(Redirected from Soviet Socialist Republics):
Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989
In the final decades of its existence, the
Soviet Union consisted of 15 'Soviet Socialist Republics' ('SSR'), often called simply 'Soviet republics'. Within the USSR they were also called 'union republics' ( ''soyuznye respubliki''). All of them were
socialist republics, and all of them, with the exception of
Russia had their own
Communist parties, part of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union. They are all independent countries now; 12 of them (all except the
Baltic states) are very loosely organized under the heading
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a
federation. In accordance with article 72 of the
Soviet constitution adopted in 1977, each republic retained the right to secede from the USSR. Throughout the
Cold War, this right was widely considered to be meaningless, however Article 72 was used in December 1991 to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union, when
Russia,
Ukraine, and
Belarus seceded from the USSR.
In practice, the USSR was a highly centralised entity from its creation in 1922 until the mid-1980s when political forces unleashed by 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 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 existed a parallel structure of party organizations, which 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.
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 had a number of effects which caused the power of the republics to increase. 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 which 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 attempted 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.
Soviet Union in its final state
Map of Soviet Republics
Sorted by region
In area, Russia is the largest of the fifiteen Soviet Republics as well as the most populated. The next largest in population, are, in order: Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, whereas as Kazakhstan is by far the second largest in area. Armenia was the smallest in area, Estonia - in population.
Other Soviet republics
★ An attempt to declare a
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
Białystok.
★ 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.
★ The
Abkhazian SSR existed between
March 31,
1921 and
February 19,
1931. From February 1922 onwards, it had confederal relations with the Georgian SSR through a special union treaty.
[1] [2]
★ Abkhazia, 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.
Timeline
★ 1922 -
Georgian SSR,
Abkhazian SSR,
Armenian SSR and
Azerbaijan SSR form
Transcaucasian SFSR
★ 1922 -
Soviet Union formed from
Russian SFSR,
Transcaucasian SFSR,
Ukrainian SSR,
Byelorussian SSR
★ 1924 -
Uzbek SSR and
Turkmen SSR are formed from the
Turkestan ASSR in the Russian SFSR.
★ 1929 -
Tajik SSR split from
Uzbek SSR
★ 1931 -
Abkhazian SSR demoted to
Abkhazian ASSR within
Georgian SSR
★ 1936 - in compliance with
1936 Soviet Constitution ''Kazakh ASSR'' and ''Kyrgyz ASSR'' were split from
RSFSR and transformed into
Kazakh SSR and
Kyrgyz SSR
★ 1936 -
Transcaucasian SFSR split into
Georgian SSR,
Armenian SSR and
Azerbaijan SSR.
★ 1939 - Part of
Poland (known as
Kresy) occupied, annexed and added to
Byelorussian SSR and
Ukrainian SSR.
★ 1939 - Part of southeastern
Finland occupied and formed into a nominally independent
Finnish Democratic Republic (so-called
Terijoki Government)
★ 1940 - Finnish Democratic Republic annexed into USSR and merged with Karelian ASSR to form
Karelo-Finnish SSR
★ 1940 -
Estonia,
Latvia and
Lithuania occupied, transformed into
Estonian SSR,
Latvian SSR,
Lithuanian SSR, and annexed.
[3]
★ 1940 - Part of Ukraine's Moldavian ASSR made into
Moldavian SSR along with territory annexed from
Romania
★ 1941 - Lithuania
revolts and proclaims independence but is soon occupied by Germany.
[4]
★ 1944 - The Soviet Union annexes the
Tuvinian People's Republic, which is then made a part of the
Russian SFSR.
★ 1944-1945 - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and parts of Finland re-occupied by Soviet Union.
★ 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 -
Kuril islands and the southern part of
Sakhalin added to
Russian SFSR from
Japan
★ 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
★ 1990 - Lithuania declares independence
[5][6].
★ 1991 -
Soviet military attempt to crackdown Lithuanian independence.
[7]
★ 1991 - Estonia and Latvia declare independence.
★ 1991 - Union dissolves, rest of union republics become independent.
References
1. Lak'oba, Stanislav: ''History: 1917 -1989'' in ''The Abkhazians a handbook'' by Curzon Press, Richmond, Surrey, 1999.
2. http://www.rrc.ge/admn/url12subpirx.php?idstruc=57&idcat=2&lng_3=en
3. Gunnar Alexandersson, ''The Baltic Straits'' (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1982), ISBN 90-247-2595-X, p. 44.
4. Gediminas Zemlickas, ''Apie Birželio sukilimą ir Lietuvos laikinąją vyriausybę'' (Interview with Algimantas Liekis on June Uprising and Provisional Government of Lithuania), Mokslo Lietuva, Part I March 9, 2000, No. 5 (207) and Part II April 6-19, 2000, No. 7 (209).
5. Pernille Hohnen, ''Market Out of Place?: Remaking Economic, Social, and Symbolic Boundaries in Post-Communist Lithuania'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN 0-19-926762-6, p. 10.
6. David J Smith, Artis Pabriks, Aldis Purs, and Thomas Lane, ''The Baltic States'' (Routledge (UK), 2002), ISBN 0-415-28580-1, p. 61.
7. ''1991: Bloodshed at Lithuanian TV station'', BBC, accessed on 12 July, 2006.
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