Soviet Socialist Republic

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The Soviet Union, which existed from 1922 to 1991 was a confederation of States. That means that several states were together to form a larger union.

In the end, there were 15 of these states. People used to call the states Soviet Socialist Republic, a few of them were called Soviet Socialist Federative Republic or even Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic. Very often people simply called them Soviet republics. Within the USSR they were also called union republics. All of them were socialist republics, and all of them, except Russia had their own Communist parties. Most of them are independent countries now. 12 of them (all except the Baltic states) are very loosely organized as Commonwealth of Independent States.

Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a confederation. Article 72 of the Soviet constitution,which was adopted in 1977, says that each republic had the right to leave the USSR. Throughout the Cold War, many people thought that this right was meaningless. Article 72 was used in December 1991, however, to dissolve the Soviet Union, when Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus left the USSR.

In practice, the USSR was a highly centralised entity from its creation in 1922 until the mid-1980s. Political forces unleashed reforms undertaken by Mikhail Gorbachev resulted in the loosening of central control and its ultimate collapse. Under the constitution adopted in 1936 and modified along the way until October 1977, the political foundation of the Soviet Union was formed by the Soviets (Councils) of People's Deputies. These councils existed at all levels of the administrative hierarchy, with the Soviet Union as a whole under the nominal control of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, located in Moscow.

Along with the state administrative hierarchy, there was a parallel structure of party organizations. This allowed the Politburo to exercise large amounts of control over the republics. State administrative organs took direction from the parallel party organs, and appointments of all party and state officials required approval of the central organs of the party. General practice in the republics outside of Russia was that the head of state in a republic was a local official while the party general secretary was from outside the republic.

Each republic had its own unique set of state symbols: a flag, a coat of arms, and, with the exception of the Russian SFSR, an anthem.

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[edit] The Republics and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

The republics played an important role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika were intended to revive the Soviet Union. However, they led to an increase in the power of the republics. First, political liberalization allowed the governments within the republics to gain legitimacy by invoking democracy, nationalism or a combination of both. In addition, liberalization led to fractures within the party hierarchy. This reduced Soviet control over the republics. Finally, perestroika allowed the governments of the republics to control economic assets in their republics and withhold funds from the central government.

Throughout the late 1980s, the Soviet government tried to find a new structure which would reflect the increasing power of the republics. These efforts proved unsuccessful, and in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed as the republic governments seceded. The republics then all became independent states, with the post-Soviet governments in most cases consisting largely of the government personnel of the former Soviet republics.

[edit] Soviet Union in its final state

Map of Soviet Republics

[edit] Soviet Republics

  1. Armenian SSR
  2. Azerbaijan SSR
  3. Byelorussian SSR
  4. Estonian SSR
  5. Georgian SSR
  6. Kazakh SSR
  7. Kirghiz SSR
  8. Latvian SSR
  9. Lithuanian SSR
  10. Moldavian SSR
  11. Russian SFSR
  12. Tajik SSR
  13. Turkmen SSR
  14. Ukrainian SSR
  15. Uzbek SSR

[edit] Independent Countries

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Estonia
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Russia
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Uzbekistan

[edit] Sorted by region

  • Russian SFSR
  • The Baltic Republics
    • Estonian SSR
    • Latvian SSR
    • Lithuanian SSR
  • The West
    • Byelorussian SSR
    • Moldavian SSR
    • Ukrainian SSR
  • The Caucasus (Transcaucasian Republics)
    • Armenian SSR
    • Azerbaijan SSR
    • Georgian SSR

Russia is by far the largest in area, it spans both Europe and Asia. Of the other 14, Kazakhstan is by far the largest. Russia is also by far the most populated, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are next, in that order.

See the ranked List of Soviet Republics

[edit] Other Soviet republics

  • Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia were from 1922 until 1936 organized in the Transcaucasian SFSR.
  • The Karelo-Finnish SSR existed between March 31, 1940 and July 16, 1956.
  • Under the threat of intervention, the formally independent Far Eastern Republic was carved out of Russian territory to become a buffer state on April 6, 1920, and was again merged with Russia on November 15, 1922. Its capital was Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude) before October 1920, and then Chita.
  • An attempt to declare the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic was made during the Soviet assault in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1922, by the Polish Provisional Revolutionary Committee headed by Julian Marchlewski in Bialystok.

[edit] Timeline

  • 1922 - Soviet Union formed from Russian SFSR, Transcaucasian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR
  • 1924 - Turkmen SSR and Uzbek SSR split from Turkestan ASSR
  • 1929 - Tajik SSR split from Uzbek SSR
  • 1936 - in compliance with 1936 Soviet Constitution Kazakh ASSR and Kirghiz ASSR were split from RSFSR and transformed into Kazakh SSR and Kirghiz SSR
  • 1936 - Transcaucasian SFSR split into Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR and Azerbaijan SSR.
  • 1939 - Part of Poland (known as Kresy, Eastern Poland, or Western Belarus) annexed and added to Byelorussian SSR
  • 1939 - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania conquered, transformed into Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR
  • 1940 - Karelo-Finnish SSR created from Karelian ASSR in Russia
  • 1940 - Part of Ukraine's Moldavan ASSR made into Moldavian SSR along with territory annexed from Romania
  • 1944 - The Soviet Union annexes the Tuvinian People's Republic, which is then made a part of the Russian SFSR.
  • 1944 - repressions to Caucasus and Crimea peoples, deportations, all AO and ASSR reorganized
  • 1945 - Part of East Prussia annexed from Germany and added to Russian SFSR as the Kaliningrad oblast exclave
  • 1945 - Crimea ASSR transformed to Crimea Oblast, remaining in RSFSR
  • 1945 - Wolhynian Voivodship of post-WWI Poland added to Ukraine as Volyn Oblast.
  • 1945 - Kuril islands and the southern part of Sakhalin added to Russian SFSR
  • 1945 - Carpathian Ruthenia ceded by Czechoslovakia and integrated into the Ukrainian SSR
  • 1954 - Crimea transferred from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR
  • 1956 - Karelo-Finnish SSR became the Karelian ASSR in Russia again

[edit] References

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