The Bolsheviks and the National Question, 1917-23 (Studies in Russian and East European History and Society)

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it fell apart along lines which had first been drawn up by the Soviet Communists in the years following the Russian Revolution. The Russian Bolsheviks had no blueprint for how to deal with the problems posed by a multinational state, and this period was crucial as they felt their way towards creating a system which would allow the nationalists of the old Russian empire to flourish and develop. In this first work in English to examine the question, Jeremy Smith makes extensive use of previously unavailable material from the archives of the former Soviet Union. The book explores the disputes surrounding the creation of a federal multinational state--the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.