Language Policy in the Soviet Union Chapter 3: The Slavic Republics and Moldova

Language Policy in the Soviet Union

• Chapter 3: The Slavic Republics and Moldova

Introduction

• Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian are the three East Slavic languages and each had its own republic

• Belarusian and Ukrainian were threatened by the fact that Russians considered them to be merely dialects of Russian, thus refused to develop them

• In early years, Belarusian and Ukrainian actively promoted their languages and distinguished them from Russian

Introduction, cont’d.

• In 1930s use of Belarusian and Ukrainian was discouraged and punished

• Russification pressure increased after WWII

• 83% of ethnic Ukrainians and 98% of ethnic Belarusians still maintain their language, but there are large populations of Russians living in these regions

Introduction, cont’d.

• In tsarist Russia, bilingualism between Russian (language of peasants), and European language (French, used by elite)

• In Soviet era, shift to bilingualism of Russian with a language of the USSR

• Moldovan is a dialect of Romanian, but USSR insisted that it is a separate language, and converted it to Cyrillic

The RSFSR: Russian

• By 1989, 97.8% of RSFSR spoke Russian, and 86.6% of USSR claimed Russian as native tongue (including 18.7M non-Russians)

• Jan 1, 1918 alphabet reforms designed to help Russians achieve literacy faster/easier; reforms decreed and implemented with remarkable speed

• Huge increase in acronyms to handle cumbersome Soviet terminology

The RSFSR: The Tatars

• Tatars are Turkic speaking, second largest ethnic group in RSFSR (5.5M in RSFSR), fifth largest in USSR (6.9M in USSR) and spread all across Central Asia

• Non-Central Asian Turkic peoples:

• Tatars (Muslim)
• Bashkirs (Muslim, language close to Tatar)
• Chuvash (Russian Orthodox, isolated from other two groups)

The RSFSR: The Tatars, cont’d.

• Initial attempt to create Tatar-Bashkir Republic, but later Bashkir ASSR created (1919, contained more Tatars than Bashkirs) and Tatar ASSR (1920, capital in Kazan)

• Creation of Tatar ASSR and Bashkir ASSR split the Muslim population of USSR, created ethnic division

The RSFSR: The Tatars, cont’d.

• Prior to revolution, Tatar education system was run by religious organizations (but suppressed under tsar), Tatars had relatively high literacy rate (48%) and well-established literary tradition

• 1927 Tatar converted from Arabic to Latin script; 1939-40 converted to Cyrillic – this meant that populace could not read earlier texts, and state could control what they read

• Very little was published in Tatar and despite its official status, Russian became the sole governmental language

The RSFSR: The Tatars, cont’d.

• In 1930-31 96%+ Tatar children were enrolled in Tatar-speaking schools, but by late 1980s this figure dropped to 7%

• Tatar language retention steadily decreased to 83%

• In 1990 Tatarstan declares sovereignity and declares Tatar of equal status with Russian in 1992, and there has been an increase in Tatar language instruction since

The RSFSR: The Tatars, cont’d.

• Crimean Tatars (and some other ethnic groups) were suspected of collaboration with Germans in WWII and many were forcibly deported to Central Asia; they did not regain any status until 1989

The RSFSR: The Jewish Population

• Late 18th c largest Jewish population in the world was under the tsar, 7M, reduced to 5M by WWII

• Jewish population heavily involved in Bolshevik revolution

• Jewish culture and education (supporting Yiddish, but outlawing Hebrew) flourished in 1920s, because Jews were considered a “nationality”, but not a “nation” because they lacked a common language

The RSFSR: The Jewish Population, cont’d.

• 1934 Jewish Autonomous Region in Siberian Far East established, with “Soviet Yiddish” as its official language, but few Jews moved there

• 1930 Jewish section that had supported Jewish cultural development was disbanded and Jews were targeted in the purges

• Publication in Yiddish gradually waned

The RSFSR: The Jewish Population, cont’d.

• End of WWII – all Jewish schools closed

• 1949 all Yiddish language institutions and periodicals folded; one newspaper started in 1961, book publishing virtually died out

• Rapid language shift:

• 1897 96.9% of Jews considered Yiddish their native language
• 1926: 70.4%, 1939: 40%, 1959: 17.9%, 1989: 11.1%

The RSFSR: The Jewish Population, cont’d.

• Population remained large (7th largest ethnic group), but dispersed, and this contributed to language loss

• After fall of communism, younger generation has identified with Hebrew and some people are studying Yiddish again, but it is still a dying language in Russia

The RSFSR: The Germans

• 1989 15th largest ethnic group, 2M

• Immigrated by invitation from Catherine the Great, most settled along the Volga

• WWII – considered “enemies of the State” and exiled to Central Asia (Kazakh SSR) and Siberia, amnestied 1955, rehabilitated 1965

• German newspapers resumed 1958

• Language attrition:

• 1926 94.4% spoke German, 1959 75%, 1989 48.7%

• Many emigrated to Germany toward end of USSR

The RSFSR: The Finno-Ugric people

• N and NW of Leningrad: Karelian, Livvi, Ludian (these are 3 dialects of Karelian)

• Always a minority among Russian speakers
• 1926 76.5% considered Karelian native language, 1970 95% urban Karelians fluent in Russian

• E of Moscow: Chermisic (Low & High Mari), Mordvinic (Moksha & Erzya)

• Mari education begun to flourish after fall of communism (Tatarstan area)
• Mordvinians considered fully Russified in 1868, but Soviets supported the language until 1970, Mordovian Republic still lagging behind in providing Mordvinian education

The Ukrainian SSR

• 2nd largest republic, 49.6M

• Hostilities toward Russians; declared a dialect of Russian under tsar and banned from public use

• Difference in urban vs. rural language attitudes

• Ukraine did not join the Soviet Union until development of Ukrainian language was guaranteed, and all gov’t employees would speak Ukrainian

• 1919-20 decrees mandated use of Ukrainian in schools and gov’t (alongside Russian), but it took a few years to Ukrainize the schools

The Ukrainian SSR, cont’d.

• 1930s purges targeted Ukrainian intelligentsia, including pro-Ukrainian language leaders

• 1938 Study of Russian declared obligatory, by Khrushchev, then the leader of Ukrainian Communist Party

• Post 1953 some increase in Ukrainian publishing during thaw

The Ukrainian SSR, cont’d.

• 1958 High-ranking Ukrainian party officials opposed USSR decision to abolish native-language schools

• Large numbers of Russians living in Ukraine contributed to attrition; in 1989 only 8% of Kievans were monolingual Ukrainian

• Tendency was to move from country to cities and abandon Ukrainian for Russian

• 1989 Ukrainian proclaimed official language

The Belorussian SSR

• 4th largest group in USSR (after Russians, Ukrainians, and Uzbeks), but have always been marginalized with respect to Latin, Polish, or Russian

• Belorusan had official status in 13th-16th c, but declined after Polish-Lithuanian union (1569)

• After Bolshevik revolution, there was movement to introduce Belorusan in schools, gov’t, and public life, and this was initially successful

The Belorussian SSR, cont’d.

• 1924 Belarusan banned from highest levels of gov’t., Russification became intense under Stalin and continued under Khrushchev

• 1979 only 74% of ethnic Belarusans claimed Belarusan as native language; 1992 60% preferred Russian for everyday use

• 1990 Belarusan declared official language, but Belarusan has continued to decline in post-Soviet period – schools, media, and publications are primarily Russian, and Russian became co-official language in 1995

The Moldavian SSR

• Modern terms: Moldova (a state), Moldovan (a dialect of Romanian)

• Soviet terms: Moldavia, Moldavian

• Moldova & Bessarabia contested by Ottoman and Russian empires, 1359 independence, 1396 joined Lithuania, OCS used as official language, 1812 Russia acquired Bessarabia and much of Moldova, 1917 sought union with Romania

The Moldavian SSR, cont’d.

• Language was manipulated to create an ethnic identity for Soviet Moldavia, which was 47% Romanian, 20% Ukrainian, 12% Yiddish, 8% Russian under tsar

• Orthographic reforms: 1924 Latin to Cyrillic, 1933 Cyrillic to Latin (opposite of national pattern – switch to Cyrillic in order to distance them from Romanians, and switch to Latin as a conciliatory gesture), 1938 switch back to Cyrillic and purge of pro-Romanian linguists

The Moldavian SSR, cont’d.

• Post WWII intense Russification

• 1989 conversion to Latin letters, and Moldovan/Romanian declared official language, attempts to make Russian a co-official language in gov’t and compulsory in education met with protest and failed

The Backlash of Reform

• By late 1980s Belarusans, Moldovans, and Ukrainians were alarmed by level of Russification, and they all passed legislation to give their languages official status