Советская национальная политика 1920-1930-х годов в отечественной и зарубежной историографии: этапы, основные идеи, современные тенденции

Вестник Удмуртского университета. Серия 5: История и филология. 2020. Vol. 31. No. 1. P. 56–65.

М.С. Каменских

The article analyzes the main traits of the Soviet national policy in the 1920s and 1930s. Learning about the national policy in the USSR has a great historiographical tradition with certain stages. The current stage of the study is characterized by a reassessment of the driving forces of national policy, a departure from dogmatism and political bias, the introduction of the previously unavailable written unpublished sources into academic overturn and collaboration with foreign historians. Another characteristic of modern historiography is the emergence of local studies, dedicated to national policy in some particular regions. The complexity and inconsistency of political processes, the role of national elites and departments responsible for resolving the national issue are recognized. The research projects appear and become promising which study the implementation of national policies of the 1920s and 1930s in different regions, including those not considered national. As for foreign historiography, it is only in the last 30 years that foreign authors have begun to reassess the pre-war terminology and  introduce new concepts into academic turnover  (for example, “the USSR as a communal apartment”, “the USSR as an Empire of a positive nation”, “national policy as a compromise of the elite center and regions”, etc.). The topic of the status of Russian people in the USSR remains relevant.  The article notes that the interest in the issue of Soviet national policy has slightly decreased recently. The topic is becoming less politically biased. The abundance of anniversary dates in the early 2020s creates favorable conditions for scholars to implement new, including international, joint research projects.

Keywords: СССР, USSR, национальная политика, ethnic minorities, национальные меньшинства, отечественная историография, national state policy, native historiography, foreign historiography, зарубежная историография