Libmonster ID: KG-1289
Author(s) of the publication: I. P. Tsameryan

The multinational Soviet state created under the leadership of V. I. Lenin is the true embodiment of Lenin's ideas and principles of proletarian internationalism. In the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXIV Party Congress, made by L. I. Brezhnev, it is stated that "the party will continue to strengthen the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, consistently implementing Lenin's course for the flourishing of socialist nations and their gradual rapprochement" 1 .

An extensive literature is devoted to the formation and development of the Soviet multinational state: collective works, monographs, pamphlets, and articles by historians, lawyers ,and philosophers. 2 Many of these works were published in connection with significant dates: the 40th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution3 , the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin. The party documents and materials published in connection with these anniversaries are of great theoretical and ideological and political significance .4 All these works and documents enrich our knowledge on many issues of national-state construction in our country, comprehensively reveal the role of V. I. Lenin in developing the theoretical foundations and principles of the Soviet multinational state and in its creation. However, the problem of concrete implementation of the ideas and principles of proletarian internationalism in the Soviet multinational State still requires further study.-

1 L. I. Brezhnev. Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the XXIV Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1971, p. 95.

2 Of the major works should be noted: "History of national-state construction in the USSR". 1917-1936. Moscow, 1968; 1937-1967. Moscow, 1970; "History of the Soviet state and law". Tt. 1-2. Moscow, 1968.

3 See S. I. Yakubovskaya. Soviet historiography of the formation of the USSR. Voprosy istorii, 1962, No. 12; D. A. Chugaev. Formation of the USSR. (Historiographical review) "Questions of the history of the CPSU", 1962, N 6; M. I. Kulichenko. Jubilee literature on the place and role of the national question in the October Revolution. "Questions of the history of the CPSU", 1969, N 3.

4 "On preparations for the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution". Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of January 4, 1967, Moscow, 1967; "50 Years of the Great October Socialist Revolution". Theses of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Moscow, 1967; "Fifty Years of Great Victories of Socialism". Report of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU L. I. Brezhnev at the solemn meeting dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, Moscow, 1967; "On preparations for the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin". Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Moscow, 1968; "To the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". Theses of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Moscow, 1969; L. I. Brezhnev. Lenin's cause lives and wins. Report at the joint solemn meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on April 21, 1970, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Moscow, 1970.

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research institute. In addition, in the works of some authors on certain theoretical issues of national relations related to the regularities of the development of the Soviet multinational state, there are at least controversial propositions .5
The formation of a number of independent Soviet republics after the victory of the October Revolution was regarded by the enemies of the Soviet government as a sign of the collapse of the unified state, the presence of national contradictions and hostility between the peoples of our country, as a symptom of the supposedly inevitable fall of the Soviet system. But the proponents of these views did not take into account the fact that the dictatorship of the proletariat is international in its social nature, and that the working masses who have established it, by virtue of the objective laws of the revolutionary process, will themselves strive for mutual union and unification. V. I. Lenin foresaw as early as 1916 that after the victory of the socialist revolution, workers of all They will strive in every possible way for rapprochement, unification with each other, and alliance with the great and advanced socialist nations. 6 In contrast to the conditions of capitalism, where the desire for national independence and freedom of peoples forcibly held in a bourgeois multinational state leads to the collapse of these states, in the conditions of a victorious socialist revolution, new laws arise and powerful centripetal tendencies and forces begin to act. These forces and tendencies were expressed in the irresistible desire of the working masses of all nationalities and all Soviet republics for close unity and unification in order to defend and strengthen the gains of the socialist revolution. The leading force of this movement was the working class, led by the Communist Party.

After Great October, along with the Russian Soviet Republic, the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the Baku Commune were formed. But their construction process was disrupted by civil war and intervention. The Soviet republics in Ukraine and Belarus were established only after the defeat of the counter-revolutionary forces and the liberation of these territories from interventionists. In Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, Soviet power prevailed in 1920-1921, and in the Baltic States it was restored only in the summer of 1940.

The Russian Soviet Republic was formed as a multinational socialist state. The experience of state-building in the first months after October brought forward a new, Soviet socialist type of federation, which received scientific elaboration and justification in the works of V. I. Lenin, in decisions of the Communist Party and legislative acts of the Soviet state. It is known that the Communist Party and V. I. Lenin had a negative attitude towards federalism in the pre-October period. In accordance with the views of Karl Marx and Fr. V. I. Lenin considered Engels preferable to a large, centralized, rather than a federal state. "We are basically against federation - it weakens economic ties, it is not a good type for one state," he wrote to S. G. Shahumyan on December 6, 1913. In large centralized states, conditions are more favorable for the broad development of the class struggle of the proletariat. However, V. I. Lenin (as well as K-Marx and F. En-

5 Criticism of certain provisions of this kind was given in our article " Lenin's National Policy in Action "(Kommunist, 1968, No. 9, pp. 22-24). See also the editorial" The Triumph of Lenin's National Policy "(Kommunist, 1969, No. 13).

6 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 30, p. 36.

7 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 48, p. 235.

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rail) still considered the federal structure of the state permissible and expedient under certain conditions. So, in 1912-1914. he supported the idea of creating a Balkan federal republic .8 For Russia before 1917, V. I. Lenin considered the federal system unacceptable. Only during the period of preparation for the socialist revolution in his writings, in particular in the work "The State and the Revolution", he spoke out for the permissibility of a federal state structure in Russia. The negative attitude of V. I. Lenin and the entire party to the principle of federalism concerned the federation of the bourgeois type (there was no other federation at that time). A new type of federation - the socialist one-emerged only after the October Revolution in the process of creative experience of the masses in Soviet state construction .9 The federal form of government was proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, adopted by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets (January 1918), and the resolution On Federal Institutions of the Russian Republic. In the program of the party (1919) it was written:"...As one of the transitional forms on the road to full unity, the party presents a federal association of states organized according to the Soviet type. " 10
The Soviet Federation as a form of state structure of the dictatorship of the proletariat in a multinational country fully corresponded to the principles of proletarian internationalism. It ensured the free, equal development and fraternal cooperation of all peoples on the basis of the Soviet system. The Soviet Federation provided for the widest possible state and administrative autonomy for all nationalities that compactly inhabit a particular territory. Its basic principles were given legislative expression in the Constitution of the RSFSR, adopted by the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets in July 1918. It was the first Constitution of the world's first Soviet multinational state. It served as the basis for the construction of Soviet national autonomous republics and regions. Slowed down during the civil war and the intervention, this construction was widely developed in the following years. By the end of 1922, the RSFSR already included 8 autonomous republics, 2 labor communes (which were later also transformed into autonomous republics) and 11 autonomous regions. The People's Commissariat for Nationalities carried out a great deal of work on national-state construction.

During the civil war, the peoples of the independent Soviet republics joined forces to fight against common enemies. In connection with the official decisions and proposals of the supreme bodies of Belarus, Ukraine and other Soviet republics, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted on June 1, 1919, a resolution on the unification of their military and material forces. 11 The military union of the republics was concluded, a single military unit was created.-

8 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 22, pp. 155-156; vol. 23, pp. 38-39.

9 For more information, see: I. Tsameryan. Soviet multinational state, its features and ways of development, Moscow, 1958, pp. 84-89. There is an extensive literature on the problems of the Soviet federation. Some authors disagree on the nature and causes of the evolution of V. I. Lenin's and the party's views on federation. A critical review of the position of various authors on this issue is given in the books: D. L. Zlatopolsky. USSR-Federal State, Moscow, 1967; E. V. Tadevosyan, V. I. Lenin on state forms of solving the national question in the USSR, Moscow, 1970. On certain issues, these authors also hold different points of view. When considering the reasons for the evolution of the views of V. I. Lenin and the party as a whole on federation, the authors usually ignore the crucial importance of the fact noted above that a new type of federation emerged after the victory of the socialist revolution.

10 "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee". Vol. 2. Ed. 8-e, p. 45.

11 See "The First Constitution of the USSR". Collection of Documents, Moscow, 1948, pp. 187-188.

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the command was created, the national economy councils, transport and commissariats of labor were united. After the end of the civil war and the intervention, the task was to unite the material resources of all the republics to fight the devastation, restore the national economy, and strengthen the economic base of the Soviet system. The IV All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in May 1920 decided to establish closer federal ties with the RSFSR and asked the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to include 30 Ukrainian representatives elected by this congress .12 In June, these representatives were included in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee On December 13-28, the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets approved the agreement between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR on a military-economic union. A number of People's commissariats of these republics were united 14 . The RSFSR also concluded agreements on the military-economic union with other Soviet republics: the Azerbaijan Republic (September 1920), the Byelorussian Republic (January 1921), and the Georgian SSR (May 1921). In September 1921, an agreement was concluded between the RSFSR and the Armenian SSR on financial issues .15 These treaties and agreements, which expressed the desire of the peoples of the sovereign Soviet republics for ever closer cooperation and union, were, as it were, a preparatory stage for their subsequent voluntary unification into a single union multinational State.

The RSFSR was the attractive center and leading organizing force of this unifying movement. And this is not accidental. The peoples of all the Soviet republics saw in the RSFSR a support in the cause of socialist transformation, in the struggle against internal counter-revolution and intervention. The Government of the RSFSR, headed by V. I. Lenin, enjoyed the greatest confidence and authority in all Soviet republics. At the request of these republics, their representatives were introduced to the Central Executive Committee, took part in All-Russian Congresses of Soviets and in the work of the RSFSR government. Thus, the desire of the Soviet republics to unite with the RSFSR as a generally recognized governing center actually gave its bodies some functions of general federal bodies. It was also important that the Russian Federation was built on the basis of equality and sovereignty of all the nationalities united in it. These principles are reflected in its Constitution and legislation.

The unification movement that unfolded in 1922 expressed objective tendencies in the development of the Soviet republics. It was determined by the very nature of the Soviet system, by the common interests and goals of the peoples of our country. This movement was also dictated by the need to devote all the material resources of the Soviet republics to the rapid restoration of the national economy, and then to the construction of socialism. In addition, the unification of the republics strengthened their defense capabilities in the conditions of capitalist encirclement and the threat of new intervention. 16
In August 1922, a commission of representatives of the Communist parties of the Soviet republics was formed to prepare for the plenum of the Central Committee a draft decision on the development of further relations between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR, the BSSR and the Transcaucasian Federation. In September, this commission adopted a draft resolution written by I. V. Stalin "On relations between the RSFSR and the independent Republics". The essence of the project was that the Soviet republics were proposed to be included in the Russian Federation.

12 See ibid., pp. 195-196.

13 See ibid., p. 199.

14 See ibid., pp. 220-221.

15 See ibid., p. 206, 222 - 223, 248 - 249, 252 - 254.

16 As early as 1920, V. I. Lenin justified the necessity of uniting the Soviet republics (see V. I. Lenin, PSS. vol. 41, p. 164).

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RSFSR as an autonomous state. This draft was sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Soviet Republics. The discussion on the ground revealed serious differences on the form of association. V. I. Lenin did not take part in the preparation of the project due to his illness. Having received the draft decision of the commission, he strongly rejected it. In a letter to the members of the Politburo of the Central Committee dated September 26, 1922, V. I. Lenin put forward his plan for the voluntary unification of the Soviet republics into a single Union of Soviet Republics on the basis of full equality. He wrote: "We recognize ourselves as equal with the Ukrainian SSR and others. and together and on an equal footing with them, we are entering a new union, a new federation. " 17 The Commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) revised this question and revised the draft in the spirit of Lenin's instructions. On October 6, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) adopted this draft and created another commission for practical guidance of preparations for the unification of the republics into the Union of the SSR, which included representatives of the Communist parties of all Soviet republics.

Lenin's idea of uniting the Soviet republics into a single union state on the basis of their voluntariness and equality of rights was enthusiastically accepted by the peoples of these republics. On December 29, 1922, the Conference of Plenipotentiary Delegations of the Soviet Republics adopted the draft Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the U.S.S.R. and submitted them to the First Congress of Soviets of the U.S.S.R. The congress opened on December 30. It was attended by over 2 thousand delegates from the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the Transcaucasian Federation and Belarus. The Congress adopted the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Union Treaty. The Declaration noted that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a voluntary association of equal peoples, that each republic has the right to freely secede from the Union, and that access to it is open to all Soviet socialist republics, both existing and likely to arise in the future. The Treaty delineated the competence of the Union republics and the USSR represented by their supreme authorities .18 At the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR, the Central Election Commission of the USSR was elected.

The formation of the U.S.S.R. signified a major victory for Lenin's national policy and testified to the fact that the internationalist ideas and aspirations of the working class had taken hold of the consciousness of the broad masses of the working people of all nations. For the first time in the history of mankind, a new, socialist type of multinational state was established, radically different from the bourgeois multinational states. The emergence of this new type of multinational state was not an accident, but a natural historical necessity. The dictatorship of the proletariat in a country with a multinational population could only win and establish itself in the form of a multinational State of the socialist type.

What are the fundamental features of this state and its opposite to the bourgeois multinational state?

The economic basis of the Soviet multinational State is socialist relations of production based on public ownership of the instruments and means of production, while the defining basis of the bourgeois multinational State is capitalist relations of production based on private ownership. The Soviet multinational state from its very beginning expressed the fundamental interests of the proletariat and the working masses of all nationalities (the dictatorship of the proletariat), and now it expresses the interests of the entire multinational Soviet people (the all-people state), at the same time

17 V. I. Lenin. PSS. vol. 45, p. 211. See also pp. 686-687.

18 "The First Soviet Constitution", pp. 339-345.

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as bourgeois multinational states, they represent the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The Soviet multinational state is a fraternal community of nations of a new type-socialist nations, and the bourgeois multinational state "unites" the bourgeois nations. These two types of nations are fundamentally different from each other in their social nature and patterns of development. The ideas and principles of proletarian (socialist) internationalism have been implemented in the Soviet multinational State. An expression of this is the unification of republics and peoples in a single state union based on the internationalist principles of equality, voluntariness and freedom. In contrast, in the bourgeois multinational states that emerged through the forcible annexation and subjugation of weak and small nations by strong nations, interethnic contradictions and antagonisms, national and racial inequality, discrimination, etc. prevail. Bourgeois multinational states, including colonial ones, have collapsed and are disintegrating as a result of internal centrifugal forces - a powerful national liberation struggle nations. The collapse of the colonial system of imperialism is a convincing evidence of the historical doom of this type of multinational State. In contrast to the bourgeois multinational states, which are leaving the historical arena as a result of the inevitable development of the world revolutionary process, the U.S.S.R. is growing stronger and more prosperous, demonstrating to the whole world an example of a fraternal community of equal nations and nationalities in a single Soviet socialist multinational State.

In the USSR, the class approach to solving the problem of establishing a socialist multinational state based on the principles of proletarian internationalism was consistently implemented. These principles are: the de facto equality of all nations, peoples and races; the voluntary and free character of the union of Soviet republics and nations into a single Union of the SSR; the sovereignty of all the united republics; and democratic centralism as a form of combining the international and national interests of Soviet nations and nationalities within a single multinational State.

What is the content of these principles, their role and significance in the system of a multinational Soviet state?

The unconditional recognition of the equality of all nations, all peoples and races is one of the most important principles of proletarian internationalism. The principle of national equality was first put forward by the bourgeoisie in the XVII - XVIII centuries. However, her interpretation of the question of the equality of nations was supra-class, utopian and formal. V. I. Lenin wrote: "Bourgeois democracy, by its very nature, is characterized by an abstract or formal formulation of the question of equality in general, including national equality." 19 A characteristic feature of this interpretation of national equality is its inseparable connection with the ideology of bourgeois nationalism, national egoism and national exclusivity. In whatever form the idea of national equality is expressed in the conditions of bourgeois democracy - in the speeches of its ideologists or in official acts, it somehow obeys the ideology of bourgeois nationalism and adapts to it. Bourgeois democracy has nowhere in the world consistently achieved national equality. History shows that true equality of nations and races is not possible on the basis of capi-

19 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 41, p. 162.

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of socialism. "The existence of capitalism without national oppression is just as unthinkable as the existence of socialism without the emancipation of oppressed nations, without national freedom,"20 the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) emphasized in its resolution. Only on the basis of socialism is true equality of all nations, all peoples and races possible in all spheres of public life.

The main feature of Soviet democracy in the national question is the practical realization of the de facto equality of peoples. The elimination of national oppression and the granting of political equality to all nationalities, as enshrined in the legislative acts of the Soviet State, were extremely important for resolving the national question. However, many of the underdeveloped peoples of our country did not have sufficient material resources to use these rights. Therefore, the central task in solving the national question in the first years of the Soviet system was to eliminate the age-old backwardness of these peoples, to eliminate the actual inequality in their economic, political and cultural development that the Soviet government inherited from the old, landlord-capitalist system. The internationalist policy of the Communist Party, aimed at achieving de facto equality of peoples, covered all spheres of public life: economic, political, and cultural. Developed by the party under the direct supervision of V. I. Lenin's plan of measures for the implementation of this most complex social task was concretely expressed in the decisions of the X and XII Congresses of the RCP (b).

In those circumstances, social and political measures aimed at eliminating the political backwardness of the working masses of formerly oppressed peoples were of paramount importance. In the literature devoted to the solution of the national question in our country, this problem is often avoided. It should be taken into account that the mere legislative proclamation of the equality of nations, even under the dictatorship of the proletariat, did not mean the universal implementation of this principle. It was necessary to have real opportunities for all nations and peoples to use the political rights granted to them by the Soviet system. Many backward peoples did not have such opportunities. A low level of political consciousness, a very weak development of class consciousness, and a strong influence of the reactionary ideology of the exploiting classes and religion were characteristic of the working masses of these peoples. Therefore, first of all, it was necessary to eliminate this backwardness and find ways and means to involve the working people of the backward peoples in the process of revolutionary transformation of society. The Soviet form of political organization of society and the national Soviet statehood were the best means of eliminating the political backwardness of the formerly oppressed peoples. The Soviets became an essentially international form of political organization that was applied relatively easily and quickly to the specific conditions and national characteristics of all peoples and became everywhere the expression of the interests and will of the working masses of these peoples. The Tenth Congress of the RCP (b)developed a broad program of measures to eliminate the backwardness of previously oppressed peoples21 . The implementation of these measures increased the creative activity of the working masses of underdeveloped peoples and made them active builders of a new society.

20 "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee", vol. 2, pp. 248-249.

21 See ibid., pp. 252-256.

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The most important role in overcoming the political backwardness of the working masses of the underdeveloped peoples was played by measures to organize them to fight against the local exploiting elements and to deprive these latter of their privileges. The Party everywhere identified and enlisted local proletarian elements in its ranks and in Soviet work, and trained and educated national cadres of the Soviet and party apparatus. For large and developed nations, the real expression of their political equality was the creation of Soviet republics, which later united into the Union of the SSR. For other nations and nationalities, this political equality was achieved in the process of more or less prolonged national-state construction: the creation and strengthening of autonomous republics and regions, national districts, and the development of all the means and attributes of functioning of local Soviet authorities.

The Communist Party, while pursuing a class policy on the national question, implemented the principles of proletarian internationalism in the construction of the Soviet multinational State, and above all the principle of equal rights of nations. Lenin's letters and notes from the end of 1922, the period of practical implementation of the plan for the creation of a single union state, are a clear indication of the importance that Lenin attached to this issue. In his letters to members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) "On the Formation of the USSR" and "On the question of Nationalities or "autonomization," V. I. Lenin, while criticizing the plan for "autonomization" of the Soviet republics, emphasized in the most categorical form the need for consistent observance of the principle of equality of these republics, and indicated specific forms of implementing this principle in the design of higher state institutions. V. I. Lenin constantly reminded us of the exceptional importance of consistently implementing the principles of proletarian internationalism in the national policy of the party and in building the Soviet multinational State. Lenin's ideas of internationalism, specific instructions and advice on the problems of national relations in the system of the Soviet multinational State and its very structure formed the basis of all the party's decisions on these issues. The internationalist principles of equality of nations and republics, their sovereignty and voluntary association in a single multinational state are reflected in the Constitution of the USSR. As early as April 1923, when the first Constitution of the U.S.S.R. was being drafted, the Twelfth Congress of the R. C. P. (B.), in its resolution on the national question, outlined a number of practical measures to be taken in establishing the central organs of the Union .22
The creation and development of Soviet national statehood played an enormous role in the successful solution of all the main tasks of the socialist transformation of society. As a concrete expression of Soviet socialist democracy, the principle of national equality, implemented in the political and national-State spheres, was extremely important for achieving de facto equality of peoples also in the economic and cultural fields. But this does not mean that de facto equality of peoples is achieved first in the political sphere, and then in the economic and cultural spheres. The elimination of underdevelopment of underdeveloped peoples took place as a single process, covering the political, economic and cultural spheres. However, in this single process, the solution of political tasks was of primary importance. Formation of national Soviet statehood, unification of Soviet republics into a single multinational state. -

22 See ibid., pp. 440-441.

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The national state-the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - was a concrete expression and embodiment of the internationalist principle of political equality of peoples. The USSR is a union of equal republics. Each Union Republic, regardless of the size of its territory and population, has equal rights with all other republics, as stipulated in the Constitution of the USSR.

Another most important principle of proletarian internationalism, embodied in the Soviet multinational State, is the principle of voluntary and free state unification of Soviet republics and nations into the Union of the SSR. The Communist Party was strictly guided in the creation of the USSR by this principle. V. I. Lenin wrote as early as December 1919: "We want a voluntary union of nations - an alliance that would not allow any violence from one nation against another - an alliance based on the fullest confidence, on a clear consciousness of fraternal unity, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world,on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world, on the unity of the whole world. on a completely voluntary basis. " 23
The voluntary, free unification of the Soviet republics into a single Union of the SSR cannot be presented as a peaceful evolutionary process that took place without struggle and difficulties. This association met with stubborn and fierce resistance from the exploiting elements (the Nepman bourgeoisie, the kulaks, the feudal lords, etc.), which took a variety of forms, ranging from sabotage to open armed actions. The national movement for the creation of a single multinational state, which engulfed the working masses of all Soviet republics, took place in a complex environment of acute class struggle. One of its expressions was the struggle against bourgeois nationalism, which appeared in the form of great-power chauvinism and local nationalism. This struggle also took place within the party itself, where groups of deviators were formed both in one direction and in the other. As noted in the resolution of the XII Congress of the RCP (b) on the national question, there were many workers in the Soviet state apparatus, both in the center and in the localities, who disregarded the rights of non - Russian peoples and violated Soviet constitutional and other legislative acts on national equality .24 Their activities, which were often combined with the anti-Soviet struggle of the remnants of counter-revolutionary forces, caused great damage to the construction of the Soviet multinational State, the creation of fraternal trust and friendship among the peoples of the Soviet republics. On the other hand, during the same years in a number of national republics (in Central Asia, the Volga region, and other regions), bourgeois-nationalist elements, in alliance with clerical-reactionary organizations, made every effort to disrupt Soviet national-state construction. The remnants of nationalist forces defeated during the civil war - pan-Turkists, pan-Islamists, etc. - also actively spoke out. The national deviationists in Georgia (Mdivani group) stubbornly resisted the creation of the Transcaucasian Federation.

The XII Congress of the RCP (b) played an important role in the struggle against great-power chauvinism and local nationalism. The Congress exposed the reactionary nature of these deviations, revealed the concrete forms of their manifestation, their class roots, and the harm they do to Soviet national-State construction. 25 The Congress outlined measures of struggle against great-power chauvinism and locally-

23 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 40, p. 43.

24 "The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of Congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee", vol. 2, p. 437.

25 Ibid., pp. 437-443.

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go nationalism. The latter, in republics that included several nationalities, often turned into "inveterate chauvinism of a stronger nationality, directed against the weaker nationalities of these republics." 26 At the congress, they were subjected to:specific carriers of these biases are sharply criticized. "While condemning both of these deviations," its resolution stated, " as harmful and dangerous to the cause of communism, and drawing the attention of party members to the particular harm and danger of a deviation towards great-Russian chauvinism, the Congress calls on the party to eliminate as soon as possible these remnants of the old in our party construction."27
At the fourth meeting of the Central Committee held on June 9-12, 1923, with senior officials of the national republics and regions, groups of Uzbek and Tatar national deviators (Sultan - Galiyev and others) were criticized. The Conference devoted much attention to the training of truly internationalist and communist cadres from local nationalities in the Soviet republics and regions. The Communist Party's principled and unswerving struggle against chauvinism and nationalism, against nationalist deviations in the party, and their ideological, political, and organizational defeat were of great importance for the successful solution of the national question and the construction of socialism. In turn, the victory of socialism and the elimination of the exploiting classes contributed to the complete defeat of nationalist groups that had lost their social base and deviations within the party. This was an important factor in the consistent implementation and establishment of Lenin's internationalist principles of equality, voluntariness and freedom of association of republics in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the entire system of the Soviet multinational State.

One of the most important Leninist principles of internationalism, embodied in the Soviet multinational State, is the principle of sovereignty of all the republics united in the USSR. It is inextricably linked with the principles of equal rights, voluntariness and freedom of association of the republics in a single union state. From the internationalist principle of equal rights of the republics that have voluntarily united into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, it follows that they retain their sovereignty, limited only to those limits defined by the union Constitution developed and adopted by their representatives .28
Not only did the Soviet republics not lose their sovereignty after their unification into the Soviet Union, as bourgeois nationalists and anti-communist ideologues claim, but, on the contrary, they strengthened it even more. The peoples of the Soviet republics understood that State unification guaranteed their freedom and protected them from the encroachments of the imperialist Powers. Each Soviet republic alone could not have withstood their onslaught. Their unification, fraternal union in a single multinational state, was the real basis of sovereignty. The sovereignty of the Soviet republics cannot be considered in the abstract, apart from the new type of relations between peoples established in socialist society, the essence of which is fraternal friendship, all-round equal cooperation and close mutual assistance in all spheres of public life. The criterion of sovereignty of the Soviet republics is a real guarantee of their independence and freedom, which is provided by their voluntary self-determination.-

26 Ibid., p. 439.

27 Ibid., p. 442.

28 "Constitution (Basic Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", Moscow, 1970, p. 7, article 15.

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an independent and equal union within the framework of a single multinational socialist state.

The Soviet Union as a multinational socialist state is built on the principle of democratic centralism. V. I. Lenin, as early as March 1918, in the initial draft of the article "The next tasks of Soviet Power", noted that the democratic centralism of the state structure does not exclude autonomy and does not contradict federation. In contrast to the bureaucratically centralized bourgeois States, which exclude any freedom of nations and nationalities in economic, political and cultural life, democratic centralism, which is the principle of the Soviet federal structure of the state, ensures the free and equal all-round development of all nations. Democratic centralism makes it possible to best combine the common, international interests of all peoples and republics united in a single union state with their national interests. The experience of the U.S.S.R. has shown that the consistent implementation of this principle best ensures the international unity of the Soviet socialist nations and the strength of our multinational State.

The voluntary, free character of the unification of the Soviet republics into a single multinational State, their full equality and sovereignty, and the democratically centralized structure of this State ensure the most favorable conditions for the comprehensive development of Soviet nations and nationalities, and contribute to the establishment of full mutual trust between them, which is an important condition for strengthening their friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance in building communism. However, when talking about the implementation of the ideas of internationalism in the Soviet multinational State, it is impossible to present this only as a legislative consolidation of them in the constitutions of the USSR and the Union republics. Lenin's ideas of internationalism are embodied in all spheres of life of socialist society. They are at the heart of the national policy of the Communist Party, which ensures the unswerving implementation of the principles of internationalism. The whole Soviet reality contributes to the affirmation in the minds of people of the truth that the success of the USSR is the fruit of cooperation and mutual assistance of all the peoples of our country. This was especially vividly and convincingly demonstrated by the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, which was attended by Communists of 61 nationalities and 29 nationalities . The Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU made by L. I. Brezhnev, in many speeches delivered by envoys of the party organizations of the republics, in the resolution adopted by the Congress on the Report, emphasizes the most important importance of the fraternal friendship of the peoples of our country in all its successes and achievements and the need to further strengthen this friendship.

During the period of extensive construction of communism, national Soviet statehood serves as a political form of comprehensive economic and cultural development, the flourishing of nations and their ever closer rapprochement. The strengthening of the Soviet multinational State and the improvement of the national Soviet statehood are one of the main levers for further increasing the creative activity of the working masses in communist construction. The fact is that as long as there are nations, the successful solution of the many-sided tasks of communist construction in a multinational country is impossible without national forms of political and state organization of these nations. It is the most important opu-

29 Pravda, 3. IV. 1971.

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the day of implementation of general (national) international tasks of economic, political and cultural construction in relation to the specific conditions of each republic, autonomous region and national district, taking into account the characteristics of a particular nation or nationality. Among the tasks and functions performed by the Soviet national statehood, particularly important are: ensuring the economic and cultural development of the republic (autonomous region, national district) and improving the material well-being and cultural level of citizens; implementing economic, political, cultural cooperation, all kinds of relations and mutual assistance with all other Soviet republics (territories, regions, etc. education of people in the spirit of high political consciousness, Soviet patriotism, international unity, friendship and rapprochement of Soviet nations and nationalities. The educational functions of the national Soviet statehood are very important and responsible. It is thanks to the daily work of public education bodies, cultural and educational institutions, science, art and literature, press and propaganda bodies that the views and worldview of Soviet people are formed; the ideas and norms of communist morality, Soviet patriotism and internationalism are introduced into their way of life.

Some Soviet authors, considering the issue of improving the forms of national statehood and the prospects of the Soviet federation as a whole, sometimes express statements that do not follow from the laws of development of the Soviet multinational state. Thus, I. M. Kislitsyn believes that the Soviet federative system, after successfully resolving the national question, has already fulfilled its historical mission and should give way to the unitary one .30 Autonomization of the union republics and their incorporation into the RSFSR, in his opinion, is the most likely path to a unitary state. (How the transition to unitarianism will take place, he does not write.) However, we cannot agree with this "foresight". The experience of the historical development of the Soviet federation, its tasks and functions, and, what is very important, the program provisions and decisions of the CPSU, its Leninist national policy indicate that the Soviet federation-the Union of SSR - will continue to exist until a communist society is built, until the all-people Soviet state is transformed into a communist public self-government.

P. G. Semyonov draws an equally hasty conclusion about the "denationalization" of the Soviet republics and the "fading away" of the Soviet national statehood of the peoples already in our time .31 This also has nothing to do with the current development objectives of the Soviet federation. In accordance with the objective laws of the development of our society, the Communist Party implements a policy of further strengthening the Soviet multinational State and improving the Soviet national statehood of peoples.

The historical task of building a communist society meets both the interests of each individual Soviet nation and nation, and the general interests of all the peoples of the USSR. By carrying out this task through active creative work, Soviet people are fulfilling their national and international duty. "The Party considers communist construction in the USSR as a great international task of the Soviet people, which meets the interests of the Soviet people.

30 See I. M. Kislitsyn. Questions of theory and practice of federal construction of the USSR. Training manual. Perm. 1969, pp. 118, 165, 184-185.

31 This conclusion is connected with his statement that the USSR is allegedly undergoing mutual assimilation of nations (see ch. 37).

page 58

the whole world socialist system, the interests of the international proletariat, of all mankind " 32 .

The friendship of the peoples of our country, their fraternal cooperation and mutual assistance are the source of the strength and strength of the Soviet multinational State, the driving force behind the creative activity of the Soviet people in building communism. That is why the ideologists of anti-communism are trying in every possible way to present national relations in the USSR in a perverted form. Dozens of institutions and numerous periodicals in the United States, Germany, Great Britain and other Capitalist countries perform special tasks, discrediting the Soviet experience in solving the national question, in a distorted light (presenting the essence and prospects for the development of the Soviet multinational state and national Soviet statehood. They gravely discuss the problems of "Soviet imperialism" and "Soviet colonialism" and "Russification policy"at special symposia According to the ideologists of anti-communism and anti-Sovietism, such as F. Barghorn, H. Seton-Watson, G. von Rauch and others, there are no fundamental differences between national relations in Soviet socialist society and in capitalist society. 33 reality exposes these fabrications. It is enough to refer to the well-known fact that several dozen formerly backward peoples made a gigantic leap in their economic, political, and cultural development in a short period of time under the Soviet system and became advanced socialist nations. The comprehensive development of Soviet socialist nations and nationalities refutes the slanderous claims of "Russification" and "suppression" of non-Russian nationalities. No attempts to falsify Soviet reality will help to conceal from the peoples of other countries the world-historical achievements of socialism in the USSR and, in particular, the enormous achievements in the field of national relations. Now even many leaders from the bourgeois camp who have visited our country are forced to assess the development of the Soviet state more objectively.

It is known that a new historical community of people has emerged in our country - the Soviet people. Its emergence is a vivid expression of the international unity of Soviet socialist nations and nationalities. However, the Soviet people are not a new ethnic community or a new "united nation", as some authors have argued, 34 but a multinational and international community. It has a common economic basis, a single political and state system, a single class structure, and a single Marxist-Leninist ideology. "The Soviet people is a fundamentally new, international community of people, a socialist union of all the workers of the USSR - workers in industry, agriculture, culture, physical and mental labor, which forms the social basis of a multinational state of the whole people." 35
The common claim that the Soviet people are supposedly a single Soviet nation is connected with the provision that in the USSR there is no single state.-

32 "Program of the CPSU", p. 6.

33 A number of works are devoted to exposing the falsifying fabrications of anti-communist ideologists about national relations in the USSR: E. Bagramov. The National Question and bourgeois Ideology, M. 1966; M. I. Kulichenko. The solution of the national question in the U.S.S.R. in the distorted light of bourgeois historiography. "Against the bourgeois falsifiers of the history and politics of the CPSU", Moscow, 1970; G. Khidoyatov. Truth versus lies. Tashkent, 1964.

34 See I. S. Cohn. National character-myth or reality? "Foreign literature", 1968, N 9, p. 229.

35 "To the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin". Theses of the Central Committee of the CPSU, pp. 32-33.

page 59

that would be a merger of nations, their general "mutual assimilation". Thus, A. E. Mordinov writes that the rapprochement of nations under socialism is accompanied by the merger of nations: "All nations, both large and small, merge, because the merger of nations is an objective and general pattern of development of all peoples under socialism." 36 P. G. Semenov also asserts that in the USSR there is a "general mutual assimilation of nations"37 . Meanwhile, the process of bringing nations closer together in the U.S.S.R. cannot be interpreted as a merger of nations. The flourishing and rapprochement of nations in Soviet socialist society only prepares the prerequisites for this. "With the victory of communism in the U.S.S.R., nations will become even closer together, their economic and ideological community will increase, and the common communist features of their spiritual appearance will develop. However, the erasure of national differences, especially linguistic differences, is a much longer process than the erasure of class distinctions. " 38
The experience of implementing Lenin's ideas and principles of proletarian internationalism in a Soviet multinational state is of world-historical significance. It is the clearest evidence of the life-giving power of Leninism and proletarian internationalism. The principles of proletarian internationalism also underlie relations between the peoples and countries of the world socialist community. The Soviet Union consistently implements Lenin's ideas of internationalism in its foreign policy, upholding the principles of equal rights and friendship of peoples, and peaceful coexistence of countries with different socio-political systems. The Soviet multinational State, whose experience attracts the attention and sympathy of hundreds of millions of people on all continents who seek to follow its path, resolutely opposes colonialism and national oppression in all their forms, provides all possible assistance to the peoples fighting against the imperialist aggressors, and selflessly helps the peoples freed from the colonial yoke in the development of their economy and culture. The experience of implementing Lenin's ideas in a multinational socialist state and in all other spheres of Soviet society has proved beyond dispute that loyalty to Marxism-Leninism, proletarian internationalism, and selfless service to the interests of one's own people and the common cause of socialism and communism are essential conditions for a successful struggle for the revolutionary renewal of the world, for the final triumph of socialism and communism.

35 A. E. Mordinov. V. I. Lenin on the essence of national relations under socialism. "Polyarnaya zvezda", 1969, L g 4, p. 97 (Yakutsk).

37 P. G. Semenov. Program of the CPSU on the development of Soviet national state relations. "Soviet State and Law", 1961, N 12, pp. 23, 25; his. State-legal forms of solving the national question in the USSR in the works of V. I. Lenin. "Questions of State and law in the works of V. I. Lenin". Dushanbe, 1963, p. 96.

38 "Program of the CPSU", p. 113.

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