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Soviet Union [USSR] Chapter 4. Nationalities and Religions
ON FEBRUARY 17, 1988, General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev
declared that the nationalities question in the Soviet Union was a
"crucially important vital question" of the times. He went on to
call for a "very thorough review" of Soviet nationalities policy,
an acknowledgment of the failure of the past Soviet regimes'
attempts to solve the problem of nationalities that was inherited
from tsarist Russia. With remarkable candor, Gorbachev admitted
that the problem not only still existed but that it was more acute
than ever.
For close to seventy years, Soviet leaders had maintained that
frictions between the many nationalities of the Soviet Union had
been eliminated and that the Soviet Union consisted of a family of
nations living harmoniously together, each national culture adding
to and enriching the new Soviet culture and promoting the
development of a single Soviet nationality. However, the national
ferment that shook almost every corner of the Soviet Union in the
late 1980s proved that seventy years of communist rule had failed
to obliterate national and ethnic differences and that traditional
cultures and religions would reemerge given the slightest
opportunity. This unpleasant reality facing Gorbachev and his
colleagues meant that, short of relying on the traditional use of
force, they had to find alternative solutions in order to prevent
the disintegration of the Soviet empire. Whether they succeed or
fail in this task will, to a large degree, determine the future of
the Soviet Union.
The extensive multinational empire that the
Bolsheviks (see Glossary) inherited after their revolution
was created by tsarist
expansion over some four centuries. Some nationality groups came
into the empire voluntarily, but most were brought in by force.
Generally, the Russians and most of the non-Russian subjects of the
empire shared little in common--culturally, religiously, or
linguistically. More often than not, two or more diverse
nationalities were collocated on the same territory. Therefore,
national antagonisms built up over the years not only against the
Russians but often between some of the subject nations as well.
Like its tsarist predecessor, the Soviet state has remained
ethnically complex
(see
fig. 10). Indeed, the distinctions between
the various nationalities of the Soviet Union have sharpened during
the Soviet period. The concessions granted national cultures and
the limited autonomy tolerated in the
union republics (see Glossary) in the 1920s led to the
development of national elites
and a heightened sense of national identity. Subsequent repression
and
Russianization (see Glossary) fostered resentment against
domination by Moscow and promoted further growth of national
consciousness. National feelings were also exacerbated in the
Soviet multinational state by increased competition for resources,
services, and jobs.
Data as of May 1989
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