Lenin about the federation. Lenin identified the need to consider this issue dialectically and in dynamics.
On the eve of February 1907, Lenin spoke out sharply against the federal structure of the state. Under these conditions, it was especially important to unite the proletariat (letter to Shaumyan vol. 48 p. 234). But already at this time he foresaw exceptions. It allowed for a Balkan federation for Serbia and Montenegro. Lenin spoke out approvingly for the separate existence of Norway and Sweden, for the separation of Ireland from England.
We can distinguish 3 stages in the formation of the Leninist concept of the federation. The first period of the struggle for victory in democratic revolution(until February 1917). At this time he advocated a unitary state. The second period - February-October 1917 - recognizes the admissibility of the federation. The third period after October 1917, when conditions changed radically. Lenin emphasizes the need for federation.
After October revolution Lenin not only spoke out for federation, but also formulated certain principles of federalism:
1) socialist federation on based on the Soviets,
2) federation based on nationality,
3) principles of voluntary association,
4) principles of equality of all republics,
5) democratic centralism.
31) Stalin’s “autonomization” plan.
Autonomization is a term that arose in connection with the work of the commission created by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in August 1922 to develop a proposal for unification into single state independent Soviet republics(RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, ZSFSR, BSSR). The autonomization plan envisaged the proclamation of the RSFSR as a state, which included the Ukrainian SSR, ZSFSR, BSSR, as autonomous entities without right of exit
The following took part in the work of the commission: I.V. Stalin (chairman, People's Commissar of Nationalities), G.I. Petrovsky, A.F. Myasnikov, S.M. Kirov, G.K. Ordzhonikidze, V.M. Molotov, A.G. Chervyakov and others.
The autonomization plan was proposed by Stalin and accepted by the commission. Accordingly, the supreme bodies of power and administration in the country were to become the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR. Stalin argued that this path would make it possible to create a single economic organism with a leadership center in Moscow.
The autonomization plan was discussed by the plenums of the Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the republics and was not supported at most of them. This idea was sharply opposed by the leaders of the Georgian Communist Party, who did not agree with this understanding of the union, which should have led to a complete loss of independence. However, at meetings on September 23 and 24, 1922, the commission approved Stalin’s theses on autonomization.
V.I. Lenin, having familiarized himself with the materials of the commission, sent a letter on September 26, 1922 to members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), in which he made a fundamental criticism of the plan. He argued that “autonomization” would inevitably worsen Moscow’s relations with the population of the outlying republics. He proposed a different form for the formation of a single state - a voluntary union of equal republics similar to a federation. “...We recognize ourselves as equal in rights with the Ukrainian SSR and others, and together and on an equal basis with them we are entering a new union, a new federation...” wrote Lenin.
32) Industrialization in the USSR: essence, sources and main stages.
Industrialization is the creation of basic industries.
1. The need for industrialization
Russia lagged behind world powers in terms of quality economic indicators, labor productivity, and technical equipment of enterprises. Elements of industrial production were weakened first by the First World War and then by the civil wars.
2. Goals of industrialization:
a) elimination of the country’s technical and economic backwardness;
b) achieving economic independence;
c) creation of a powerful defense industry;
d) development of basic industries.
3. Sources of industrialization
a) transfer of funds from Agriculture in heavy industry;
b) forced loans from the population;
c) export of goods (consumption by the population is limited), sale of works of art;
d) unpaid work under the slogan of competition;
e) inclusion of prison labor in planned economy;
f) sale of wine and vodka products.
4.Features of industrialization:
a) development of heavy industry to the detriment of light industry (defense interests);
b) sources of industrialization - internal reserves;
c) centralized distribution of resources;
d) fast pace (10-15 years);
e) significant role of the state.
5. Industrialization personnel
To fulfill the established production plan, a large quantity was required work force, therefore in short term Unemployment was eliminated, but there was a shortage of engineering and technical personnel. The number of higher and secondary technical educational institutions, and over several years 128.5 thousand specialists were trained. Prisoner labor was also included in the planned economy.
The decision on industrialization was made in 1925 at the XIV Party Congress. Its task is to make the USSR an industrially independent country and allow it to confront Western capitalist powers on equal terms. Collectivization provided funds for the development of industry (primarily heavy industry), which simplified the confiscation of grain from the peasants. Many of them fled to the cities and were ready to work for meager wages. The free labor of prisoners was actively used. Masterpieces of art were sold abroad (mainly in the USA) for pennies. There was almost no Western investment due to the USSR's refusal to pay tsarist debts.
In 1929-1932 The first five-year plan took place, and the second in 1933-1937. Old enterprises were reconstructed and hundreds of new ones were built. The most important construction projects are the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (Magnitka), the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station (DneproGes), the White Sea-Baltic Canal (Belomorkanal), the Chelyabinsk, Stalingrad, Kharkov Tractor Plants, the Turkestan-Siberian Railway (TurkSib), etc. The plans were inflated, the deadlines were excessively compressed. ,enterprises were put into operation unfinished, which later led to long-term stagnation. Product quality was low.
The enthusiasm of the masses, inspired by the ideas of socialist construction, played a major role. In 1935, the Stakhanov movement began (its founder was miner A. G. Stakhanov) for exceeding plans. The government, demanding that everyone follow the Stakhanovites, doubled production standards. Product quality has decreased.
Nevertheless, during the first five-year plans, a powerful industry was created, which made it possible to withstand future war. However, this was often done contrary to the recommendations of economists; haste led to overexertion of forces. The standard of living has fallen compared to the NEP era.
In 1913, the future head of the first socialist state V.I. Lenin, being a Unitarian like Marx and Engels, wrote that a centralized large state “is a huge historical step forward from medieval fragmentation to the future socialist unity of all countries.” In the period from February to October 1917, the centuries-old state unity Russia collapsed - a number of bourgeois-nationalist governments arose on its territory (the Central Rada in Ukraine, Cossack circles on the Don, Terek and Orenburg, the Kurultai in the Crimea, national Soviets in Transcaucasia and the Baltic states, etc.), which sought to separate themselves from the traditional center. The threat of a sharp reduction in the territory of the socialist proletarian state, the loss of hopes for an early world revolution forced the leader of the party that came to power in Russia to reconsider his point of view on its state structure - he became an ardent supporter of federalism, however, at the stage of transition “to complete unity.” The slogan of “united and indivisible Russia,” professed by the leaders of the white movement, was opposed to the principle of the right of all nations to self-determination, which attracted the leaders of national movements...
However, the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 was a step back from a genuine federation, since in it the form government structure Russia was only declared (there was not even provision for the representation of future members of the federation in the authorities of the center); in fact, a unitary state was proclaimed, created from above on the initiative of the ruling party by annexing the territories conquered during the Civil War. The division of powers between federal bodies and local ones in the Russian Federation was based on the principles of the exclusive competence of the former and the residual competence of the latter...
The first intra-Russian national borders appeared at the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919 with the formation of the Labor Commune of the Volga German Region and the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; by the end of 1922, the RSFSR already had 19 autonomous republics and regions, as well as 2 labor communes created on a national basis. National-state formations coexisted with administrative-territorial units, both of which had very weakly expressed independence.
Russian Federation was, according to the plan of its founders, to become a model of a larger socialist state, allowing for the restoration of the Russian Empire, the collapse of which during the revolution and “triumphant march” Soviet power could not be avoided. Until mid-1918, only two republics existed as independent states - the RSFSR and Ukraine, then the Belarusian Republic arose, three republics in the Baltic states, three in Transcaucasia...
From the first days of their existence, the RSFSR, which itself was in need of the most necessary things, provided them with assistance in different areas state life. The armies of the independent republics were supplied by the People's Commissariat (People's Commissariat) for Military Affairs of the RSFSR. Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of June 1, 1919 “On the unification socialist republics Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus formed a military alliance to fight world imperialism. The armies of all republics were united into a single army of the RSFSR, the military command and control were united railways, communications, finance. Monetary system of all republics was based on Russian ruble, the RSFSR assumed their expenses for maintaining the state apparatus, armies, and establishing the economy. The republics received industrial and agricultural products, food and other assistance from it. The Union, along with other factors, helped all the republics emerge from the war...
Over time, the state apparatus of all republics began to be built in the likeness of the RSFSR, their authorized representative offices appeared in Moscow, which had the right to enter on behalf of their governments with representations and petitions to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), the People's Commissariats of the RSFSR, and to inform the authorities of their republic about the most important events of the RSFSR, and the authorities of the latter about the state of the economy and the needs of their republic. On the territory of the republics there was an apparatus of authorized representatives of some people's commissariats of the RSFSR, customs barriers were gradually overcome, and border posts were removed.
After the Entente blockade was lifted, the RSFSR entered into trade agreements with England, Italy, Norway, and Ukraine with Austria, Czechoslovakia and other states. In March 1921, a joint delegation of the RSFSR and Ukraine entered into an agreement with Poland. In January 1922, the Italian government, on behalf of the organizers of the Genoa Conference, of all the republics invited only the RSFSR to participate in it. In February 1922, at the initiative of the Russian Federation, nine republics signed a protocol authorizing it to represent and protect their common interests, to conclude and sign treaties with foreign states on their behalf. Thus, the military and bilateral military-economic agreements were supplemented by a diplomatic agreement. The next step was the formalization of a political union.
FOUR REPUBLICS INSTEAD OF ONE EMPIRE
By 1922, on the territory of the former Russian Empire There were 6 republics: the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR and Georgian SSR. From the very beginning there was close cooperation between them, explained by their common historical destiny. In the years civil war a military and economic union was formed, and at the time of the Genoa Conference in 1922, a diplomatic one. The unification was also facilitated by the commonality of the goal set by the governments of the republics - the construction of socialism in a territory located “in a capitalist environment.”
In March 1922, the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Georgian SSRs united into the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In December 1922, the First Transcaucasian Congress of Soviets addressed the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with a proposal to convene a united Congress of Soviets and discuss the issue of creating a union of Soviet republics. The same decisions were made by the All-Ukrainian and All-Belarusian Congresses of Soviets.
IT DID NOT TURN OUT LIKE STALIN
There was no consensus on the principles of creating a union state. Among a number of proposals, two stood out: the inclusion of other Soviet republics into the RSFSR on the basis of autonomy (proposal) and the creation of a federation of equal republics. Project I.V. Stalin's "On the relationship of the RSFSR with the independent republics" was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia recognized it as premature, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus spoke in favor of preserving the existing contractual relations between the BSSR and the RSFSR. Ukrainian Bolsheviks refrained from discussing Stalin's project. Nevertheless, the autonomization plan was approved at a meeting of the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on September 23-24, 1922.
IN AND. Lenin, who did not participate in the discussion of the project, after familiarizing himself with the materials presented to him, rejected the idea of autonomization and spoke in favor of the formation of a union of republics. He considered the Soviet Socialist Federation to be the most acceptable form of government for a multinational country.
NATIONAL LIBERALISM ILYICH
On October 5 - 6, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) adopted V.I.’s plan as a starting option. Lenin, but this did not lead to an end to the struggle in the party on issues of national policy. Although the “autonomization” project was rejected, it still enjoyed some support from a number of leading officials both at the center and locally. I.V. Stalin and L.B. Kamenev was called upon to show steadfastness against " national liberalism Ilyich" and actually leave the previous option.
At the same time, separatist tendencies in the republics are intensifying, which manifested itself in the so-called “Georgian incident,” when the party leaders of Georgia demanded its inclusion in the future state as an independent republic, and not as part of the Transcaucasian Federation. In response to this, the head of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee G.K. Ordzhonikidze became furious and called them “chauvinistic rot,” and when one of the members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia called him “Stalin’s donkey,” he also beat the latter soundly. As a sign of protest against pressure from Moscow, the entire Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia resigned.
The commission chaired by F.E. Dzerzhinsky, created in Moscow to investigate this “incident,” justified the actions of G.K. Ordzhonikidze and condemned the Georgian Central Committee. This decision outraged V.I. Lenin. It should be recalled here that in October 1922, after an illness, although he began to work, due to health reasons he could not completely control the situation. On the day of the formation of the USSR, being bedridden, he dictates his letter “On the question of nationalities or autonomy,” which begins with the words: “I seem to be very guilty before the workers of Russia for not intervening energetically and sharply enough.” into the notorious question of autonomy, officially called, it seems, the question of the union of Soviet socialist republics.”
UNION TREATY (ONE UNION INSTEAD OF FOUR REPUBLICS)
TREATY ON THE FORMATION OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR), the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic (BSSR) and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (ZSSR - Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia) conclude this Union Treaty on unification into one union state - "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" ...
1. The following are subject to the jurisdiction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, represented by its supreme bodies:
a) representation of the Union in international relations;
b) changing the external borders of the Union;
c) concluding agreements on the admission of new republics to the Union;
d) declaration of war and conclusion of peace;
e) conclusion of external government loans;
f) ratification of international treaties;
g) establishment of foreign and domestic trade systems;
h) establishing the foundations and general plan the entire national economy of the Union, as well as the conclusion of concession agreements;
i) regulation of transport and postal and telegraph business;
j) establishing the basis for the organization of the armed forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;
k) approval of the unified state budget of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, establishment of a monetary, monetary and credit system, as well as a system of all-Union, republican and local taxes;
l) establishment of general principles of land management and land use, as well as the use of subsoil, forests and waters throughout the territory of the Union;
m) general union legislation on resettlement;
o) establishing the fundamentals of the judicial system and legal proceedings, as well as civil and criminal union legislation;
o) establishment of basic labor laws;
p) establishment of general principles of public education;
c) establishment of general measures in the field of public health protection;
r) establishment of a system of weights and measures;
s) organization of all-Union statistics;
t) basic legislation in the field of union citizenship in relation to the rights of foreigners;
x) the right of general amnesty;
v) repeal of resolutions of congresses of Soviets, Central Executive Committees and Councils of People's Commissars of the Union republics that violate the Union Treaty.
2. The supreme authority of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and in the periods between congresses - the Central Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
3. The Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is composed of representatives of city councils at the rate of 1 deputy per 25,000 voters and representatives of provincial congresses of councils at the rate of 1 deputy per 125,000 residents.
4. Delegates to the Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are elected at provincial congresses of Soviets.
…eleven. The executive body of the Central Executive Committee of the Union is the Council of People's Commissars of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Sovnarkom of the Union), elected by the Central Executive Committee of the Union for the term of office of the latter, consisting of:
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union,
Deputy Chairmen,
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs,
People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs,
People's Commissar for Foreign Trade,
People's Commissar of Railways,
People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs,
People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection.
Chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy,
People's Commissar of Labor,
People's Commissar for Food,
People's Commissar of Finance.
…13. Decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are mandatory for all union republics and are carried out directly throughout the territory of the Union.
…22. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has its own flag, coat of arms and state seal.
23. The capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the city of Moscow.
…26. Each of the union republics retains the right to freely secede from the Union.
Congresses of Soviets in documents. 1917-1936. Vol. III. M., 1960
1917, night from October 26 to 27. Elected by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets as the head of the Soviet government - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.
1918, early July. The V All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopts the Constitution of the RSFSR, which clarifies the status of the post of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, which is occupied by V.I. Lenin. November 30th. At the plenary meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, the Council of Workers' and Peasant Defense The Council is given full rights in mobilizing the country's forces and resources for its defense. V.I. Lenin is confirmed as the Chairman of the Council.
1920, April. The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense is transformed into the Council of Labor and Defense (STO) of the RSFSR under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin.
1923, July 6. The session of the Central Executive Committee elects V.I. Lenin as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. July 7. The session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR elects V.I. Lenin as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. July 17th. The Council of Labor and Defense is created under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin.
As is known, during the construction of the Soviet state, a need arose to determine the form of the country’s territorial structure. In the depths of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) a project was created - “Autonomization Plan”, according to which the Byelorussian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR, Georgian SSR were to become part of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) with the rights of subjects of the Federation (like Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Dagestan). However, the Autonomization Plan was criticized by V.I. Lenin, whose opinion the party took into account, therefore in real story Lenin's plan - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - was implemented. Moreover, each union republic received the right to freely secede from the USSR and had sovereign rights. If for some reason Lenin was unable to defend his Soviet Union, then there would still be a Greater Russian Federation (Greater RSFSR according to Stalin), which would include autonomous republics (subjects of the Federation): Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. At the time of the formation of the USSR, almost all of Central Asia was part of the RSFSR as the Kara-Kirghiz (Kazakh) Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
DRAFT RESOLUTION ON RELATIONS OF THE RSFSR WITH THE INDEPENDENT REPUBLICS
August 11, 1922
The draft resolution on the relationship between the RSFSR and the independent Soviet republics was prepared by a member of the commission of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) I.V. Stalin. The project, which later received the name “autonomization plan,” aroused the critical attitude of many leading party workers and was ultimately rejected.
1. Recognize the expediency of the formal entry of the independent Soviet republics: Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia into the RSFSR, leaving the issue of Bukhara, Khorezm and the Far Eastern Republic open and limiting ourselves to the adoption of agreements with them on customs affairs, foreign trade, foreign and military affairs, etc.
NOTE: The corresponding changes in the constitutions mentioned in paragraph 1 of the republics must be made after the issue is carried out in Soviet order.
2. Recognize it expedient to formally extend the competence of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Council of People's Commissars and STO of the RSFSR to the corresponding central Soviet institutions listed in paragraph 1 of the republics.
3. Foreign affairs (Indel, Vneshtorg), military affairs, railway, financial and sweat* mentioned in pun. 1st independent republics to unite with those of the RSFSR.
4. People's Commissariats: food, labor and national economy formally subordinate to the directives of the corresponding People's Commissariats of the RSFSR.
5. The remaining people's commissariats of the republics mentioned in paragraph 1, such as: justice, education, internal affairs, agriculture, workers' and peasants' inspection, public health and social security, should be considered independent.
NOTE: Organs fighting counter-revolution in the above-mentioned republics are to be subordinated to the directives of the GPU of the RSFSR.
6. This decision, if it is approved by the Central Committee of the RCP, is not published, but is transmitted to the national Central Committee as a circular directive for its implementation in the Soviet order through the Central Executive Committees or congresses of Soviets of the above-mentioned republics until the convening of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, at which it is declared as a wish these republics.
News of the CPSU Central Committee. 1989. No. 9. pp. 192-193.
page Questions and tasks
1. What was the essence of the “autonomization plan”? In what ways did its provisions differ from Lenin’s approach to the creation of a union state?
The “autonomization plan” was directed against the growing independence of the treaty and autonomous republics and their desire to weaken the power of the center. It envisaged the entry of independent republics into the RSFSR as autonomous ones, whose right to independence was sharply limited.
All treaty republics, including the RSFSR, were to join the USSR on equal terms.
2. Name the basic principles of the new economic policy.
Basic principles of the NEP
Replacement of surplus appropriation with tax in kind.
The decree on the complete nationalization of industry was canceled.
Introduction of the labor market.
A monetary reform was carried out: the “golden chervonets” (hard currency) was introduced.
A significant part of industry, like all foreign trade, was in the hands of the state.
3. When and where did the debut of Soviet diplomacy take place? List the agreements concluded by Russia with other states. How was the foreign policy blockade of the Soviet republics broken?
The debut of Soviet diplomacy in the international arena took place in April–May 1922 in the Italian city of Genoa at a conference on economic and financial issues convened by decision of the Supreme Council of the Entente. Representatives 29 European countries, 5 British dominions gathered to find a way out of the post-war crisis. They tried to impose their conditions on Russia and the countries that were defeated in the world war - Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria. Russia was demanded to recognize all debts of the tsarist and Provisional governments, return nationalized enterprises to foreign owners or reimburse their value, eliminate the state monopoly on foreign trade, etc.
During the Genoa Conference, Soviet diplomacy managed to break through the united front of the Western powers, which sought to put pressure on Russia and other Soviet republics. Germany, which found itself in a similar position, invited Russia to sign an agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations with a renunciation mutual claims and the introduction of most favored nation treatment. The corresponding agreement signed by Chicherin and German Reich Minister W. Rathenau in the resort town of Rapallo became the first major success of Soviet diplomacy. He broke the foreign policy blockade of Soviet Russia.
4. What did Stalin’s canonization of V. I. Lenin mean?
Stalin declared himself the spiritual “son” of the leader, calling his supporters “Leninists.” Those from the communist leadership who steadfastly and consistently defended the “general line of the party” were honorably called “faithful Leninists.” To bring these ideas to life, the leader had to be canonized and his works declared “ Holy Scripture" The Politburo and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decided to mummify Lenin's body and build a special mausoleum. Instead of being desecrated in the fierce anti-religious campaign of the early 20s. With the relics of Christian saints, the country and the world received the first relics of an irreconcilable atheist.
AUTONOMIZATION, a term that arose in connection with the work of the commission created by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in August 1922 to develop a proposal for the unification of independent Soviet republics into a single state ( RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, ZSFSR, BSSR). The following took part in the work of the commission: I. V. Stalin (chairman, People's Commissar of Nationalities), G. I. Petrovsky, A. F. Myasnikov, S. M. Kirov, G. K. Ordzhonikidze, V. M. Molotov, A. G. Chervyakov and others. The autonomization plan proposed by Stalin and adopted by the commission assumed the proclamation of the RSFSR as a state, which included the autonomous republics of the Ukrainian SSR, ZSFSR, and BSSR as autonomous republics; Accordingly, the supreme bodies of power and administration in the country were to become the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the STO of the RSFSR.
The relationships that had developed by this time between the independent republics were built on the basis of equal treaties on military-political and economic unions. The tasks of strengthening defense, restoring and further developing the national economy along the path of socialism, the political, economic and cultural rise of all nationalities required closer unity of the Soviet republics into a single multinational state. The question of the political form of the multinational Soviet socialist state was the main one in the work of the commission of the Central Committee of the Party. The autonomization plan was discussed by the plenums of the Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the republics and was not supported at most of them. Nevertheless, at meetings on September 23 and 24, 1922, the commission approved Stalin’s theses on autonomization. This decision was wrong. Theses on autonomization took into account the requirements of strict unity and centralization of the efforts of the Soviet republics, but at the same time violated the sovereign rights of these republics; were, in essence, a step back in comparison with the already established forms of nation-state building.
V.I. Lenin (he was ill), having familiarized himself with the materials of the commission and talking with a number of comrades, sent a letter on September 26, 1922 to members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), in which he made a fundamental criticism of the autonomization plan, put forward and substantiated the idea of forming a union state on the basis of complete equality of all independent Soviet republics: “... we recognize ourselves as equal in rights with the Ukrainian SSR and others, and together and on an equal basis with them we are entering into a new union, a new federation...” wrote Lenin (Poln. sobr. op. , 5th ed., vol. 45, p. 211). Lenin emphasized that it was necessary not to destroy the independence of the republics, but to create “...another new floor, a federation of equal republics” (ibid., p. 212). On October 6, 1922, Lenin sent a note to the Politburo of the Party Central Committee in which he categorically insisted on equal representation of all union republics in the leadership of the federal Central Executive Committee (see ibid., p. 214). Lenin's plan for the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed the basis of a new commission project, which was reported by Stalin and approved by the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on October 6, 1922.
Lenin returned to criticism of the plan in one of his last letters - " On the issue of nationalities or “autonomization”". Lenin wrote that "... this whole idea of 'autonomization' was fundamentally wrong and untimely" (ibid., p. 356), that it could only bring harm, distorting the ideas of unification of Soviet republics in the spirit of great-power chauvinism. The draft violated the principle of self-determination of nations and granted independent republics only the right to autonomous existence within the RSFSR. Lenin opposed excessive centralism in matters of unification and demanded maximum attention and caution in resolving issues of national policy. The unification of the republics must be carried out in a form that will truly ensure the equality of nations, strengthen the sovereignty of each union republic, “... the union of socialist republics should be maintained and strengthened,” Lenin wrote, “there can be no doubt about this measure. We need it as much as we need it.” to the world communist proletariat to fight the world bourgeoisie and to protect against its intrigues" (ibid., p. 360). Lenin's letter was read out at a meeting of the heads of delegations of the 12th Congress of the RCP(b) (April 1923), his instructions formed the basis of the congress resolution “On the National Question”. The triumph of Lenin's ideas of proletarian internationalism, fraternal friendship and the unity of equal and sovereign peoples was the formation of the USSR, completed by the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets on December 30, 1922.
L.A. Zavelev, L.V. Metelitsa.
Materials from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia in 30 volumes were used. Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. Ed. 3rd. T. 1. A – Engob. – M., Soviet encyclopedia. – 1969. – 608 p.
Literature:
Lenin V.I., On the formation of the USSR, Poly. collection cit., 5th ed., vol. 45; him, On the question of nationalities or “autonomization”, ibid.; History of nation-state building in the USSR, M., 1968, p. 355 - 69.
