Yerevan 1954: Anastas Mikoyan and Nationality Reform in the Thaw, 1954–1964

Peripheral Histories. 2021.

Shakarian P. A.

Nikita Khrushchev’s Thaw represented a major period of historical change for the Soviet Union, a period that included significant reform to the country’s nationality policy. In this regard, Soviet Armenian statesman, Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan, a close Khrushchev ally, played an indispensable role in shaping and defining the nationality policy during the crucial years following the death of Joseph Stalin. In a speech in the Armenian capital Yerevan on 11 March 1954, Mikoyan became the first Soviet official to articulate a different approach toward the nationality policy after Stalin. The speech set the stage for not only for Mikoyan’s major role in post-Stalin nationality reform, but also for his leading role on the issue of de-Stalinization. Subsequently, Mikoyan went on to play a key role in developing the nationality platform of the Third Party Program by rejecting assimilationist approaches toward the issue in favor of more inclusive ones. He also served as chairman of the subcommittee on Nationality Policy and National-State Construction (NPNSC) for Khrushchev’s constitutional commission of the 1960s, envisioning ambitious reforms that would greatly decentralize the Soviet state. Certainly, Mikoyan’s work on the nationality question represented a general trend in Soviet central policy toward more, not less, decentralization during the Thaw years.

Keywords: Армения, Закавказье, история СССР, Caucasus, десталинизация, Armenia, History of Soviet Union, конституция СССР, национальная политика СССР, de-stalinization, Khrushchev's thaw, Хрущевская Оттепель, Mikoyan, Микоян, Soviet nationality policy, History of Russian Empire and the Soviet Union