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DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2022.84.45.015

“FLOURISHING AND RAPPROCHEMENT” OF NATIONS IN THE INTERPRETATIONS OF SOVIET CAUCASIAN STUDIES

Kanukova, Zalina V.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2022. IIS 45 (84).
Abstract:
The article deals with various interpretations of Lenin’s postulate about two historical trends in
the national question in the North Caucasian segment of Soviet historiography. The inconsistency of
this provision entailed extreme inconsistency, in both national policy and its scientific support. The
first trend, the flourishing of nations, implemented in the first years of Soviet power by the policy of
“indigenization”, stimulated the development of ethno-differentiating characteristics of the peoples
of the region, which did not go well with the declared task of rapprochement of nations, up to their
complete merger. The curtailment of this policy in the course of the campaign “against bourgeois
nationalism” set before the humanities the difficult task of combining Lenin’s attitudes about “special
care in relation to national feeling” and forcing the idea of merging nations. The article examines
how at different stages of Soviet history this Leninist position gave rise to contradictory scientific
interpretations, far from the real state of interethnic relations. Changes in the tone of slogan policy
since the mid-1950s, its influence on scientific research, the authors of which were still forced to “reconcile”
Lenin’s “two tendencies”, often using one set of standard statements and facts, are revealed.
Particular attention is paid to the first interethnic conflict in the USSR in the city of Ordzhonikidze
in 1981 and its consequences for socio-political life and humanitarian science in the region. It is
noted that confused ideologists tried to explain it by violating the Leninist principles of national
policy, still considering them a “faithful compass”. Towards the end of Soviet history, some scientific
studies interpreted new party attitudes, others recognized the lack of real equality between nations;
there were bold attempts to explain the ethnic “renaissance” by responding to such challenges as the
displacement of native languages, the struggle against customs and traditions. The reasons for the
unpreparedness of the authorities and science for the challenges of the coming era of interethnic conflicts
include the lack of scientific and theoretical development of the problem.
Keywords: North Caucasus, national policy, historiography, “flourishing and rapprochement” of nations
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