SOVIET NATIONAL POLICY OF THE 1920-1930s IN THE PATRIOTIC AND FOREIGN HISTORIOGRAPHY: STAGES, BASIC IDEAS, MODERN TRENDS

Abstract

This article analyzes the main stages of formation and development of the Soviet national policy of the period of 1920-1930-ies. Learning of the national policy in the USSR has a great historiographical tradition which includes different stages. The article distinguishes 3 stages of Soviet historiography and presents their characteristics. It also highlights the current stage of the study of the national policy of the USSR, which is characterized by a departure from dogmatism and political bias, introduction of previously unavailable unpublished written sources into scientific circulation. Another characteristic feature of modern historiography is the emergence of local studies. As for foreign historiography, it, having more freedom in the interpretation of the facts, however, was also influenced by the ideas of opposition, inherent for the period of the “Cold war” for a long time. A large number of studies of Soviet national policy appeared during the USSR disintegration, which many authors considered as a consequence of the national policy of the USSR. Only in the last 30 years, foreign authors begin to aspire to reassessment of the prewar terminology and introduce new concepts into scientific turnover (for example, “the USSR as a communal apartment”, “the USSR as an Empire of a affirmative nation”, “National policy as a compromise between the elites of the center and the regions”, etc ). The article notes that interest to the topic of Soviet national policy has slightly decreased in recent years. This topic is becoming less politically biased, which creates favorable conditions for joint research of Russian and foreign scientists.