Ideology and the National Question: Marxism-Leninism and the Nationality Policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is twofold: to outline the development of Soviet Marxism-Leninism in relation to the national question in the USSR; and to consider whether any relationship can be discovered between ideological pronouncements and the actual policies pursued towards national minorities. ‘Nationality policy’ is not an area that can be fenced off on its own, but is something that forms a part of every field of activity of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU): the economy, cadre policy, education and culture, internal security, the armed forces and foreign policy, for example. It would be impossible in a chapter this size to describe, even in outline, the working of nationality policy in all these fields. I shall therefore be highly selective, choosing examples mainly in relation to the questions of federalism, language and cadre policy. With respect to ideology, I shall be especially concerned with references to the flourishing, coming together and fusion of nations.