Soviet people

Citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union

"Soviets" redirects here. For the bygone political organizations in Russia, see Soviet (council). For other uses, see Soviet (disambiguation).

Ethnic group

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,[1] 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
Part of a series on the

Culture of the Soviet Union

History

* Great October Socialist Revolution
* Great Patriotic War

People
Languages
Cuisine
Festivals

Religion

* Islam

Art

* Architecture
* Art

Literature
Music

Media

* Radio
* Television
* Cinema
* Censorship
* Propaganda

Sport

Monuments

* World Heritage Sites

Symbols

* Flag
* Coat of arms
* National anthem
* Cultural icons

* Soviet Union portal

* v
* t
* e

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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]

## See also

[edit]

* Demographics of the Soviet Union
* Homo Sovieticus
* Melting pot
* New Soviet man
* Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality – the ideological doctrine of Russian emperor Nicholas I
* Rootless cosmopolitan
* Russification
* Sovok
* Zhonghua minzu – the equivalent notion in the People's Republic of China
* Yugoslavs

## References

[edit]

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

## External links

[edit]

* 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

* v
* t
* e

Soviet Union topics

* Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War
* Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union
* Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union

History|

* Index of Soviet Union–related articles
* Outline
* Russian Revolution
* February
* October
* Russian Civil War
* Russian SFSR
* Creation treaty
* New Economic Policy
* Stalinism
* Great Purge
* Great Patriotic War (World War II)
* Evacuation
* The Holocaust
* Cold War
* Khrushchev thaw
* Sino-Soviet split
* Soviet space program
* Caribbean Crisis
* Stagnation
* Soviet–Afghan War
* Perestroika
* Glasnost
* Chernobyl disaster
* Revolutions of 1989
* August Coup
* Parade of sovereignties
* Dissolution
* Transition period and cessation of the existence
* Succession, continuity and legacy
* Post-Soviet states
* Nostalgia

Geography|

| Subdivisions|

* Republics
* Autonomous
* Krais
* Oblasts
* Autonomous
* Autonomous okrugs
* Closed city

|

Regions|

* Baltic States
* Caspian Sea
* Caucasus Mountains
* Central Asia
* Crimea
* European Russia
* North Caucasus
* Russian Far East
* Siberia
* Transcaucasia
* Ural Mountains
* Volga Region
* West Siberian Plain

Politics|

| General|

* Conscription
* Constitution
* 1924
* 1936
* 1977
* Elections
* Foreign relations
* Brezhnev Doctrine
* Gun control
* Government
* List
* Ministries
* State Committees
* Human rights
* LGBT
* Law
* Capital punishment
* Leaders
* Collective leadership
* National delimitation
* Passport system
* Propiska
* Political parties
* State ideology
* Marxism–Leninism
* Leninism
* Stalinism
* Soviet anti-Zionism

|

Bodies|

* Communist Party
* organisation
* Congress
* Central Committee
* Presidium/Politburo
* Secretariat
* General Secretary
* Congress of Soviets (1922–1936)
* Supreme Soviet (1938–1991)
* Congress of People's Deputies (1989–1991)
* Supreme Court
* Military Collegium
* All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions
* Creative unions

Offices|

* Heads of state
* President
* Premier
* Deputy Premier
* First Deputy Premier

Security services|

* Cheka
* GPU
* NKVD
* Destruction battalions
* MVD
* Militsiya
* MGB
* KGB
* Chairmen
* Soviet Border Troops
* Soviet Armed Forces
* Soviet Army/Spetsnaz GRU • Soviet Navy • Soviet Air Forces/Soviet Airborne Forces

Political repression|

* Red Terror
* Collectivization
* Great Purge
* Population transfer
* Forced labor
* Foreign forced labor
* POW labor
* Gulag
* List
* Holodomor
* Political abuse of psychiatry
* Anti-abuse struggle
* War crimes
* Atrocities against prisoners of war

Ideological repression|

* Persecution of Christians
* Eastern Catholics
* Science
* Censorship
* Censorship of images

Economy|

* Agriculture
* Banking
* Central Bank
* State Labor Savings Banks System
* Economic planning
* Energy policy
* Enterprises
* Five-year plans
* Industrialization
* Internet domain
* Inventions
* Net material product
* OGAS
* Economic reforms
* 1956–1962 Wage reform
* 1957
* 1965
* 1973
* 1979
* Rouble (currency)
* Monetary reforms
* 1947
* 1961
* 1991
* Automotive industry
* Construction

Transport|

* Ministry of Railways
* Railway system
* Rail transport
* Railway electrification
* List of metro systems
* Vehicle registration plates

Science|

* Communist Academy
* Cybernetics
* Academy of Sciences
* Academy of Medical Sciences
* Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences
* Sharashkas
* Naukograds
* List

Society|

* Antisemitism
* Crime
* Demographics
* Soviet people
* Working class
* 1989 census
* Drug policy
* Ethnic conflicts
* Family
* Languages
* Linguistics
* Cyrillisation
* Prohibition
* Racism

Culture|

* Ballet
* Cinema
* Fashion
* Literature
* Music
* Opera
* Phraseology
* Printed media
* Propaganda
* Publishing houses
* Religion
* Islam
* Sports
* Stalinist architecture
* Broadcasting
* Radio
* Television

Opposition|

* Anti-Soviet agitation
* Soviet dissidents and their groups
* List

Symbols|

* Anthem
* Republics
* Emblem
* Republics
* Flag
* Republics
* Hammer and sickle

* Soviet Union portal
* Category

Authority control databases: National |

* France
* BnF data
* Latvia

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template