Investor Presentaiton
"they did not possess a coherent nationalities policy."
"144 Lenin sought to give nations the option
between full independence from Soviet Russia or become a constituent part of it, but like
Hosking describes, in reality most nations wanted a mixture of both with a status similar to that
of an autonomous group within a multinational federal state."
145
To attempt to resolve this issue the Bolsheviks made a few declarations during their first
years in power. The first was the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia in 1917,
which recognized the autonomy and sovereignty of national groups, allowing them the freedom
to form an independent state, if they desired. 146 The declaration furthermore abolished all
national privileges from the earlier empire. 147 Second was the 1918 Declaration of the Rights of
the Toiling and Exploited People which put the government's aspirations of being a federation of
national republics into writing. 148 Additionally, Lenin also formed the People's Commissariat of
Nationality Affairs that served as a mediator between national conflicts and broadly advised non-
Russians on how Bolshevism would impact them. 149 These declarations occurred during
immense political upheaval and the Civil War, making them nearly impossible to implement.
The growth of nationalism across the territories of the former Russian Empire was a spark
for the development of the Soviet nationalities policy that was created from 1919-1923. During
this period, Stalin was "the Bolsheviks' acknowledged 'master of the nationalities question""
because of his Georgian roots and he therefore served as the Commissar of Nationalities from
144 Martin, The Affirmative Action Empire, 2.
145 Hosking, The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, 98.
146 Ibid.
147 Ibid.
148 Ibid.
149 Ibid, 99.
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