Republics of the Soviet Union

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This article is about the constituent soviet republics of the Soviet Union. For other uses, see Soviet Republic.
Evolution of the Soviet Republics from 1922 to 1991.  Click to enlarge.
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Evolution of the Soviet Republics from 1922 to 1991. Click to enlarge.

In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), often called simply Soviet republics. Within the USSR they were also called union republics. All of them were socialist republics, and all of them, with the exception of Russia had their own Communist parties, part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. They are all independent countries now; 12 of them (all except the Baltic states) are very loosely organized under the heading Commonwealth of Independent States.

Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a federation. In accordance with article 72 of the Soviet constitution adopted in 1977, each republic retained the right to secede from the USSR. Throughout the Cold War, this right was widely considered to be meaningless, however Article 72 was used in December 1991 to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union, when Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus seceded from the USSR.

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 collapse. 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.

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. General practice in the republics outside of Russia was that the head of state in a republic was a local official while the party general secretary was from outside the republic.

Each republic had its own unique set of state symbols: a flag, a coat of arms, and, with the exception of the Russian SFSR, an anthem.

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[edit] The Republics and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

The republics played an important role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika were intended to revive the Soviet Union. However, they had a number of effects which caused the power of the republics to increase. First, political liberalization allowed the governments within the republics to gain legitimacy by invoking democracy, nationalism or a combination of both. In addition, liberalization led to fractures within the party hierarchy which reduced Soviet control over the republics. Finally, perestroika allowed the governments of the republics to control economic assets in their republics and withhold funds from the central government.

Throughout the late 1980s, the Soviet government attempted to find a new structure which would reflect the increasing power of the republics. These efforts proved unsuccessful, and in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed as the republic governments seceded. The republics then all became independent states, with the post-Soviet governments in most cases consisting largely of the government personnel of the former Soviet republics.

[edit] Soviet Union in its final state

Map of Soviet Republics

[edit] Soviet Republics

  1. Armenian SSR
  2. Azerbaijan SSR
  3. Byelorussian SSR
  4. Estonian SSR
  5. Georgian SSR
  6. Kazakh SSR
  7. Kyrgyz SSR
  8. Latvian SSR
  9. Lithuanian SSR
  10. Moldavian SSR
  11. Russian SFSR
  12. Tajik SSR
  13. Turkmen SSR
  14. Ukrainian SSR
  15. Uzbek SSR

[edit] Independent Countries

Flag of Armenia Armenia
Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
Flag of Belarus Belarus
Flag of Estonia Estonia
Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia
Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan
Flag of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan
Flag of Latvia Latvia
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania
Flag of Moldova Moldova
Flag of Russia Russia
Flag of Tajikistan Tajikistan
Flag of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine
Flag of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan

[edit] Sorted by region

In area, Russia is the largest of the fifiteen Soviet Republics as well as the most populated. The next largest in population, are, in order: Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989
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Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989

[edit] Other Soviet republics

[edit] Timeline

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gunnar Alexandersson, The Baltic Straits (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1982), ISBN 90-247-2595-X, p. 44.
  2. ^ (Lithuanian) Gediminas Zemlickas, Apie Birželio sukilimą ir Lietuvos laikinąją vyriausybę (Interview with Algimantas Liekis on June Uprising and Provisional Government of Lithuania), Mokslo Lietuva, Part I March 9, 2000, No. 5 (207) and Part II April 6-19, 2000, No. 7 (209).
  3. ^ Pernille Hohnen, Market Out of Place?: Remaking Economic, Social, and Symbolic Boundaries in Post-Communist Lithuania (Oxford University Press, 2004), ISBN 0-19-926762-6, p. 10.
  4. ^ David J Smith, Artis Pabriks, Aldis Purs, and Thomas Lane, The Baltic States (Routledge (UK), 2002), ISBN 0-415-28580-1, p. 61.
  5. ^ 1991: Bloodshed at Lithuanian TV station, BBC, accessed on 12 July, 2006.