Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily or not) by non-Russian communities. In a narrow sense, Russification is used to denote the influence of the Russian language on Slavic, Baltic and other languages, spoken in areas currently or formerly controlled by Russia, which led to emerging of russianisms, trasianka and surzhyk. In a historical sense, the term refers to both official and unofficial policies of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union with respect to their national constituents and to national minorities in Russia, aimed at Russian domination. Russian ( , transliteration: , ) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. ... Russian ( , transliteration: , ) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. ...  Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language  Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language  Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup... The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. ... Trasianka or trasyanka (be: трасянка) is a Belarusian–Russian patois or a kind of interlanguage (from the linguistic point of view). ... Surzhyk (Ukrainian: , originally meaning ‘flour or bread made from mixed grains’, e. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ... In sociology and in voting theory, a minority is a sub- group that forms less than half of the population, and — as a rule — is outnumbered by at least one other sub-group. ...

The major areas of Russification are politics and culture. In politics, an element of Russification is assigning Russian nationals to leading administrative positions in national institutions. In culture, Russification primarily amounts to domination of the Russian language in official business and strong influence of Russian language on the national ones. The shifts in demographics in favour of Russian population are sometimes considered as a form of Russification as well. The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... Culture (Culture from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate,) generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Russian ( , transliteration: , ) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. ... Demographics refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research. ...

Some scholars distinguish Russianization, the spread of Russian language, culture, and people into non-Russian cultures and regions, from Russification, a process of changing one's ethnic self-label or identity from a non-Russian ethnonym to Russian.^[1] In this sense, the spread of Russian language, culture, and people (Russianization) should not be equated with the cultural assimilation of non-Russians (Russification). Although many people conflate these two processes, the one does not necessarily lead to the other. An ethnonym (Gk. ... Cultural assimilation (often called merely assimilation) is an intense process of consistent integration whereby members of an ethno-cultural group, typically immigrants, or other minority groups, are absorbed into an established, generally larger community. ...

History

The earliest example of Russification took place in the 16th century in the conquered Khanate of Kazan and other Tatar areas. The main elements of this process were Christianization and implementation of the Russian language as the sole administrative language. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Map of Kazan Khanate, early 1500s The Kazan Khanate (Tatar: Qazan xanlığı; Russian: Казанское ханство) (1438-1552) was a Tatar state on the territory of former Volga Bulgaria with its capital in Kazan. ... St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar... An official language is a language that is designated as official by a state, or other legally-defined territory, usually by legislation. ...

Poland and Lithuania

One example of 19th century Russification was the replacement of the Polish, Belarusian, and Lithuanian languages by Russian in those areas of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which became part of the Russian Empire after the Partitions of Poland. It intensified after the 1831 uprising and, in particular, after the January Uprising of 1863.^[2] In 1864, the Polish and Belarusian languages were banned in public places; in the 1880s, Polish was banned in schools and offices of the Congress Kingdom, and research and teaching of Polish language, history or Catholicism were forbidden. This led to the creation of a Polish underground education network, which included the famous Flying University. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... The Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Lietuvos-Lenkijos padalijimai, Belarusian: Падзелы Рэчы Паспалітай) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... Leopold I 1831 (MDCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Polonia (Poland), 1863, by Jan Matejko, 1864, oil on canvas, 156 × 232 cm, National Museum, Kraków. ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... // Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... The term Congress Poland is an unofficial name of the Kingdom of Poland, a political entity that was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, when European powers reorganised Europe following the Napoleonic wars. ... Flying University (Polish: , sometimes also translated as Floating University) was the name of the secret educational underground[1] enterprise[2] that functioned from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire, and was renewed in the Peoples Republic of Poland...

A similar development took place in Lithuania.^[2] Its Governor General, Mikhail Muravyov, prohibited the public use of spoken Lithuanian and closed Lithuanian and Polish schools; teachers from other parts of Russia who did not speak these languages were moved in to teach pupils. Muravyov also banned the use of Latin and Gothic scripts in publishing. He was reported saying, "What the Russian bayonet didn't accomplish, the Russian school will." ("что не доделал русский штык — доделает русская школа.") This ban, which was only lifted in 1904, was disregarded by the Knygnešiai, the Lithuanian book smugglers. Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov (1796-1866) was one of the most reactionary Russian imperial statesmen of the 19th century. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world, the standard script of the English language and most of the languages of western and central Europe, and of those areas settled by Europeans. ... Gothic script was a medieval script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to 1500. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... KnygneÅ¡iai (singular: knygneÅ¡ys) is a Lithuanian word with no direct translation in any of the word languages (see Untranslatability), litteral translation of the parts of the word (knyga + neÅ¡ti) would mean something like book carrier. Actually, the word meant people who were smuggling printed material across the...

The campaign also promoted the Russian Orthodox faith over Catholicism. The measures used included closing down Catholic monasteries, officially banning the building of new churches and giving many of the old ones to the Russian Orthodox church, banning Catholic schools and establishing state schools which taught only the Orthodox religion, requiring Catholic priests to preach only officially approved sermons, requiring that Catholics who married members of the Orthodox church convert, requiring Catholic nobles to pay an additional tax in the amount of 10% of their profits, limiting the amount of land a Catholic peasant could own, and switching from the Gregorian calendar (used by Catholics) to the Julian one (used by members of the Orthodox church). The Russian Orthodox Church (Русская Православная церковь) is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with... The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world. ... The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ...

After the uprising, many manors and great chunks of land were confiscated from nobles of Polish and Lithuanian descent who were accused of helping the uprising; these properties were later given or sold to Russian nobles. Villages where supporters of the uprising lived were repopulated by ethnic Russians. Vilnius University, where the language of instruction had been Polish rather than Russian, was closed in 1832. Lithuanians and Poles were banned from holding any public jobs (including professional positions, such as teachers and doctors) in Lithuania; this forced educated Lithuanians to move to other parts of the Russian Empire. The old legal code was dismantled and a new one based on the Russian code and written in the Russian language was enacted; Russian became the only administrative and juridical language in the area. Most of these actions ended at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, but others took longer to be reversed; Vilnius University was reopened only after Russia had lost control of the city in 1919. The Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University and the Church of St. ... The Statutes of Lithuania (Lithuanian Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės statutai, Polish Statuty litewskie in Belarusian: Статуты Вялікага княства Літоўск&#1072... Combatants Russian Empire Montenegro[1] Empire of Japan Commanders Emperor Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Stepan Makarov â€  Emperor Meiji Oyama Iwao Heihachiro Togo The Russo–Japanese War (Japanese: Nichi-Ro Sensō, Russian: , Chinese: , February 10, 1904 – September 5, 1905) was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of... The Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University and the Church of St. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Another example is the Ems Ukaz of 1876 which banned the Ukrainian language. The Ems Ukaz, or Ems Ukase (Russian: ; Ukrainian: ), was a secret decree (ukaz) of Tsar Alexander II of Russia issued in 1876, banning the use of the Ukrainian language (the so-called Little Russian dialect) in print, with the exception of reprinting of old documents. ... Year 1876 Pick up Sticks(MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Ukrainian (украї́нська мо́ва, ukrayinska mova, ) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. ...

Grand Duchy of Finland

Main article: Russification of Finland

The Russification of Finland (1899-1905, 1908-1917, sortokaudet (times of oppression) in Finnish) was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at the termination of Finland’s autonomy. The policy of Russification of Finland, 1899–1917, aimed at the termination of Finland’s autonomy but resulted in fierce Finnish resistance that ultimately led to Finlands declaration of independence in 1917. ... Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... An autonomous (subnational) entity is a subnational entity that has a certain amount of autonomy. ...

Moldova

Both the Russian empire and the Soviet Union promoted policies aimed at reducing the size and the cultural autonomy of the Moldovan or Romanian ethnic group(s) of Bessarabia. The deportation of Moldovans and Romanians were accompanied by the immigration of Slavic populations, particularly Russians and Ukrainians. The most used inter-ethnic communication language throughout this time was the Russian language, which lead to russification, especially among the elite. The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... 1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clarks book Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian, Бесарабія in Ukrainian, Бессарабия in Russian, Бесарабия in Bulgarian, Besarabya in Turkish) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the East and the Prut River on the West. ... Distribution of Slavic people by language The Slavic peoples are a linguistic and ethnic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in Europe, where they constitute roughly a third of the population. ...

The Moldovan language introduced then by the Soviet authorities in Moldavian SSR was actually Romanian language but written with a version of the Cyrillic alphabet derived from the Russian alphabet. Proponents of Cyrillic orthography argue that the Romanian language was historically written with the Cyrillic script, albeit a different version of it (see Moldovan alphabet and Romanian Cyrillic alphabet for a discussion of this controversy). Moldovan is the official name for the Romanian language in the Republic of Moldova and in the territory of Transnistria. ... State motto: Пролетарь дин тоате цэриле, униць-вэ! Official language None. ... Romanian (limba română, IPA: ) is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people[1], primarily in Romania and Moldova. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... The Moldovan alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet derived from the Russian alphabet and developed for the Romanian / Moldovan language in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. ... The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used to write Romanian language before 1860. ...

Eastern Bloc

In all countries of the Eastern Bloc lessons of the Russian language were obligatory for majority of pupils and students.^{[citation needed]} A map of the Eastern Bloc 1948-1989. ...

Under the Soviet Union

After the 1917 revolution, authorities in the USSR decided to eradicate the use of the Arabic alphabet in Turkic and Persian languages in Soviet-controlled Central Asia, in the Caucasus, and in the Volga region (including Tatarstan). This was done in order to detach the local populations from exposure to the language and writing system of the Koran.^{[citation needed]} The new alphabet for these languages was based on the Latin alphabet and was also inspired by the Turkish alphabet. However, by the late 1930s, the policy had changed as the Soviet government restored some of the institutions of the Russian Empire. In 1939-1940 the Soviets decided that a number of these languages (including Tatar, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, Kyrgyz, Azeri, and Bashkir) would henceforth use variations of the Cyrillic alphabet. It was claimed that the switch was made "by the demands of the working class." It seems more likely that the switch was a part of the decision that also led to the 1938 requirement that all Soviet schoolchildren study Russian as a subject of study.^{[citation needed]} The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family. ... It has been suggested that Scripts used for Persian be merged into this article or section. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... Republic of Tatarstan (Russian: ; Tatar: ) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). ... The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Turkish alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters, a certain number of which (Ç, Äž, I, Ä°, Ö, Åž, and Ãœ) have been adapted or modified for the phonetic requirements of the language. ... Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Tatar language (Tatar tele, Tatarça, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars. ... Kazakh (also Qazaq and variants[2], natively , , ‎) is a Western Turkic language closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak. ... Tajik or Tadjik (тоҷикӣ, تاجیکی, tojikí) is a descendant of the Persian language spoken in Central Asia. ... Kyrgyz or Kirghiz (Кыргыз тили) is a Northwestern Turkic language, and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan. ... The Azerbaijani language, also called Azeri, Azari, Azeri Turkish, or Azerbaijani Turkish, is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. ... The Bashkir language is a Turkic language. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Early 1920s through mid-1930s: Indigenization

Main article: Korenizatsiya

The early years of Soviet nationalities policy, from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s, were guided by the policy of korenizatsiya ("indigenization"), during which the new Soviet regime sought to reverse the long-term effects of Russification on the non-Russian populations.^[3] As the regime was trying to establish its power and legitimacy throughout the former Russian empire, it went about constructing regional administrative units, recruiting non-Russians into leadership positions, and promoting non-Russian languages in government administration, the courts, the schools, and the mass media. The slogan then established was that local cultures should be "socialist in content but national in form." That is, these cultures should be substantively transformed to conform with the Communist Party's socialist project for the Soviet society as a whole but have active participation and leadership by the indigenous nationalities and operate primarily in the local languages. Korenizatsiya (Russian: ) sometimes also called korenization, meaning nativization or indigenization, literally putting down roots, was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years. ... Korenizatsiya (Russian: ) sometimes also called korenization, meaning nativization or indigenization, literally putting down roots, was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years. ... The word legitimacy comes from the Latin word legitimare and it has two uses: Legitimacy (political science) is variously defined, but refers in general to the peoples acceptance of a law, ruling, or a regime itself as valid. ...

Late 1930s and wartime: Russian comes to fore

Early nationalities policy shared with later policy the object of assuring control by the Communist Party over all aspects of Soviet political, economic, and social life. The early Soviet policy of promoting what one scholar has described as "ethnic particularism"^[4] and another as "institutionalized multinationality",^[5] had a double goal. On the one hand, it had been an effort to counter Russian chauvinism by assuring a place for the non-Russian languages and cultures in the newly formed Soviet Union. On the other hand, it was a means to prevent the formation of alternative ethnically based political movements, including pan-Islamism^[6] and pan-Turkism.^[7] One way of accomplishing this was to promote what some regard as artificial distinctions between ethnic groups and languages rather than promoting amalgamation of these groups and a common set of languages based on Turkish or another regional language.^[8] Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... Pan-Islam is a religious movement calling for the Muslims of the world to unite. ... Turkic peoples listed geographically. ...

The Soviet nationalities policy from its early years sought to counter these two tendencies by assuring a modicum of cultural autonomy to non-Russian nationalities within a federal system or structure of government, though maintaining that the ruling Communist Party was monolithic, not federal. The federal system conferred highest status to the titular nationalities of union republics, and lower status to titular nationalities of autonomous republics, autonomous provinces, and autonomous okrugs. In all, some 50 nationalities had a republic, province, or okrug of which they held nominal control in the federal system. Federalism and the provision of native-language education ultimately left as a legacy a large non-Russian public that was educated in the languages of their ethnic groups and that identified a particular homeland on the territory of the Soviet Union. Federalism can refer to either: The form of government, or constitutional structure, found in a federation. ...

By the late 1930s, however, there was a notable policy shift. Purges in some of the national regions, such as Ukraine, had occurred already in the early 1930s. Before the turnabout in Ukraine in 1933, a purge of Veli Ibrahimov and his leadership in the Crimean ASSR in 1929 for "national deviation" led to Russianization of government, education, and the media and to the creation of a special alphabet for Crimean Tatar to replace the Latin alphabet.^[9] Of the two dangers that Stalin had identified in 1923, now bourgeois nationalism (local nationalism) was said to be a greater threat than Great Russian chauvinism (great power chauvinism). In 1937, Faizullah Khojaev and Akmal Ikramov were removed as leaders of the Uzbek SSR and in 1938, during the third great Moscow show trial, convicted and subsequently put to death for alleged anti-Soviet nationalist activities. Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... Faizullah Ubaidullaevich Khojaev (Uzbek: ; Russian: ; Persian: ‎). b. ... State motto: Uzbek: Бутун дунё пролетарлари, бирлашингиз! Translation: Workers of the world, unite! Capital Tashkent Official language None. ... The Trial of the Twenty One was the last of the Moscow Trials —Stalinist show trials of prominent Bolsheviks. ...

Russian language gained greater emphasis. In 1938, Russian became a required subject of study in every Soviet school, including those in which a non-Russian language was the principal medium of instruction for other subjects (e.g., mathematics, science, and social studies). In 1939, non-Russian languages that had been given Latin-based scripts in the late 1920s were given new scripts based on the Cyrillic alphabet. One likely rationale for these decisions was the sense of impending war and that Russian was the language of command in the Red Army. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ...

Before and during World War II, Stalin deported to Central Asia and Siberia several entire nationalities for their suspected collaboration with the German invaders: Volga Germans, Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Kalmyks, and others. Shortly after the war, he deported many Ukrainians and Balts to Siberia as well.^[10] Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... Not by Their Own Will. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... “Siberian” redirects here. ... Collaborationism, as a pejorative term, can describe the treason of cooperating with enemy forces occupying ones country. ... Volga German pioneer family commemorative statue in Victoria, Kansas, USA. The Volga Germans (German: or Russlanddeutsche) were ethnic Germans living near the Volga River in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south, maintaining German culture, language, traditions and religions: Evangelical Lutheranism, Reformed and Roman Catholicism... The Crimean Tatars (sg. ... This article covers the Chechen people as an ethnic group, not Chechen meaning citizens of Chechnya. ... The Ingush are a people of the northern Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. ... The Balkars (Karachay-Balkar: sg. ... The Republic of Kalmykia (Russian: Респу́блика Калмы́кия; Kalmyk: Хальм Тангч) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... http://www. ...

After the war the leading role of the Russian people in the Soviet family of nations and nationalities was promoted by Stalin and his successors. This shift was most clearly underscored by Communist Party General Secretary Stalin's Victory Day toast to the Russian people in May 1945:^[11] Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314...

I would like to raise a toast to the health of our Soviet people and, before all, the Russian people.

I drink, before all, to the health of the Russian people, because in this war they earned general recognition as the leading force of the Soviet Union among all the nationalities of our country.

Naming the Russian nation the primus inter pares was a total turnabout from Stalin's declaration 20 years earlier (heralding the korenizatsiya policy) that "the first immediate task of our Party is vigorously to combat the survivals of Great-Russian chauvinism." Although the official literature on nationalities and languages in subsequent years continued to speak of there being 130 equal languages in the USSR,^[12] in practice a hierarchy was endorsed in which some nationalities and languages were given special roles or viewed as having different long-term futures.^[13] First among equals is a phrase which indicates that a person is the most senior of a group of people sharing the same rank or office. ... Korenizatsiya (Russian: ) sometimes also called korenization, meaning nativization or indigenization, literally putting down roots, was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years. ...

Late 1950s to 1980s: Advanced Russianization

1958-59 education reform: parents choose language of instruction

An analysis of textbook publishing found that education was offered for at least one year and for at least the first class (grade) in 67 languages between 1934 and 1940.^[14] The educational reforms undertaken after Nikita Khrushchev became First Secretary of the Communist Party in the late 1950s began a process of replacing non-Russian schools with Russian ones for the nationalities that had lower status in the federal system or whose populations were smaller or displayed widespread bilingualism already.^[15] Nominally, this process was guided by the principle of "voluntary parental choice." But other factors also came into play, including the size and formal political status of the group in the Soviet federal hierarchy and the prevailing level of bilingualism among parents.^[16] By the early 1970s schools in which non-Russian languages served as the principal medium of instruction operated in 45 languages, while seven more indigenous languages were taught as subjects of study for at least one class year. By 1980, instruction was offered in 35 non-Russian languages of the peoples of the USSR, just over half the number in the early 1930s. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: , Nikita Sergeevič Chruščiov; IPA: , in English, , or , occasionally ); surname more accurately romanized as Khrushchyov[1]; April 17 [O.S. April 5] 1894[2]–September 11, 1971) was the chief director of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ...

Moreover, in most of these languages schooling was not offered for the complete 10-year curriculum. For example, within the RSFSR in 1958-59, full 10-year schooling in the native language was offered in only three languages: Russian, Tatar, and Bashkir.^[17] And some nationalities had minimal or no native-language schooling. By 1962-1963, among non-Russian nationalities that were indigenous to the RSFSR, whereas 27% of children in classes I-IV (primary school) studied in Russian-language schools, 53% of those in classes V-VIII (incomplete secondary school) studied in Russian-language schools, and 66% of those in classes IX-X studied in Russian-language schools. Although many non-Russian languages were still offered as a subject of study at a higher class level (in some cases through complete general secondary school – the 10th class), the pattern of using Russian language as the main medium of instruction accelerated after Khrushchev's parental choice program got under way. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow Chairman of the Supreme... The Tatar language (Tatar tele, Tatarça, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars. ... The Bashkir language is a Turkic language. ...

Pressure to convert the main medium of instruction to Russian was evidently higher in urban areas. For example, in 1961-62, reportedly only 6% of Tatar children living in urban areas attended schools in which Tatar was the main medium of instruction.^[18] Similarly in Dagestan in 1965, schools in which the indigenous language was the medium of instruction existed only in rural areas. The pattern was probably similar, if less extreme, in most of the non-Russian union republics, although in Belarus and Ukraine schooling in urban areas was highly Russianized.^[19] Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар) is a collective name applied to the Turkic people of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. ... The Tatar language (Tatar tele, Tatarça, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars. ... The Republic of Dagestan IPA: (Russian: ; Avar: , ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989 In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), often called simply Soviet republics. ...

Doctrine catches up with practice: sblizhenie-sliyanie (rapprochement and fusion of nations)

The promotion of federalism and of non-Russian languages had always been a strategic decision aimed at expanding and maintaining rule by the Communist Party. On the theoretical plane, however, the Communist Party's official doctrine was that eventually nationality differences and nationalities as such would disappear. In official party doctrine as it was reformulated in the Third Program of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union introduced by Nikita Khrushchev at the 22^nd Party Congress in 1961, although the program stated that ethnic distinctions will eventually disappear and a single lingua franca would be adopted by all nationalities in the Soviet Union, "the obliteration of national distinctions, and especially language distinctions, is a considerably more drawn-out process than the obliteration of class distinctions." At the present time, however, Soviet nations and nationalities were undergoing a dual process of further flowering of their cultures and of rapprochement or drawing together (сближение – sblizhenie) into a stronger union. In his Report on the Program to the Congress, Khrushchev used even stronger language: that the process of further rapprochement (sblizhenie) and greater unity of nations would eventually lead to a merging or fusion (слияние – sliyanie) of nationalities.^[20] The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: , Nikita Sergeevič Chruščiov; IPA: , in English, , or , occasionally ); surname more accurately romanized as Khrushchyov[1]; April 17 [O.S. April 5] 1894[2]–September 11, 1971) was the chief director of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... The Congress of the CPSU was the gathering of the delegates of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its predecessors. ...

Khrushchev's formula of rapprochement-fusing (sblizhenie-sliyanie) was moderated slightly, however, when Leonid Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1964 (a post he held until his death in 1982). Brezhnev asserted that sblizhenie would lead ultimately to the complete "unity" (единство – yedinstvo) of nationalities. "Unity" was an ambiguous term because it could imply either the maintenance of separate national identities but a higher stage of mutual attraction or similarity between nationalities, or the total disappearance of ethnic differences. In the political context of the time, sblizheniye-yedinstvo was regarded as a softening of the pressure toward Russification that Khrushchev had promoted with his endorsement of sliyanie. The 24th Party Congress in 1971, however, launched the idea that a new "Soviet people" (Советский народ) was forming on the territory of the USSR, a community for which the common language – the language of the "Soviet people" – was the Russian language, consistent with the role that Russian was playing for the fraternal nations and nationalities in the territory already. This new community was labeled a people (народ – narod), not a nation (нация – natsiya), but narod implies an ethnic community, not just a civic or political community. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (Russian: , Leonid Ilič Brežnev) December 19, 1906 [O.S. December 19, 1906] – November 10, 1982) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (and thus de facto ruler of the USSR) from 1964 to 1982, serving in that position longer than anyone... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Thus, until the end of the Soviet era, a doctrinal rationalization had been provided for some of the practical policy steps that were taken in areas of education and the media. First of all, the transfer of many "national schools" (национальные школы) to Russian as a medium of instruction accelerated under Khrushchev in the late 1950s and continued into the 1980s.^[21] Second, the new doctrine was used to justify the special place of the Russian language as the "language of internationality communication" (язык межнационального общения) in the USSR. Use of the term "internationality" (межнациональное) rather than the more conventional "international" (международное) focused on the special internal role of Russian language rather than on its role as a language of international discourse. That Russian was the most widely spoken language, and that Russians were the majority of the population of the country, were also cited in justification of the special place of Russian language in government, education, and the media.

At the 27th CPSU Party Congress in 1986, presided over by Mikhail Gorbachev, the 4^th Party Program reiterated the formulas of the previous program: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ), surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; (born 2 March 1931) is a Russian politician. ...

Characteristic of the national relations in our country are both the continued flourishing of the nations and nationalities and the fact that they are steadily and voluntarily drawing closer together on the basis of equality and fraternal cooperation. Neither artificial prodding nor holding back of the objective trends of development is admissible here. In the long term historical perspective this development will lead to complete unity of the nations. . . .

The equal right of all citizens of the USSR to use their native languages and the free development of these languages will be ensured in the future as well. At the same time learning the Russian language, which has been voluntarily accepted by the Soviet people as a medium of communication between different nationalities, besides the language of one's nationality, broadens one's access to the achievements of science and technology and of Soviet and world culture.

Linguistic and ethnic Russification

Some factors favoring Russification

Progress in the spread of Russian language as a second language and the gradual displacement of other languages was monitored in Soviet censuses. The Soviet censuses of 1926, 1937, 1939, and 1959, had included questions on "native language" (родной язык) as well as "nationality." The 1970, 1979, and 1989 censuses added to these questions one on "other language of the peoples of the USSR" that an individual could "freely command" (свободно владеть). The explicit goal of the new question on "second language" was to monitor the spread of Russian as the language of internationality communication.^[22]

Each of the official homelands within the Soviet Union was regarded as the eternal and only area of the titular nationality and its language, while the Russian language was regarded as the language for interethnic communication for the whole Soviet Union. As such, for most of the Soviet era, especially after the korenizatsiya (indigenization) policy ended in the 1930s, schools in which non-Russian Soviet languages would be taught were not generally available outside the respective ethnically based administrational units of these ethnicities; the same could be said about the cultural institutions. Some exceptions appeared to involve cases of historic rivalries or patterns of assimilation between neighboring non-Russian groups, such as between Tatars and Bashkirs in Russia or among major Central Asian nationalities. For example, even in the 1970s schooling was offered in at least six languages in Uzbekistan: Russian, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, Turkmenian, and Karakalpak. Korenizatsiya (Russian: ) sometimes also called korenization, meaning nativization or indigenization, literally putting down roots, was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years. ... Tajik or Tadjik (тоҷикӣ, تاجیکی, tojikí) is a descendant of the Persian language spoken in Central Asia. ... Kazakh (also Qazaq and variants[2], natively , , ‎) is a Western Turkic language closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak. ... Turkmen (Latin script: türkmen, Cyrillic: түркмен, ISO 639-1: tk, ISO 639-2: tuk) is the name of the national language of Turkmenistan. ... Karakalpak is a Turkic language mainly spoken by Karakalpaks in Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan), as well as by Kazakhs, Bashkirs and Nogay. ...

While formally all languages were equal, in almost all Soviet republics the Russian/local bilingualism was "asymmetric," as in India: the titular nation learned Russian, whereas immigrant Russians generally did not learn the local language. The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ... Titular nation (титульная нация) was a term introduced in the Soviet Union to denote nations that give rise to titles of autonomous entities within the union: Soviet republics, autonomous republics, autonomous regions, etc. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ...

In addition, many non-Russians who lived outside their respective administrative units tended to become Russified linguistically; that is, they not only learned Russian as a second language but they also adopted it as their home language or mother tongue – although some still retained their sense of ethnic identity or origins even after shifting their native language to Russian. This includes both the traditional communities (e.g. Lithuanians in the northwestern Belarus (see Eastern Vilnius region) or the Kaliningrad Oblast (see Lithuania Minor)) and the communities that appeared during Soviet times (e.g. Ukrainian or Belarusian workers in Kazakhstan or Latvia, whose children attended primarily the Russian-language schools and thus the further generations are primarily speaking Russian as their native language; for example, for 57% of Estonia's Ukrainians, 70% of Estonia's Belarusians and 37% of Estonia's Latvians claimed Russian is the native language in the last Soviet census of 1989. Russian language as well changed the Yiddish and other languages as the main language of many Jewish communities inside the Soviet Union. Eastern Vilnius region in comparison to present-day Lithuania and its administrative divisions Eastern Vilnius region is the Lithuanian name for the part of territory of the Vilnius region that belongs to Belarus. ... Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: , Kaliningradskaya Oblast; informally called Yantarny kray (, meaning amber region) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) on the Baltic coast. ... Regions of Lithuania Pregel River, a presumable southern ethnic border of Lithuania Minor in the 19th century Lithuania Minor (also known as Prussian Lithuania, German: , Lithuanian: ) was the name given to the northern part of East-Prussia in view of its predominantly Lithuanian-speaking population. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ...

Another consequence of the mixing of nationalities and the spread of bilingualism and linguistic Russification was the growth of ethnic intermarriage and a process of ethnic Russification -- coming to call oneself Russian by nationality or ethnicity, not just speaking Russian as a second language or using it as a primary language. In the last decades of the Soviet Union, ethnic Russification (or ethnic assimilation) was moving very rapidly for a few nationalities such as the Karelians and Mordvinians.^[23] However, whether children born in mixed families where one of the parents was Russian were likely to be raised as Russians depended on the context. For example, the majority of children in families where one parent was Russian and the other Ukrainian living in North Kazakstan chose Russian as their nationality on their internal passport at age 16. However, children of mixed Russian and Estonian parents living in Tallinn (the capital city of Estonia), or mixed Russian and Latvian parents living in Riga (the capital of Latvia), or mixed Russian and Lithuanian parents living in Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania) most often chose as their own nationality that of the titular nationality of their republic – not Russian.^[24] More generally, patterns of linguistic and ethnic assimilation (Russification) were complex and cannot be accounted for by any single factor such as educational policy. Also relevant were the traditional cultures and religions of the groups, their residence in urban or rural areas, their contact with and exposure to Russian language and to ethnic Russians, and other factors.^[25] The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ... Intermarriage normally refers to marriage between people belonging to different religions, tribes, nationalities or ethnic backgrounds. ... The Karelians is a name used to denote two related, yet different ethnic groups of Finnic-language speakers. ... The Mordvins (Mordva) are a people who speak languages of the Finno-Volgaic branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. ... County Area 159. ... Coordinates: , Founded 1201 Government  - Mayor Jānis Birks Area  - City 307. ... Location Ethnographic region AukÅ¡taitija County Vilnius County Municipality Geographic coordinate system Number of elderates 20 General Information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population About 600,000 in 2006 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights 1387 Not to be confused with Vilnius city... Assimilation (from Latin assimilatio; to render similar) may refer to more than one article: Assimilation (linguistics), a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound. ...

Some factors impeding Russification

A factor that may have retarded the process of ethnic Russification was the long-established practice of using nationality labels on official documents. For example, the "nationality" of Soviet citizens was fixed on their internal passports at age 16, and was essentially determined by the nationality of the parents. Only the children of mixed marriages had a choice: they could choose the nationality of one of their parents. Furthermore, an individual's nationality was inscribed on school enrollment records, military service cards (for men), and labor booklets. Although the census question on nationality was supposed to be only subjective and not determined by the official nationality in an individual's passport, the fixing of official nationality on so many official records may well have reinforced non-Russian identities.^[26] Among some groups, such as Jews, the ubiquitous use of such an official nationality on identity papers and records was viewed as a factor that fostered discrimination against them. The passport system in the Soviet Union underwent a number of transformations in the course of its history. ...

Another factor that may also have begun to reduce pressure toward ethnic Russification was that beginning in the late 1960s immigration of Russians to some of the non-Russian republics slowed down or reversed.^[27] There was a net outmigration of Russians from Armenia and Georgia in the 1960s (though because of natural increase the number of Russians still increased during this decade). There was also essentially no net immigration or outmigration of Russians in Central Asia in the 1970s, and by the 1980s there was a net outmigration. To the Baltic republics and in the Soviet west (Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldavia), there was only a trickle of net immigration of Russians by the 1980s. Furthermore, because of differential fertility rates among ethnic groups, the Russian share of the population of the Soviet Union as a whole declined to just 51 percent by the time of the 1989 census. In the preceding decade Russians had comprised just 33 percent of the net increase in the Soviet population. Assuming that these trends continued, Russians were likely to lose their status as a majority of the Soviet population around the turn of the 21^st century.

Present times

Many people allege that Russification policies continue in other ex-Soviet territories, mainly in Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko's government. Some international NGOs argue that Russification policies are occurring in republics inside the Russian Federation like Mari El, but Putin's administration has denied these accusations, and retorted by charging that the NGOs are attempting to destabilize the Volga Republics, as they had, according to the opinion of Russians, done to Chechnya in the past.^{[citation needed]} Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko or Alyaksandar Ryhoravich Lukashenka (Belarusian: , Russian: ) (born August 30, 1954 at Kopys, Vitebsk voblast) has been the President of Belarus since 1994. ... NGO is an abbreviation or code for: Non-governmental organization Nagoya Airport (IATA code) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Russian Federation is divided into 88 federal subjects (constituent units), 21 of which are republics. ... The Mari El Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Мари́й Эл; Mari: Марий Эл Республика) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation... Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин in Cyrillic lettering) (born October 7, 1952) has been the President of Russia since the year 2000. ... NGO is an abbreviation or code for: Non-governmental organization Nagoya Airport (IATA code) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Chechen Republic (IPA: ; Russian: , Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: , Noxçiyn Respublika), or, informally, Chechnya (; Russian: ; Chechen: , Noxçiyçö), sometimes referred to as Ichkeria, Chechnia, Chechenia or Noxçiyn, is a federal subject of Russia. ...

The republics of Karelia^{[citation needed]}, Chechnya^{[citation needed]} and Tatarstan in Russia also tried to switch their alphabets to Latin, but the Latin alphabet was officially banned for Russia's official languages. This position was officially explained with two reasons: Map showing the parts Karelia is traditionally divided into. ... The Chechen Republic (IPA: ; Russian: , Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: , Noxçiyn Respublika), or, informally, Chechnya (; Russian: ; Chechen: , Noxçiyçö), sometimes referred to as Ichkeria, Chechnia, Chechenia or Noxçiyn, is a federal subject of Russia. ... Republic of Tatarstan (Russian: ; Tatar: ) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). ...

• switching languages required finances, which are limited,
• it would be difficult to make older generations accept the new language/alphabet.

Critics cite these rationale as remnants of policy of Russification.

Russian is the language of higher education, trade and business in all regions of Russia. In Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrghyzstan Russian has been declared an official language (in Kazakhstan its official status is "Language of interethnic communication"). In Ukraine this was an issue issues in the 2004 presidential election: Viktor Yanukovich supported making Russian a state language while Viktor Yushchenko opposed it. The current government is unwilling to make Russian a state language. However, despite official government policies, the Russian language is widely used on television [1]and the circulation of Russian language newspapers is high all over the country[2] (in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine Russian is the dominant language). The situation is similar in Kazakhstan. In both Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan, there have been attempts to make the titular languages the main languages for the media and the press (this is referred to as derussification in those countries), but these have had limited success. In Belarus, such attempts stopped in 1994, with the ascent of Alexander Lukashenko; most of the administrative, educational and legislative business in Belarus is carried out in Russian. Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz: Кыргызстан, variously transliterated), officially the Kyrgyz Republic, and sometimes known as Kirghizia, is a country in Central Asia. ... Viktor Yanukovych Campaign Poster 2004 Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (Russian: Виктор Федорович Янукович1) (born July 9, 1950 in Yenakiieve, Donetska oblast) was Prime Minister of Ukraine from November 21... Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko (Ukrainian:  ) (born February 23, 1954) is the current President of Ukraine. ... Derussification is the policy of the Governments and the efforts of NGOs in the post-Soviet countries directed to overcome the consequencies of the Russification. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko or Alyaksandar Ryhoravich Lukashenka (Belarusian: , Russian: ) (born August 30, 1954 at Kopys, Vitebsk voblast) has been the President of Belarus since 1994. ...

Notes and Citations