Soviet Russia, Ukraine, and So On: Difference between revisions
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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). [[Nikita Khrushchev]] was not in fact Ukrainian, but having moved there at 14, he was percepted as one. [[Joseph Stalin]] was ''[[Georgia]]n'' (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 [[wikipedia: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. |
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). [[Nikita Khrushchev]] was not in fact Ukrainian, but having moved there at 14, he was percepted as one. [[Joseph Stalin]] was ''[[Georgia]]n'' (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 [[wikipedia: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. |
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=== Nationalities === |
=== Nationalities === |
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As in much of the world, people prefer to be called by their specific nationalist over broad descriptions, and ''especially'' over wrong descriptions. |
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This is true among many Slavic peoples. Calling many Ukrainians (especially from the Western Ukraine) Russians tends to annoy them a lot, and can be an outright [[Berserk Button]] after 2022. This extends to the Slavic related people outside the Soviet Union, but within its sphere of influence, the Warsaw Pact; Call a Polish or a Czech person a Russian at your own risk. It would be wise to avoid the inverse as well, and avoid mistaking Russians for other nationalities if you want to stay on their good side. |
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| ⚫ | This also applies to non-Slavic peoples Calling [[Estonia|Estonians]] that (if they're not ''Russkie'') probably annoys them too, since they're not even Slavs. Same goes for the [[Latvia|Latvians]] and [[Lithuania|Lithuanians]] (also not Slavs) who spent quite a bit of time trying to fight off the Russians. It is just like calling an Irishman English. This was true even back in Soviet times. And calling Georgians Russians is a pretty good way to make them dislike and threaten you ever since the events of 2008. |
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=== Multinationalism === |
=== Multinationalism === |
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