SOVIET STATEHOOD: THE EXPERIENCE OF ETHNO-NATIONAL POLICY

Abstract

The article shows the contradictions in the formation of the Soviet hierarchically constructed federation, which was a tool for adapting the key goals of the Bolshevik project to the requirements of a comprehensive modernization of a multi-ethnic society, which was reflected in the works of Russian and foreign scientists. In connection with the ethno-national policy, modern scientists evaluate the Soviet statehood as an empire of nations, an empire of “positive discrimination”, which created modern nations. The transition from tradition to modernity carried out in the USSR was of historical significance for all the peoples of the country. This progress has been achieved through their solidarity work. The complex nature of the relationship between the centre and the ethno-national elites in this process is pointed out. The centre served as regulator and sponsor of modernisation, provided nation-building, and ensured that the multidirectional efforts of regional leaders and national-state units were balanced. At the same time, the ethno-political elite was actively embedded in the nomenclature order, participated in the implementation of the Soviet project and was responsible for its achievements and its failures. It is shown that ethnoidentity was flexible to the requirements of the Soviet political system, and socio-cultural processes connected the Soviet and ethnic, including the traditional values of a multinational society. The evaluation of the concept “Soviet people” should take into account the most significant results of the discussion in the scientific community. According to the author, co-citizenship in the USSR was based on the centuries-old experience of living together, a single political order and cultural inhomogeneity, which can hardly be interpreted as artificially created. The Soviet experience, especially in the ethno-national sphere, remains relevant, and the current historiographical situation provides new opportunities for scientific analysis