Where does the Motherland begin?
From the picture in your ABC book,
From good and faithful comrades,
Living in the neighboring yard.
Or maybe it's starting
From the song that our mother sang to us,
Since in any test
No one can take it away from us.
Where does the Motherland begin?
From the treasured bench at the gate,
From that very birch tree in the field,
Bowing in the wind, it grows.
Or maybe it's starting
From the spring song of a starling
And from this country road,
Which has no end in sight.
Where does the Motherland begin?
From the windows burning in the distance,
From my father's old budenovka,
What we found somewhere in the closet.
Or maybe it's starting
From the sound of carriage wheels
And from the oath that in my youth
You brought it to her in your heart.
Where does the Motherland begin...
Soviet Union- this is not an empty phrase, but a whole era of generations that today have formed into a single generation - the generation of the USSR or “Soviet”, as we sometimes call it. An era, like a word from a song, cannot be thrown out, because it is part of our history. Rewriting history in order to distort it is not only inexcusable, but also offensive. It was during the Soviet era that our country for the first time in history became the first socialist superpower, because as Churchill noted: “Stalin accepted Russia with a plow, and left it with a nuclear club,” and this is a completely fair assessment. But let us not at the same time deny the merits of the Petrine monarchy, which laid the foundation for this glorious path. Azov, Poltava, Gangut, Grengam, Nystadt are certainly the first serious victories of Russia, which turned it into a monarchical superpower, which was also done for the first time. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Peace of Nystadt in the North and the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in general. To paraphrase Churchill, all I have to do is add: “Peter the Great accepted Russia with horses, and left it with sea wolves.” If Britain became the trendsetter in naval fashions, and the United States in nuclear ones, then Russia invariably violated the monopoly of each of these enemies. The famous aphorism of the greatest Russian monarch, Alexander III, was suffered through our entire history: “Russia has only 2 allies: the army and the navy; all the rest will oppose it.” Today it is difficult to disagree with this, if we add a third one - a nuclear cannon! So, what else will happen if new types of weapons appear among our types of weapons, which will also become our constant and eternal allies.
Prerequisites for the formation of the USSR
Before the young state, torn apart by the consequences of the civil war, the problem of creating a unified administrative-territorial system became acute. At that time, the RSFSR accounted for 92% of the country's area, whose population later accounted for 70% of the newly formed USSR. The remaining 8% was shared among the Soviet republics: Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation, which united Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in 1922. Also in the east of the country, the Far Eastern Republic was created, which was administered from Chita. Central Asia at that time consisted of two people's republics - Khorezm and Bukhara.
Let's look at what stages the formation of the USSR went through.
Strengthening the historical trinity of Moscow, Kyiv and Minsk
In order to strengthen the centralization of control and concentration of resources on the fronts of the civil war, the RSFSR, Belarus and Ukraine united into an alliance in June 1919. This made it possible to combine armed forces, with the introduction of centralized command (the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR and the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army). Representatives from each republic were delegated to government bodies. The agreement also provided for the reassignment of some republican branches of industry, transport and finance to the corresponding People's Commissariats of the RSFSR. This new state formation went down in history under the name “contractual federation.” Its peculiarity was that Russian governing bodies were given the opportunity to function as the only representatives of the supreme power of the state. At the same time, the communist parties of the republics became part of the RCP (b) only as regional party organizations.
Transcaucasian Federative SSR as a state-catalyst for unification
Soviet authority strengthened. On this basis, mutual political and economic ties between the independent Soviet republics expanded. Already in 1920, the Communist Party raised the question of strengthening a federal union between them. In his theses on national and colonial issues, written for the Second Congress of the Comintern, V. I. Lenin put forward the task of “striving for a closer and closer federal union.” In the same year, the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR concluded a union treaty, which provided for cooperation between the two republics in various areas of their activities. In 1920-1921 Treaties were concluded between the RSFSR and the Byelorussian SSR, between the RSFSR and the Soviet republics of Transcaucasia.
The process of unification of the socialist republics took place in a bitter struggle against great-power chauvinism and local bourgeois nationalism. This struggle was led by the Communist Party, which stood guard over the fraternal unity of peoples. The establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat ensured free national development for all nations and nationalities of the former Russian Empire and granted them full sovereignty. Peoples, in accordance with their will and depending on the specific historical situation, could unite in a proletarian multinational state or not unite. V.I. Lenin pointed out that the question of the right of nations to self-determination, even to the point of secession, cannot be confused with the question of the advisability of secession. The last question must be resolved by the Communist Party in each individual case from the point of view of the interests of the proletariat and all the working masses of the national Soviet republics. The unifying tendencies won, since they met the fundamental interests of all the peoples of the Soviet republics. This revealed the historical pattern of the dictatorship of the proletariat - a power that unites peoples, and does not separate them. The Soviet nations wished to unite into a single multinational state because they were closely linked to each other economically, politically and culturally, and also because without such unification it would have been extremely difficult for them to resist the onslaught of international imperialism.
The unification of the republics was to be carried out on the basis of complete voluntariness. “A federation can be strong, and its results valid,” said the resolution of the Tenth Congress of the Communist Party, “only if it is based on mutual trust and voluntary consent of its member countries.”
The creation of a single union Soviet socialist state was dictated by objective reasons. First of all, it was necessary to combine the economic and financial resources of the Soviet republics and coordinate their plans for socialist construction. In this case, factors such as the historical division of labor and the unity of the main routes of communication played a major role.
The world and civil wars had a detrimental effect on the state of the country's national economy. In each region, those industries that were the subject of its specialization suffered the most: the mining and sugar industries in Ukraine, flax growing in the North-Western region, cotton growing in Central Asia, etc. In addition to the direct destruction of productive forces, heavy damage was caused by the breakdown of connections due to the emergence of various fronts and disorganization of transport. The restoration of the national economy and economic ties between the Soviet republics, which began after the civil war, took place on the basis of the historically established division of labor. At the same time, the principles of the national policy of the Soviet government provided for the creation of new industrial centers, the development of minerals and other natural resources where this had not been done before. The changes made to the previous division of labor were not intended to weaken, but to further strengthen economic ties between the Soviet republics.
The formation of the union Soviet state was dictated by the tasks of a planned socialist economy. Private property and capital separate people, collective property and labor bring them together. Back in 1920-1921, when the GOELRO plan was developed, all Soviet republics expressed a desire to participate in its implementation. Each of them was interested in the socialist reconstruction of their economy based on electrification. The construction of a number of power plants was designed at the request of the republics: Dnieper, Shterovskaya, Lisichanskaya, Grishinskaya - at the request of the Ukrainian SSR, Osipovskaya - the Byelorussian SSR, Tashkent - the Turkestan ASSR, Zemo-Avchalskaya - the Georgian SSR. Commenting on the electrification map, Chairman of the State Planning Committee G. M. Krzhizhanovsky said that the GOELRO plan cannot be implemented through the isolated efforts of individual republics. It was possible to carry out the socialist reconstruction of the national economy, to achieve the rise of productive forces and the well-being of all peoples only through the united efforts of all Soviet nations within the framework of the multinational Soviet state.
Treaties concluded in 1920-1921 between Soviet republics, contained clauses on economic cooperation, but did not define its conditions and did not provide for the creation of united planning and economic bodies. This caused great difficulties in the development of both the GOELRO plan and, in particular, the plan for the economic zoning of the Soviet country.
The economic zoning project was developed by the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR in 1921-1922. with the direct participation of major Soviet scientists (G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, I. G. Aleksandrov, S. G. Strumilin, etc.). Providing maximum favorable conditions development of the productive forces of all national republics and regions, this project assumed not departmental, but territorial management of the national economy. Its implementation opened up wide opportunities for the creative initiative of the masses, and on the other hand, the role of planned economic management was strengthened.
Economic zoning provided for the formation of local economic meetings and strengthening the role of state plans and economic councils. This could not be achieved without the creation of unified planning and economic bodies. Therefore, in 1922, the State Planning Committee raised the question of establishing a planning center for all Soviet republics and put forward the idea of further strengthening the Soviet federation through constitutional or contractual means.
In all republics, the need for closer unification was acutely felt economic activity. In August 1922, the Ukrainian Economic Council decided that “economic zoning should be carried out in contact and cooperation with the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR.” The resolution of the Second Congress of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan stated: “We are faced with the task of establishing the closest connection between the economic bodies of Azerbaijan and the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the RSFSR.” The Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party in its report for 1922 wrote that the experience of economic construction of the Soviet republics over the past year “showed the need for state unification of the economic efforts of the republics and the systematic distribution of the resources available to these republics.”
The unification of the Soviet republics was also dictated by their international position and the tasks of strengthening their defense capability.
The Soviet government in its foreign policy proceeded from the possibility of peaceful coexistence of the Soviet republics with capitalist countries. The victory over the interventionists and the White Guards gave the Soviet people a peaceful respite. However, aggressive circles of the imperialist states still hoped to restore the bourgeois system in Russia, if not by force of arms, then with the help subversion, economic and political pressure. They also hoped to create discord among the Soviet peoples, to pit some Soviet republics against others. In these difficult conditions, the Soviet republics had to maintain strict unity of action in the international arena. In February 1922, eight republics instructed the RSFSR delegation to represent their interests at the Genoa Conference. In November, a joint Russian-Ukrainian-Georgian delegation was formed to participate in the Lausanne Conference. Contact between the People's Commissars of the Soviet republics intensified, and unified diplomatic missions were created abroad. The same unification of activities took place in foreign trade bodies.
All Soviet republics advocated a speedy merger of the armed forces and military leadership. Party and Soviet bodies of the Ukrainian SSR several times noted the urgent need for this. Similar resolutions were adopted by the Central Committees of the Communist Parties in Georgia and Armenia.
Thus, in 1922, all the prerequisites for the creation of a Soviet multinational state were ripe.
The emergence and escalation of confrontation.
But nevertheless, disagreements arose between the republics and the control center in Moscow. After all, having delegated their main powers, the republics lost the opportunity to make decisions independently. At the same time, the independence of the republics in the sphere of governance was officially declared.
Uncertainty in defining the boundaries of the powers of the center and the republics contributed to the emergence of conflicts and confusion. Sometimes state authorities looked ridiculous, trying to bring to a common denominator nationalities whose traditions and culture they knew nothing about. For example, the need for the existence of a subject on the study of the Koran in the schools of Turkestan gave rise in October 1922 to an acute confrontation between the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the People's Commissariat for Nationalities, which was headed by Stalin before Lenin's death.
Creation of a commission on relations between the RSFSR and independent republics.
The decisions of the central bodies in the economic sphere did not find proper understanding among the republican authorities and often led to sabotage. In August 1922, in order to radically change the current situation, the Politburo and the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) considered the issue “On the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent republics”, creating a commission that included republican representatives. V.V. Kuibyshev was appointed chairman of the commission.
The commission instructed I.V. Stalin to develop a project for the “autonomization” of the republics. The presented decision proposed to include Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in the RSFSR, with the rights of republican autonomy. The draft was sent to the Republican Central Committee of the party for consideration. However, this was done only to obtain formal approval of the decision. Considering the significant infringements on the rights of the republics provided for by this decision, J.V. Stalin insisted on not using the usual practice of publishing the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) if it was adopted. But he demanded that the Republican Central Committees of parties be obliged to strictly implement it.
Creation by V.I. Lenin of the concept of a state based on the Federation.
Ignoring the independence and self-government of the country's constituent entities, while simultaneously tightening the role of the central authorities, was perceived by Lenin as a violation of the principle of proletarian internationalism. In September 1922, he proposed the idea of creating a state on the principles of a federation. Initially, the name was proposed - the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia, but was later changed to the USSR. Joining the union was supposed to be a conscious choice of each sovereign republic, based on the principle of equality and independence, with the general authorities of the federation. V.I. Lenin believed that a multinational state must be built based on the principles of good neighborliness, parity, openness, respect and mutual assistance.
"Georgian conflict". Strengthening separatism.
At the same time, in some republics there is a shift towards the isolation of autonomies, and separatist sentiments intensify. For example, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia flatly refused to remain part of the Transcaucasian Federation, demanding that the republic be accepted into the union as an independent entity. Fierce polemics on this issue between representatives of the Central Committee of the Georgian Party and the Chairman of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee G.K. Ordzhonikidze ended in mutual insults and even assault on the part of Ordzhonikidze. The result of the policy of strict centralization on the part of the central authorities was the voluntary resignation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia in its entirety.
To investigate this conflict, a commission was created in Moscow, the chairman of which was F. E. Dzerzhinsky. The commission took the side of G.K. Ordzhonikidze and severely criticized the Central Committee of Georgia. This fact outraged V.I. Lenin. He repeatedly tried to condemn the perpetrators of the clash in order to exclude the possibility of infringement on the independence of the republics. However, progressive illness and civil strife in the Central Committee of the country's party did not allow him to complete the job. 
Officially, the date of formation of the USSR is December 30, 1922. On this day, at the first Congress of Soviets, the Declaration on the Creation of the USSR and the Union Treaty were signed. The Union included the RSFSR, the Ukrainian and Belarusian socialist republics, as well as the Transcaucasian Federation. The Declaration formulated the reasons and defined the principles for the unification of the republics. The agreement delimited the functions of republican and central government bodies. The state bodies of the Union were entrusted with foreign policy and trade, routes of communication, communications, as well as issues of organizing and controlling finance and defense.
Everything else belonged to the sphere of government of the republics.
The All-Union Congress of Soviets was proclaimed the highest body of the state. In the period between congresses, the leading role was assigned to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, organized on the principle of bicameralism - the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities. M.I. Kalinin was elected chairman of the Central Election Commission, co-chairmen were G.I. Petrovsky, N.N. Narimanov, A.G. Chervyakov. The Government of the Union (Council of People's Commissars of the USSR) was headed by V.I. Lenin.
The machine of repression of the Gulag, the executioners of the Cheka and the dogs of the NKVD
The formation of the USSR occurred not only thanks to the initiative of the leadership communist party. Over the course of many centuries, the prerequisites for the unification of peoples into a single state were formed. The harmony of the unification has deep historical, economic, military-political and cultural roots. The former Russian Empire united 185 nationalities and nationalities. They all went through a common historical path. During this time, a system of economic and economic ties was formed. They defended their freedom and absorbed the best of each other's cultural heritage. And, naturally, they did not feel hostility towards each other.
It is worth considering that at that time the entire territory of the country was surrounded by hostile states. This, too, had no less influence on the unification of peoples. The unification into one multinational state did not contradict the interests of the peoples inhabiting the territory of the country. Consolidation into the Union allowed the young state to occupy one of the leading positions in the geopolitical space of the world. However, the commitment of the party's top leadership to excessive centralization of management stopped the expansion of powers of the country's subjects. It was I.V. Stalin who finally transferred the country onto the rails of the most brutal centralism at the end of the 30s.
Stalin took over the USSR just a little over a year after its formation: this happened on January 28, 1924. He waited only 395 days for his time. In the year of the formation of the USSR, the first changes took place in Europe: Italy, humiliated and insulted by the results and promises of the British in the First World War, became the world's first fascist state. The case of Italy is generally unique: the country had 2 forms of government in the period from 1922 to 1945, being both a monarchical empire and a fascist dictatorship in one person, while Japan was only a monarchical empire, where power belonged to the emperor. In Nazi Germany, the monarchy was abolished, but Hitler took care of the life and safety of Kaiser Wilhelm, overthrown in November 1919. In Spain, after the fall of the Azaña regime and Franco coming to power, the monarchy, on the contrary, was not abolished as such, but it could return as a form of government only after the death of the caudillo, which happened on November 20, 1975, when Franco died. In general, November 20 is a special day in Spain and is very popular among the Spanish right-wing forces. Then, in 1936, the founder of the Falange, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, was shot, and 39 years later, Franco himself died. Interestingly, King Juan Carlos I left the throne to his son after 39 years on it, and the Spanish Civil War ended on April 1, 1939 (try it!). If anyone doesn’t know what the number 39 means, I’ll explain it simply and clearly: it’s “three times 13.” 
Stalin's reign was controversial. The Soviet Union largely grew out of the civil war and its victims; in fact, it was “built on the bones” of its own citizens, which distinguishes it from the creation of the Russian Empire. Even during the years of the Civil War, one of the founders of the Red Army, Leiba (Bronstein) Trotsky, formed the concept of “red terror” and “decossackization,” which developed into “dekulakization,” which struck primarily the common people. All this was done under the pretext of the fight for socialism and fanning the fire of the Red Revolution. Food surplus appropriation reigned in the country, a regime of “war communism” was introduced, and in fact, red fascism, when soldiers in Budennovkas broke into peasants’ houses and took away the remaining food. Those who did not comply were simply shot without trial. Bolshevism as such appeared in Russia back in 1905, when the First Congress of the CPSU (then called the RSDLP) was held. The underground red cell was a kind of political sect, like the Spanish Phalanx (Falange JONS), and its funding came from Germany, Switzerland, England and the USA. A special role at the beginning of the civil war in Russia was played by A. Parvus (aka I. Gelfand), who established strong relations with the Bolshevik social democrats, mainly with Ilyich. 
Under Stalin, the country took a sharp course towards industrialization and the country's economy began to work at full capacity. Thanks to the 5-year plans, the USSR economy rose to second place in the world after the United States, where at that time the Great Depression initially reigned, but since 1933, Roosevelt’s “New Deal” program allowed the Americans to regain their lost positions in the world. One way or another, both states after the Second World War will come together in a cold confrontation with each other.
The repressions of '37 hit the country hard. The Red Army was practically destroyed (if anyone doesn’t know or has forgotten, the destruction of the top command staff of the Red Army was a black operation by the Abwehr), which naturally went into the pockets of both Hitler and the world Jewish lobby. The results of the repressions echoed in the shameful Soviet-Finnish war and defeats in initial stages Great Patriotic War. There was also Katyn, which today is a lie that has become history and which will be discussed in another material, where a new answer will be given to the question “who is to blame for the execution of Polish officers in the spring of 1940.”
Despite all the difficulties of the Stalinist era, the USSR emerged victorious in the main hot conflict of the 20th century. By 1945, we received the USSR, the image of which we are trying to drum into our children from the cradle, so as not to disgrace our veterans. And this USSR in the early 50s. in the skies over North Korea showed that it is we, and not the Americans, who are the masters of the sky, and have no right today, almost 25 years after its collapse, to lose this dominance. The Soviet defense industry in many ways made a good leap forward many years ago, and our country was in many ways an example to follow. 
What is also curious is that if Peter the Great needed 21 years to transform Russia into an Empire, then the communist elite of the USSR took 23 years to do this. To some extent, Stalin repeated the strategic feat of Peter the Great, when in 1949, after World War II, the first Soviet atomic bomb was tested. By the middle of the 20th century, the USSR was a healthy organism, whose leadership pursued a competent foreign policy, and Stalin assigned a special historical role to the Russian people. If it weren’t for the gullibility of people, who knows, maybe by the mid-60s we would have been able to put an end to America. 
Fixing holes or fighting bourgeois nationalism?
If our people had been more enlightened and thoughtful, and not gullible, then perhaps the USSR would have avoided hacking its national card. It’s a pity that history, or rather the freaks, decided against the course of history to try to throw us back into the medieval past
Immortality of the Trinity
Despite the fact that the USSR no longer exists, and it can no longer be restored as such, in no case should members of the Trinity, which has always guarded the security of Eurasia, quarrel with each other. It's time to put aside ideological and other prejudices towards each other and extend each other's hands of help and support. The era of the red and liberal Nazi (Yeltsin) plague has long migrated from Russia to the United States, which has already stepped on the rake of all previously existing empires, where the FBI has long become the American NKVD, surpassing the “red demons in uniform” in every sense. As for today's Ukraine, it is doomed to collapse and the emergence of Novorossiya will become the core of the formation of a new Ukraine without Bandera and overseas external control.
God grant that this day comes as soon as possible and we will bring it closer as soon as we ourselves can. Through our common efforts without external help.
Because we can do everything ourselves!
Site materials used http://www.history-at-russia.ru And http://www.russlav.ru
CREATION OF THE USSR (1922-1924)
The deepest political crisis in Russia over the past several centuries led in 1917 to its collapse into dozens of separate, nominally sovereign, state entities. In the process of strengthening their power, the Bolsheviks were looking for forms - practically useful to the new government and legally correct, attractive and convincing at least for part of the population - of the political unification of the lands of the former Russian Empire. Work on collecting lands (the Bolsheviks, having taken power, were now forced to become collectors of Russian lands) was carried out during the civil war. After its completion, legally correct forms became more important than military victories. Let's see what forms they were.
Even during the years of the Civil War, a military-political union of Soviet Republics was formed. What kind of union is this? 1919 The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR, with the participation of representatives of the Soviet republics, issued a decree “On the unification of the Soviet Republics: Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus to fight world imperialism.” Recognizing the independence and right of the republics to self-determination, it was decided to unite their military, economic, financial and railway organizations. In the difficult conditions of the war, it was possible to create a unified military organization of the republics. However, by the beginning of 1922 the situation had changed significantly.
Six Soviet socialist republics: RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR, Georgian SSR and two people's Soviet republics: Bukhara (formerly Bukhara Khanate) and Khorezm (former Khanate of Khiva) continued rapprochement already in peace. Economic and political ties were strengthened. Here are some facts:
At the end of 20-beginning of 21, the government of the RSFSR allocated a cash loan of 3 billion rubles to the Armenian SSR, sent a train with essential goods, 325 thousand poods. grain, 5 thousand poods. Sahara;
From Azerbaijan. The USSR sent 50 wagons of grain, 36 thousand poods, to Armenia. oil;
In 1920, autonomous republics were proclaimed within the RSFSR: Turkestan and Kyrgyzstan; in total, the RSFSR included 8 autonomous republics and 2 autonomous regions;
In 1920 - 21 agreements on a military-economic union were concluded between the RSFSR and other republics;
In 1922, at the Genoa Conference, the RSFSR delegation represented all Soviet republics;
In March 1922, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan entered into an agreement on the formation of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federation of Soviet Republics (TSFSR).
In August 1922, at the proposal of the Politburo of the Central Committee, a commission was created to prepare for the next Plenum of the Central Committee the issue of relations between the RSFSR and the independent national Soviet republics. The chairman of the commission was I. Stalin, who, since the creation of the first Soviet government, headed the People's Commissariat for Nationalities. Moreover, since pre-revolutionary times, Stalin had gained the authority of a specialist on the national question. The commission included: V. Kuibyshev, G. Ordzhonikidze, Kh. Rakovsky, G. Sokolnikov and representatives of the national republics - one from each. Stalin prepared a draft resolution that provided for the entry of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics into the RSFSR as autonomous republics. The question of the remaining republics remained open. Stalin's resolution was called the autonomization project. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR became the highest bodies state power in the new state, and most of the people's commissariats of the republics were subordinate to the corresponding people's commissariats of the RSFSR. Stalin's draft was sent for discussion to the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics. It was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia spoke out against it, stating that unification in the form of autonomization was premature, the unification of economic and general policies was necessary, but with the preservation of all the attributes of independence. In fact, this meant the formation of a confederation of Soviet republics, based on the unity of military, political, diplomatic and partly economic activities.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus spoke in favor of maintaining the existing situation. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not discuss the project, but stated that it was based on the principle of Ukrainian independence.
At the commission meeting on September 23 and 24 1922 (chaired by V. Molotov) the project is accepted Stalin. The Georgian project is rejected. The three republics are actually against autonomization, but Stalin’s proposal is accepted! At the same time, the commission intended that its decision, after its approval at the Plenum of the Central Committee, be passed on to the national Central Committees as a directive for execution without any discussion. The plenum was scheduled for October 5. The materials of the discussion were sent to Lenin in Gorki.
Having familiarized yourself with the materials of the commission, Lenin meets with Stalin, summoned to Gorki, and convinces him to change paragraph 1 of the draft. On the same day Lenin writes a letter “On the formation of the USSR” for members of the Politburo, in which he emphasizes that the RSFSR must recognize itself as equal in rights with other republics and “together and on an equal basis with them” enter the new union. It must be assumed that such a formula, despite all the demagogic policies of the Bolsheviks, was the only acceptable one that could be implemented without a new civil war. At the end of September, Lenin talks with the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Georgia, P. Mdivani, and with members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. He, who considered the question “archimportant”, is convinced that Stalin has the desire to hurry. Therefore, Lenin advises showing maximum caution and tolerance in resolving the national issue in Transcaucasia.
However Stalin was dissatisfied with Lenin's criticism. The painfully proud and touchy General Secretary stated that the position Lenin means “national liberalism”, Stalin still believed that the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR should become the highest body in the new union. Nevertheless, realizing that as a result of Lenin’s intervention the commission would not accept his proposals, Stalin reworked his draft and indicated that the new resolution was only a “slightly modified, more precise formulation” of the old one, which was “fundamentally correct and certainly acceptable.”
It is interesting to compare the first two paragraphs of the Stalinist and Leninist project:
Autonomation.
"1. To recognize as expedient the conclusion of an agreement between the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and the RSFSR on the formal accession of the former to the RSFSR...
2. In accordance with this, the decisions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR are considered binding for the central institutions of the republics mentioned in paragraph 1, and the decisions of the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR - for the united commissariats of these republics..."
Union State.
1. Recognize the necessity of concluding an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, reserving for each of them the right to freely withdraw from the “Union”.
On October 6, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee approved Lenin's position and adopted a new resolution on its basis. P. Mdivani at the Plenum insisted that Georgia should join the USSR not through the Transcaucasian Federation, but directly.
On December 18, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee adopted the draft Union Treaty. It had to be approved by the Union Congress of Soviets, the opening of which was scheduled for December 30.
“I seem to be very guilty before the workers of Russia for not intervening energetically and sharply enough in the notorious question of autonomy, officially called, it seems, the question of the union of Soviet socialist republics... neither at the October plenum... nor I was not able to attend the December one, and thus the question passed me by almost completely.” This is what Lenin wrote on December 30, 1922 (PSS, vol. 45, p. 356). More precisely, he dictated.
Vladimir Ilyich! Calm down, you don't have to worry! After all, today the Congress of Soviets opens, which will adopt your resolution. What does this have to do with the “notorious question of autonomy”, when did you resolve it? And why is there such a strange connotation - “called, it seems ...”, i.e. this is not a union? But then what? So what happened?
In Tiflis, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, who headed the party organization of Transcaucasia, hit one of the former members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, a supporter of Mdivani. Sergo, who represented the Central Committee, Moscow, used his fists! They expected justice from him, but now people will say that the old tsarist policy continues, covered by the name “communism”...
An emergency situation has developed in Georgia. The majority of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia supported the direct entry of the republic into the USSR, thereby objecting to the decisions of the October Plenum of the Central Committee. The Transcaucasian regional committee of the party, led by Ordzhonikidze, condemned these actions as national deviationism. Stalin declared that social-nationalism had built a nest in Georgia. In response, the Georgian Central Committee resigned.
In November, former members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia filed a complaint against Sergo’s actions to the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Lenin emphasized at this time that this is not about the struggle of parties against local nationalism, but about methods this fight. Every nation requires a proletarian attitude. More gentleness, caution, compliance, the greatest delicacy, which does not exclude, of course, adherence to principles.
The Politburo of the Central Committee sent a commission headed by Dzerzhinsky to Georgia; on December 12, Lenin talks with the twitching Felix Edmundovich. The next day - a sharp deterioration in health. Leninch later said that “this matter” had a “very heavy influence” on him (PSS, vol. 45, p. 476). The commission, without even questioning those offended or checking the facts, recognized Ordzhonikidze’s actions as correct.
As soon as Lenin felt better, he dictated his notes “On the question of nationalities or “autonomization.” Lenin directly connects the Georgian incident with the policies of the Soviet bureaucratic state apparatus, “which in fact is still completely alien to us and is bourgeois and a royal mess, which could not be remade in five years... there was no way."
“Under such conditions, it is very natural that the “freedom to secede from the union” with which we justify ourselves will turn out to be an empty piece of paper, unable to protect Russian foreigners from the invasion of that truly Russian person, a Great Russian chauvinist, in essence, a scoundrel and a rapist, which is the typical Russian bureaucrat".
“I think that Stalin’s haste and administrative enthusiasm, as well as his bitterness against the notorious “social-nationalism” played a fatal role here. Bitterness in general plays in politics... the worst role.” Lenin demands that Ordzhonikidze be roughly punished, that the commission’s materials be further investigated or even re-investigated, and that political responsibility “for this entire truly Great-Russian nationalist” campaign be placed on Stalin and Dzerzhinsky.
At the same time, Lenin emphasizes that the Georgian who does not understand the need for a proletarian attitude to the national question “disdainfully hurls accusations of “social-nationalism” (while he himself is a real and true not only “social-nationalist”, but also a rude Great Russian keep his face, that Georgian, in essence, violates the interests of proletarian class solidarity" (PSS, vol. 45, ee. 357, 361, 360).
This is about the General Secretary, about the People's Commissar for National Affairs, about a specialist on the national question! Stalin did not forgive this. No one. Never.
Karl Marx believed that the consciousness of socialists should be tested on the national question. He called it “feeling a bad tooth.” It seems that after the Georgian check, Stalin could have been left without any teeth. Therefore, it is no coincidence that he delayed in every possible way the transfer of materials to Lenin, who instructed his secretaries to collect everything on this issue. Lenin I was preparing to give a speech at the congress on the national question and write a brochure - “an issue of utmost importance” - but did not have time. Here is Lenin’s last note: P. Mdivani, F. Makharadze and others. “Dear comrades! I follow your work with all my heart. I am outraged by Ordzhonikidze’s rudeness and indulging Stalin and Dzerzhinsky. I am preparing notes and a speech for you. Sincerely. Lenin. March 6, 1923" (PSS, vol. 54, p. 330). This was the very last note... The path to the implementation of the "Union" was predetermined.
Lenin was a more flexible Bolshevik than Stalin. Desiring, apparently no less than Stalin, the creation of a unitary state, he tried to give it an attractive legal form. Apparently this should explain his statements: First of all, it is necessary to understand that “internationalism on the part of the oppressor or so-called “great” nation ... must consist not only in observing the formal equality of nations, but also in such inequality that would be compensated by the nation oppressive, large nation, the inequality that actually develops in life."
In addition, “we should not renounce in advance in any way that, as a result of all this work, we will go back at the next Congress of Soviets, that is, leave the union of Soviet socialist republics only in relation to the military and diplomatic, and in all other respects restore full independence individual people's commissariats" (PSS, vol. 45, pp. 359,361 - 362).
This letter was read out at the XII Party Congress (1923) by delegations (and was first published only in 1956).
The usual fog for December had not yet cleared when the delegates of the First Union Congress of Soviets began to gather at the Bolshoi Theater. Exotic figures in robes, outlandish clothes, white turbans, and fox fur earflaps floated out of the fog. The usual leather jackets and gray overcoats flashed by. The tailcoats and starched collars of the diplomats were unusual even among this motley sea.
At the first hour of the day, a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Pyotr Germogenovich Smidovich, took the stage. A participant in three Russian revolutions, a member of the party since 1898, he opened the congress and could not speak for a long time - applause interrupted the speech of the oldest delegate.
Finally, over the fading noise, Smidovich began: “The unanimous will of the working people of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Belarus to merge the isolated Soviet republics into a single whole, into a powerful state of the union of socialist Soviet republics was expressed at the Congresses of Soviets of Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation. This will was supported with indescribable enthusiasm by representatives of the working people of the RSFSR at a meeting of the X All-Russian Congress of Soviets... The resolution adopted at this congress confirmed as the basis of the union the principle of equality of republics, their voluntary entry into the union state while preserving for each the right of free exit from it.
These principles will form the basis of the agreement proposed to the delegations... we are uniting into a single state, forming a single political and economic organism. And every wound from the outside, every pain inside on some distant outskirts will resonate simultaneously in all parts of the state and cause a corresponding reaction in the entire body of the Union..."
He gave a report on the formation of the USSR I. Stalin, After reading the text Declarations and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, Stalin proposed accepting them without discussion. The People's Commissar remained true to himself. But at the suggestion of M.V. Frunze, both documents were accepted in essence and sent for revision. Why should someone decide for the delegates? Let them also take part in the work, this is why the people sent them to Moscow. The final ratification of the documents was postponed until the Second Congress of Soviets. "This way," said Frunze, - as if it seems longer, but we have to reckon with the fact that the work that you and I have just started is a matter of extreme importance, a work that is worth working on for more than one or two months, so that The results were the most perfect."
The heads of delegations were the first to sign the Treaty and Declaration. From the RSFSR - M.I. Kalinin, from the Ukrainian SSR - M. In Frunze, G.I. Petrovsky, from the TSFSR - M.G. Tskhakaya, from the BSSR - A.G. Chervyakov. The creation of the Union was formalized by law. The delegates elected the USSR Central Executive Committee consisting of 371 members and 138 candidates. Most did not need to be introduced. L. B. Krasin and G. M. Krzhizhanovsky stood at the origins of the party, as did N. K. Krupskaya. The first Soviet people's commissars were A. G. Shlikhter (agriculture), I. V. Stalin(on nationalities affairs), N. A. Semashko (health), F. E. Dzerzhinsky (chairman of the Cheka, People's Commissar of Railway Transport), A. D. Tsyurupa (food). Generals and heroes of the civil war, scientists and artists. Elected and Bela Kun - one of the organizers of the Communist Party of Hungary.
The economic changes that took place in the country after the introduction of the NEP, the expansion of local initiative, and the democratization of social life had a beneficial effect on nation-state building. The Uzbek and Turkmen SSRs arose on the territory of Central Asia and entered into 1925 in the USSR, and the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR. There was a process of liquidation of the old national heritage. IN 1924 a number of areas with a predominance of the Belarusian population were transferred from the RSFSR to the BSSR.
Autonomous relationships improved. In the first half of the 20s. As part of the RSFSR, autonomous republics were formed - the Germans of the Volga region, Buryat-Mongolian and others. The Adjarian and Abkhazian autonomous republics appeared in Georgia. In Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan (ASSR) and Nagorno-Karabakh (AOBL) received autonomy rights. The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the Ukrainian SSR.
However, many problems have not been resolved. This concerns, first of all, national demarcation in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia. During the first half of the year 1923 work was underway to develop Constitution of the USSR. It was conducted under the leadership of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Union Republics. Representatives of all union republics took an active part in the work of the constitutional commission. It was decided to create two equal chambers within the Central Election Commission: the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities.
In summer 1923 The session of the Central Election Commission approved and put into effect Constitution. The final approval was to occur at the Second Congress of Soviets in January 1924 The Congress of Soviets was proclaimed the supreme body of power. Delegates to it were elected at provincial or republican congresses. At the same time, the advantage for workers remained: from city councils, etc., 1 delegate from 25 thousand voters, and from provincial congresses 1 from 125 thousand. The restriction of political rights established Constitution of 1918 city B 1922 - 1925 gg. From 2 to 9% of the population over 18 years of age were not allowed to vote.
Allied People's Commissariats were created in charge of foreign policy, defense issues, transport, communications, and planning. In addition, the issues of the borders of the USSR and the republics and admission to the Union were subject to the jurisdiction of the supreme authorities. The republics were sovereign in solving other problems.
On January 31, 1924, the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved Constitution. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars due to death V. I. Lenina A.I. Rykov was appointed.
(The article uses materials from I.I. Dolutsky)
In 1918, the Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People was adopted, proclaiming the principle of the future structure of the country. The federal basis of a free union of republics was the right of nations to self-determination. Following this, the Soviet government recognized the independence of Finland and the statehood of Poland.
The collapse of the Russian Empire and the imperialist war led to the establishment of Soviet power throughout Russia.
Proclaimed in 1918, it occupied 92% of the entire territory and was the largest of all Soviet republics. More than 100 nationalities and nationalities lived there. The RSFSR partially included the territories of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In fact, until 1922, the Far Eastern Republic functioned in its likeness. There were economic, political and cultural prerequisites for unification. It was not difficult to impose Soviet power in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which declared their independence.
From 1920 to 1921, units of the Red Army occupied these states without visible resistance and established the laws of the RSFSR there. The Sovietization of Belarus was easy.
In Ukraine, there was a struggle against the pro-Kiev course. The process of establishing Soviet power in the Central Asian republics - Bukhara and Khorezm - was difficult. Units of local armed opposition continued to resist there.
Most of the communist leaders of the republics were concerned about the existence of “Great Russian chauvinism”; they feared that the unification of the republics could lead to the creation of a new empire. This problem was especially painful in Georgia and Ukraine.
The Communist Party turned out to be the real power that, thanks to its impeccable organization and hierarchy, created an effective structure for governing a huge country.
The unification of the republics was facilitated by the harshness of the repressive authorities.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee commission was involved in developing the principles of the national state structure. Autonomous, federal and confederal options for building a single state were considered.
The plan for the declared autonomous entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR was proposed by the People's Commissar for Nationalities. However, the commission accepted the version of the union proposed by Lenin federal state. It gave future republics formal sovereignty.
Lenin clearly understood that a single party and a powerful repressive system were a sure guarantee of the integrity of the state. Lenin's project could attract other peoples to the Union, and not scare them away, like Stalin's version.
On December 30, 1922, at the 1st Congress of Soviets, the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was proclaimed. The congress adopted a declaration and treaty.
The declaration spoke about the reasons, goals and principles of the unification. The main goal was the creation of a world union of communist republics. Formally and legally, this goal was abolished in December 1991.
The Union's competence included issues of foreign policy and exports, defense, finance, communications and communications. Other issues were within the competence of the republics.
The Central Executive Committee (CEC), which consisted of two chambers: the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities, was elected as the highest legislative body.
On January 31, 1924, the 2nd All-Union Congress of Soviets adopted the first Constitution of the USSR, which stipulated the principles of the declaration and treaty. These provisions were consolidated by the adoption of the constitutions of the union republics in 1924-1925. The formation of the USSR strengthened the communist regime and increased the power of the state.
The state unification of Soviet socialist republics played an important role in successful socialist construction. The voluntary unification of the sovereign Soviet republics into a single union multinational socialist state was dictated by the course of their political, economic and cultural development and was prepared practically as a result of the implementation of Lenin’s national policy. The joint struggle of the peoples of the Soviet republics against external and internal enemies showed that the contractual relations between them, established in the first years of Soviet power, were not enough to restore the economy and further socialist construction, in order to defend their state independence and independence. It was possible to successfully develop the national economy only if all Soviet republics were united into a single economic whole. It was also of great importance that an economic division of labor and interdependence had historically developed between different regions of the country. This led to mutual assistance and close economic ties. Threat military intervention on the part of the imperialist states it demanded unity in foreign policy and strengthening the country's defense capability.
The union cooperation of the republics was especially important for those non-Russian peoples who had to go through the path from pre-capitalist forms of economy to socialism. The formation of the USSR resulted from the presence of a socialist structure in the national economy and from the very nature of Soviet power, international in its essence.
In 1922, all republics developed mass movement workers for unification into a single union state. In March 1922 it was proclaimed Transcaucasian Federation, which took shape in December 1922 Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR). The question of the forms of unification of the republics was developed and discussed in the Central Committee of the party. The idea of autonomization, i.e., the entry of independent Soviet republics into the RSFSR on the rights of autonomy, put forward by I. V. Stalin (from April 1922 General Secretary of the Party Central Committee) and supported by some other party workers, was rejected by Lenin, then by the October Plenum (1922) of the Central Committee RCP (b).
Lenin developed a fundamentally different form of unification of independent republics. He proposed the creation of a new state entity - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, into which all Soviet republics would enter along with RSFSR on equal terms. The Congresses of Soviets of the Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, and ZSFSR, as well as the 10th All-Russian Congress of Soviets, held in December 1922, recognized the timely unification of the Soviet republics into a single union state. On December 30, 1922, the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR opened in Moscow, which approved the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR. It formulated the basic principles of the unification of the republics: equality and voluntariness of their entry into the USSR, the right to freely secede from the Union and access to the Union for new Soviet socialist republics. The Congress reviewed and approved the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. Initially, the USSR included: RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR. The formation of the USSR was a triumph of Lenin's national policy and had world-historical significance. It became possible thanks to the victory October revolution, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the creation of a socialist structure in the economy. The 1st Congress of Soviets elected the supreme authority of the USSR - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (chairmen: M. I. Kalinin, G. I. Petrovsky, N. N. Narimanov and A. G. Chervyakov). At the 2nd session of the Central Executive Committee, the government of the USSR was formed - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, headed by Lenin.
The pooling of material and labor resources in a single state was of great importance for successful socialist construction. Lenin, speaking in November 1922 at the plenum of the Moscow Soviet and summing up the five years of Soviet power, expressed confidence that “... from NEP Russia there will be a socialist Russia” (ibid., p. 309).
In the autumn of the same year, Lenin fell seriously ill. While ill, he wrote a number of important letters and articles: “Letter to the Congress”, “On giving legislative functions to the State Planning Committee”, “On the issue of nationalities or “autonomization””, “Pages from the diary”, “On cooperation”, “On our revolution”, “How can we reorganize the Rabkrin”, “Less is better”. In these works, Lenin summed up the development of Soviet society and indicated specific ways to build socialism: industrialization of the country, cooperation of peasant farms (collectivization), carrying out a cultural revolution, strengthening the socialist state and its armed forces. Lenin's instructions, made in his last articles and letters, formed the basis for the decisions of the 12th Party Congress (April 1923) and all subsequent policies of the party and government. Having summed up the results of the NEP for 2 years, the congress outlined ways to implement the new economic policy. The decisions of the congress on the national question contained a detailed program of struggle for the elimination of economic and cultural inequality between peoples inherited from the past.
Despite significant successes in restoring the national economy, in 1923 the country was still experiencing serious difficulties. There were about 1 million unemployed. In the hands of private capital there were up to 4 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises in the light and food industries, 3/4 of retail and about half of wholesale and retail trade. Nepmen in the city, kulaks in the countryside, remnants of the defeated Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik parties and other hostile forces fought against Soviet power. Economic difficulties were aggravated by the crisis in the sales of industrial goods, caused by differences in the pace of recovery of industry and agriculture, deficiencies in planning, and violations of price policies by industrial and trade bodies. Prices for industrial goods are high, and prices for agricultural products are extremely low. Discrepancies in prices (the so-called scissors) could lead to a narrowing of the base of industrial production, undermining industry, and weakening the alliance of the working class and the peasantry. Measures were taken to eliminate the difficulties that arose and eliminate the sales crisis: prices for industrial goods were reduced, and a monetary reform was successfully implemented (1922-24), which led to the establishment of a hard currency.
Taking advantage of the acute internal as well as the current international situation and Lenin’s illness, the Trotskyists launched new attacks on the party. They denigrated the work of the Party Central Committee, demanded freedom of factions and groupings, opposed lowering prices for goods, proposed increasing taxes on peasants, closing unprofitable enterprises (which were of great economic importance), and increasing the import of industrial products from abroad. The 13th Party Conference (January 1924), condemning the Trotskyists, stated that “... in the person of the current opposition we have before us not only an attempt to revise Bolshevism, not only a direct departure from Leninism, but also a clearly expressed petty-bourgeois deviation” (“CPSU in resolutions...", 8th ed., vol. 2, 1970, p. 511).
On January 31, 1924, the 2nd Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved the first Constitution of the USSR. It was based on the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, adopted by the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets in 1922. The Central Executive Committee had 2 equal chambers: the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities. A single union citizenship was established: a citizen of each republic is a citizen of the USSR. The Constitution provided the working people of the USSR with broad democratic rights and freedoms and active participation in government. But at that time, in an atmosphere of intense class struggle, the Soviet government was forced to deprive class-alien elements of voting rights: kulaks, merchants, ministers of religious cults, former police and gendarmerie employees, etc. The Constitution of the USSR had enormous international and domestic significance. In accordance with its text, the constitutions of the union republics were developed and approved.
Nation-state building continued. The process of government was completed Russian Federation(by 1925 it included, in addition to the provinces, 9 autonomous republics and 15 autonomous regions). In 1924, the BSSR transferred from the RSFSR a number of districts of the Smolensk, Vitebsk and Gomel provinces, populated mainly by Belarusians, as a result of which the territory of the BSSR more than doubled, and the population almost tripled. The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1924-25, the national-state delimitation of the Soviet republics of Central Asia was carried out, as a result of which the peoples of Central Asia received the opportunity to create sovereign national states. The Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed from the regions of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Bukhara and Khorezm republics inhabited by Uzbeks and Turkmen. From the regions of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Bukhara Republic, inhabited by Tajiks, the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, which became part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Areas inhabited by Kazakhs, previously part of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, were reunited with the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From the areas inhabited by the Kyrgyz, the Kyrgyz Autonomous Okrug was formed as part of the RSFSR.
The 3rd Congress of Soviets of the USSR (May 1925) admitted the newly formed union republics - the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR - into the USSR.
Russian history. XX – early XXI centuries. 9th grade Kiselev Alexander Fedotovich
§ 16. EDUCATION OF THE USSR
§ 16. EDUCATION OF THE USSR
National policy of the Bolshevik Party. The first party program adopted by the RSDLP in 1903 recognized “the right to self-determination for all nations that make up the state.” However, for the Bolsheviks the main political task was social revolution. The national question was secondary. On the eve of the First World War, all European countries showed interest in national problems, their theoretical and practical development.
In the work of I.V. Stalin, a member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, “Marxism and the National Question” (1913), the right of nations to self-determination was emphasized: “a nation can arrange itself as it wishes” on the basis autonomy, join other nations in federal relations or “to separate completely.” According to the author, the party is primarily obliged to defend the interests of the proletariat, and not the national interests of the people; The main thing is the international unity of the workers.
The “Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia” (November 1917) guaranteed “the equality and sovereignty of peoples,” their right to “free self-determination up to and including secession and the formation of an independent state.” In the context of the collapse of the Russian Empire and the desire of nations for self-determination, the Bolsheviks did not risk implementing the plan of a “single international republic.”
“What is important for us is not where the state border lies,” said V.I. Lenin, “but that the alliance between the working people of all nations is preserved in order to fight the bourgeoisie of any nations.” The Bolsheviks supported the Soviet governments that formed on the outskirts of the former Russian Empire. This allowed them to strengthen their influence in national regions, created favorable conditions for the successes of the Red Army, and undermined the united front of anti-Bolshevik forces, contributing to victory in the Civil War.
During the Civil War, the process of self-determination of the peoples of Russia took place. In December 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution recognizing the Soviet republics of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. After the proclamation of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in January 1919, for the first time in history the Belarusian people acquired their own statehood. The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (December 1917) proclaimed the Ukrainian Soviet Republic a federal part of the Russian Republic, which was not yet constituted as a federation. Only after the expulsion of the White Guard troops and interventionists from Ukraine were federal relations between the Ukrainian SSR and the RSFSR legally and actually restored. In May 1920, the IV All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets adopted a decision “On state relations between the Ukrainian SSR and the RSFSR.”
The newly formed independent Soviet republics entered into multifaceted relations with the RSFSR.
Self-determination of the peoples that were part of the RSFSR took the form of the creation of autonomous republics. In April 1918, the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed, in March 1919 - the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in May 1920 - the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, etc.
Issues of national policy were dealt with by the People's Commissariat of Nationalities of the RSFSR (Narkomnats RSFSR), headed by I.V. Stalin.
Education of the USSR. In the report of J.V. Stalin at the Tenth Party Congress it was said that “the living example and the sought-after form of a state union” is the RSFSR - a federation of republics that became part of the RSFSR with autonomy rights. He consistently defended this position.
Certain contradictions in the party leadership arose in 1922, when the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR) was formed as part of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. The Budu Mdivani group opposed the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation in the form of a state union; its representatives argued that with the creation of the TSFSR, Georgia and other Transcaucasian republics would lose their independence.
The Central Committee commission formed under the chairmanship of V.V. Kuibyshev was supposed to resolve the issue of relations between the RSFSR and the independent Soviet republics. Representatives of the leadership of Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia proposed formalizing the union as confederation, retaining the “attributes of national independence” for the union republics. A different position was taken by supporters of autonomization, who proposed including Ukraine, Belarus and other independent Soviet states as autonomous republics into the RSFSR. This project was proposed by the commission of V.V. Kuibyshev.
V.I. Lenin, having familiarized himself with the materials of the commission, opposed autonomization. In his letter to members of the Politburo, he spoke out for the equal status of the union republics within the USSR. In accordance with his instructions, the plenum of the Central Committee in October 1922 decided: “It is necessary to recognize the conclusion of an agreement between Ukraine, Belarus, the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics and the RSFSR on their unification into the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, reserving for each of them the right to freely secede from the Union.” . It was proposed to consider the Union All-Russian Central Executive Committee as the highest body of the new Union, and the Union Council of People's Commissars as the executive body.
Formation of a union state. On December 30, 1922, the First All-Union Congress of Soviets opened, making a historic decision on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR adopted by the congress laid the constitutional and legal foundations of the new Union. In mid-1923, the first Constitution of the USSR was developed. Its final text was approved on January 31, 1924.
The supreme body of state power - the Congress of Soviets - was represented by delegates from city councils (1 deputy from 25 thousand voters) and provincial congresses of councils (1 deputy from 125 thousand inhabitants), which ensured, as the party leaders argued, the leading role of the working class in relation to to the peasantry. Only working people were given voting rights.
During breaks between congresses, supreme power was exercised by the Central Executive Committee (CEC). It consisted of two chambers: the Union Council and the Council of Nationalities. The Union Council was elected from representatives of the union republics, the Council of Nationalities - from representatives of the union and autonomous republics. M.I. Kalinin was elected Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
The Central Election Commission formed the government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), whose decrees and resolutions were binding throughout the country. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR consisted of the heads of the People's Commissariats. All-Union People's Commissariats existed only in the center, united - in the center and locally (in the republics).
By 1926, the USSR included: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, three Transcaucasian republics - Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, united in the Trans-SFSR, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
According to the 1926 population census, 185 nations and nationalities lived in the USSR.
USSR coat of arms
The highest and central bodies of the country according to the Constitution of the USSR of 1924.
Autonomy is self-government, the right to independently resolve internal issues by any part of the state.
Federation (from Latin “union, agreement”) is a union of states based on an agreement and establishing their legal unity.
A confederation is a union of states that maintain an independent (sovereign) existence and unite for the purpose of coordinating their activities on certain issues.
Questions and tasks
1. What principles formed the basis of the Bolshevik national policy during the Civil War?
2. Using the material in the paragraph, the map (pp. 110 – 111) and the diagram (p. 113), tell us about the formation of the USSR and the new structure of government and government bodies.
3. Compose a crossword puzzle based on the material in the paragraph.
From the book History of Russia from Rurik to Putin. People. Events. Dates authorFormation of the USSR Victory in the Civil War made the Bolsheviks masters of almost the entire territory of the former Russian Empire. True, a significant piece fell off from it in the form of Poland, the Baltic states and Finland, but the rest of the territory was controlled
From the book History. New complete guide schoolchildren to prepare for the Unified State Exam author Nikolaev Igor Mikhailovich author Volobuev Oleg Vladimirovich§ 21. FORMATION OF THE USSR UNION STATE: SEARCH FOR FORMS. The collapse of the Russian Empire and the Civil War undermined traditional economic and cultural ties between different regions of the country. Separatist sentiments (separatism) began to grow. Arose
From the book History of Russia. XX – early XXI centuries. 9th grade author From the book History government controlled in Russia author Shchepetev Vasily IvanovichEducation of the USSR In 1918–1921. the process of unifying the territories of the former Russian Empire proceeded in two directions: 1) the entry of republics and autonomous regions into the RSFSR; 2) the conclusion of bilateral agreements between the republics and the RSFSR. In March 1918, the first
From the book History of Russia. XX - early XXI centuries. 9th grade author Kiselev Alexander Fedotovich§ 16. EDUCATION OF THE USSR National policy of the Bolshevik Party. The first party program adopted by the RSDLP in 1903 recognized “the right to self-determination for all nations that make up the state.” However, for the Bolsheviks the main political task was
From the book History of Russia. XX century author Bokhanov Alexander Nikolaevich§ 3. Formation of the USSR At the end of the civil war, the territory of the country was, especially on the outskirts, a conglomerate of various state and national-state formations, the status of which was determined by many factors: the movement of the fronts, the state of
From the book History of Russia [for students of technical universities] author Shubin Alexander Vladlenovich§ 2. FORMATION OF THE USSR After the completion of the revolution, its results had to be formalized in new government forms. It was necessary to create a unified system of state power in place of the heterogeneous republics formed during the revolution. Power in all these
From the book 500 famous historical events author Karnatsevich Vladislav LeonidovichEDUCATION OF THE USSR Long live the USSR! Declaring in their programmatic works the right of nations to self-determination, the Bolsheviks, nevertheless, after seizing power, were in no hurry to grant autonomy to all national territories without exception. If Poland and Finland quickly
From book National history: lecture notes author Kulagina Galina Mikhailovna16.2. Formation of the USSR The Bolsheviks understood that they needed a unified strong state as a stronghold for the development of a future world revolution and the construction of a socialist society in our own country. This was facilitated by common economic ties and historically
From the book History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 20th century author Nikolaev Igor MikhailovichFormation of the USSR An important event of the early 20s is the formation of the USSR, the agreement on the creation of which was signed on December 30, 1922. Expanding on this topic, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the Sovietization of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian republics took place under
From the book Chronology of Russian history. Russia and the world author Anisimov Evgeniy Viktorovich1922, December Formation of the USSR Victory in the Civil War made the Bolsheviks masters of almost the entire territory of the former Russian Empire, except for Poland, the Baltic states and Finland. In the government bodies of the former national outskirts of the empire there were communists - members of the RCRP (b),
From the book Russia in 1917-2000. A book for everyone interested in Russian history author Yarov Sergey Viktorovich1.3. Formation of the USSR A condition for strengthening the ruling regime was the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on December 30, 1922. In many respects, it was formal. The total “Sovietization” of Russia and its former national outskirts had an impact
From the book Domestic History: Cheat Sheet author author unknown106. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE USSR AND THE FORMATION OF THE CIS In the conditions of weakening of the state machine, interethnic conflicts that had been smoldering until that time flared up. The first of these was the dispute over the ownership of Nagorny, which resulted in an armed confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
From the book A Short Course in the History of Russia from Ancient Times to the Beginning of the 21st Century author Kerov Valery Vsevolodovich4. Education of the USSR 4.1. Preparatory work to the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The instructions of V.I. Lenin were taken into account by the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). The resolution of the plenum of the Central Committee of the Party on the form of unification of independent Soviet republics (October 1922) recognized the need to conclude
From the book History author Plavinsky Nikolay Alexandrovich