The Soviet Union - the world's first socialist state - was created as a result of the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics includes 15 union republics, 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous regions and 10 national districts. Over a hundred peoples, closely linked by a common territory, economic life and the great task set before them - the building of communism - inhabit the USSR. Most of the peoples living compactly here have their own national-territorial formations.

The peoples of the USSR were formed over many centuries from numerous tribes and nationalities belonging to various racial types, who spoke different languages and differed from each other in their culture.

The population of the USSR, according to the All-Union census of January 15, 1959, was determined at 208,826.7 thousand people. ‘The census singled out 109 peoples; also small peoples (Talysh, Yaghnobi, Pamiri Tajiks, Batsbi, Kryzy, Khinalug, Budug, Liv, Kara-Papakha, Dolgan, Orok) were included in the processing of census materials into other peoples close to them. Of this number over $0 peoples are the indigenous peoples of the USSR, formed on its territory.

The number of different peoples of the country fluctuates within very large limits. Along with such large nations, like Russians (114.1 million people) and Ukrainians (37.3 million), there are peoples numbering less than one thousand people each (Kryzy, Livs, Nganasans, Yukaghirs, etc.). Over 1 million people number 19 peoples; their total number 198.9 million people, i.e. 95% of the total population of the country.

The vast majority of the population of the USSR speaks languages ​​belonging to four language families - Indo-European (84.31% of the total population), Altaic (11.29%), Caucasian (2.12%) and Uralic (2.07%). Outside these families, about a dozen and a half small peoples (0.21% of the total population) remain, for the most part of which the USSR is not the main habitat. The peoples of the Indo-European family are settled throughout the country, the Altai - in the Volga region, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia, the Urals - in the north and north-west of the USSR, the Caucasian - in the Caucasus.

The Soviet Union as a political form of a new type of state was formed in 1922, however, the characteristic territorial and political unity of the regions included in it arose much earlier, even with the formation of the Russian centralized multinational state. The beginning of the formation of such a state refers to the second half XV century In the future, the Muscovite state, having completed the unification of the main Russian lands, expanded its borders at the expense of areas inhabited by other peoples. The most important stages of this process were: the accession of the Middle and Lower Volga region (second halfXVI century), the reunification of Ukraine with Russia (mid-XVII century), the annexation of Siberia (XVII-XVIII centuries), the annexation of the Caucasus (XVII -XIX centuries) and, finally, the accession of Kazakhstan and Central Asia (XIX century). Peasants from the central zone of Russia and Ukraine, who suffered from land shortages (mainly Russians, Ukrainians, etc.), moved to the new regions included in the Russian state. The migration movement gained its greatest scope in the second half of the 19th and earlyXX centuries, which was associated with the development of capitalism in agriculture. The population of Russia grew both due to natural growth and due to the annexation of new lands, which increased the national mixture of the population. According to the estimates of B. Ts. Urlanis, the total population of the Muscovite state increased from 5.8 million in 1500 to 11.3 million in 1600 and to 13 million people in 1700.According to audit data (regular accounting of the taxable population), the population of Russia was 14 million in 1724, 16 million in 1742, 19 million in 1762, 44 million in 1811, and 44 million in 1863. 70 million, 1885 - 99 million people.

The first general census in Russia, conducted in 1897, determined the total population of the country at 125.7 million people, however, it should be noted that this figure includes the population of Finland and a number of western regions that are now part of the Polish People's Republic, and residents of the Bukhara and Khiva khanates, which were not formally part of Russia, are not included.

The natural movement of the population of tsarist Russia characterized by a high birth rate and high mortality resulting in a significant increase in population. On average for the period 1861-1913. annually for every 1000 inhabitants European Russia accounted for 49 births and 34 deaths; thus, the natural increase was 15%. Some improvement in the health service led at the beginning of the 20th century. to a reduction in mortality and an increase in the rate of natural growth, but this phenomenon was typical only for the most developed central provinces.

The first world war and the civil war that followed it, accompanied by famine and epidemics, had a strong impact on the dynamics of the population of Russia; it should also be taken into account that during the civil war, significant groups of the population emigrated outside their homeland, mainly to countries Foreign Europe. However, due to the rapid increase in natural growth IN THE FIRST POST-WAR YEARS: these losses were quickly covered. The USSR population census conducted in 1926 showed an increase in its total number compared to 1913 by almost 8 million people (from 139.3 million to 147 million). By 1939, the population of the USSR increased to 170.6 million people, or by 16 in comparison with 1926 (in modern borders in 1939 there were 190.7 million people in the USSR).

World War II brought innumerable disasters to the peoples of the USSR. Due to the losses of millions of people on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and in areas subjected to fascist occupation, as well as due to a sharp decline in the birth rate in the rear areas, the total population of the USSR during the war years not only stopped growing, but even decreased. Notable representation about the size of losses during the Patriotic War can be obtained on the basis of the discrepancy between the size of the male and female population, which in 1959 amounted to about 20 million people (in 1939 - about 6 million). Despite the losses during the war years, the population of the USSR, due to the high rates of natural growth in the postwar years, by 1959 increased to 208.8 million (by 9.5% compared with 1939) and by the middle of 1962 amounted to 221.5 million people. For individual republics, the change in numbers occurred unevenly (Table 11), which is explained by unequal human losses during the years of the Patriotic War (these losses were much higher in areas located in the zone of direct hostilities), the heterogeneity of the natural movement of the population in different republics and the influence of internal migrations , directed mainly from the agricultural regions of the European part of the USSR to the industrial and poorly developed regions in the east of the country.

The largest population growth occurred in the Kazakh CGP (by 3216 thousand people, or 53%) due to a significant influx of population from other regions of the country, as well as in the Armenian, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek republics, which are characterized by high natural population growth. At the same time, in some republics in the west of the country (Belarus, Lithuania), the absolute population has decreased.

Uneven population growth is also characteristic of individual parts of the RSFSR. Thus, with an average increase of 8.4%, the population of the Urals has grown since 1939 by 32, Western Siberia- by 24%, Eastern Siberia - by 34%, Far East - by 70%. In general, there is a large population shift from west to east; The population of the eastern regions of the USSR, which in 1939 amounted to 18% of the total population of the country, in 1959 already reached 22%.

The natural movement of the population in the Soviet Union, where the state shows tireless concern for the health of the working people, care for mother and child, is characterized by a fairly high birth rate and low mortality. In 1960, there were 7.1 deaths per 1,000 people in the USSR. This is the lowest death rate in the world. The decrease in mortality led to an increase in the average life expectancy of the population of the USSR from 32 years in the pre-revolutionary years to 44 in 1926-1927. and up to 68 years in 1957-1958. Compared with the pre-revolutionary period, mortality in the CCGP decreased by 4.2 times, and compared with the pre-war period of 1940, by 2.5 times.

In individual union republics, the indicators of natural movement, due to the heterogeneity of the sex and age composition of the population and as a result of the action of a number of other factors, fluctuate within fairly large limits (Table 12).

Ethno-statistical registration of the population of Russia first began at the end of the 19th century, when the program of the first population census (1897) included the question of the native language. According to this census, the number of people with a native Russian language was 55.7 million people (44.3% of the total population), with Ukrainian - 22.4 million (17.8%), with Polish - 7.9 million (6.3%), with Belarusian - 5.9 million (4.7%), etc.

The first Soviet population census was carried out in August 1920, that is, during the civil war. A significant part of the country (areas of military operations and areas occupied by the enemy - Belarus, Volyn and Podolsk province Ukraine, Transcaucasia, Crimea and a number of regions of Asian Russia) was not covered by the census. Its preliminary results were published in December 1920, but the processing of all the materials was not completely completed and the results were not published.

In December 1926, after the successful completion of the restoration of the national economy by our country, the All-Union Population Census was carried out, the program of which included questions about nationality (“nationality”) and native language. The materials of this census, published for small administrative units (districts, counties, districts, etc.), created the necessary basis for the most important research on the national composition of the regions of the USSR and the settlement of individual peoples.

In January 1939, the second All-Union population census was carried out, one of the tasks of which was to take into account the national and linguistic composition of the population. The development of the materials of this census in connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War was not completed. Only some summary data on the national composition of the country were published.

The new, third All-Union Census of the USSR, conducted on January 15, 1959, like previous censuses, took into account the national identity and mother tongue of the population of the USSR. The preliminary results of this census were published in May 1959, and the final ones in 1960.

A comparison of the data of three censuses (ІІ926, 1939 and 1959) shows a significant increase in the number of most peoples of the USSR (Table 13).

From Table. 13 shows that some peoples - Belarusians, Latvians, Estonians, Mordovians and especially Jews - have decreased in number. This is primarily the result of heavy losses during the Great Patriotic War and the policy pursued by the German occupiers of the physical extermination of the population in the occupied territory. To a certain extent, the process of natural assimilation of some peoples with the surrounding Russian population also influenced the decline in the population. This process had a particularly noticeable effect on the reduction in numbers; Mordovian people (decrease by almost 12%). The process of assimilation also took place among the Udmurts and some other relatively small peoples of the USSR.

The decrease in the number of Kazakhs in 1939 compared to 1926 is explained, firstly, by the incorrect attribution in the 1926 census of a number of tribal groups of Kirghiz, Karakalpaks and Uzbeks to Kazakhs, which was corrected in subsequent censuses, and, secondly, emigration of the wealthy sections of the Kazakh population outside the country, especially during the period of the struggle against the Basmachi.

Tsarist Russia, in the words of V. I. Lenin, was a "prison of peoples." Tsarism pursued a policy of brutal oppression of non-Russian peoples, a policy of forcible Russification and suppression of national culture, kindled enmity and national strife among peoples, set one people against another. The working masses of the non-Russian peoples suffered from the double oppression of their "own" and Russian capitalists and landlords.

“The policy of tsarism, the policy of the landlords and the bourgeoisie towards these peoples,” says the resolution of the Tenth Congress of our Party, “consisted in killing among them the rudiments of any state system, crippling their culture, restricting their language, keeping them in ignorance, and, finally, , Russianize them if possible. The results of such a policy are the underdevelopment and political backwardness of these peoples..

The peoples of the outskirts of tsarist Russia did not have the opportunity to freely develop their economy and culture and were doomed to poverty. National minorities were pushed back to the worst and uninhabited lands. However, despite all this, the backward peoples of the border regions were gradually drawn into the mainstream of capitalist development, joined the higher culture of the Russian people, the general revolutionary struggle of the working people of Russia against tsarism.

The Great October Socialist Revolution, having overthrown the power of the landlords and capitalists, opened a new era in the history of the peoples of our country. It destroyed the tsarist landlord-capitalist "prison of peoples" and liberated the peoples of Russia. On the historic day of October 25 (November 7), 1917, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, in the first adopted document - an appeal to the workers, soldiers and peasants - proclaimed that the Soviet government "will ensure to all the nations inhabiting Russia the true right to self-determination" 8 .

The Soviet state, having based its activities on the policy of the complete elimination of inequality, the comprehensive economic, cultural and political development of all peoples, on November 2 (15), 1917, promulgated the “Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia” signed by V. I. Lenin, which included the following points:

1. Equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.

2. The right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination up to secession and formation of an independent state.

3. Cancellation of all and any national and national-religious privileges and restrictions.

4. Free development of national minorities and ethnographic groups inhabiting the territory of Russia.

The "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia" and the first decrees of the Soviet state (on peace, on land, etc.) caused a sharp turning point in the life of the working people of previously oppressed nationalities and created the basis for their unification. The overwhelming majority of nationalities living in Russia, after the victory of the Great October Revolution and the establishment of Soviet power, did not want to secede from the Russian Soviet Republic and remained in its composition, forming a federation.

“The Soviet Russian Republic,” it says in the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” developed by V. I. Lenin and adopted in January 1918 by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets, “is established on the basis of a free union of free nations as a federation of Soviet national republics.”

“This is the foundation of our federation,” said V. I. Lenin at the closing session of the same congress, “and I am deeply convinced that various separate federations of free nations will be grouped around revolutionary Russia more and more. Quite voluntarily, without lies and iron, this federation will grow, and it is indestructible. The best guarantee of its indestructibility is those laws, the state system that we create in our country.

Soviet federation how the political form of organization made it possible in a short time to involve in socialist construction all the peoples of our country. So, as a result of the victory of October, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed already in December 1917, and in April 1918, the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in Central Asia, which became part of the Russian Federation. In January 1919, the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, in April 1920 - Azerbaijan, in August 1920 - Kazakh (Kyrgyz), in November 1920 - Armenian, and in February 1921 - Georgian. In March 1922, the peoples of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia are united into the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 12 . In the same period, a number of autonomous republics and regions were created in the Volga region - the Bashkir ASSR (1919), the Tatar ASSR (1920), the Chuvash Autonomous Region (1920) at Udmurt Autonomous Region (1920), Mari Autonomous Region (1920), Komi Autonomous Region (1921), in the North Caucasus - Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1921), Circassian and Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Regions (1921 ), the Chechen Autonomous Region (1922) and in Siberia - the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1922). Subsequently, all the listed autonomous regions were transformed into the ASSR.

A new stage in the implementation of Lenin's national policy was the creation in December 1922 of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Education USSR created conditions for the comprehensive expansion of cooperation between the peoples of our country, the organization of constant and comprehensive assistance to nationalities lagging behind in their cultural and economic development from the more advanced peoples and, above all, from the great Russian people.

Work on the creation of national autonomies continued after the formation of the USSR. In 1923, the Karelian ASSR and the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR were formed as part of the RSFSR (reorganized in 1958 into the Buryat ASSR).

Of great importance was the state-national demarcation in Central Asia carried out in November 1924, as a result of which many nationalities (Turkmen, Uzbeks, Tajiks, etc.) were reunited within the borders of the national Soviet republics and received favorable conditions for their economic and cultural development.

Under the state national delimitation in Central Asia, two union republics were formed - the Uzbek and Turkmen, the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Kara-Kyrgyz and Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Regions. In 1929, the Tajik ASSR was transformed into a union republic, and in 1932, the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region became the Kara-Kalpak ASSR. In 1936, the Kazakh and Kirghiz union republics were created.

Autonomies were also created for other, smaller peoples. Thus, in 1930, the Khakass Autonomous Region, the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenetsky) and the Evenk National Districts were formed as part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 1934, as part of Khabarovsk Territory The Jewish Autonomous Region was formed.

In 1939, the age-old dream of the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples came true: Western Ukraine, and from the Byelorussian SSR - Western Belarus, liberated by the Soviet Army. In June 1940 part of the territory of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were reunited with the Ukrainian SSR. In 1945, Transcarpathian Ukraine became part of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1940 with great family The Soviet peoples were reunited by the Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians, who formed the three Baltic Soviet Socialist Republics. In the same year, the Moldavian SSR was also created.

In 1944, the Tuva Autonomous Region, now transformed into the ASSR, became part of the USSR.

Consistently pursuing the Leninist national policy, the Communist Party and the Soviet government, through a whole system of political, economic and cultural measures, helped the peoples who were lagging behind in their development to rise to the level of the advanced, to achieve a general upsurge in the economy and culture; thus, the preconditions were created for their consolidation in a nation of a new, socialist type.

The socialist content of the culture of the new nations is determined by the ideas that permeate the entire public life, educate and strengthen the new qualities of the Soviet people. “The process of the formation of the new man, having passed the socialist stage, has now entered the highest, communist stage.” The further development of this process is closely connected with the economic and cultural flourishing of the Soviet republics and the even closer and more comprehensive convergence of nations and national cultures.

The socialist content of national cultures is determined leadership The Communist Party in cultural construction, in cultivating a new attitude towards work, in getting rid of the remnants of the bourgeois and petty-property ideology, in overcoming the remnants of national strife and inculcating international feelings. The most vivid expression of the socialist content of the culture of the new nations is found in Soviet patriotism and in the friendship of peoples, in the struggle of the broad masses of the people for the realization of the ideas of communism.

The main element of national culture is language. Raising the cultural level and familiarizing the broad masses with the world treasury of knowledge, creating cadres of national intelligentsia and propagating the Marxist-Leninist teachings are unthinkable without development national languages. V. I. Lenin wrote in 1919: “... we do our best to help independent, free development each nationality, the growth and dissemination of literature in each language's native language.

The largest and most developed nations before revolutionary Russia- Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc., having embarked on the path of capitalist development, already in the second half of the 19th century. developed in the nation, while the national development of many peoples of its outskirts - Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the North Caucasus and Dagestan, Siberia - was slowed down. The economy and social structure of these peoples were subjected to some influence of capitalism before the revolution, but colonial oppression hindered their economic development. A number of peoples, even in the first years of socialist construction, continued to be divided into separate tribal groups, which remained from pre-feudal times and hindered the development of a single national culture. The various peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Kazakhstan were distinguished by extremely large ethnic and tribal fragmentation.

Let us consider the process of formation of socialist nations on the example of the Turkmens.

Turkmens in the middle of the XIX century. lived in isolated tribal groups (they included more than 30 separate tribes and several hundred tribal groups), constantly at war with each other because of water sources, lands and pastures. At the end of XIX - beginning of XX century. the territory of settlement of the Turkmens was artificially divided between three states: in tsarist Russia (Turkestan governor-general) there were 43.2%, in the Khanate of Khiva - 29.8 and in the Emirate of Bukhara - 27% of Turkmen 16 . Due to the underdevelopment of capitalism and the dominance of patriarchal-feudal relations, they did not develop an economic community. The consolidation of the nationality was also hampered by the lack of their own written language and the illiteracy of the population.

The Soviet government, which liberated the Turkmen from national oppression, at the same time contributed to their national consolidation. The formation of the Turkmen SSR during the national-state delimitation of Central Asia led to the reunification of the Turkmen people.

The rapid overcoming of the economic backwardness of Turkmenistan was facilitated by the high rates of development of the national economy and, in particular, industry: chemical, oil production and oil refining, gas, textile and other industries were created here. The volume of industrial production of the Turkmen SSR in 1961 exceeded the pre-revolutionary one by more than 24 times; the Turkmens had their own working class.

Radical transformations also took place in the agriculture of the republic. Land reform, land management, collectivization led to the formation of large collective farms and state farms, leading the economy on the basis of modern science and technology.

Along with economic transformations, the national in form, socialist in content culture of the Turkmen people developed at a rapid pace. Created writing based on the Russian alphabet; by 1936 universal primary education in the Turkmen language was carried out. The network of schools, technical schools, universities and scientific institutions has grown. In 1950, the Turkmen University was opened, and in 1951, the Republican Academy of Sciences was established. The intelligentsia has grown. The national Turkmen culture is successfully developing. The Turkmen language was greatly enriched and developed. The Turkmen SSR publishes dozens of newspapers and magazines, fiction, political and scientific literature in the Turkmen language. The literature and art of the republic are integral part multinational Soviet literature and art. The dialectal features in the language were gradually erased and the former division into tribes and other divisions disappeared. Strengthened national identity.

Similar processes took place in other union and autonomous republics of the USSR, whose peoples, who had not had time to go through the capitalist path of development before the October Revolution, in the shortest historical period under the conditions of the Soviet system made a giant leap in their national development, bypassing the phase of capitalism.

Particularly complex are the national processes in the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where at present there are about 30 nationalities and ethnographic groups with independent languages ​​(or dialects) belonging to different linguistic groups and families. So, in the languages ​​of the Chechen-Dagestan group caucasian family the Avars and the Ando-Tsezes (Ando-Didois), Dargins, Laks, Lezgins, Tabasarans, Aguls, Rutuls and Tsakhurs speak; in languages Turkic group Altai family - Kumyks and Nogais; in the languages ​​of the Iranian group of the Indo-European family - Tats and Mountain Jews.

Among the peoples of Dagestan important role Avars play in the process of national consolidation; twelve ethnos have long gravitated towards them graphic groups speaking (different languages ​​​​of the Ando-Desian group, as well as the Archins. The Avar language became the main language of communication of these groups, however, in everyday life, the Ando-Tsezes continue to use their former languages.

The process of national development among the peoples of Siberia and the Far East is taking place in a peculiar way. Before the October Socialist Revolution, of all the peoples of this part of the country, only the Yakuts, Buryats and some others were formed as nationalities. The rest, the so-called small peoples of the North - the Chukchi, Koryaks, Evens, Evenks, Itelmens, Khanty, Mansi, etc. - were a kind of archaic ethnic communities who preserved tribal and tribal divisions; some of these narops were simply individual tribes(Ulchi, Oroki, Orochi, etc.). These were the most backward groups of the population on the territory of the Tsarskpht of Russia. Only thanks to the special attention of the Soviet government to these peoples at the present time have they achieved significant success in the economic and cultural development.

The essence of modern ethnic processes connected with the national consolidation and further development of nations is expressed primarily in the disappearance of the isolation and isolation of former tribal and ethnographic groups and individual small nationalities, their gradual merging with socialist nations, in the growth and strengthening of the monolithic nature of these nations.

“The Soviet system,” says N. S. Khrushchev in his report “On the Program of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,” “raised to a new life, led to the flourishing of all previously oppressed and disenfranchised peoples who stood at different stages of historical development, from the patriarchal tribal system to capitalist. The previously backward peoples, with the help of the more developed, and above all the great Russian people, bypassed the capitalist path and rose to the level of the advanced. A new historical community of people of various nationalities with common characteristics has taken shape in the USSR—the Soviet people. They have a common socialist homeland - the USSR, a common economic base- a socialist economy, a common social class structure, a common worldview - Marxism-Leninism, a common goal - the construction of communism, many common features in spiritual appearance, in psychology.

The data of the population censuses of 1939 and 1959, along with other materials, show the ongoing and ongoing progressive process of convergence of nations and nationalities both within large historical and ethnographic regions, and on a republican and all-union scale, which is accompanied by the formation of common traditions and household traits.

An important role in the process of rapprochement between socialist nations and small peoples is played by the Russian language, which is gradually becoming their second native language. The desire of these peoples to master the Russian language - one of the most developed and widespread languages ​​in the world - is of great positive importance for familiarizing them with the achievements of advanced Russian culture and for interethnic communication. The wide dissemination of the Russian language occurs, as a rule, in parallel with the process of development of national languages. However, for a significant part of the national groups settled among the Russians (Jews, Karelians, Mordovians, etc.), the Russian language is gradually becoming native. According to the 1959 census, 24 million people declared Russian as their mother tongue; this is 10 million more than the number of Russians.

The process of regional rapprochement of the population takes place in such large areas as Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the Transcaucasus, the North Caucasus, the Volga region, South Siberia, etc. The peoples who have long inhabited these regions were in close economic and cultural contact, were connected by historical destinies.

“Under socialism,” the Program of the CPSU emphasizes, “nations flourish, their sovereignty strengthens ... The emergence of new industrial centers, the discovery and development of natural resources, the development of virgin lands and the development of all types of transport increase the mobility of the population, contribute to the expansion of mutual communication between peoples Soviet Union. AT Soviet republics people of many nationalities live and work together. The borders between the union republics within the USSR are increasingly losing their former significance, since all nations are equal, their life is built on a single socialist basis and the material and spiritual needs of each people are equally satisfied, they are all united by common vital interests into one family and go together. towards a common goal - communism.

As mentioned above, the majority of the population of the peoples of the USSR are the peoples of the Indo-European language family, consisting of Slavic, Letto-Lithuanian, Germanic, Romance, Armenian and other groups.

AT Slavic group(77.1% of the total population of the USSR) includes the largest people of the Soviet Union - Russian and two other East Slavic peoples closely related to it - Ukrainians and Belarusians. The ancestors of these peoples are East Slavic tribes, who in ancient times occupied significant areas from the Carpathians and the Black Sea region to the upper reaches of the Volga and Lake Ladoga, in the 9th-12th centuries. formed into a single ancient Russian people. In the XII century. this nationality disintegrated, giving rise to three new nationalities - Russian, Ukrainian, formed already in the XIV- XV centuries, and Belarusian, the consolidation of which was delayed. The Russian nationality included some Finnish-speaking tribes assimilated by the Slavs (Meshchera, Vod, etc.), the Ukrainian one included part of the Iranian-speaking Alans and, possibly, small Turkic-speaking groups, the Belarusian one included Letto-Lithuanian ethnic elements (Yatvingians, etc.).

The Russian people, which developed in the region of the lands of Veliky Novgorod, the Upper Dnieper and the Volga-Oka interfluve, further greatly expanded the boundaries of its ethnic territory, mainly to the east and south - to the Urals and the lower reaches of the Volga (and then to the Asian part of the country). In the second half of the 19th century, with the development of capitalism in agriculture and the growth of relative agrarian overpopulation in Central Russia, a massive migration of Russians to Siberia and other Asian regions of Russia began. The settlement of Russians over vast expanses and their interaction with various local peoples contributed to the formation of a number of ethnographic groups that still retain some features in culture and life: Pomors (Russian old-timers (population on the coast of the White and Barents Seas), Kerzhaks (Old Believer Russian population of the forest belt of the Middle Urals), Cossacks (descendants of the Don, Kuban, Terek, Orenburg, Ural, Siberian, Transbaikal and other Cossacks), various groups of the old-timer population of Siberia - Kamchadals, Russian-Ustyintsy, Markovians and others

According to the 1959 census, there were 114,114.1 thousand Russians in the USSR, including 97,863.7 thousand in the RSFSR (85.8% of the total Russian population of the USSR). They are scattered throughout the country. The largest concentration of Russians (90-95%) falls on the areas of their original settlement - central regions RSFSR. The proportion of Russians is over 50% in 5 of the 16 autonomous republics of the RSFSR.

Such settlement has not only deep historical roots, but was also the result of the industrialization of the country, the creation of new industrial regions in the Urals, the north of the European part of the USSR, Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, the development of virgin lands, etc. The movement of the population during the Patriotic War was also of great importance. war.

Outside the USSR, the most large groups Russians are in the countries of America (in the USA - 780 thousand people, in Canada - 100 thousand, etc.) and in the countries of foreign Europe (in France - 50 thousand people, in Romania - 40 thousand, etc.).

Ukrainians (in pre-revolutionary literature often called Little Russians, in contrast to Russians - Great Russians) began to take shape in a nation from about the 17th-18th centuries. The final consolidation of the Ukrainian socialist nation took place relatively recently - after the reunification of the western lands inhabited by Ukrainians with the Ukrainian SSR. Among Western Ukrainians, a number of ethnographic groups still stand out - Lemkos, Verkhovynsky (Boikos), Hutsuls, etc. - preserving many peculiar features in their life and culture.

The total number of Ukrainians, according to the 1959 census, was 37,252.9 thousand people, of which 32,158.5 thousand people live in the Ukrainian SSR, or 86.1% of all Ukrainians in the USSR. Ukrainians make up the majority of the population in all regions of their republic, with the exception of the Crimean regions, where they are inferior in number to Russians.

Large groups of Ukrainians live in the regions of the Russian Federation neighboring the Ukrainian SSR, especially in the Voronezh and Rostov regions and the Krasnodar Territory, as well as in some other regions of the country, mainly in the Urals and Western Siberia. Comparatively large and compact groups of Ukrainians, descendants of end-of-life settlers XIX-beginning XX century., Live in the Amur Region and Primorsky Territory. In the last decade, the percentage of Ukrainians in the virgin lands of Kazakhstan has increased significantly.

Outside the USSR, significant groups of Ukrainians inhabit the neighboring regions of Poland (150 thousand people), Czechoslovakia (68 thousand people) and Romania (62 thousand people). Large groups of Ukrainians emigrated in the past to the Americas, mainly to Canada, where there are about 480 thousand people, the USA (120 thousand people), Argentina (60 thousand people) and Brazil (50 thousand people).

Belarusians formed into a nationality mainly by the 16th century; the process of their national consolidation was slower than that of the Russians and Ukrainians. The final consolidation of the Belarusian socialist nation took place after the reunification of the western Belarusian regions with the Byelorussian SSR. At present, peculiar territorial and ethnographic groups stand out among the Belarusian people: Pinchuks (inhabitants of the former Pinsk region) and Poleschuks (inhabitants of Polissya); separate groups of Belarusians in North-Western Belarus call themselves Litvins.

The ethnic borders of Belarusians roughly coincide with the borders of their republic. From total number Belarusians (7913.5 thousand) within the Byelorussian SSR live 6532.0 thousand people (more than 82% of all Belarusians of the USSR). Outside the BSSR, the most significant groups of Belarusians live in the Karelian ASSR, the Kaliningrad and Moscow regions of the RSFSR and in Donetsk region Ukrainian SSR. Over 100 thousand Belarusians live in the neighboring regions of Poland.

Belarusians make up absolute majority population of almost all regions of the republic. Only in some areas Grodno region they are outnumbered by the Poles.

Of the other peoples belonging to the Slavic group, one should name, first of all, the Poles and Bulgarians settled within the USSR. The total number of Poles is 1380.3 thousand people. The bulk of them are concentrated in a strip covering the northwestern part of the Byelorussian SSR and the south of the Lithuanian SSR; significant groups of Poles also live in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR. Outside these three republics different areas In the RSFSR there are relatively small groups of Poles (118,000 in all). Bulgarians (324.3 thousand people) - mostly descendants of Bulgarian settlers of the 18th-19th centuries - live mainly in the Black Sea region, in Odessa and neighboring regions of the Ukrainian SSR. Small groups of them are found in the North Caucasus and other regions of the RSFSR.

The Letto-Lithuanian (Baltic) group includes two peoples close in origin, language and culture - Latvians (1399.5 thousand people) and Lithuanians (2326.1 thousand people). The Latvian and Lithuanian languages ​​show a significant proximity to the Slavic languages. The ancient Baltic tribes took part in the ethnogenesis of the Latvian and Lithuanian nationalities; The Lithuanians included mainly the tribal groups Aukshaite and Zhmud (Zhemyte), the Latvians included the Semigallians, Latgalians, villages and Curonians, as well as the Finnic-speaking Livs assimilated by them. The names of most of these tribes are partially preserved today as the names of ethnographic groups of the Lithuanian and Latvian peoples.

At present, Latvians and Lithuanians are settled mainly within their republics and constitute the absolute majority of the population in them (Lithuanians in Lithuania - 79.3%, Latvians in Latvia - 62.0%); Lithuanians live in small groups in adjacent areas Latvian SSR and the Kaliningrad region, and Latvians - in the Lithuanian SSR. The number of Lithuanians and Latvians in other regions of the USSR is insignificant.

The Romance group includes Moldavians (2214.1 thousand people), who make up the main population of the Moldavian SSR. The ancestors of the Moldavians are the ancient Thracian tribes that underwent Romanization in the Roman era. Slavic elements also played a significant role in the formation of the Moldavian nationality, which had developed by the 14th century; in the future, the Moldovans also experienced a strong cultural and linguistic influence of the Slavs. More than 85% of all Moldovans of the USSR are concentrated within Moldova. Separate groups of them also live in the neighboring regions of the Ukrainian SSR.

Romanians (106.4 thousand people), who live mainly in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR, are close to the Moldovans in origin, language and culture.

The German group includes Germans (1610.7 thousand people) - the descendants of German colonists who moved to Russia in the 18th-19th centuries. and settled mainly in Ukraine and the Middle Volga region. In the early 1940s, the settlement of Germans changed significantly, and at present the bulk of them live in the forest-steppe zone of the Asian part of the country, mainly in the south of Western Siberia and in the northern regions of Kazakhstan.

The same group usually includes Jews (2177.0 thousand people), most of whom in the past used the Yiddish language, close to German. The percentage of Jews who consider Yiddish as their mother tongue is gradually decreasing; according to the 1959 census, about 80% of Jews indicated Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian as their native language. The resettlement of Jews, previously limited by the so-called "Pale of Settlement" (covering a number of provinces in Western and Southern Russia), has undergone significant changes during the years of Soviet power; large groups of them moved to the central and eastern regions THE USSR. At present, there are 875 thousand Jews within the RSFSR, including about 15 thousand in the Jewish Autonomous Region, 840 thousand in Ukraine, and 150 thousand in Belarus. The vast majority of Jews live in cities and towns.

The peoples of the Iranian language group include Tajiks, Pamir Tajiks, Ossetians, Tats, Mountain Jews, Talysh, Kurds, Balochi, and others, who have lived in Central Asia, the North and Southeast Caucasus since ancient times. In the past, the distribution area of ​​the peoples of this group was even wider, covering the steppes of the Black Sea, the Volga region, Kazakhstan and a significant part of Central Asia. However, in X- 16th century Turkic-speaking and Slavic tribes displaced, and partially assimilated, significant groups of Iranian-speaking peoples.

Tajiks (1396.9 thousand people) - the main people Tajik SSR(53.1% of the total population of the republic; 75.2% of the Tajik population of the USSR is concentrated here). Outside their republic, Tajiks are settled in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Surkhan-Darya and Ferghana regions Uzbek SSR and Osh region of Kyrgyzstan. Tajiks are the predominant population in many parts of Afghanistan, especially north of the Hindu Kush; there are more than 2,600 thousand people there. Small groups of Tajiks also live in Iran and China.

The ancient ancestors of the Tajiks were the inhabitants of the agricultural oases of the southern regions of Central Asia - the Bactrians and Sogdians. The formation of the Tajik people was completed in the 9th-10th centuries. Ethnographically and linguistically, Tajiks in the recent past were divided into mountainous and lowland. The mountain Tajiks are very close to the small Pamir peoples inhabiting the mountain valleys of the Western Pamirs: the Yazgulems, the Rushans, the Bartangs, the Shugnans, the Ishkashims and the Vakhans. A somewhat special position is occupied by the Yagnobis living in the upper reaches of the river. Zeravshan, whose language is sharply different from Tajik and similar to the ancient Sogdian. Most of the Yaghnobis and the Pamir peoples now speak the Tajik language and are gradually merging with the Tajik socialist nation.

The Tajik language is also spoken by some small peoples or ethnographic groups: Central Asian (“Bukharian”) Jews, living mainly in Bukhara, Samarkand and in the cities of the Ferghana Valley; a small number of Balochs in the south of Tajikistan who have lost their native language. Most of the Central Asian Arabs (their the total number in the USSR is 8.0 thousand people) living in Tajikistan, as well as in the Surkhan-Darya, Bukhara and Samarkand regions of the Uzbek SSR.

The Iranian language group in Central Asia also includes the Persian-Irani (also called Farsi) living in Bukhara and Samarkand, and the Balochi living in Turkmenistan and retaining their language.

Among the peoples of the Iranian language group are Ossetians, Tats and Mountain Jews living in the North Caucasus. Ossetians (410.0 thousand people) - the indigenous population of the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the South Ossetian Autonomous Region Georgian SSR. Outside their autonomies, Ossetians are settled in small groups in some regions of Georgia. Kabardino-Balkarian, Chechen-Ingush and Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as in the Stavropol Territory. Ossetians until the recent past were divided into two ethnographic groups - Digors and Irons. The southern and Mozdok Ossetians, close in origin and language to the Irons, stand out in particular. Tats (11.5 thousand people) - by origin, the descendants of the Persians who migrated to the Caucasus. In terms of their culture, they differ little from Azerbaijanis. The Tats are settled on the Absheron Peninsula, in the northeastern part of Azerbaijan and in the vicinity of Derbent. The Tat language is spoken by Mountain Jews (30.0 thousand people), who live mainly in Dagestan, as well as in Azerbaijan (mainly in Baku) and in some cities of the North Caucasus.

The Talysh living in the south-east of Azerbaijan also belong to the Iranian group, but at present most of them have adopted the Azerbaijani language and differ little from the Azerbaijanis in their culture and way of life. Kurds (58.8 thousand people) are settled in small groups in all the Transcaucasian and Central Asian republics, as well as in the Kazakh SSR.

Armenians (self-name - hay) by language constitute a special group within the Indo-European family. The ancestors of the Armenians have long occupied the territory of the Armenian Highlands. As a result of the interaction of local tribes with tribes of Asia Minor and Scythian origin, the Armenian nationality was formed in this territory - one of the oldest in the USSR. In the second half of the 19th century, during the era of capitalism, the Armenians consolidated into a nation. According to the 1959 census, there were 2786.9 thousand Armenians in the USSR. 55.6% of all Armenians of the USSR live in the Armenian SSR (comprising 88% of the total population of the republic). Outside their republic, they are settled in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, where they constitute the absolute majority of the population, as well as in the Georgian SSR and in the regions and republics of the North Caucasus.

Armenians are also widely settled outside the USSR. In the countries of Western Asia (Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, etc.) there are 420 thousand of them, in the countries of America (mainly in the USA) - 115 thousand, in various countries of Europe and Africa - about 100 thousand people.

The Indo-European language family also includes Greeks (309.3 thousand people) and Gypsies (132.0 thousand people). Greeks, descendants of Greek settlers, live mainly in the south of Ukraine (over 100 thousand people), in Georgia (83 thousand people) and in the North Caucasus. According to the 1959 census, more than half of the Greeks showed as their native language the language of other nationalities of the USSR, mainly Russian, but also Ukrainian, Georgian, Azerbaijani.

Gypsies (self-names - Roma, Lom, etc.) are settled in small groups almost throughout the entire territory of the USSR, with the exception of the Far North and the Far East, but mainly in the southern regions of the country. Most of the Roma (primarily in the Moldavian SSR) switched to settled way of life, but some of them still retain the traditions of nomadic life. Over half of the Roma use their native language, which is part of the Indian group, but almost all of them also know the language of the surrounding population. Special groups are Central Asian gypsies (lyuli, dzhugi, mazang, multoni), who speak the Tajik language.

The Caucasian language family unites three groups: Kartvelian, Adyghe-Abkhaz and Chechen-Dagestan. Georgians belong to the first, and the closely related Adyghes, Kabardians, Circassians, Abazins, and also Abkhazians belong to the second; the third group includes Chechens, Ingush and the peoples of Dagestan (Avars, Lezgins, Dargins, Laks, etc.).

Georgians - 2692.0 thousand people (self-name - Kartveli) - the main population of the Georgian SSR. 96.6% of all Georgians in the USSR live here. There are also groups of the Georgian population in the Azerbaijan SSR, Dagestan, North Ossetia and Krasnodar Territory. A small number of Georgians live in Iran and Turkey.

The formation of the main core of the Georgian people dates back to the last centuries BC. e. and the first centuries A.D. e., when first the East Kartvelian and then the West Kartvelian tribes united. The final formation of the Georgian nationality dates back to the 11th-13th centuries. The process of formation of the Georgian nation was completed in the second half of the 19th century.

Georgians were divided in the recent past into a number of territorial groups: Kartalins, Kakhetians, Ingilos, Khevsurs, Pshavs, Tushins, Imeretins, Gurians, Adjarians, and others. Ethnographic differences between these groups have now been almost completely erased. All of them speak Georgian. The exceptions are the Svans, Mingrelians and Laz, who have preserved their own languages ​​in everyday life; they use Georgian as their literary language. The Georgian language is also spoken by Georgian Jews (36.0 thousand people) living in Tbilisi and some other cities and villages of the Georgian SSR.

Of the peoples of the Adyghe-Abkhazian group, the Kabardians are the most numerous (203.6 thousand people). They inhabit the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR. There are small groups of Kabardians in the Adygei Autonomous Oblast and in the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Kabardian is also spoken by Circassians (30.5 thousand people) living in the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region. Adyghe (79.6 thousand people) - the main population of the Adygei Autonomous Region. Outside it, they live in several villages on the Black Sea coast.

The peoples of the Adyghe-Abkhazian group also include Abkhazians (65.4 thousand people), inhabiting Abkhaz ASSR. In their origin they are close to the Adyghe peoples; their culture was significantly influenced by the closest neighbors of the Abkhaz - the Georgians. Abkhazians are close to Abkhazians (19.6 thousand people), most of whom live in the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region; separate groups of Abaza are found in the Adygei Autonomous Region.

The Chechen-Dagestan group is sometimes subdivided according to linguistic features into the Nakh (Veinakh) and Dagestan subgroups. The first includes related peoples Chechen-Ingush ASSR- Chechens (418.8 thousand people) and Ingush (106.0 thousand people). Chechens (self-name - Nakhche) inhabit the eastern and central parts of the republic, as well as neighboring regions of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Ingush (Samona title - galga) live in the western part of Checheno-Ingushetia and in a small number in the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Most of the peoples of Dagestan are the territories with the most difficult ethnic composition population - speaks the languages ​​of the Dagestan subgroup. Of these, the largest are: Avars, Dargins, Laks, Lezgins and Tabasarans; in addition, about 2Q more nationalities live here #

ethnographic groups that gradually merge with larger peoples. Avars (270.4 thousand people), together with the Ando-Tsezes consolidating with them (Andians, Botlikhs, Godoberins, Karatas, Tsezes, Chamalals, Kvanadins, Tindals, Khvarpgins, Bezhtins, Gunzibs, Bagulals, Akhvakhs) and Archins occupy the west of Dagestan. Dargins (158.2 thousand people) live in central Dagestan, with whom kaitaks and Kubachins merge; to the south of the Dargins, the Laks (63.5 thousand people) are settled.

Lezgins inhabit the southeastern regions of Dagestan and neighboring regions of Northern Azerbaijan. Their total number is 223.1 thousand people. Tabasarans (34.7 thousand people) are settled in the neighborhood of Lezgins and Dargins, and to the south of them - Aguls (6.7 thousand people), Rutuls (6.7 thousand people) and Tsakhurs (7.3 thousand people) . The latter also live in a small compact group in the region of Azerbaijan adjacent to Dagestan. Rutulians: and Tsakhurs speak Lezgi and their native, but close to Lezgi languages; they use and Azerbaijani language. Small ethnic groups - Khinalug, Kryz and Budug - form a compact group in the Konakhkent, and Udis - in the Vartashensky regions of the Azerbaijan SSR.

The peoples speaking the languages ​​of the Uralic language family are settled in separate groups mainly in the northern half of the European part of the USSR, capturing the Urals and part of Western Siberia, i.e., in the area where the languages ​​​​of this family were formed. The Uralic language family consists of the Finno-Ugric and related Samoyedic languages. Finno-Ugric languages ​​are divided into two groups - Finnish and Ugric.

The Finnish group includes Estonians, Karelians, Komi, Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts and other peoples settled in the north-west of the USSR and in the Middle Volga region.

Estonians (988.6 thousand people) are descended from the inhabitants of the Baltic - the ancient Chud and Vod tribes. In terms of their culture, Estonians are close to Latvians and Lithuanians. The majority of Estonians (90.3% of their total number) are located within their own republic; outside it, small groups of Estonians live in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Leningrad and Pskov regions. Among the Estonian people, the Setu ethnographic group stands out (the southeastern part of the Estonian SSR and adjacent regions of the Pskov region); The Setos reveal noticeable dialectal differences and differences in religion (believers of Seto are Orthodox, believing Estonians are Lutherans).

Karelians (167.3 thousand people) - the ancient indigenous population of the region between Lake Ladoga and the White Sea - the modern territory of the Karelian ASSR. In their origin and language, they are close to the Finns and use the Finnish literary language. The culture of the Karelian people has much in common with the culture of northern Russians. In the 17th century large groups of Karelians moved to the upper reaches of the Volga. Within the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where a little more than half of all Karelians of the USSR are located, they are divided into several groups: Karjala (Northern Karelians), Liviks (Ladoga Karelians), Ludiki (Onega Karelians) and Loppi (around Seg-lake). Another large group of Karelians is located in the Kalinin region, but its numbers are gradually declining due to the merger of Karelians with Russians. The number of Karelians in other areas of their settlement (Leningrad, Murmansk and other regions) is small.

By origin, language and culture, two small peoples are close to the Karelians - Veps (16.4 thousand people), settled in small groups in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Leningrad Region, and Izhorians (1.1 thousand people) living in the Kingisepp District of the Leningrad Region .

Mordva (1285.1 thousand people) is the largest of the Finnish-speaking peoples of the USSR. Two groups of tribes took part in the formation of the Mordovian people: Erzya and Moksha, but their ethnic consolidation did not led to the formation of a single language, and at present the Erzya and Moksha languages ​​exist as two independent languages. A special group of Mordovians are the Karatai, who live within the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and have changed their language to Tatar. Mordva is settled throughout the Middle Volga region; its most significant groups are located within their autonomy (about 28% of the entire Mordovian population of the country; they make up slightly more than one third of the population of the republic), as well as in the Kuibyshev, Penza and Orenburg regions (mainly in rural areas). In the Asian part of the USSR, Mordovians are most of all in the Kemerovo region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The Mari (known in pre-revolutionary literature as the Cheremis) are close in origin and language to the Mordvins (especially to the Merdve-Erze). By habitat, linguistic and partly cultural characteristics The Maris are divided into three groups: the mountain Maris living on the right bank of the Volga, the meadow Maris, the most numerous, living on the left, low-lying bank, and the eastern Maris, the descendants of the meadow Maris who moved in the 18th century. in the lower reaches of the river Belaya and strongly influenced by Tatars and Bashkirs. The total number of Maris is 504.2 thousand people; over half of them are located within the Mari ASSR, accounting for 56% of the population of the republic. Significant groups of Mari live in the Bashkir and Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, Kirov and Sverdlovsk regions.

Udmurts (called Votyaks in the past) are the indigenous population of the interfluve of the Kama and Vyatka. They formed into a nationality back in the 16th-18th centuries, but still retained traces of division into the northern ones - “vatka” and the southern ones - “kalmez”. The Udmurt language, like the languages ​​of the Mordovians and Mari, is included in the Eastern Finnish subgroup. The Udmurts include a special ethnic group - Bessermen (along the river Cheptse), in the formation of which Turkic (apparently, ancient Bolgair) elements also participated. Of the total number of Udmurts of 624.8 thousand people, more than three-quarters live within the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, making up, however, only a little more than a third of the total population of the republic. Small groups of Udmurts are settled in the Bashkir and Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, Kirov, Perm and Sverdlovsk regions.

Komi and Komi-Permyaks are two closely related peoples, the total number of which is 431.0 thousand people. Komi (or Komi-Zyryans) live mainly in the basin of the Vychegda and Mezen rivers within the Komi ASSR. A group of Komizyryans, peculiar in their cultural and everyday way of life, is located on the river. Izhme (the so-called Izhma). Komi-Permyaks are settled in the basin of the Upper Kama, on the territory of the Komi-Permyak National District of the Perm Region created there. A separate group of Komi-Permyaks is made up of the “Yazvinsky” Permians of Krasnovishersky. district of the Perm region. In their origin and language, the Komi are close to the Udmurts. Separate groups of Komi Zhiyut in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Kirov regions and some parts of Siberia.

The Saami (Lapps) are a small nationality, numbering 1.8 thousand people - the descendants of the most ancient population of Northern Europe. They are settled on the Kola Peninsula. Most of the Saami (about 33 thousand people) live in the northern part of Scandinavia - in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

In addition to all these peoples, the Finnish group includes Finns (92.7 thousand people), settled in small groups in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and in the Leningrad Region.

The Ugric group of the Ural family includes the languages ​​of two peoples close in origin - the Khanty and the Mansi, sometimes called the Ob Ugrians; before the revolution, the Khanty were usually called Ostyaks, and Mansi - Voguls. These peoples make up the indigenous population

Khanty-Mansiysk National Okrug. The Khanty (19.4 thousand people) are settled in the region of the middle and lower Ob and along its tributaries. Mansi (6.4 thousand people) live mainly along the left tributaries of the Ob - Konde, Sosva, etc., on eastern slopes Ural ridge. Outside the national district, the Khanty are settled in small local groups in the Tomsk region, and the Mansi - in the Sverdlovsk region.

The peoples of the Samoyedic language group include the Nenets, Enets, Nganasans and Selkups living in Siberia.

The Nenets (23 thousand people), in the past called Samoyeds Ami-Yuraks, were formed from a mixture of reindeer herders who came from the south - Samoyeds - with the northern aboriginal population. The Nenets make up the indigenous rural population of the Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets and the western part of the Taimyr national districts. A separate group of the so-called "Forest Nenets" (Pyan-Khasavo) lives in the Pura river basin. In terms of language and culture, the Nganasans are close to the Nenets (in the past - Samoyeds-Tavgians) - 0.7 thousand people settled in the Taimyr national district Krasnoyarsk region. Within the same national district, the Enets, related to the Nenets in language, also live, numbering 300 people.

The Selkups (3.8 thousand people), formerly called the Ostyak-Samoyeds, live in two groups: the southern and Narym Selkups are settled along the Tym and Ket rivers. a ^ partially and along the Ob, in the northern part of the Tomsk region; northern Selkups live along the Tazu and Turukhan rivers, within Tyumen region and Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The peoples speaking the languages ​​of the Altaic linguistic family, consisting of the Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu groups, are settled in vast expanses from the western to the eastern borders of the USSR.

Numerous peoples of the Turkic group can be divided according to historical and geographical regions into the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Volga region (Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs), the Caucasus (Azerbaijanis, Kumyks, etc.), Central Asia (Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Uzbeks, Turkmens, etc.) and Siberia (Altaians, Yakuts, etc.).

Tatars (4967.7 thousand people) consist of several groups that are different in origin and culture: Volga, Siberian, Crimean, etc. The Volga Tatars, subdivided into Kazan, Astrakhan and Kasimov, originate from the Tatar-Mongols of the Golden Horde, who mixed with Turkic-speaking Kipchak (Polovtsian) ethnic elements and assimilated the local tribes of the Volga region (Kazan Tatars - Turkic-speaking Bulgarians and part of the Finnish-speaking tribes, Astrakhan Tatars - Nogais). Among the Kazan Tatars, whose settlement area approximately coincides with the borders of the former Kazan Khanate, the Tatars-Mishars (Meshcheryaks) stand out according to the peculiarities of the language and life, settled mainly on the right bank of the Volga, and also converted to Orthodoxy (in contrast to the bulk of the Muslim Tatars). ) the so-called "Kryashens" (in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and "Nagaybaks" (in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). significant portion Tatar population Until recently, the Bashkir ASSR did not have a clear national identity and called themselves Teptyars 23 . Among the Tatars of the former Astrakhan Khanate, "Karagashi (Kundra Tatars)" stand out, inhabiting the delta region of the Volga and historically associated with the Nogai hordes. The Kasimov Tatars, living in the middle reaches of the Oka, have now almost completely merged with the Russian population surrounding them. southern part of Western Siberia and divided into Tobolsk, Baraba and Chulym Tatars, originate from the Tatars of the former Siberian Khanate.

Less than a third of the Tatar population of the USSR is concentrated within the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where Tatars make up about half of the total population. Large groups of Tatars live in the Bashkir ASSR, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as in many other regions of the Urals and the Volga region; in Siberia, they are most numerous in the Tyumen and Kemerovo regions. Over 15% of all Tatars of the USSR are settled in the republics of Central Asia (most of all in Uzbekistan) and Kazakhstan. They form significant groups in many cities and towns in the European part of the GCCP.

The Bashkirs (989.0 thousand people) were formed mainly on the basis of tribes of Turkic origin: Kipchak, Kanly, Min, Kirghiz, etc. Tribes took a well-known part in their ethnogenesis Mongolian origin- China (Karakitai), Salnet, Tabyn, as well as Finno-Ugric tribes that have long lived on the territory of the modern Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

The bulk of the Bashkirs (more than three-quarters) live on the territory of their autonomous republic (here they make up slightly more than one-fifth of the total population). Outside the republic, Bashkirs are settled in small groups in Chelyabinsk, Perm, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan regions RSFSR, mainly in rural areas (only in the Sverdlovsk region, most of the Bashkirs are concentrated in cities or urban-type settlements). The Bashkir language is close to Tatar; a significant group of Bashkirs, who live interspersed with the Tatars and who have experienced a strong influence of Tatar culture in the past, consider Tatar their native language.

The Chuvash descend from the ancient Finnish-speaking tribes between the Sura, Sviyaga and Volga rivers, which were Turkified by the Kama Bulgarians who moved to this area during the years of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. According to the peculiarities of the language and culture, the Chuvash are divided into riding (north-western) and grassroots (south-eastern).

In 1959, out of 1469.8 thousand Chuvashs, slightly more than half were settled on the territory of the Chuvash ASSR, accounting for 70% of its population. Outside the republic, the Chuvash live in separate local groups, mainly in rural areas of the Tatar, Bashkir, Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as in the Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Perm, Sverdlovsk regions and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In Chuvashia itself specific gravity Chuvash among urban residents does not exceed 10-15%.

The largest Turkic-speaking people of the Caucasus - Azerbaijanis (2939.7 thousand people) - make up the main population of the Azerbaijan SSR (67.5% of the population of the republic) and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The ancestors of Azerbaijanis are the ancient population of the Kura-Araks lowland, which adopted the language of the Oguz tribes during the era of medieval migrations of Turkic-speaking peoples. In the second half of the XIX century. Azerbaijanis, embarking on the path of capitalist development, formed into a nation.

Outside their republic, Azerbaijanis are settled in the eastern regions of southern Georgia and Armenia, as well as in the Derbent region of Dagestan. Small groups of them live in the cities of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Outside the USSR, Azerbaijanis are settled in Iran, in the so-called Iranian Azerbaijan(3200 thousand people).

Kumyks (135.0 thousand people) inhabit the northern Caspian regions of the Dagestan ASSR; small groups of them also live in the Chechen-Ingush and North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics. Closely related to each other "Karachais (81.4 thousand people) and Balkars (42.4 thousand people) speak the same language - Karachay-Balkar. For several centuries

The Balkars lived in close proximity to the Kabardians, and the Karachais lived in close proximity to the Circassians, which led to some differences in their way of life and culture. Karachays inhabit the southern regions of the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region, Balkars - the southern and southwestern regions of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Nogais (41.2 thousand people) are settled in small compact groups in the north of Dagestan, in the eastern regions of the Stavropol Territory and partly in the Chechen-Ingut ASSR.

There are Turkic-speaking groups in the Moldavian and Ukrainian SSR (Gagauz, Karaites, Krymchaks).

Gagauz (123.8 thousand people) live mainly in the south of the Moldavian SSR; about one fifth of their total number is located in the regions of Ukraine adjacent to Moldova. In all likelihood, the Gagauz are the descendants of the Bulgarians, who were forcibly turned into Turks in the 14th-19th centuries, but retained the Orthodox faith 25 (all other Turkic-speaking peoples were Muslims in the past). In terms of their way of life and culture, they differ little from the Bulgarians among whom they now live.

Karaites (5.7 thousand people) live in the Crimea and in the Lithuanian SSR. They are the descendants of the tribes, which in the VIII-X centuries. were part of the Khazar Khaganate.

Krymchaks (1.5 thousand people) are a small nationality living in the cities of the Crimean region. Until recently, in everyday life they used the language of the Crimean Tatars, at present - Russian.

More than half of the entire Turkic-speaking population of the USSR is concentrated in the republics of Central Asia and the Kazakh SSR. Here they make up about 55% of the total population. These include Turkmens, Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, as well as Uighurs and some other national and ethnographic groups. Their ethnogenesis is very complex. The same ancient and medieval tribes were part of various emerging peoples: the Oghuz became part of the Turkmen and Karakalpaks, the Sogdians became part of the Uzbeks and Tajiks, the Kypchaks served as an important component in the formation of the Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Karakalpak peoples, etc. The process of consolidation nationalities was complicated by the multi-tribal population. Only after the Great October Socialist Revolution did the merger of small ethnographic groups with large nationalities and all prerequisites were created for their consolidation into socialist nations.

Turkmens (1001.6 thousand people) - the main population of the Turkmen Republic (60.9% of the total population); 92.2% of the Turkmens of the USSR live here. Outside their republic, the Turkmens are settled in the Uzbek SSR - in the Khorezm, Bukhara and Surkhan-Darya regions and in the Kara-Kalpak ASSR, in the Jilikul region of Tajikistan, in the north of Dagestan and in the east of the Stavropol Territory of the RSFSR. Outside the USSR, Turkmens live in the countries of Western Asia (about 800 thousand people).

The formation of the Turkmen people began in the 11th century, when the Oguzes moved to the territory of modern Turkmenistan, mixed with the indigenous Iranian-speaking population and passed on their language to them. In the past, the Turkmens were divided into separate tribal groups: Teke, Ereari, Yomud, Salor, etc.

Uzbeks (6015.4 thousand people) make up the main population of the Uzbek SSR (62.2% of the total population); 83.7% of all Uzbeks of the USSR live here.

Outside the republic, the Uzbeks are settled in the South Kazakhstan Territory of the Kazakh SSR, in a number of regions of republican subordination of the Tajik SSR, in the Tashauz and Chardzhou regions of Turkmenistan.

Uzbeks also live in the regions of Afghanistan bordering the USSR - about 1200 thousand people.

The ancestors of the Uzbeks have long inhabited the agricultural oases of Central Asia. The core of the Uzbek people formed within the borders of the Karakhanid and Khorezmshah states in the 11th-12th centuries. The final stage in the formation of this nation is associated with the resettlement and introduction of nomadic Uzbeks into the agricultural oases of Central Asia, who, having mixed with the local Turkic population, gave it their name.

In the past, there were a number of separate ethnographic groups of the Uzbek people (Sarts, Turks, etc.). A mixed Uzbek-Kazakh group - kurama - lived in the Angren basin. Uzbeks were divided into a large number of tribal groups: Mangyt, Kungrat, Lokay, Kypchak, Ming, Naiman, Ktai, etc. In the process of consolidation of the Uzbek people, these groups lost their isolation, and at present they all consider themselves Uzbeks.

The Uigurs (95.2 thousand people), formerly known as Taranches, Kashgarlyks, and others, are descendants of settlers from East Turkestan (mid-19th century). The name "Uighurs" was adopted at the congress of Soviet Uyghurs in 1921. Most of the Uighurs settled in East Kazakhstan, the smaller part - in the Ferghana Valley. The Fergana Uyghurs largely adopted the Uzbek culture.

Karakalpaks (172.6 thousand people) inhabit the Kara-Kalpak ASSR, but do not make up the majority of the population there. There are also groups of the Karakalpak population in the Ferghana Valley, in the Kenimekh region of the Bukhara region of the Uzbek SSR, and in the Tashauz region of the Turkmen SSR.

Kazakhs (3621.6 thousand people) inhabit the Kazakh SSR, where they make up 30% of the total population; 77.2% of all Kazakhs of the USSR are concentrated here. Outside their republic, the Kazadi are settled in the regions of the RSFSR neighboring Kazakhstan. In the Uzbek SSR, they live in separate groups mainly in the Tashkent and Bukhara regions and the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and in Turkmenistan - in the Tashauz region, Krasnovodsk and some other regions. About 580 thousand Kazakhs also live in China (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region).

Before the revolution, Kazakhs were often called Kirghiz-Kaisaks. Kazakhs are the original inhabitants of the deserts and steppes of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. They developed into a nationality in the XV-XVI centuries. In the past, Kazakhs were divided into tribes and clans: senior zhuz - kangly, dulat, usun, etc.; middle zhuz - argyn, kypchak, naiman, kungrat, kirey, etc.; the younger zhuz - alimuly, bayuly, etc. After the October Revolution, the tribal and local-territorial disunity of the Kazakh people was completely overcome.

Kirghiz (968.7 thousand people) make up 40.5% of the population of the Kirghiz SSR; 86.4% of all the Kirghiz of the USSR are concentrated here. Before the revolution, the Kirghiz were called Karakirghiz or wild-stone Kirghiz. In their origin, they are connected not only with the peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, but also with the tribes of Central Asia (Xinjiang); from here, separate groups of the Kirghiz penetrated into Semirechye and the Tien Shan, where they mixed with the local Turkic-speaking population. The Kirghiz developed into a nationality in the 15th-16th centuries. Like other Turkic-speaking peoples, in the past they were divided into tribes and clans: the right wing (ong) - Sayak, Cherik, Adigine, Bagysh, etc.; the left wing (sol) - saruu, munduz, kytai, etc. There was also a separate group of ichkliks. In Soviet times, patriarchal tribal remnants were completely eliminated, and the Kyrgyz were consolidated into a nation.

Outside the republic, the Kirghiz are settled in the regions of the Uzbek SSR and the Tajik SSR neighboring Kyrgyzstan; a small group lives in the east of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan About 100,000 Kirghiz live in neighboring regions of China and Afghanistan bordering on the USSR.

Altaians (45.3 thousand people) consist of two groups - southern and northern. Southern Altaians, which include: the Altaians proper, or Altai-Kizhi, settled in the basin of the Katun River, the upper reaches of the Charysh and Peschanaya, the Maimins, the Telengits - in the basins of the Chulyshman, Chui and Argut rivers, the Teleuts - in the basins of the Cherga rivers, Maimy and in the steppe region along the rivers Bolshaya and Malaya Bachatu. All of them were formed on the ancient Turkic ethnic base, supplemented by later Turkic and Mongolian elements that penetrated the Altai in the 13th-14th centuries. The Northern Altaians, like the Shors*, apparently formed from the Ugric, Samoyed and Ket tribes assimilated by the Turks. The Northern Altaians are subdivided into the Tubalars, who occupy the left bank of the upper Biya and the northwestern shore of Lake Teletskoye, the Lebedinians, who live in the basin of the Swan River, and the Kumandins, along the middle course of the Biya. The bulk of the Altaians (over 90%) live within the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Region of the Altai Territory, the rest - mainly in the Kemerovo region.

The Shors (15.0 thousand people), close to the northern Altaians, are settled in the basin of the rivers Sondoma, Mras-su and Tom.

Khakasses (56.6 thousand people) until the first quarter of the 20th century. did not have a common self-name and were a number of tribes (Kachins, Kyzyl, etc.), known in the literature under the name of the Minusinsk Tatars. During the Soviet period, these tribes consolidated into a single nationality, which adopted the name of the ancient Kyrgyz in its Chinese transcription - "Khakas". At present, the bulk of the Khakass (over 90% of their total population) live on the territory of the Khakass Autonomous Region of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Small groups of them settled in the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Tomsk region. The Chulyms, who live along the Chulym River and were previously known as the Chulym Tatars, are close to the Khakass by origin.

Tuvans (100.1 thousand people) are a people previously known under the name of Soyots and Uriankhais. At present, they make up the majority of the population of the Tuva ASSR; about 98% of all Tuvans of the USSR are located here. A small number of Tuvans live in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, mainly in urban areas. Tofalars close to the Tuvans (Karagasy - 0.6 thousand people) settled on the northern slope of the Eastern Sayan Mountains, in the upper reaches of the Uda River and within the Irkutsk region.

The Yakuts (236.7 thousand people) are by origin connected with the Turkic-speaking peoples of Altai and Central Asia. The ancestors of the Yakuts moved to the basin of the middle reaches of the Lena, probably in the XIII-XIV centuries. Here, these Turkic-speaking settlers assimilated some groups of the local Evenk, and perhaps also the Yukaghir population.

At present, even 95% of the Yakuts live on the territory of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and most of them are concentrated in the central regions of Yakutia. Outside of its borders, small groups of Yakuts are found in the Taimyr National District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Irkutsk and Magadan regions.

Dolgans are a nationality formed as a result of mixing groups of Evenks, Yakuts and Russian trans-tundra peasants. They live in the Avamsky and Khatangsky districts of the Taimyr National District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Dolgans speak a dialect of the Yakut language and are classified as Yakuts in the 1959 census.

The Mongolian-speaking peoples in the USSR are Kalmyks and Buryats. Kalmyks (106.1 thousand people), until the beginning of the 17th century. living in the Oirat (Dzhungar) state, migrated teca west - first in the Urals, and then to the lower reaches of the right bank of the Volga. In the second half of the XVIII century.

part of the Kalmyks returned to Dzungaria. Kalmyks make up the main population of the Kalmyk ASSR (35.1% of the total population). Outside their republic, they are settled in small local groups on the territory of the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions, Stavropol and Krasnodar regions.

The Buryats (253 thousand people) formed into a nationality in the 17th-18th centuries. from several tribal and territorial groups that lived to the west and east of Baikal. The Buryat people included western tribes (ethnic groups) - Bulagats, Ekhirits and Khongodors and eastern ones - Khorintsy and Tabunuts.

Buryats make up the main population of the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Aginsky National District of the Chita Region and the Ust-Orda (Buryatsky) National District of the Irkutsk Region. About 82% of the Buryats of the USSR live within these national formations. A small number of Buryats are settled in neighboring regions.

The Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altaic language family includes Evenks, Evens, Negidals, Nanais, Ulchis, Oroks, Orochis and Udeges.

Evenks (24.7 thousand people), formerly known as Tungus and Orochons, settled in small groups in the vast taiga regions of Siberia from the Yenisei to Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The largest number of Evenks live in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Evenki National District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and in the Khabarovsk Territory. Significant groups of them are found in the Irkutsk, Chita and Amur regions, as well as in the Buryat ASSR. A small number of Evenks live in Tomsk, Tyumen and Sakhalin regions and in the Taimyr National District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The Negidals, close to the Evenks in language, live in the Khabarovsk Territory, in the basin of the Amgun River, the left tributary of the Amur.

Evens (9.1 thousand people), formerly known as Lamuts, are settled, like Evenks, in small groups mainly in the northeastern regions of the Yakut SSR and in the Far East from the north of the Khabarovsk Territory to the Chukotka National District. Groups of Evens in the Magadan Region are sometimes called Orochs, but they have nothing in common with the Orochs living in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory.

Nanais (golds - 8 thousand people) live mainly along the Amur in the Nanai and Komsomol regions of the Khabarovsk Territory. Insignificant groups of them are found in the Primorsky Territory and the Sakhalin Region.

The Ulchi (2.1 thousand people) close to the Nanais in their language inhabit the Ulch region of the lower reaches of the Amur, the Oroks (0.4 thousand people) live on Sakhalin, and the Orochi (0.8 thousand people) live in the Soviet Harbour.

The Udege (1.4 thousand people) are settled in small groups in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories.

The Paleo-Asian peoples include the Chukchi, Koryaks, Itelmens, whose languages ​​show some closeness to each other and are united in the group of northeastern Paleo-Asian languages, as well as the Yukaschers and Nivkhs, who speak isolated languages.

The Chukchi (11.7 thousand people) are the indigenous population of the Chukotka National District of the Magadan Region. Beyond its borders, the Chukchi live on the territory of the Kamchatka region and the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Koryaks (6.3 thousand people) are settled mainly: on the territory of the Koryak National District and partly in the Magadan Region.

Itelmens (1.1 thousand people; earlier they were called Kamchadals) live on the western coast of Kamchatka, mainly in the territory of the Tagil region of the Koryak national district. A significant part of the Itelmens merged with the Russians.

The Yukaghirs (0.4 thousand people) are the descendants of the ancient population of northeastern Siberia. Among the Yukaghirs, various tribal groups - Chuvans, Khodyns, Omoks, etc. The Yukagirs settled along the Alazeya River and in the upper reaches of the Kolyma.

Chuvans (0.7 thousand people), who in the past represented one of the Yukagir tribes, live in the Anadyr region of the Chukotka and in the Penzhinsky region of the Koryak national districts. Currently, the Chuvans have lost their native language and speak Chukchi or Russian.

Nivkhs (3.7 thousand people), formerly called Gilyaks, are the descendants of the ancient aboriginal population of the lower Amur and Sakhalin. They live at the mouth of the Amur, in the Amur estuary and in northern Sakhalin.

The Eskimo-Aleut language family includes Eskimos and Aleuts close to each other.

Eskimos (1.1 thousand people) are settled in several villages on the coast of the Bering Sea in the Chukotka National District and on Wrangel Island. Most of the Eskimos live in America (in Alaska, Northern Canada and Greenland, about 59 thousand people in total).

Aleuts (0.4 thousand people) inhabit the Commander Islands (Bering and Medny Islands). Most of them live in the Aleutian Islands in the USA (about 5.0 thousand people).

A special place in the system of linguistic classification is occupied by the language of the Kets. Keti (1.0 thousand people) settled in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, along the Yenisei, mainly in the lower reaches of the Podkamennaya Tunguska, along the Eloguy and Kureika rivers.

There are 313,700 Koreans in the USSR. Most of them live in the Uzbek CCR (138 thousand people) and in the Kazakh SSR (74 thousand people). Separate groups are also settled in the Far East and the North Caucasus.

There are 25.8 thousand Chinese in the USSR. Most of them live in the cities of the Far East and Siberia. Dungans (21.9 thousand people) are settled in the Dzhambul region of the Kazakh SSR and in some areas of the Kirghiz SSR. The Dungans moved here in the second half of the 19th century. from China, where they are known as Hui. The native language of the Dungans is Chinese, but they all also use the languages ​​of the surrounding population - Kazakh shr Kyrgyz.

It is widely believed that all the peoples of the USSR equally forged the victory over fascism, and it is impossible to single out or belittle any of them.
However, without in any way questioning this principle, we note that it should not limit the study of state policy in relation to the nationalities of the USSR.

It was the Soviet state that divided the peoples into more or less loyal to it, as well as into those more or less prepared for action in a modern war due to historically established stadial differences in their cultural development and level of civilization.
For fear of disloyalty towards the USSR during the Great Patriotic War, citizens of the USSR of nationalities that had their own states besides the USSR (first of all, states that fought with the USSR or potential opponents) were not drafted into the active army: Germans, Japanese, Romanians, Hungarians, Finns, Bulgarians, Turks. Of these, the rear units were formed, involved in various, mainly construction work military purpose.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and here too. Representatives of these nationalities are found among those who fought and died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, among those awarded orders and medals of the USSR. As a rule, these were volunteers accepted into the active army for reasons of confidence in their political loyalty (membership in a party, in the Komsomol, etc.).


It is curious that in this list there are no Slovaks, Croats and Italians, whose states also fought with the USSR, as well as Spaniards. The fact is that the first two nationalities were considered in the USSR as those whose states were occupied by the Nazis. In the USSR, in 1942, a Czechoslovak military unit was formed (first a brigade, at the end of the war - a corps). Croats did not separate from other Yugoslavs. The Italians and the Spaniards, who accepted the citizenship of the USSR, could only be staunch anti-fascists. There were especially many Spaniards in the USSR who emigrated after the defeat of the Republic in civil war 1936-1939
They were called to common grounds; in addition, there was a very strong influx of volunteers among them. During the war, for the same reasons of political unreliability, and also because of the insufficiently high combat effectiveness of the mass of conscripts as a whole, the conscription of representatives of a number of other nationalities was delayed. So, on October 13, 1943, the State Defense Committee (GKO) decided to release from the conscription of youth born in 1926, which began on November 15, 1943, representatives of indigenous nationalities of all union republics Transcaucasia and Central Asia, Kazakhstan, as well as all autonomous republics and autonomous regions of the North Caucasus. The next day, the State Defense Committee decided to start their conscription from the next November, 1944, and to the reserve, and not to the active army. Often these decrees are misinterpreted as a cessation of the conscription of these nationalities in general. However, they clearly state that the postponement of conscription applies only to young people of the indicated year of birth. It did not extend to older ages.
In rather ambiguous conditions, there was a draft among the indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East. Until the adoption of the USSR law on universal military duty of September 3, 1939, their representatives were not drafted into the armed forces. In the autumn of 1939, their first call-up took place. In some sources, one can come across statements that from the first days of the Great Patriotic War, representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North began to be called to the front. This is contradicted by references to the GKO decree, issued in the first weeks after the start of the war, on the exemption of the indigenous peoples of these regions of the RSFSR from conscription. True, there are no exact indications of the date and number of such a decision. Searching for it by name turned up no results. However, not all the titles of the GKO resolutions for 1941 have been published.
The same authors report that in a number of cases, the conscription of the indigenous peoples of the North was approached formally, and there were numerous facts of desertion of conscripts. In addition, reindeer transport battalions were formed in the Nenets National District of the Arkhangelsk Region in January 1942. There are indications of similar formations in other regions of the North. The names of many representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North who fought in the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War and were awarded orders and medals of the USSR are known. Among them are infantrymen, snipers, pilots, etc.

From all this it is legitimate to conclude that the total mandatory conscription into the active army among the small peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East - the Saami, Nenets, Khanty, Mansi, Evenks, Selkups, Dolgans, Evens, Chukchis, Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Nanais, Orochs and etc. - was not carried out (although amateur performance of this kind on the part of some local chiefs is not excluded). However, in a number of national districts, auxiliary rear units were formed from the aboriginal population on the basis of compulsory conscription, such as the already mentioned reindeer transport battalions, which were used in the specific conditions of the theater of operations - in Karelian and Volkhov fronts. The absence of compulsory conscription was due, in addition to the insufficient level of education for modern warfare, the nomadic way of life of these peoples, the difficulties of their military registration.
At the same time, the volunteer movement among representatives of the indigenous nationalities of the North was encouraged in every possible way. Volunteers were selected in the military registration and enlistment offices before being sent to the front. Preference was given to those who met the following criteria: knowledge of the Russian language, the presence of at least primary education, and good health. Priority was also given to party and Komsomol activists from among the native peoples. The sniper qualities of professional taiga hunters were highly valued. All this created a fairly powerful influx of this category of Soviet citizens into the active army, and especially into various auxiliary units, despite the fact that its representatives were not subject to mandatory sending to the front.


© Yaroslav Butakov

The Soviet Union is the world's largest country, with a territory of over 22.4 million km2, or about one-sixth of the entire earth's land mass. In terms of population (more than 262.4 million people), the USSR ranks third in the world.

The vast territory of the USSR is extremely diverse in its physical and geographical conditions. There are all possible types of landscapes in our country: from the harsh tundras of the Arctic to the humid subtropics of Transcaucasia, from the marshy Woodlands of Belarus to the sultry sands of the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan.

According to anthropological features, the population of the Soviet Union belongs to two races. The vast majority of the population of the European part of the USSR, a significant part of Siberia and the Far East belongs to the Caucasoid (Eurasian) large race (to the northern, southern, transitional and Central European groups). The Mongoloid (Asiatic-American) large race (the Asian branch of the northern, eastern and Arctic groups) includes the population of part of Siberia and the Far East. However, there is no sharp line between races: there are various intermediate (mixed and transitional) forms - this is the population of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, certain regions of the European part of the USSR and Western Siberia, belonging to the Central Asian, South Siberian, Ural, Laponoid and other anthropological types.

The national composition of the Soviet Union is also quite complex. Over 100 peoples live here. The largest and largest of them (and there are 22 such peoples) number millions and tens of millions of people: Russians - 137.4 million, Ukrainians - 42.3 million, Uzbeks - 12.4 million, Belarusians - 9.4 million, Kazakhs - 6.5 million, Tatars - 6.3 million, Azerbaijanis - 5.5 million; and the smallest number only a few thousand people (for example, Aguls, Koryaks, Mansi, Dolgans, Nivkhs, Selkups, Ulchis, Saamis, Udeges, Eskimos, Itelmens, Orochs, Kets) and even several hundred people (Nganasans, Yukaghirs, Aleuts and etc.).

By linguistic affiliation, the majority of the population of the Soviet Union (over 80%) is part of the Indo-European family: it is primarily Slavic (East Slavic peoples - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), Letto-Lithuanian (Lithuanians, Latvians), Romanesque (Moldovans), Iranian (Tajiks, Ossetians), Germanic (Germans) group; as well as Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Gypsies. More than 15% of the population belongs to the Altaic language family, of

the vast majority of them belong to the Turkic group (Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tatars, Azerbaijanis, Turkmens, Kirghiz, Chuvashs, Bashkirs, Yakuts, Karakalpaks, etc.), the rest are Mongolian (Buryats and Kalmyks) and Tungus-Manchu (Evenks, Evens, Nanais , Udege, Orochi) in groups. About 2.5% of the country's population belongs to the Caucasian language family (Georgians, Chechens, Avars, Lezgins, Dargins, Kabardians, Laks, Ingush, Adygs, Abkhazians, Circassians, Abazins, etc.). Approximately 1.7% of the population (Estonians, Mordovians, Mari, Komi, Karelians, Udmurts, Saami, Khanty, Mansi, Nenets, Finns, Hungarians) speak the languages ​​of the Ural family. Peoples belonging to other language families (Paleo-Asiatic, Eskimo-Aleutian, Semitic-Hamitic, Sino-Tibetan) are not numerous in the USSR.

Historically established forms of human economic activity are adapted to landscapes. Among the population of the USSR, one can find all kinds of types of economy: in some areas, arctic sea hunting, nomadic tundra reindeer husbandry, river and sea fishing, taiga hunting, nomadic cattle breeding in the steppes, arable farming in the temperate forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones, dominate or until recently dominated. mining and manufacturing in industrial centers. And each type of economy is associated with a certain cultural and everyday way of life; these ways are also very different in different parts of our country.

The multinational composition of the population of the USSR, the multiformity in the past of its economy and way of life do not in the least interfere with the fact that the peoples of our country are united into one indissoluble unity. Historical connections between the peoples of our country have evolved over the centuries. Since the Neolithic, archaeologists have been tracing complex and diverse connections between individual regions of the USSR, from the Baltic and the Dnieper region to the Baikal region and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk. In later eras, economic and cultural ties were supplemented from time to time by political unification. Since the formation

In the Russian multinational state (17th-18th centuries), economic and cultural ties were increasingly expanding and strengthening. Especially great and positive was the influence of the culture of the Russian people, who settled in the north, east and south to the extreme limits of the state. The feudal-feudal oppression of the tsarist autocracy, capitalist exploitation, national inequality, deliberately maintained interethnic strife - all this held back the development of the national cultures of the peoples of Russia. However, familiarization with Russian culture had great positive consequences for many backward peoples in the past, especially in the north and east.

The October Revolution destroyed all obstacles to social and cultural progress. The peoples of the USSR have rallied into a friendly family, and communication between them now mutually enriches the cultural treasury of each of them.

The victory of the socialist system in the USSR (as later in a number of other countries) created new conditions for the life of peoples, and set new tasks for ethnographers. Ethnographic research in our country is aimed at solving a number of problems that have never arisen before: these are the socialist restructuring of life, the struggle against harmful remnants of the past, the study of valuable national cultural and everyday traditions, the study of the processes of national consolidation and interethnic integration.

The multinational composition of the population of the USSR was also reflected in its administrative-territorial division.

An ethnographic review of the peoples of the USSR is conducted in large historical and ethnographic regions. Such large areas USSR are: 1) European part USSR (subregions are distinguished in it - Central, inhabited by Eastern Slavs, the Baltic states, the North, the Middle Volga region, the South-West), 2) the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, 3) Central Asia and Kazakhstan, 4) Siberia and the Far East. In the future, ethnographic material is located in these areas.

Since the 1920s, the Soviet government has taken a course towards increased centralization of power. This was done not only through officials, but also through the intensive mutual penetration of culture: the press, literature, radio. There was no tendency to spread the Russian language everywhere. On the contrary, throughout the existence of the USSR, a huge amount of work was carried out to develop local languages. Russian was unifying: owning it, one could get a good education, make a career, have access to extensive cultural heritage; the central press was published in Russian.

How was the language issue solved under the USSR

The Bolsheviks sought to gain influence among those sections of the population that were not involved in social activity under the tsarist regime. Many non-Russian peoples of the country belonged to these categories. Along with politics and economics, in the very first years of the existence of the Soviets, the issue of local education was raised. In 1921, the X Congress of the CPSU adopted a resolution:

“... to help the working masses of the non-Great Russian peoples catch up with the central Russia, to help them:

a) to develop and strengthen Soviet statehood in the forms corresponding to the national and living conditions of these peoples;

b) to develop and strengthen the court, administration, economic bodies, authorities, operating in their native language, made up of local people who know life and psychology local population; c) to develop the press, schools, theatre, club business and, in general, cultural and educational institutions in their native language;

d) to set up and develop a wide network of courses and schools of both a general educational and a vocational nature in the native language (primarily for the Kyrgyz, Bashkirs, Turkmens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Dagestanis) for the accelerated training of local cadres of skilled workers and Soviet Party workers in all areas of government, and above all in the field of education.

Since 1923, newspapers have been published in 23 national languages. Local workers' correspondents and rural correspondents were involved in writing articles. Of course, the entire press was highly politicized. In September 1930, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided to reorganize Glavlit, removing non-party editors and merging the position of editor and censor. However, it continued to encourage the development national literature. As an example of the combination of these two tendencies, Stalin's work "A Brief History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks" was published in 67 languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR.

Why did people speak Russian differently in different parts of the country?

The Soviet government stimulated the exchange of labor personnel between different regions of the country. Distribution students were sent to places where there were not enough personnel. Residents of Russia could go to work in any of the Union republics. In turn, many went to study in the capital. Universities had a quota for students from the regions: they were accepted to study without competition, so that later they would take jobs at home. The inhabitants of the Caucasus and the Baltics knew Russian well thanks to the development of tourism. There was a rotation of the population, which contributed to the mastery of the Russian language. The peoples of the Far North fell out of this scheme. Before the advent of Soviet power, they were completely illiterate, and subsequently they spoke Russian worse than all other ethnic groups of the multinational state. The remoteness from the Center, the dissimilarity of life, as well as the great variety of languages ​​​​of these small peoples affected. Also, some peoples have behaved very aggressively towards the aliens for centuries. The conquest of such peoples as the Chukchi, Mansi, Evens, until the Soviets came to power, was relative. The Soviet government behaved wisely and tactfully towards small ethnic groups.

Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, linguist F. P. Filin wrote that the achievements of the Soviet Union in the development of national relations and languages ​​"are of world-historical significance." Most of the languages ​​of the small peoples were unwritten. Doctor of Philology M.I. Isaev in his work “On the Languages ​​of the Peoples of the USSR” indicated that out of 130 languages, only 20 had developed writing by the time Soviet power was established.

Chukchi people

The development of literature in the regions was stimulated by the promotion of local talented writers. In Chukotka, the most remote region in every respect, settlements and schools began to be built. Adapted writing was created, and mass literacy education began. The first book in the Chukchi language was the primer "Chelgykalekal" - Čelgь-Kalekal ("Red Letter"), published in 1932. Students of the Institute of the Peoples of the North worked on its creation under the guidance of Professor V.G. Bogoraz.

The first Chukchi writer is considered Tynetegyn (Fyodor Tinetev), the author of the book "Tales of Chauchu", which was published in 1940.

In the 1950s-1960s, the creative activity of the Chukchi poets V.G.Keulkut, V.Tymnetuvge and others began. The writer Yury Rytkheu gained special fame, including abroad.

In 1974, the collection “Tales and Myths of the Peoples of Chukotka and Kamchatka” was published, compiled by G.A. Menovshchikov.

Books were published in Chukchi and Russian.

Mansi people

In addition to Chukotka, the ancient Mansi ethnic group lived its isolated way of life. Before the USSR, this people also did not have a written language: the first primer was also published in 1932. For many years, a careful collection of Mansi folk myths, songs, legends was carried out. For the first time they appeared on the pages of the magazine of the Khanty-Mansiysk Pedagogical School "Soviet North" and in the district newspaper "Ostyako-Vogulskaya Pravda". The first original works of Mansi writers were published in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The first Mansi writer, M. Vakhrusheva, began publishing in 1938. Later, the writer P. Evrin, the author of the story Two Hunters (1940), entered Mansi literature. In the post-war years, autobiographical novels by Mansi authors M. Vakhrusheva “On the Bank of the Little Yukonda” (1949) and M. Kazantsev “The Story of Myself” (1949) were published. The first professional Mansi poet was Yuvan Shestalov (the book of poems "Sing, my stars" was published in 1959).

Some of the works were created in Russian, some in the Mansi language.

Peoples who had Arabic script

Asian peoples used the Arabic alphabet, which did not fit into the general Russian language picture. Naturally, these peoples were in the sphere of influence of such countries as Iran and did not experience incentives to use the Russian language. There, the Muslim clergy had great power, which made these regions almost ungovernable. Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan - in these republics there was a sharp struggle to replace the Arabic script with the Latin alphabet. On August 15, 1930, the Presidium of the Council of Nationalities of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a special resolution on the report Central Committee new Turkic alphabet. The report summed up the results of the romanization of writing for 1927-1930. The Latin alphabet, the resolution said, "won a complete victory over the Arabic script, covering 36 nationalities with more than 3.5 million workers."

The question arose repeatedly: why were the Turkic-speaking republics not translated into Cyrillic? It is believed that the Russians did not want to impose too much on this issue.

Big Picture

As with the Chukchi and Khanty, the situation was similar with the peoples of the Nivkhs, Udeges, Veps, Aleuts, Kets, Itelmens, Evens, Khanty, Ulchi, and many others. The Russification of the local population took place in a rather unobtrusive form, on the contrary: it was precisely the national languages ​​and culture that were stimulated. It was easier and more profitable to become an ethnic writer than a Russian one. This trend went so far that, for example, a Koryak writer named Vladimir Vladimirovich Kosygin took the pseudonym Koyanto.

The Soviet Union gave the world such talented writers as Rasul Gamzatov, Jan Rainis, Yuri Rytkheu. And at the present time, despite all the political collisions, the Russian language continues to be a unifying factor for all the peoples of the USSR.

The honorable duty to defend Russia has always rested on the shoulders of its peoples. The main burden was borne by the titular nation - the Russians. Other nationalities, especially those living on the outskirts of the country, enjoyed concessions.

Royal Russia

In tsarist Russia, universal military service was legally introduced in 1874. According to the reform program, each military unit was to have at least 75% of the Russian military. But some nationalities received concessions.

For example, the Finns, who have their own military legislation and their own armed forces. In 1899, the autonomy of Finland was abolished, but the recruitment of recruits into the Russian army met resistance there. In 1903, only two-thirds of the recruits showed up for the draft. Two years later, under the influence of revolutionary events, the government again granted autonomy to the Finns. True, now they have pledged to bear the financial costs of maintaining the Russian army: 12 million marks annually.

Not called to royal army representatives of those nationalities who lived in distant lands: on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on Sakhalin Island, in three districts of Yakutia - Srednekolymsky, Verkhoyansk and Vilyuisky; in the north of the Yenisei and Tomsk provinces, in the Tobolsk districts of Berezovsky and Surgut.

Indigenous peoples of Siberia were liberated from service in the army of the Russian Empire, Astrakhan province and throughout Central Asia. The Samoyeds of the Mezensky district of the Arkhangelsk province and Pechora were not subject to conscription.

Concessions were given to the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus: Kurds, Abkhazians, Nogais, Azerbaijanis, Circassians and many others. The Muslim population of the Terek and Kuban regions was released from service. Instead, they all paid a special monetary tax.

The Irkutsk and Yenisei Cossacks were exempted from the army - they carried the duty on the ground.

AT Soviet Russia the situation has not changed, the indigenous peoples of the outskirts were given many rights, up to self-government. However, in 1939 the law "On conscription which made it universal. During the war years, it immediately became clear that people from the Caucasus and Central Asia often could not fight. They did not understand the language, did not possess necessary knowledge and skills, some of them simply ran away, homesick.

On July 30, 1942, the State Defense Committee of the USSR was forced to ban the conscription of representatives of the mountain peoples living in the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia into the army. Uzbeks, Turkmens, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Dagestanis, Chechens, Ingush, Kabardians, Balkars and Ossetians were not called to the front.

During the war, the conscription of Germans, Poles, Svans and Khevsurs was suspended.

True, these measures did not prohibit the influx of volunteers into the army.

After the war, from 1948 to 1953, the conscription of certain categories of citizens was canceled, and this affected many nationalities, primarily Russians. Young men were sent to factory-produced schools, and they could not refuse to study under pain of criminal punishment.

Later, universal military duty, every Soviet citizen, regardless of nationality, had to pay his debt to the Motherland. Therefore, in the late USSR in the same barracks one could meet Dagestanis, Russians, Yakuts and Kazakhs.

The Council of Ministers of the USSR determined the categories of citizens who could receive a deferment from conscription. However, in fact, only representatives of really small peoples were not called up.

Russia

In modern Russia, small indigenous peoples (those whose number does not exceed 50,000 people) are given the right to choose an alternative service. They can stay to work native land in traditional industries. The list of such peoples includes Abazins (their number is 43,341 people), Aleuts (482 people), Besermens (2,201), Vepsians (5,936), Vods (64), Dolgans (7,885), Izhors (226), Itelmens ( 3193), Kamchadals (1927), Kereks (4), Kets (1219), Koryaks (7953), Altai Kumandins (2892), Mansi (12,269), Nagaybaks (8,148), Nanais (12,003), Nangasans (862 ), Negidals (513), Nenets (44,640), Nivkhs (4,652), Oroks (295), Orochi (596), Saami (1,771), Sekulpas (3,649), Setu (214), Soyots (3,608 ), Tazis (274), Telegits (3,712), Teleuts (2,643), Tofolars (762), Tubalars (1965), Tuvans-Todzhans (1858), Udeges (1496), Ulchis (2765), Khanty (30,943 ), Chelkans (1,181), Chuvans (1,002), Chukchi (15,908), Chulyms (355), Shapsugs (3,882), Evenks (38,396), Evens (21,830), Enets (227), Eskimos (1738) and finally the Yukaghirs (1603).

In fact, representatives of other peoples living in the expanses of Siberia and the Far East do not serve either. This is due to the fact that recruits are in distant camps, and there is no way to organize their appearance at the recruiting station.

The peoples of Dagestan are also free to choose an alternative service. The State Council of the Republic has the right to draw up a list of them.