Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Аҧснытәи Автономтә Советтә Социалисттә Республика აფხაზეთის ავტონომიური საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა Абхазская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика
Autonomous republic of the Georgian SSR
← 1931–1991 →   →
Flag
Motto "Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!"
Capital		Sukhumi
Government		Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
History
•	Established	19 February 1931
•	Disestablished	23 July 1991
Area		8,600 km2 (3,320 sq mi)

The Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic or Abkhaz ASSR (Abkhaz: Аҧснытәи Автономтә Советтә Социалисттә Республика; Georgian: აფხაზეთის ავტონომიური საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა; Russian: Абхазская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика, also known as Soviet Abkazhia or Abkazia) was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Georgian SSR. It came into existence in February 1931, when the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (SSR Abkhazia or SSRA), originally created in March 1921, was transformed to the status of Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.

The Abkhaz ASSR adopted its own constitution on 2 August 1937. The supreme organ of legislative power was the Supreme Soviet elected every 4 years and its Presidium. The executive power was vested with the Council of Ministers appointed by the Supreme Soviet. The Abkhaz ASSR had 11 representatives in the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

History

Formation

The Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (SSR Abkhazia) had been established in 1921 after the Red Army invaded Georgia. The SSR Abkhazia, which was united with the Georgian SSR later that year as a "treaty republic," existed until 1931. During this time it was granted considerable amounts of autonomy, by virtue of its unique status in relation to Georgia. However this concerned the Soviet and Georgian authorities, and it was reduced to that of other autonomous republics.^[1] So on 19 February, 1931 the SSR Abkhazia was reformed as the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, wholly under the control of Georgia, which itself was a constituent republic of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR).^[2]

The downgrading of Abkhazia was not a popular one amongst the Abkhaz population. The SSR Abkhazia had a considerable degree of autonomy, including its own national symbols (a flag and coat-of-arms), and national army units, a right only given to full republics.^[3] It also had its own constitution, another right only granted to full republics.^[4] When it was reformed into the Abkhaz SSR protests broke out in the region, the first time large-scale protests against the Soviet authorities had occurred there.^[5]

Culture

Language

The Abkhaz language had seen multiple changes in script during the Soviet era. Under korenizatsiia the Abkhaz were not considered one of the "advanced" peoples in the USSR, and thus saw an increased focus on their national language and cultural development.^[6] As part of these policies, Abkhaz was Latinized in 1928, along with many other regional languages in the USSR, moving from the original Cyrillic-based script in the process.^[7] This policy was reversed in 1938, with Cyrillic replacing most of the Latin alphabets. Abkhaz was one of the few exceptions; along with Ossetian in the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (also of the Georgian SSR), it adopted a Georgian script, which lasted until 1953 when it reverted back to Cyrillic (Ossetian did the same).^[8]

Notes

Bibliography

• Anchabadze, Yu. D.; Argun, Yu. G. (2012), Абхазы (Abkhazians) (in Russian), Moscow: Nauka 
• Blauvelt, Timothy (May 2007), "Abkhazia: Patronage and Power in the Stalin Era", Nationalities Papers, 35 (2): 203–232 
• Broers, Laurence (June 2009), "'David and Goliath' and 'Georgians in the Kremlin': a post-colonial perspective on conflict in post-Soviet Georgia", Central Asian Survey, 28 (2): 99–118 
• Hewitt, George, ed. (1998), The Abkhazians: A Handbook, New York City: St. Martin's Press 
• Lakoba, Stanislav (1995), "Abkhazia is Abkhazia", Central Asian Survey, 14 (1): 97–105 
• Lakoba, Stanislav (1990), Очерки Политической Истории Абхазии (Essays on the Political History of Abkhazia) (in Russian), Sukhumi, Abkhazia: Alashara 
• Lakoba, Stanislav (2001), "Я Коба а ты Лакоба (I am Koba and you are Lakoba", in Iskander, Fasil, Мое сердце в горах: очерки о современной Абхазии (My heart is in the mountains: Essays on modern Abkhazia) (in Russian), Yoshkar Ola: Izd-vo Mariskogo Poligrafkombinata 
• Saparov, Arsène (2015), From Conflict to Autonomy in the Caucasus: The Soviet Union and the making of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh, New York City: Routledge 
• Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation (Second ed.), Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press 
• Zürcher, Christoph (2007), The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus, New York City: New York University Press 

See also

• First Secretary of the Abkhaz Communist Party

External links

• "Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic", Big Soviet Encyclopedia, on-line edition (in Russian).

Part of a series on the
History of Abkhazia
Early Prehistoric settlement Antiquity
8th to 19th century AD Kingdom of Abkhazia Abkhazian-Georgian Kingdom Principality of Abkhazia
19th century to 1921 Russian Empire Russian Revolution
Soviet era SSR Abkhazia (1921–1931) Abkhaz ASSR (1931–1991)
Contemporary era Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Abkhazia since 1994
Abkhazia portal

Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
By name	Abkhaz Adjar Bashkir Buryat1 Chechen-Ingush Chuvash Crimean Dagestan Gorno-Altai Kabardin Kabardino-Balkar Kalmyk Karakalpak Karelian Kazak2 Kirghiz2 Kirghiz Komi Mari Moldavian Mordovian Mountain Nakhchivan North Ossetian Tajik Tatar Turkestan Tuva Udmurt Volga German Yakut
By year established	1918–1924  Turkestan 1918–1941  Volga German 1919–1990  Bashkir 1920–1925  Kirghiz2 1920–1990  Tatar 1921–1990  Adjar 1921–1945  Crimean 1921–1991  Dagestan 1921–1924  Mountain 1921–1990  Nakhchivan 1922–1991  Yakut 1923–1990  Buryat1 1923–1940  Karelian 1924–1940  Moldavian 1924–1929  Tajik 1925–1992  Chuvash 1925–1936  Kazak2 1926–1936  Kirghiz 1931–1991  Abkhaz 1932–1992  Karakalpak 1934–1990  Mordovian 1934–1990  Udmurt 1935–1943  Kalmyk 1936–1944  Chechen-Ingush 1936–1944  Kabardino-Balkar 1936–1990  Komi 1936–1990  Mari 1936–1990  North Ossetian 1944–1957  Kabardin 1956–1991  Karelian 1957–1990  Chechen-Ingush 1957–1991  Kabardino-Balkar 1958–1990  Kalmyk 1961–1992  Tuva 1990–1991  Gorno-Altai 1991–1992  Crimean
1 Buryat–Mongol until 1958. 2 Kazak ASSR was called Kirghiz ASSR until 1925.

Coordinates: 43°00′N 41°01′E / 43.000°N 41.017°E / 43.000; 41.017