Soviet Russia, Ukraine, and So On: Difference between revisions

{{tropeUseful Notes}}

'''== In Soviet Russia, Americans Get Your Name Wrong''' ==

While ''Russkie'' certainly ran the show, many of the most famous and infamous Soviets weren't Russian. Yakov Smirnoff (he of "In Soviet Russia"- when he was most famous he just used "Russia" since it was very much around then) is from Ukraine (and he was also Jewish - in the USSR Jews were considered an ethnic group, separate from ''Russkie'', Ukrainians and others). Khrushchev was not in fact Ukrainian, but having moved there at 14, he was percepted as one. Stalin was ''Georgian'' (although he somewhat renounced that one when ruling the upper echelons of the country, his economic policy still favored Georgia, which led to magnificient rise of popularity in the region - with statues of Stalin being protected even after the Destalinization) and so was his chief of the NKVD, Lavrenty Beria. The popular singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava was ''also'' Georgian (although he was born in Moscow and some of his most famous songs are about [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbat_Street:Arbat Street|the Arbat]]), politician Anastas Mikoyan and his aircraft designer brother Artem Mikoyan (of the Mikoyan-Gurevitch MiG design bureau) were Armenian and the novelist Chinghiz Aitmatov was Kyrgyz.

'''== There Ain't No Party But A Communist Party- Running The Whole Thing''' ==

There were elections in the USSR, but all candidates had to be approved by the CPSU. This was ''how'' the CPSU came to be more powerful than the State: in order to become a State official, you had to be elected... but before you could run for election, you needed CPSU approval. Note that, strictly speaking, candidates did not have to be CPSU ''members'' -- they—they just had to be ''approved'' by the CPSU. But, in practice, non-members were almost never approved to run. Also, in practice, the CPSU only approved one candidate to run for each office. So the voters most often had the choice to either vote for the one CPSU candidate or abstain. Strangely enough, the Soviet government sometimes ran propaganda campaigns to ''encourage people to vote''... largely because it looked good and democratic on paper (consider the fact that American elections are often criticized for their low voter turnout). After all, saying that 90% of the population voted for Comrade Ivanov sounds great - even if he was literally the only candidate.

'''== Children Of The Revolution''' ==

'''== The United States of Soviet Russia''' ==

* Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR)- [[Useful Notes/Russia|Russia]]

* Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR)- [[Useful Notes/Armenia|Armenia]]

* Azerbaijan SSR- [[Useful Notes/Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]]

* Byelorussian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Belarus|Belarus]]

* Estonian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Estonia|Estonia]]

* Georgian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Georgia|Georgia]]

* Kazakh SSR- [[Useful Notes/Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan]]

* Latvian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Latvia|Latvia]]

* Lithuanian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Lithuania|Lithuania]]

* Moldavian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Moldova|Moldova]]

* Turkmen SSR- [[Useful Notes/Turkmenistan|Turkmenistan]]

* Ukrainian SSR- [[Useful Notes/Ukraine|Ukraine]]

* Uzbek SSR- [[Useful Notes/Uzbekistan|Uzbekistan]]

There were some other republics, but they were fairly short-lived, such as the Transcaucasian SFSR (one of the four founding republics, broken-up into the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs in 1936), the Karelo-Finnish SSR (created in 1940 from conquered Finnish land, incorporated into Russia in 1956) and a number of republics that were proclaimed during the Civil War but did not survive until the establishment of the Soviet Union. There was even a government plan on creating a Jewish SSR, but then [[Useful Notes/Israel|Israel]] was established in the Middle-East and the Soviet Jews moved there instead.

The Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation were the first four republics when the USSR was proclaimed in 1922. All the others were either carved out of them or established on annexed territories. Constitutionally every SSR had the right to secede, but in practice secession was not a real option before the Perestroika. At first the creation of new republics followed three rules: the republic had to have an international border or a seashore (hence [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Tatarstan |Tatarstan]] did not qualify, even though the USSR had more Tatars than Armenians), a population of at least one million with a clear indigenous ethnic majority (hence [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakha_Republic:Sakha Republic|Yakutia]] did not qualify, despite being one of the largest subnational entities in the world) and a strong enough economy to survive as an independent nation. However, the creation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR broke rules two and three, the possible reason being that Stalin may have been planning to annex Finland after [[Finns With Fearsome Forests|the Winter War]]. Also, Kazakhstan did not lose its SSR status after Kazakhs became a minority in their own republic, the most likely reason being it's huge territorial size, and that [[Status Quo Is God]].

What did not happen to Kazakhstan, but had long-standing repercussions, were the numerous autonomous republics, regions and areas (''oblasts''). Defined by geographic size and population, Tatarstan, Chechnya and Abkhazia are the famous autonomous SSR'sSSRs, and Ossetia is probably the most famous oblast in the west. Depending on their size, they had smaller but symbolically very important representation than the SSR's in the Supreme Soviet. When the USSR ended, the status of autonomous republics and regions almost immediately became a serious [[Balkanize Me|point of contention]]-- — they didn't become independent countries like the republics, but part of their nearest neighbors. Seeing them as interference from Moscow, the non-Russian republics frequently struck away the autonomy the regions and republics had become accustomed to or considered merging them with other countries (considered in the case of Transnistria), leading the residents to resist--usuallyresist—usually successfully, strangely enough.

** To be fair, the difference is the US didntdidn't let its member states secede, and Brazil did the same for its southern states. The Soviet Union had that in its constitution though.

*** Interestingly enough, the US started out as 13 independent republics that eventually became more centralized. This was the basis for the US allowing their own states into the UN if the USSR was allowed to do the same (constitutionally, the Soviet Republics were allowed to secede. However, [[But Thou Must!|as mentioned above...]] On the other hand, they ultimately did secede!). Also, interestingly enough, Canada's provinces tend to have far more autonomy in international affairs than other similar subnational entities, and would likely have pushed for the same status if America and the Soviet Union were allowed to.