 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sovietization" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Sovietization (Russian:советизация,romanized: sovyetizatsiya[səvʲɪtʲɪˈzat͡sɨjə]) is the adoption of a political system based on the model ofsoviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after theSoviet Union.
A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second meaning) occurred during theRussian Civil War in the territories captured by theRed Army. Later, the territories occupied by theRussian SFSR and the USSR were Sovietized.Mongolia was conquered by the Soviet Union and Sovietized in the 1920s, and after the end of theSecond World War, Sovietization took place in the countries of theSoviet Bloc (Eastern andCentral Europe: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic states, etc.).[1][2] In a broad sense, it included the creation of Soviet-style authorities, new elections held by Bolshevik party members with opposition parties being restricted, the nationalization of private land and property, and the repression against representatives of "class enemies" (kulaks, orosadniks, for instance). Mass executions and imprisoning inGulaglabor camps andexile settlements often accompany that process. This was usually promoted and sped up bypropaganda aimed at creating a common way of life in all states within theSoviet sphere of influence. In modern history, Sovietization refers to the copying of models of Soviet life (the cult of the leader's personality, collectivist ideology, mandatory participation in propaganda activities, etc.).[3][4][5]
In a narrow sense, the termSovietization is often applied to mental and social changes within the population of the Soviet Union and itssatellites,[6] which led to creation of thenew Soviet man (according to its supporters) orHomo Sovieticus (according to its critics).[7][8]
