Republics of the Soviet Union

Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Category	Federated state
Location	Soviet Union
Created by	Treaty on the Creation of the USSR
Created	30 December 1922;
Abolished by	State Council recognition of the Baltic states' independence; Declaration no. 142-Н;
Abolished	6 September 1991; 26 December 1991;
Number	21 (as of 1933)
Populations	Smallest: 1,565,662 (Estonian SSR); Largest: 147,386,000 (Russian SFSR)
Areas	Smallest: 29,800 km2 (11,500 sq mi) (Armenian SSR); Largest: 17,075,400 km2 (6,592,800 sq mi) (Russian SFSR)
Government	One-party socialist republics;
Subdivisions	Autonomous SSRs, oblasts, Autonomous oblasts;

The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics (Russian: Сою́зные Респу́блики, tr. Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based former countries and ethnically based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).[1] The Soviet Union was created by the treaty between the soviet socialist republics of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and the Transcaucasian Federation, by which they became its constituent republics. On 8 December 1991 those three out of four initial republics signed Belovezh Accords on dissolution of the Soviet Union and creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (a variation of the New Union Treaty).

For most of its history, the USSR was a highly centralized state despite its nominal structure as a federation of republics; the decentralization reforms during the era of Perestroika ("Restructuring") and Glasnost ("Openness") conducted by Mikhail Gorbachev are cited as one of the factors which led to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

There were two very distinct types of republics in the Soviet Union: the larger union republics, representing the main ethnic groups of the Union and with the constitutional right to secede from it, and the smaller autonomous republics, located within the union republics and representing ethnic minorities. The union republics carried a very limited form of sovereignty with at least two of them becoming founding members of the United Nations and had own ministries of foreign affairs. Upon creation of the Soviet Union, the union republics were established after Russian forces reoccupied short-lived nations that tried to succeed from the Russian Empire with at least two Poland and Finland that managed to preserve their independence.

The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, a relic of the Soviet-Finnish War, became the only union republic to be deprived of its status in 1956. The decision to downgrade Karelia to an autonomous republic within the RSFSR was made unilaterally by the central government without consulting its population.

Overview

According to Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, a Union Republic was a sovereign Soviet socialist state that had united with other Soviet Republics in the USSR. Article 81 of the Constitution stated that "the sovereign rights of Union Republics shall be safeguarded by the USSR".[2]

In the final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union officially consisted of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs). All of them, with the exception of the Russian Federation (until 1990), had their own local party chapters of the All-Union Communist Party.

Outside the territory of the Russian Federation, the republics were constituted mostly in lands that had formerly belonged to the Russian Empire and had been acquired by it between the 1700 Great Northern War and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907.

In 1944, amendments to the All-Union Constitution allowed for separate branches of the Red Army for each Soviet Republic. They also allowed for Republic-level commissariats for foreign affairs and defense, allowing them to be recognized as de jure independent states in international law. This allowed for two Soviet Republics, Ukraine and Byelorussia, (as well as the USSR as a whole) to join the United Nations General Assembly as founding members in 1945.[3][4][5]

All of the former Republics of the Union are now independent countries, with ten of them (all except the Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine) being very loosely organized under the heading of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Baltic states assert that their incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1940 (as the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian SSRs) under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was illegal, and that they therefore remained independent countries under Soviet occupation.[6][7] Their position is supported by the European Union,[8] the European Court of Human Rights,[9] the United Nations Human Rights Council[10] and the United States.[11] In contrast, the Russian government and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate.[12]

Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a federation. In accordance with provisions present in the Constitution (versions adopted in 1924, 1936 and 1977), each republic retained the right to secede from the USSR. Throughout the Cold War, this right was widely considered to be meaningless; however, the corresponding Article 72 of the 1977 Constitution was used in December 1991 to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union, when Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus seceded from the Union.

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 dissolution. 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 within the Russian SFSR.

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.

Each republic had its own unique set of state symbols: a flag, a coat of arms, and, with the exception of Russia until 1990, an anthem. Every republic of the Soviet Union also was awarded with the Order of Lenin.

A hall in Bishkek's Soviet-era Lenin Museum decorated with the flags of Soviet Republics
Poster of the unity of the Soviet republics in the late 1930s. All republics, except Russia, are shown with their respective traditional clothes.
Poster of the unity of the Soviet republics in the late 1940s. Note that the map also points out the Karelo-Finnish SSR capital, Petrozavodsk.

Union Republics of the Soviet Union

Map of the Union Republics from 1956 to 1991, as numbered by the Soviet Constitution: 1 Russia, 2 Ukraine, 3 Belarus, 4 Uzbekistan, 5 Kazakhstan, 6 Georgia, 7 Azerbaijan, 8 Lithuania, 9 Moldova, 10 Latvia, 11 Kyrgyzstan, 12 Tajikistan, 13 Armenia, 14 Turkmenistan, 15 Estonia

The number of the union republics of the USSR varied from 4 to 16. From 1956 until its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. (In 1956, the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, created in 1940, was absorbed into the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.) Rather than listing the republics in alphabetical order, the republics were listed in constitutional order, which, particularly by the last decades of the Soviet Union, did not correspond to order either by population or economic power.

Name	Capital	Official languages	Established	Joined	Sovereignty	Independence	Population (1989)	Pop. %	Area (km²) (1991)	Area %	Post-Soviet and de facto states	№
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic	Yerevan	Armenian, Russian	2 December 1920	30 December 1922	23 August 1990	21 September 1991	3,287,700	1.15	29,800	0.13	Armenia	13
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic	Baku	Azerbaijani, Russian	28 April 1920	30 December 1922	23 September 1989	30 August 1991	7,037,900	2.45	86,600	0.39	Azerbaijan Artsakh	7
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic	Minsk	Byelorussian, Russian	31 July 1920	30 December 1922	27 July 1990	10 December 1991	10,151,806	3.54	207,600	0.93	Belarus	3
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic[lower-alpha 1]	Tallinn	Estonian, Russian	21 July 1940[lower-alpha 2]	6 August 1940	16 November 1988	20 August 1991	1,565,662	0.55	45,226	0.20	Estonia	15
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic	Tbilisi	Georgian, Russian	25 February 1921	30 December 1922	18 November 1989	9 April 1991	5,400,841	1.88	69,700	0.31	Georgia Abkhazia South Ossetia	6
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic	Alma-Ata	Kazakh, Russian	5 December 1936		25 October 1990	16 December 1991	16,711,900	5.83	2,717,300	12.24	Kazakhstan	5
Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic	Frunze	Kirghiz, Russian	5 December 1936		15 December 1990	31 August 1991	4,257,800	1.48	198,500	0.89	Kyrgyzstan	11
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic[lower-alpha 1]	Riga	Latvian, Russian	21 July 1940[lower-alpha 2]	3 August 1940	28 July 1989	4 May 1990	2,666,567	0.93	64,589	0.29	Latvia	10
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic[lower-alpha 1]	Vilnius	Lithuanian, Russian	21 July 1940[lower-alpha 2]	5 August 1940	18 May 1989	11 March 1990	3,689,779	1.29	65,200	0.29	Lithuania	8
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic	Kishinev	Moldavian, Russian	2 August 1940		23 June 1990	27 August 1991	4,337,600	1.51	33,843	0.15	Moldova Transnistria	9
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic	Moscow	Russian	7 November 1917	30 December 1922	12 June 1990	12 December 1991	147,386,000	51.40	17,075,400	76.62	Russia	1
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic	Dushanbe	Tajik, Russian	5 December 1929		24 August 1990	9 September 1991	5,112,000	1.78	143,100	0.64	Tajikistan	12
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic	Ashkhabad	Turkmen, Russian	13 May 1925		27 August 1990	27 October 1991	3,522,700	1.23	488,100	2.19	Turkmenistan	14
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic	Kyiv	Ukrainian, Russian	10 March 1919	30 December 1922	16 July 1990	24 August 1991	51,706,746	18.03	603,700	2.71	Ukraine Russia	2
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic	Tashkent	Uzbek, Russian	5 December 1924		20 June 1990	31 August 1991	19,906,000	6.94	447,400	2.01	Uzbekistan	4

Temporary Union Republics of the Soviet Union

Name	Capital	Titular nationality	Years of membership	Population	Area (km²)	Soviet successor
Bukharan People's Soviet Republic	Bukhara	Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens	1920–1925	2,000,000	182,193	Uzbek SSR Tajik SSR Turkmen SSR
Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic	Petrozavodsk	Karelians, Finns	1940–1956	651,300 (1959)	172,400	Russian SFSR
Khorezm People's Soviet Republic	Khiva	Uzbeks, Turkmens	1920–1925	800,000	62,200	Turkmen SSR Uzbek SSR
Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic	Tiflis	Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Georgians	1922–1936	5,861,600 (1926)	186,100	Armenian SSR Azerbaijan SSR Georgian SSR

Republics not recognized by the Soviet Union

Emblem	Name	Flag	Capital	Official languages	Independence from Moldavian SSR declared	Independence from USSR declared	Population	Area (km²)	Post-Soviet states
	Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic		Tiraspol	Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan	2 September 1990	25 August 1991	680,000 (1989)	4,163 (1989)	Transnistria Moldova

Other non-union Soviet republics

Name	Capital	Created	Defunct	Successor states	Modern states
Bavarian Soviet Republic	Munich	1919		Weimar Republic	Germany
Bremen Soviet Republic	Bremen	1919		Weimar Republic	Germany
Chinese Soviet Republic	Ruijin Bao'an Yan'an	1931	1937	China	People's Republic of China Republic of China (disputed)
Far Eastern Republic	Verkhneudinsk Chita	1920	1922	Russian SFSR	Russia
Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic	Kharkiv	December 1917	March 1918	Ukrainian People's Republic	Ukraine
Commune of the Working People of Estonia	Narva	1918	1919	Estonia
Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic	Helsinki	1918		Kingdom of Finland	Finland
Galician Soviet Socialist Republic	Ternopil	1920		Polish Republic	Ukraine
Hungarian Soviet Republic	Budapest	1919		Hungarian Republic	Hungary
Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic	Riga Dvinsk Rezhitsa	1918	1920	Latvia
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic	Vilnius	1918	1919	Litbel	Lithuania
Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia	Vilnius Minsk Smolensk	1919		Lithuania Polish Republic Byelorussian SSR	Lithuania Belarus
Limerick Soviet	Limerick	1919		United Kingdom	Ireland
Mughan Soviet Republic	Lankaran	1919		Azerbaijan DR	Azerbaijan
Odessa Soviet Republic	Odessa	1918		Ukrainian People's Republic	Ukraine
Persian Socialist Soviet Republic	Rasht	1920	1921	Qajar Persia	Iran
Slovak Soviet Republic	Prešov	1919		Czechoslovak Republic	Slovakia
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic	Simferopol	1918		Crimean Regional Government	Ukraine
Tuvan People's Republic	Kyzyl	1921	1944	Russian SFSR	Russian Federation
Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets	Kyiv (Kharkiv)	December 1917	March 1918	Ukrainian People's Republic	Ukraine

The Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic was proclaimed in 1918 but did not survive to the founding of the USSR, becoming the short-lived Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the RSFSR. The Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida) was also proclaimed in 1918, but did not become a union republic and was made into an autonomous republic of the RSFSR, although the Crimean Tatars had a relative majority until the 1930s or 1940s according to censuses. When the Tuvan People's Republic joined the Soviet Union in 1944, it did not become a union republic, and was instead established as an autonomous republic of the RSFSR.

The leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov, suggested in the early 1960s that the country should become a union republic, but the offer was rejected.[16][17][18] During the Soviet–Afghan War, the Soviet Union proposed to annex Northern Afghanistan as its 16th union republic in what was to become the Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic.[19]

Unrealized Soviet states

Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919)
Polish Soviet Socialist Republic (1920)
East Polish Soviet Socialist Republic (1990)

Workers' communes

The Volga Germans Workers' Commune
The Estland Workers' Commune
The Karelian Workers' Commune
The Petrograd Workers' Commune, later the Northern Oblast Communes Association

Autonomous Republics of the Soviet Union

Several of the Union Republics themselves, most notably Russia, were further subdivided into Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs). Though administratively part of their respective Union Republics, ASSRs were also established based on ethnic/cultural lines.

According to the constitution of the USSR, autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs had the right, by means of a referendum, to independently resolve the issue of staying in the USSR or in the seceding union republic, as well as to raise the issue of their state-legal status.[20]

Name	Years of membership	Capital	Official languages	Area (km²⁾	Soviet Socialist Republic	Post-Soviet subjects
Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1931–1992	Sukhumi	Abkhazian, Georgian, Russian	8,600	Georgian SSR	Abkhazia
Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1921–1990	Batumi	Georgian, Russian	2,880	Georgian SSR	Adjara
Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1919–1991	Ufa	Bashkir, Russian	143,600	Russian SFSR	Bashkortostan
Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1923–1990	Ulan-Ude	Buryat, Russian	69,857	Russian SFSR	Buryatia
Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1936–1944 1957–1991	Grozny	Chechen, Ingush, Russian	19,300	Russian SFSR	Chechnya Ingushetia
Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1925–1992	Cheboksary	Chuvash, Russian	18,300	Russian SFSR	Chuvashia
Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1921–1991	Makhachkala	Aghul, Avar, Azerbaijani, Chechen, Kumyk, Lezgian, Lak, Nogai, Tabasaran, Tat, Russian	50,300	Russian SFSR	Dagestan
Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic[note 1]	1990–1991	Gorno-Altaysk	Altai, Russian	92,600	Russian SFSR	Altai Republic
Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1936–1944 1957–1991	Nalchik	Kabardian, Karachay-Balkar, Russian	12,500	Russian SFSR	Kabardino-Balkaria
Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1935–1943 1958–1991	Elista	Kalmyk Oirat, Russian	76,100	Russian SFSR	Kalmykia
Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1932–1991	Nukus	Karakalpak (1956-1980s), Russian	165,000	Uzbek SSR	Karakalpakstan
Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1923–1940 1956–1991	Petrozavodsk	Finnish (1956-1980s), Russian	147,000	Russian SFSR	Karelia
Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1936–1990	Syktyvkar	Komi, Russian	415,900	Russian SFSR	Komi Republic
Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1936–1990	Yoshkar-Ola	Mari (Meadow and Hill variants), Russian	23,200	Russian SFSR	Mari El
Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1934–1990	Saransk	Erzya, Moksha, Russian	26,200	Russian SFSR	Mordovia
Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1921–1990	Nakhichevan	Azerbaijani, Armenian, Russian	5,500	Azerbaijan SSR	Nakhchivan
North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1936–1993	Ordzhonikidze	Ossetian, Russian	8,000	Russian SFSR	North Ossetia
Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1920–1990	Kazan	Tatar, Russian	68,000	Russian SFSR	Tatarstan
Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1961–1992	Kyzyl	Tuvan, Russian	170,500	Russian SFSR	Tuva
Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1934–1990	Izhevsk	Udmurt, Russian	42,100	Russian SFSR	Udmurtia
Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	1922–1991	Yakutsk	Yakut, Russian	3,083,523	Russian SFSR	Sakha Republic

Former Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union

Name	Capital	Titular nationality	Years of membership	Population	Area (km²)	Soviet Socialist Republic	Post-Soviet states
Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Simferopol	Crimean Tatars Russians	1921–1945 1991–1992	1,126,000 (1939)	26,860	Russian SFSR Ukrainian SSR	Ukraine Russia
Kabardin Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Nalchik	Kabardians	1944–1957	420,115 (1959)	12,470	Russian SFSR	Russia
Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic	Alma-Ata	Kazakhs	1920–1925	6,503,000 (1926)	2,960,000	Russian SFSR	Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Russia
Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic	Alma-Ata	Kazakhs	1925–1936	6,503,000 (1926)	2,960,000	Russian SFSR	Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Russia
Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic	Frunze	Kyrgyz	1926–1936	993,000 (1926)	196,129	Russian SFSR	Kyrgyzstan
Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Tiraspol	Moldovans	1924–1940	599,150 (1939)	8,288	Ukrainian SSR	Transnistria Moldova Ukraine
Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Vladikavkaz	Balkars, Chechens, Ingush, Kabardians, Karachays, Ossetians, Terek Cossacks	1921–1924	1,286,000 (1921)	74,000	Russian SFSR	Russia
Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Dushanbe	Tajiks	1924–1929	740,000 (1924)		Uzbek SSR	Tajikistan
Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Tashkent	Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmens	1918–1924	5,221,963 (1920)		Russian SFSR	Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Turkmenistan Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan
Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Engels	Soviet Germans	1923–1941	606,532 (1939)	27,400	Russian SFSR	Russia

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Country emblems of the Union republics, before and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Note that the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (fifth in the second row) no longer exists as a political entity of any kind, and the emblem is unofficial.

Starting in the late 1980s, under the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet government undertook a program of political reforms (glasnost and perestroika) intended to liberalise and revitalise the Union. These measures, however, had a number of unintended political and social effects. Political liberalisation allowed the governments of the union republics to openly invoke the principles of democracy and nationalism to gain legitimacy. In addition, the loosening of political restrictions led to fractures within the Communist Party which resulted in a reduced ability to govern the Union effectively. The rise of nationalist and right-wing movements, notably led by Boris Yeltsin in Russia, in the previously homogeneous political system undermined the Union's foundations. With the central role of the Communist Party removed from the constitution, the Party lost its control over the State machinery and was banned from operating after an attempted coup d'état.

Throughout this period of turmoil, the Soviet government attempted to find a new structure that would reflect the increased authority of the republics. Some autonomous republics, like Tatarstan, Checheno-Ingushetia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea, Transnistria, Gagauzia sought the union statute in the New Union Treaty. Efforts to found a Union of Sovereign States, however, proved unsuccessful and the republics began to secede from the Union. By 6 September 1991, the Soviet Union's State Council recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania bringing the number of union republics down to 12. On 8 December 1991, the remaining leaders of the republics signed the Belavezha Accords which agreed that the USSR would be dissolved and replaced with a Commonwealth of Independent States. On 25 December, President Gorbachev announced his resignation and turned all executive powers over to Yeltsin. The next day the Council of Republics voted to dissolve the Union. Since then, the republics have been governed independently with some reconstituting themselves as liberal parliamentary republics and others, particularly in Central Asia, devolving into highly autocratic states under the leadership of the old Party elite.

Notes

The annexation of the Baltic republics in 1940 is considered an illegal occupation by the current Baltic governments and by a number of foreign countries.[6][9][10][11][13][14][15] The Soviet Union considered the initial annexation legal, but officially recognized their independence on 6 September 1991, three months prior to its final dissolution
Not internationally recognized, independent republic continued de jure.

Known as Oyrot Autonomous Oblast in 1922-1948 and Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast in 1948-1990.

References

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"СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК. ЗАКОН О порядке решения вопросов, связанных с выходом союзной республики из СССР" (in Russian). Retrieved 13 June 2022.