Russian]]
+| population       = 286,730,819 ([[1989 Soviet census|1989 census]])
-official regional languages <br>
-[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Belarusian language|Belarussian]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Azerbaijani]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Czech]], [[Slovak]], [[Polish]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Bulgarian]], [[Romanian]], [[Armenian]], [[Uzbek]], [[Kyrgyz]], [[Tajik]], [[Turkmen]], [[Latvian]], [[Estonian]], [[Moldavian]], [[Lithuanian]]
+| languages        = [[Russian language|Russian]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/handouts/ussr/soviet2.html|title=Language Policy in the former Soviet Union|work=H. Schiffman|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]]|date=19 November 2002}}</ref> [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]], [[Tajik language|Tajik]], [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], others (see: ''[[Languages of the Soviet Union]]'')
+| religions        = [[Christianity in the Soviet Union|Christianity]], [[Islam in the Soviet Union|Islam]], [[History of the Jews in the Soviet Union|Judaism]], [[Buddhism in Russia|Buddhism]], [[Atheism]], others (see: ''[[Religion in the Soviet Union]]'')
-| religions        = [[Atheism]]
+| related_groups   = Citizens of the [[post-Soviet states]]
-| related_groups   = [[Russians]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Belarusians]], [[Kazakhs]], [[Azerbaijanis|Azerbaijani]], [[Armenians]], [[Georgians]], [[Uzbeks]], [[Kyrgyz people|Kyrgyz]], [[Tajiks]], [[Turkmens]], [[Czech]], [[Slovaks]], [[Poles]], [[Hungarians]], [[Bulgarians]], [[Romanians]],[[Latvians]], [[Estonians]], [[Lithuanians]], [[Moldovans]]
 }}
 {{Culture of the Soviet Union}}
+The '''Soviet people''' ({{langx|ru|сове́тский наро́д|sovetsky narod}}) were the [[Demographics of the Soviet Union|citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union]]. This [[demonym]] was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of [[National delimitation in the Soviet Union|different nationalities]]" ({{langx|ru|новая историческая общность людей различных национальностей|label=none}}).<ref>''[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]'', article "Советский народ" by {{ill|Suren Kaltakhchian|ru|Калтахчян, Сурен Тигранович}}</ref>
-'''Soviets''' ({{lang-rus|Сове́тский наро́д|r=Sovyétsky naród}}), or '''citizens of the USSR''' ({{lang-rus|Гра́ждане СССР|Grázhdanye SSSR}}), was an [[umbrella term|umbrella]] [[demonym]] for the population of the [[Soviet Union]].
 ==Nationality policy in the Soviet Union==
-During the [[history of the Soviet Union]], different doctrines and practices on ethnic distinctions within the Soviet population were applied at different times. Minority national cultures were never completely abolished. Instead the Soviet definition of national cultures required them to be "[[socialist]] by content and national by form", an approach that was used to promote the official aims and values of the state. The goal was always to cement the nationalities together in a common state structure. In the 1920s and the early 1930s, the policy of [[National delimitation in the Soviet Union|national delimitation]] was used to demarcate separate areas of national culture and the policy of [[korenizatsiya]] (indigenisation) was used to promote federalism and strengthen non-Russian languages and cultures. By the late 1930s, however, the policy was changed to a more active promotion of the [[Russian language]] and later to more overt [[Russification]], which accelerated in the 1950s,{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} especially in [[Education in the Soviet Union|Soviet education]]. Although some assimilation did occur, it did not on the whole succeed. The continued development of the many national cultures in the Soviet Union led to the drafting of the [[New Union Treaty]] in 1991 and the subsequent [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Barbara A.|last1=Anderson|first2=Brian D.|last2=Silver|chapter=Some Factors in the Linguistic and Ethnic Russification of Soviet Nationalities: Is Everyone Becoming Russian?|editor1-first=Lubomyr|editor1-last=Hajda|editor2-first=Mark|editor2-last=Beissinger|title=The Nationality Factor in Soviet Politics and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kyfDwAAQBAJ|publisher=Routledge|year=2019|isbn=9781000303766|pages=95–130}}</ref>
+During the [[history of the Soviet Union]], different doctrines and practices on ethnic distinctions within the Soviet population were applied at different times. Minority national cultures were never completely abolished. Instead the Soviet definition of national cultures required them to be "[[socialist]] by content and national by form", an approach that was used to promote the official aims and values of the state. The goal was always to cement the nationalities together in a common state structure. In the 1920s and the early 1930s, the policy of [[National delimitation in the Soviet Union|national delimitation]] was used to demarcate separate areas of national culture into territorial-administrative units, and the policy of [[korenizatsiya]] (indigenisation) was used to promote involvement non-Russian nationalities in government on all levels  and strengthen non-Russian languages and cultures. By the late 1930s, however, the policy was changed to a more active promotion of the [[Russian language]] and later to more overt [[Russification]], which accelerated in the 1950s,{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} especially in [[Education in the Soviet Union|Soviet education]]. Although some assimilation did occur, it did not on the whole succeed. The continued development of the many national cultures in the Soviet Union led to the drafting of the [[New Union Treaty]] in 1991 and the subsequent [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Barbara A.|last1=Anderson|first2=Brian D.|last2=Silver|chapter=Some Factors in the Linguistic and Ethnic Russification of Soviet Nationalities: Is Everyone Becoming Russian?|editor1-first=Lubomyr|editor1-last=Hajda|editor2-first=Mark|editor2-last=Beissinger|title=The Nationality Factor in Soviet Politics and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kyfDwAAQBAJ|publisher=Routledge|year=2019|isbn=9781000303766|pages=95–130}}</ref>
-== Researchers' assessments ==
+==Researchers' assessments==
 Assessments of the success of the creation of the new community are divergent. On the one hand, the ethnologist V. A. Tishkov and other historians believe that "for all the socio-political deformities, the Soviet people represented a civil nation."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007-06-19|title=Российский народ и национальная идентичность|url=https://iz.ru/news/325722|access-date=2021-08-09|website=Известия|language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=admin|title=СОВЕТСКИЙ НАРОД: ГОСУДАРСТВЕННО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЙ КОНСТРУКТ {{!}} Аналитика культурологии|url=http://analiculturolog.ru/route/route.php?journal/archive/item/769-18.html|access-date=2021-08-09|website=analiculturolog.ru|language=ru-RU}}</ref> The philosopher and sociologist B. A. Grushin noted that sociology in the USSR "recorded a unique historical type of society that had already gone into oblivion". At the same time, according to the sociologist T.N. Zaslavskaya, it "did not solve the main task associated with the typological identification of Soviet society".
+Some historians evaluating the Soviet Union as a colonial [[Soviet Empire|empire]] ([[Soviet empire]]), applied the "[[prison of nations]]" idea to the USSR. Thomas Winderl wrote: "The USSR became in a certain sense more a prison-house of nations than the old Empire had ever been."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bekus |first=Nelly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DiwPRpRYt2kC |title=Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness" |date=2010-01-01 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-9776-68-5 |pages=42 |language=en}}</ref>
-In an interview with [[Euronews]] in 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recalled the use of the term "Soviet people" as a "single community" in the Soviet Union but added that "these constructions were largely theoretical".<ref>{{Cite web|last=ГРИШИН|first=Александр|date=2011-09-10|title=Дмитрий Медведев: "Термин "советский народ" оказался теоретическим"|url=https://www.kp.ru/daily/25751/2737536/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=kp.ru|language=ru}}</ref>
+In an interview with [[Euronews]] in 2011, Russian President [[Dmitry Medvedev]] recalled the use of the term "Soviet people" as a "unified community" in the Soviet Union but added that "these constructions were largely theoretical".<ref>{{Cite web|last=ГРИШИН|first=Александр|date=2011-09-10|title=Дмитрий Медведев: "Термин "советский народ" оказался теоретическим"|url=https://www.kp.ru/daily/25751/2737536/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=kp.ru|language=ru}}</ref>
-Russian researchers have also paid attention to the topic of the formation and functioning of the consciousness of the Soviet people.
-== Post-Soviet Russia ==
+==Post-Soviet Russia==
-In contrast to Soviet national identity politics, which declared the Soviet people as an international and supranational community, the post-Soviet [[Constitution of Russia|Russian Constitution]] speaks of a "multinational people of the [[Russia|Russian Federation]]". From the outset, the idea of the [[Russia|Russian nation]] as a community of all [[Russian nationality law|Russian citizens]] has met with opposition.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Malinova O.|title=Symbolic politics and the construction of macropolitical identity in post-Soviet Russia|journal=Polis. Political Studies|volume=2|pages=90–105}}</ref>
+In contrast to Soviet national identity politics, which declared the Soviet people as a supranational community, the post-Soviet [[Constitution of Russia|Russian Constitution]] speaks of a "multinational people of the [[Russia|Russian Federation]]". From the outset, the idea of the "Russian nation" as a community of all [[Russian citizens]] has met with opposition.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Malinova O.|title=Symbolic politics and the construction of macropolitical identity in post-Soviet Russia|journal=Polis. Political Studies|volume=2|pages=90–105}}</ref>
-In December 2010, [[Russian President]] [[Dmitry Medvedev]] pointed out the lack of an all-Russian unifying idea as a problem during a discussion in the State Council and proposed "all-Russian patriotism" as a replacement for the idea of "the Soviet people".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-12-27|title=Власти РФ предлагают укреплять общество "общероссийским патриотизмом"|url=https://ria.ru/20101227/314197013.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-09|website=РИА Новости|language=ru}}</ref>
+In December 2010, Russian President [[Dmitry Medvedev]] pointed out the lack of an all-Russian unifying idea as a problem during a discussion in the [[State Council (Russia)|State Council]] and proposed multiethnic patriotism as a replacement for the idea of "the Soviet people".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-12-27|title=Власти РФ предлагают укреплять общество "общероссийским патриотизмом"|url=https://ria.ru/20101227/314197013.html|access-date=2021-08-09|website=РИА Новости|language=ru}}</ref>
 ==See also==