national policy

The article examines the constitutional policy of the Soviet state in relation to the autonomous republic of Volga Germans that existed in 1924–1941 as part of the RSFSR, shows this policy as an integral part of the general national-state policy towards national minorities, to whom the Bolshevik government was granted a certain form of statehood. The characteristic of the two constitutions of the Non–Republic of 1926 and 1937 is given – as octroated, i.e. granted from above and therefore contained as much independence as allowed by the center.

The article highlights the process of “indigenization” as an element of Soviet national policy. The research has been conducted on the example of Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. The “indigenization” was an element of Soviet national policy in 1920s, accomplished in all the nation-state formations of the USSR both Union and autonomous. The “indigenization” was supposed to consolidate the position of “titular” nation, but also caused a whole new set of problems in interethnic relations.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the prerequisites, the main driving forces, the results and consequences of the actions of the Bolshevik faction led by S. M. Kirov at the Mozdok congress of the Terek peoples in January 1918. The article points out that this forum was the first experience of cooperation between the Bolsheviks and the Ingush in the political sphere.

Based on a wide range of sources and archival materials the article analyzes the position of the Russian publisher and publicist I. A. Arsenyev on the Polish issue on the eve of the Polish Uprising of 1863–1864. Arsenyev, seconded to Warsaw in 1861 to compile correspondences, was a journalist of a new format. He not only objectively recorded the events that contributed to the escalation of the Russian-Polish conflict, but after analyzing them, outlined his vision of the problem in a special note, which aroused interest in the highest government circles.

The article analyzes the specifics of interethnic relations in Russia after the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s. The process of institutionalization of the national policy of the Russian Federation is investigated. The main directions of reforming the «Asymmetric Federation» are considered. The question of formation of the civil nation «the Russian people» is studied.