Table Of ContentNATIONALITIES
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G R A IT A M SMITH
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The Nationalities Question
in the Soviet Union
edited by
GRAHAM SMITH
Hope College
Holland. Michigan
Longman Group UK Limited,
Longman House, Burnt Mill, Harlow,
Essex CM20 2JE, England
and Associated Companies throughout the world.
Published in the United States of America
by Longman Publishing Group, New York
© Longman Group UK Limited 1990
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
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photocopying, recording, or otherwise without either the
prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence
permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued
by the Copyright Licensing agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road,
London W1P 9HE.
First published 1990
Second Impression 1991
Third Impression 1992
British Library Cataloguing In Publication Data
The Nationalities question in the Soviet Union
1. Soviet Union, Nationalities, Political aspects
I. Smith, Graham
323.147 (
ISBN 0-5A2-D3T53-3
ISBN 0-5A2-[]3T55-Xpbk
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Nationalities question in the Soviet Union/edited by Graham Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-582-03953-3 : £28.00. — ISBN 0-582-03955-X (pbk.): £14.95
1. Soviet Union—Politics and government—1985-2. Nationalism-
-Soviet Union. 3. Perestroika. I. Smith, Graham, 1953—
DK288.N37 1990
320.947—dc20 90-34756
CIP
The cover illustration is adapted from an idea seen in a cartoon in PWA, a Polish samizdat
magazine, issue number 40, 2nd December 1988.
Set in 11/12 Garamond
Produced by Longman Singapore Publishers (Pte) Ltd.
Printed in Singapore
/
Contents
Preface v
List of Maps vjj
List of Contributors
Chapter one Nationalities Policy from Lenin to Gorbachev,
Graham Smith j
Chapter two The Russians: the Dominant Nationality, Simon Dixon 21
PART I: THE BALTIC REPUBLICS
Chapter three Estonians, Riina Kionka 40
Chapter four Latvians, Graham Smith 54
Chapter five Lithuanians, V. Stanley Vardys 72
PART II: THE SOUTH-WESTERN BORDERLANDS
Chapter six Ukrainians, Peter J.S. Duncan 95
Chapter seven Belorussians, Ralph S. Clem 109
Chapter eight Moldavians, Jonathan Eyal 123
PART III: TRANSCAUCASIA
Chapter nine Armenians, Edmund M. Llerzig 146
Chapter ten Azerbaijanis, Tamara Dragadze 163
Chapter eleven Georgians, Robert Parsons 180
PART IV: MUSLIM CENTRAL ASIA
Chapter twelve Kazakhs, Ingvar Svanherg 199
Chapter thirteen Uzbeks, Shir in Akiner 214
Chapter fourteen Turkmen, Annette Bohr 228
iii
CONTENTS
246
Chapter fifteen Kirgiz, Simon Crisp
259
Chapter sixteen Tadzhiks, John Payne
PART V: NON-RUSSIANS OF THE RUSSIAN REPUBLIC
277
Chapter seventeen Volga Tatars, Marie Benmgsen Broxup
290
Chapter eighteen Buryats, Caroline Humphrey
304
Chapter nineteen Yakut, Piers Vitehsky
PART VI: THE DIASPORA NATIONALITIES
322
Chapter twenty Crimean Tatars, Edward J. Lazzerim
339
Chapter twenty-one Jews, Yoram Gorlizki
APPENDIX 1: Territorial and ethnic claims in the
360
Soviet Union
APPENDIX 2: Comparative tables for the major nationalities 362
Select bibliographic guide to further reading in the English language 373
379
Index
IV
Preface
The idea for this book originated during the spring of 1988 when it
was clear that Gorbachev’s reforms were in the process of opening
up a Pandora’s box of ethnic problems which hitherto had remained
largely hidden beneath the surface of Soviet politics. Since February
1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Soviet took the unprecedented
step of calling for their region’s transfer to the neighbouring Soviet
republic of Armenia, the paroxysm of ethnic and nationalist unrest has
continued unabated, embracing the traditionally assertive nationalities,
like the Baltic peoples and Georgians, as well as the hitherto most loyal,
such as the Belorussians and Moldavians.
Such developments, more or less overnight, have made an important
but comparatively neglected area of Soviet studies - that of the na¬
tionalities question - not only topical but also in need of reappraisal.
The aim of this book is therefore to provide a systematic analysis
of the Soviet Union’s major nationalities in the light of the new
circumstances in which they now find themselves. The dramatic changes
affecting the world’s largest multi-ethnic society are clearly complex
and multi-faceted. By bringing together a large group of contributors
with expertise on particular nationalities it is hoped that this book will
illustrate to the reader the often strikingly different ways in which the
nationalities have been affected by and responded to perestroika and
glasnost’.
According to official sources, there are 140 nationalities in the Soviet
Union. Although this book only deals with twenty of them, in total they
constitute over nine-tenths of the Soviet population. They include the
fifteen union republic nationalities which make up the top tier of the
federal structure, together with the Volga Tatars, Buryats and Yakut of
the Russian republic, and the Crimean Tatars and Jews (Figure 1).
The book is structured as follows. Chapter One provides an historical
overview of Soviet nationalities policy, thus enabling Gorbachev’s poli¬
cies to be located within an appropriate context. Due to their special
position within Soviet society and politics, the Russians are singled out
PREFACE
for particular treatment in the second chapter. The remaining chapters
on the minority nationalities are divided into six parts, largely by
regional - administrative groupings, with each part being prefaced by
a brief introduction. An appendix of statistical tables on the nationalities
is also included for general reference, and wherever possible, includes
preliminary data published from the 1989 Soviet census.
In order to ensure continuity and the book’s overall coherence, each
contributor has followed a similar format. Chapters begin by briefly
locating the nationality within an historical, geopolitical and cultural
context. Next, the nationality is dealt with as part of the Soviet
Union, paying particular attention to socio-economic, cultural and
political developments, and to relations with Moscow. Each chapter
then focuses on analysing developments since Gorbachev came to
power, with particular attention being paid to such common themes
as the impact of the reforms on national cultures and local economies,
the role of native leaders in relation to such changes, issues pertinent
to fuelling ethnic and territorial demands, and the emergence of new
nationalist organisations and other forms of ethno-cultural resurgence.
Needless to say, events continue to move fast in the Soviet Union not
least due to the nationalities question. Every attempt has therefore been
made to provide as up-to-date and analytically useful an examination as
possible.
The major acknowledgement which an editor of a volume such as
this needs to make is to the contributors. All of them responded with
enthusiasm to the project, and I am particularly grateful for their
willingness to follow editorial guidelines, which, we hope, provide
the coherence in approach and balance in coverage that was intended.
I should also like to thank Longman’s editor, Chris Harrison, for his
encouragement, interest and support and for his willingness to allow
the project to expand beyond the initially intended coverage. To Maria
Constantinou I am grateful for her secretarial help and to Ian Agnew
for his cartographic work.
GRAHAM SMITH
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
May 1990
vi
List of Maps
Figure 1: The Soviet Federation
Figure 2: Transcaucasia
Figure 3: Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities in Tadzhikistan
List of Contributors
Shirin Akiner, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Annette Bohr, Research Section, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Munich.
Marie Broxup, Society for Central Asian Studies, London.
Ralph Clem, Department of International Relations, Flprida International
University.
Simon Crisp, St Catherine’s College, Oxford.
Simon Dixon, Department of Modern History, University of Glasgow.
Tamara Dragadze, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London.
Peter Duncan, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of
London.
Jonathan Eyal, Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, London.
Yoram Gorlizki, St Antony’s College, Oxford.
Edmund Herzig, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of
Manchester.
Caroline Humphrey, Department of Social Anthropology, University of
Cambridge.
Riina Kionka, Research Section, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Munich.
Edward Lazzerini, Department of History, University of New Orleans.
Robert Parsons, BBC Russian World Service, London.
John Payne, Department of Linguistics, University of Manchester.
Graham Smith, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.
Ingvar Svanberg, Centre for Multi-ethnic Research, Uppsala University.
V. Stanley Vardys, Department of Political Science, University of Oklahoma.
Piers Vitebsky, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
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