Republics of the Soviet Union


The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Union Republics were ethnically based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. For most of its history, the USSR was a highly centralized state; the decentralization reforms during the era of Perestroika and Glasnost conducted by Mikhail Gorbachev are cited as one of the factors which led to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
There were two different types of republics in the Soviet Union: union republics which, according to the Soviet Constitution, had the right of secession from the Soviet Union and autonomous republics which subordinated to union republics in which they were located. The autonomous status of all republics was nominal and was fully controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and government of the Soviet Union that was also controlled by the Party. Before adaptation of the "Perestroika" policy of political liberalization in 1980s, any deviation from the Party policy in any form was subject to legal persecutions.
In 1940, a new entity was created for the annexation of Finland. The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic became the only union republic from which such status was completely removed in 1956 without any form of discussion including referendum.

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".
In the final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union officially consisted of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics. All of them, with the exception of the Russian Federation, 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, to join the United Nations General Assembly as founding members in 1945.
All of the former Republics of the Union are now independent countries, with ten of them 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 under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was illegal, and that they therefore remained independent countries under Soviet occupation. Their position is supported by the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United States. In contrast, the Russian government and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate. Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a federation. In accordance with provisions present in the Constitution, 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 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.

Union Republics of the Soviet Union

The number of the union republics of the USSR varied from 4 to 16. In majority of years and at the later decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. 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.
EmblemNameFlagCapitalOfficial languagesJoinedSovereignty /
Independence		Population Pop.
%		Area Area
%		 statesNo.
Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicYerevanArmenian, Russian192223 8 1990
21 9 1991		32877002980013
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist RepublicBakuAzerbaijani, Russian1922
703790086600
'		7
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist RepublicMinskByelorussian, Russian192227 7 1990
25 8 1991		101518062076003
Estonian Soviet Socialist RepublicTallinnEstonian, Russian1940
15656624522615
Georgian Soviet Socialist RepublicTbilisiGeorgian, Russian192218.11.1989
9 4 1991		540084169700
'
'		6
Kazakh Soviet Socialist RepublicAlma-AtaKazakh, Russian1936
1671190027173005
Kirghiz Soviet Socialist RepublicFrunzeKirghiz, Russian1936
425780011
Latvian Soviet Socialist RepublicRigaLatvian, Russian1940
26665676458910
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist RepublicVilniusLithuanian, Russian1940
11 3 1990		3689779652008
Moldavian Soviet Socialist RepublicKishinevMoldavian, Russian1940
433760033843
'		9
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist RepublicMoscowRussian192212 6 1990
12.12.1991		147386000170754001
Tajik Soviet Socialist RepublicDushanbeTajik,
Russian		1929
511200014310012
Turkmen Soviet Socialist RepublicAshkhabadTurkmen, Russian1924
352270048810014
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist RepublicKievUkrainian, Russian192216 7 1990
24 8 1991		517067466037002
Uzbek Soviet Socialist RepublicTashkentUzbek,
Russian		1924
4474004

Former Union Republics of the Soviet Union

Republics not recognized by the Soviet Union

Other non-union Soviet republics

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 was also proclaimed in 1918, but did not became 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. 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.

Unrealized Soviet states

Several of the Union Republics themselves, most notably Russia, were further subdivided into Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics. Though administratively part of their respective Union Republics, ASSRs were also established based on ethnic/cultural lines.
EmblemNameFlagYears of membershipCapitalOfficial languagesArea Soviet Socialist Republic subjects
Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1931–1992SukhumiAbkhazian, Georgian, Russian8,600
Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1921–1990BatumiGeorgian, Russian2,880
Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1919–1991UfaBashkir, Russian143,600
Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1923–1990Ulan-udeBuryat, Russian69,857
Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1936–1944
1957–1991		GroznyChechen, Ingush, Russian19,300
Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1925–1992CheboksaryChuvash, Russian18,300
Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1921–1991MakhachkalaAghul, Avar, Azerbaijani, Chechen, Dargwa, Kumyk, Lezgian, Lak, Nogai, Rutul, Tabasaran, Tat, Tsakhur, Russian50,300
Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1990–1991Gorno-Altaysk92,600
Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1936–1944
1957–1991		NalchikKabardian, Karachay-Balkar, Russian12,500
Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1935–1943
1958–1991		ElistaKalmyk Oirat, Russian76,100
Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1932–1991NukusKarakalpak, Russian165,000
Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1923–1940
1956–1991		PetrozavodskFinnish, Russian147,000
Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1936–1990SyktyvkarKomi, Russian415,900
Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1936–1990Yoshkar-OlaMari, Russian23,200
Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1934–1990SaranskErzya, Moksha, Russian26,200
Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1921–1990NakhichevanAzerbaijani, Armenian, Russian5,500
North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1936–1992OrdzhonikidzeOssetian, Russian8,000
Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1920–1990KazanTatar, Russian68,000
Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1961–1992KyzylTuvan, Russian170,500
Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1934–1990IzhevskUdmurt, Russian42,100
Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic1922–1991YakutskYakut, Russian3,083,523

Former Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union

EmblemNameFlagCapitalTitular nationalityYears of membershipPopulationArea Soviet Socialist Republic states
Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicSimferopolCrimean Tatars
Russians		1921–1945
1991–1992		1,126,000
26,860

Kabardin Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicNalchikKabardians1944–1957420,115
12,470
Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic Alma-AtaKazakhs1920–19256,503,000
2,960,000

Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet RepublicAlma-AtaKazakhs1925–19366,503,000
2,960,000

Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic FrunzeKyrgyz1926–1936993,000
196,129
Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicTiraspolMoldovans1924–1940599,150
8,288

Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicVladikavkazBalkars, Chechens, Ingushes, Kabardians, Karachays, Ossetians, Terek Cossacks1921–19241,286,000
74,000
Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicDushanbeTajiks1924–1929740,000

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicTashkentUzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmens1918–19245,221,963




Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicEngelsSoviet Germans1923–1941606,532
27,400

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Under Mikhail Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika were intended to liberalise and open up 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 Communist Party which resulted in reduced ability to govern the Union effectively. The rise of nationalist and right-wing movements, notably led in Russia by Boris Yeltsin, in the previously homogeneously Communist political system led to the crumbling of the Union's foundations. With the central role of the Communist Party removed from the constitution, the Communist Party lost its control over the political system and was banned from operating after an attempted coup d'état.
Throughout the unravelling of the restructuring, the Soviet government attempted to find a new structure which would reflect the increased power of the republics. Some autonomous republics, like Tatarstan, Checheno-Ingushetia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea, Transnistria, Gagauzia sought the union statute in New Union Treaty. Efforts to found a Union of Sovereign States 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 adopting significantly more liberal policies while others, particularly in Central Asia, have retained leadership personnel from the Soviet time to this day.