In theSoviet Union, aUnion Republic (Russian:Сою́зная Респу́блика,romanized: Soyúznaya Respúblika) or unofficially aRepublic of the USSR was aconstituent federatedpolitical entity with asystem of government called aSoviet republic, which was officially defined in the1977 constitution as "asovereign Sovietsocialist state which has united with the other Soviet republics to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"[1][2] and whose sovereignty is limited by membership in the Union. As a result of its status as a sovereign state, the Union Republic de jure had the right to enter into relations with foreign states, conclude treaties with them and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives and participate in the activities of international organizations (including membership in international organizations).[3][4][5] The Union Republics were perceived asnational-based administrative units of theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).[6]
TheKarelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, a relic of the Soviet-Finnish War (theWinter War), became the only union republic to be deprived of its status in 1956. The decision to downgrade Karelia to an autonomous republic within theRussian SFSR was made unilaterally by the central government without consulting its population.[citation needed] The official basis for downgrading the status of the republic was the changes that had occurred in the national composition of its population (about 80% of the inhabitants wereRussians,Belarusians andUkrainians), as well as the need to reduce the state apparatus, the cost of maintaining which in 1955 amounted to 19.6 million rubles.[7]
Reverse of the 1-ruble note of the 1961 series, with the value in all the official languages of the Union RepublicsFlags of all 16 union republics along with the Soviet flag
Chapter 8 of the1977 Soviet Constitution is titled as the "Soviet Union is a union state". Article 70 stated that the union was founded on principles "socialist federalism" as a result of freeself-determination of nation and volunteer association of equal in rights soviet socialist republics. Article 71 listed all of 15 union republics that united into the Soviet Union.
According to Article 76 of the1977 Soviet Constitution, a Union Republic was a sovereign Soviet socialist state that had united with other Soviet Republics in the USSR. Article 78 of the Constitution stated that the territory of the union republic cannot be changed without its agreement. Article 81 of the Constitution stated that "the sovereign rights of Union Republics shall be safeguarded by the USSR".[8]
In 1944, amendments to theAll-Union Constitution allowed for separate branches of theRed Army for each Soviet Republic. They also allowed for Republic-level commissariats for foreign affairs and defense, allowing them to be recognized asde jure independent states in international law. This allowed for two Soviet Republics,Ukraine andByelorussia, (as well as the USSR as a whole) to join theUnited Nations General Assembly as founding members in 1945.[9][10][11]
The Soviet currencySoviet ruble banknotes all included writings in national languages of all the 15 union republics.
Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was afederation. In accordance with provisions present inits Constitution (versions adopted in 1924, 1936 and 1977), each republic retained the right tosecede from the USSR. Throughout theCold 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, whenRussia,Ukraine, andBelarus seceded from the Union. Although the Union wascreated under an initialideological appearance of forming asupranational union, it neverde facto functioned as one; an example of the ambiguity is that theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1930s officially had its ownforeign minister, but that office did not exercise any truesovereignty apart from that of the union. TheConstitution of the Soviet Union in its various iterations defined the union as afederation with the right of the republics tosecede. This constitutional status led to the possibility of theparade of sovereignties once the republic with de facto (albeit not de jure) dominance over the other republics,the Russian one, developed a prevailing political notion asserting that it would be better off if it seceded. The de facto dominance of the Russian republic is the reason that various historians (for example,Dmitri Volkogonov and others) have asserted that the union was aunitary state in fact albeit not in law.[18]: 71, 483 [19]
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 byMikhail Gorbachev resulted in the loosening of central control andits ultimate dissolution. Under the constitution adopted in 1936 and modified along the way until October 1977, the political foundation of theSoviet 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 theSupreme Soviet of the USSR, located inMoscow within theRussian SFSR.
Along with the state administrative hierarchy, there existed a parallel structure of party organizations, which allowed thePolitburo 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: aflag, acoat of arms, and, with the exception ofRussia until 1990, ananthem. Every republic of the Soviet Union also was awarded with theOrder of Lenin.
Poster of the unity of the Soviet republics in the late 1930s. All republics are shown with their respective traditional clothes, whileRussian shown in modern clothes.
Poster of the unity of the Soviet republics in 1946. Note that the map also points out theKarelo-Finnish SSR capital,Petrozavodsk.
The number of the union republics of the USSR varied from 4 to 16. From 1956 until its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics: in 1956, theKarelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, created in 1940, was absorbed into the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Rather than listing the republics in alphabetical order, the republics were listed in constitutional order (which roughly corresponded to their population and economic power when the republics were formed). However, particularly by the last decades of the Soviet Union, the constitutional order did not correspond to order either by population or economic power.
a Abkhazia's status in relation to theGeorgian SSR as a "treaty republic" was never clear or well-defined, making its status as a separate non-union republic disputed.
The Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic was proclaimed in 1918 but did not survive to the founding of the USSR, becoming the short-livedTurkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the RSFSR. TheCrimean Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida) was also proclaimed in 1918, but did not become a union republic and was made into an autonomous republic of the RSFSR, although theCrimean Tatars had a relative majority until the 1930s or 1940s according to censuses. When theTuvan 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.
Several of the Union Republics themselves, most notably Russia, were further subdivided intoAutonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs). Though administratively part of their respective Union Republics, ASSRs were also established based on ethnic/cultural lines.
According to theconstitution of the USSR, in case of a union republic voting on leaving the Soviet Union, autonomous republics,autonomous oblasts andautonomous okrugs had the right, by means of areferendum, to independently resolve whether they will stay in the USSR or leave with the seceding union republic, as well as to raise the issue of their state-legal status.[27]
Starting in the late 1980s, under the rule ofMikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet government undertook a program of political reforms (glasnost andperestroika) intended to liberalise and revitalise the Union. These measures, however, had a number of unintended political and social effects. Political liberalisation allowed the governments of the union republics to openly express sentiments related to nationalism. In addition, the loosening of political restrictions led to fractures within the Communist Party which resulted in a reduced ability to govern the Union effectively. The rise of nationalist and right-wing movements, notably led byBoris Yeltsin in Russia, in the previously homogeneous political system undermined the Union's foundations. With the central role of the Communist Party removed from the constitution, the Party lost its control over the State machinery and was banned from operating afteran attempted coup d'état.
Throughout this period of turmoil, the Soviet government attempted to find a new structure that would reflect the increased authority of the republics. Some autonomous republics, likeTatarstan,Checheno-Ingushetia,Abkhazia,South Ossetia,Crimea,Transnistria,Gagauzia sought the union statute in the New Union Treaty. Efforts to found aNew Union Treaty, however, proved unsuccessful and the republics began to secede from the Union. By 6 September 1991, the Soviet Union'sState Council recognized the independence ofEstonia,Latvia andLithuania bringing the number of union republics down to 12. On 8 December 1991, the remaining leaders of the republics signed theBelavezha Accords which agreed that the USSR would be dissolved and replaced with aCommonwealth of Independent States. On 25 December, President Gorbachev announced his resignation and turned all executive powers over to Yeltsin. The next day theCouncil of Republics voted todissolve the Union. Since then, the republics have been governed independently with some reconstituting themselves as liberal parliamentary republics and others, particularly inCentral Asia, devolving into highly autocratic states under the leadership of the old Party elite.
^abcTheannexation of the Baltic republics in 1940 is considered an illegal occupation by the current Baltic governments and by a number of foreign countries.[12][14][15][16][20][21][22] The Soviet Union considered the initial annexation legal, but officially recognized their independence on 6 September 1991, three months prior to its final dissolution
^Butler, William E.; Kahn, Jeffrey (May 2002). "Federalism or Federationism. A book review of:Federalism, Democratization and the Rule of Law in Russia by Jeffrey Kahn".Michigan Law Review.100 (6):1444–1452.doi:10.2307/1290449.JSTOR1290449.
^Soviets may be poised to annex the Afghan North -Chicago Tribune. 19 August 1984. Retrieved on 10 December 2016. "Miraki said then-Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev urged Afghan President Babrak Karmal to win Afghan Communist Party approval for Moscow's annexation of eight northern provinces and their formation into the 16th Soviet republic, the Socialist Republic of Afghanistan. The defector said Brezhnev envisioned the southern half of the country as a powerless, Pa-than-speaking buffer with U.S.-backed Pakistan."
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