Union of 15 Sovereign States

The Soviet Union has the greatest number of nationalities of any state in the world. It is inhabited by more than 100 nations, nationalities and ethnic groups.

Before the 1917 revolution the majority of them were downtrodden and backward economically and culturally and lacked elementary human rights Czarist officials termed all citizens of non-Russian origin aliens". Many nationalities living in Siberia, Russia's Far East and North were doomed to extinction due to merciless exploitation, hunger, poverty and disease.

Soviet power based its nationalities policy on the principle defined by Lenin as follows, not a single special privilege for any nation. They all have the right to self-determination, up to and including the right to seceed from the USSR. Relations between peoples are founded on equality, mutual respect, mutual assistance and selfless friendship. As early as the eighth day of its existence, on November 15, 1917, Soviet power made public the "Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia". That was the first legislative document proclaiming equal rights for all citizens, irrespective of colour, race or nationality. The same law is part of the present Constitution of the USSR.

The principle of equality stems from both the essence of communist theory and the nature of political power in a socialist country. The country is ruled by the working people themselves. Obviously, where workers are at the helm of state there is no exploitation of man by man In a socialist society there are no groups interested in enslaving, plundering and exploiting other sections of the population.

How, then, is equality of various peoples — big and small — implemented in the Soviet Union?

The right to work, leisure, education and social insurance, are guaranteed to all Soviet citizens without exception. People of different nationalities — men and women alike — receive equal pay for equal work. The same principle operates in political life. There are frequent cases when a town with a predominantly Russian population elects a Georgian or a Byelorussian deputy to the Supreme Soviet, while Uzbeks may vote for a Ukrainian.

The Soviet state is organised on a national basis. Various peoples, living on defined territory, have formed various political-administrative units, depending on the size of their population. These are Union Soviet socialist republics, incorporating, in their turn, autonomous Soviet socialist republics, autonomous regions and national areas. There are 15 Union republics: Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian. Moldavian, Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijanian, Uzbek, Kirghiz, Tajik, Kazakh and Turkmen.

Each republic is a sovereign state, with its highest organ of power - the Supreme Soviet — which appoints the republican government (the Council ot Ministers) and elects the Supreme Court The Supreme Soviet also endorses the Constitution, the national emblem, flag, anthem and capital of the republic. Only the Supreme Soviet has the right to settle territorial questions. Endorsement of annual and long-term economic development plans and the budget of the republic is also within the competence of the Supreme Soviet. National bodies of state power govern the entire life of the Union republic. Clerical work and tuition within the boundaries of each republic are conducted in the local language.

All Union republics are free to choose their status. They have voluntarily united into a single state — the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) — with the view to their more successful advance ment. The Chairman of the Presidium of the Republican Supreme Soviet is simultaneously one of the 15 deputies ot the Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet The USSR Supreme Soviet consists of two chambers with equal rights — the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. Both the biggest Soviet republic — the Russian Federation — and the smallest, the Estonian republic with a population only one-hundredth that ot the Russian Federation, elect the same number of deputies (25) to the Soviet of Nationalities.

The autonomous Soviet socialist republic is another form of a national state formation. It also has its territory. Constitution, Supreme Soviet, government, budget, Supreme Court and capital. Each autonomous republic is represented by 11 deputies on the Soviet of Nationalities. One such republic is the Yakut autonomous republic with a population of 715,000.

The autonomous regions and national areas are self-governing administrative units formed by small nationalities, which are not state formations. However, they retain many state functions. Each autonomous region sends five deputies to the Soviet of Nationalities, and each national area — one deputy. Their local bodies of power — regional or territorial Soviets of working people's deputies — are complete masters on their territory The Soviets are organised with due account of the local specific features and conduct all proceedings in the language of the indigenous population. They also have their own independent budget. We can cite as an example the Adyghei autonomous region with a population of 400,000 and the Evenki national area inhabited by only 13,000 people.

Equality of the Soviet peoples is also manifested in their economic and cultural development. Before the 1917 revolution large-scale industry was concentrated mainly in Central Russia, the Urals and the Ukraine. Now all republics have a modern developed economy In Soviet Central Asian republics — Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan and Turkmenia — where formerly there was only small-scale cottageindustry, big centres of iron-and-steel, mining and heavy engineering industries, as well as up-to-date hydro installations, have sprung up. Since the formation of the Soviet Union, the volume of industrial production in Kazakhstan has grown 600 times, in Tajikistan — more than 500 times, in Kirghizia — more than 400, in Uzbekistan - more than 240, and in Turkmenia — more than 130 times.

The Soviet peoples' cultural standards have risen immeasurably. Before the revolution many of these peoples (even such sizeable groups as the Kazakhs, to say nothing of the tiny nationalities of what is now the Soviet Far East and North) did not even have a written language of their own. Now each Union republic has its Academy of Sciences and dozens ot research institutions staffed with scientific workers of local nationalities. National literatures and arts of very small nationalities have also flourished. They have all merged into Soviet culture, socialist in content, varied in national form and internationalist in spirit and character.

Now that the Soviet Union is over 50 years old there can be no ground whatsoever for national discord in the country All the nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union are marching forward to one and the same goal — the building of a communist society.

from the book WHAT IS COMMUNISM?

(Novosti Press Agency)

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