National delimitation in the Soviet Union
The Russian-language term for this Soviet state policy was razmezhevanie (Russian: национально-территориальное размежевание, natsionalno-territorialnoye razmezhevaniye), which is variously translated in English-language literature as "national-territorial delimitation" (NTD), "demarcation", or "partition".
In the early Soviet period, even voluntary assimilation was actively discouraged, and the promotion of the national self-consciousness of the non-Russian populations was attempted.
Not only did cultural, linguistic, religious and tribal diversities make the process difficult, but also the lack of a political consciousness of ethnicity among the people was a major obstacle.
In many cases these groups were either widely dispersed, or these minorities were concentrated in areas already designated as the national republic for a different group, for example Poles and Jews (who were considered a nationality) represented up to a third of the population in some areas of the Ukrainian or Byelorussian SSRs or nearly half of the population in some cities and towns, yet apart from national raions, 24 of which were established in the Ukrainian SSR, no particular territorial entity was created (though a Jewish Autonomous Oblast was established in the Russian Far East in 1934).
In some cases this policy required voluntary or forced resettlement in both directions to create a compact population.
The immigration of cross-border ethnic groups and the return of non-Russian émigrés to the Soviet Union during the New Economic Policy, albeit perceived as an easy cover for espionage, were not discouraged and proceeded quite actively, contributing to nation-building.
However, in July 1925 the Soviet authorities felt secure enough and in order to project Soviet influence outwards, exploiting cross-border ethnic ties, granted national minorities in the border regions more privileges and national rights than those in the central regions.
[5] This policy was implemented especially successfully in the Ukrainian SSR, which at first indeed succeeded in attracting the population of Polish Kresy.
[5] Russia had conquered Central Asia in the 19th century by annexing the formerly independent khanates of Kokand and Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara.
After the Communists took power in 1917 and created the Soviet Union it was decided to divide Central Asia into ethnically based republics in a process known as National Territorial Delimitation (NTD).
This was in line with Communist theory that nationalism was a necessary step on the path towards an eventually communist society[citation needed], and Joseph Stalin's definition of a nation as being "a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture".
[citation needed] Central Asia's borders are often viewed by critics of the USSR as being an attempt to divide and rule; a way to maintain Soviet hegemony over the region by artificially dividing its inhabitants into separate nations and with borders deliberately drawn so as to leave minorities within each state.
[13] Though the Soviets were concerned about the possible threat of pan-Turkic nationalism,[14] as seen in its reaction to the Basmachi movement, closer analysis informed by the primary sources paints a much more nuanced picture than is commonly presented.
[18][20] Furthermore, the NTD also aimed to create viable entities, with economic, geographical, agricultural and infrastructural matters also to be taken into account and frequently trumping those of ethnicity.
[21][22] The attempt to balance these contradictory aims within an overall nationalist framework proved exceedingly difficult and often impossible, resulting in the drawing of convoluted borders, multiple enclaves and the unavoidable creation of large minorities who ended up living in the "wrong" republic.
[23][24] At this time Central Asia consisted of two Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs) within the Russian SFSR: the Turkestan ASSR, created in April 1918 and covering large parts of what are now southern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as well as Turkmenistan, and the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz ASSR, Kirgizistan ASSR on the map), which was created on 26 August 1920 in the territory roughly coinciding with the northern part of today's Kazakhstan (at this time Kazakhs were referred to as "Kyrgyz" and what are now the Kyrgyz were deemed a sub-group of the Kazakhs and referred to as Kara-Kyrgyz i.e. "black Kyrgyz").
[26][27] The process was to be overseen by a Special Committee of the Central Asian Bureau, with three sub-committees for each of what were deemed to be the main nationalities of the region (Kazakhs, Turkmen and Uzbeks), with work then exceedingly rapidly.
[28][29][30][31][32] There were initial plans to possibly keep the Khorezm and Bukhara PSRs, but it was decided in April 1924 to partition them, over the often vocal opposition of their local Communist Parties.
[22][34] The Kirghiz SSR (today's Kyrgyzstan) was created only in 1936; between 1929 and 1936 it existed as the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast (province) within the Russian SFSR.
[6] With the grain requisition crises, famines, troubled economic conditions, international destabilization and the reversal of the immigration flow in the early 1930s, the Soviet Union became increasingly worried about the possible disloyalty of diaspora ethnic groups with cross-border ties (especially Finns, Germans and Poles), residing along its western borders.
This task relied on the existing work of tsarist-era ethnographers and statisticians, as well as new research conducted under Soviet auspices.
[6] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, fifteen newly sovereign states adopted their own policies and laws with regard to national minorities.
