UP TO AND INCLUDING INDEPENDENCE
"What is our Russian empire?" asked Andrei Bely in his novel Petersburg. "Our Russian empire," he answered, "is a geographical entity; that is to say, a piece of a well-known planet. And the Russian empire includes, first and foremost, Great Russia, Little Russia, White Russia, and Ru- thenian Russia; secondly, the kingdoms of Georgia, Poland, Kazan, and Astrakhan; thirdly, it includes oh, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."73 In the 1897 census, the first systematic census in the empire, the population was 122,666,500, of which 44.32 percent were Russian. In short, the Russian state was multinational.
From the time of Peter the Great until the coronation of Alexander III, the nationalities policy of the Russian empire was distinguished by its relative tolerance toward the national traits of the various peoples contained within it. Only the Poles, whose state had been crushed and whose territory had been partitioned by Prussia, Austria, and Russia, continued their fight for national independence. Alexander III introduced a new chauvinistic policy of Russification, which aroused great discontent among the non- Russian peoples, and which Nicholas II continued.
The 1905 constitution allowed the nationalities of the empire to present their demands and express their aspirations, and it soon became evident, at least before 1917, that there were no major separatist tendencies. The inhabitants of the Russian empire wanted reforms, democratization, equality of rights for all citizens, but not the fragmentation of the state. Among the first acts of the Provisional Government was the nullification of tsarist laws restricting the rights of national minorities and the proclamation of full equality for all citizens of the Russian Republic, regardless of religion, race, or national origin.74 The foundations were also laid for local self-rule. The governors of Transcaucasia and Turkestan were replaced by special committees, consisting mainly of Duma deputies who were natives of those
regions. Administration of the southwestern provinces was placed in the hands of Ukrainians, and in the summer of 1917 the Ukraine was recognized as a separate administrative unit.
In 1917 nationalist movements developed with unexpected vigor, fed by the same sources as other revolutionary movements. There was a difference, though. In the "borderlands" the peasant discontent caused by the postponement of agrarian reform was not directed against the landowners but against the Russian settlers; it took on a nationalist, anti-Russian character.
The October revolution hastened the decomposition of the empire; even the peoples that a short time before had not even dreamed of autonomy began to demand independence. The Soviet government recognized full independence for Poland. This did not require very much effort, since Poland had been occupied by the Germans and the Provisional Government had already promised it independence. Independence was likewise granted to Finland. However, People's Commissar of Nationalities Stalin, speaking at the congress of the Social Democratic party of Finland on November 14, 1917, called on the Finnish Bolsheviks to take power, adding: "And if you require our help, we will give it to you, fraternally extending our hand to you. You can be sure of that."75 In January 1918, when the local Bolsheviks in Finland attempted to take power, Soviet troops stationed there at the time did indeed aid the insurgents.
Before coming to power, Lenin often referred to Poland, Finland, and the Ukraine as nations whose right to independence was being frustrated by the Provisional Government. In June 1917 he expressed indignation at the Provisional Government's refusal to carry out its "elementary democratic duty" to declare itself in favor of autonomy for the Ukraine and its right to secede freely. After October his attitude on this issue changed. The Ukrainian nationalist movement had assumed vast dimensions after the February revolution. One of its leaders, professor Mikhail Hrushevsky, whose History of the Ukraine provided a historical and literary basis for the movement, declared in March 1917: 'There is no longer a Ukrainian problem. There is the great and free Ukrainian people, who are creating their own future under new conditions of liberty."76 Hrushevsky was elected president of the Central Rada, which represented the revolutionary parties and national minorities.
Gradually the Rada became the highest expression of the will of the Ukrainian people. On June 13 it published its first universal declaration. "Henceforth," it stated, "the Ukraine will be the Ukrainian People's Republic. Without seceding from the Russian republic, without endangering its unity, we shall take a firm stand upon our land, so that we can help all of Russia with all our strength, so that the entire Russian republic can become a federation of free and equal peoples." This document also delineated the boundaries of the new republic: 'The territory of the Ukrainian People's Republic includes all territories inhabited by a majority of Ukrainians."77
The Bolsheviks, who had criticized the Provisional Government for being slow to grant Ukrainian demands for independence, were themselves opposed to independence for the Ukraine. Yuri Pyatakov, head of the Ukrainian Bolsheviks, said after the universal declaration was published, "We should not support the Ukrainians, because their movement bodes no good for the proletariat. Russia cannot exist without the Ukrainian sugar industry; the same can be said about coal (the Donets basin), wheat, and so forth."78 But the Bolsheviks' weakness in the Ukraine (in August 1917 they had 22,303 members there, with 15,818 in the Donbass, Kharkov, and Eka- terinoslav)79 forced them to ally with the Rada as the Provisional Government. On the eve of the October revolution, the Rada supported the Bolsheviks, believing that they were even weaker than the Provisional Government. In Kiev their combined efforts put an end to the power of the Provisional Government on October 29. Soon after the victory, these momentary allies came into conflict. The Rada refused to recognize the all- Bolshevik Sovnarkom as the legitimate government of Russia and demanded that it be replaced by a more representative socialist body. On December 4 the Soviet government issued an ultimatum to the Rada: while recognizing the right of the Ukraine to independence, it demanded that the soviets and Soviet power in the Ukraine be recognized, or else there would be war.
Two days before the ultimatum, the Soviet government had issued the Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia, which solemnly proclaimed: (1) the equality and sovereignty of all peoples; (2) the right of nations to self-determination, up to and including separation and the formation of nation-states; (3) the liquidation of all national and national-religious privileges and restrictions; (4) the free development of national minorities and ethnic groups inhabiting the territory of Russia.80
A congress of soviets, convened in Kiev, gave a majority to the supporters of the Rada. The Bolsheviks walked out and organized their own congress in Kharkov. The central executive committee elected in Kharkov declared itself the sole legal government of the Ukraine and sent a telegram to Moscow announcing its total subordination to the Soviet government. On December 12 the Bolsheviks in Kharkov expelled all other socialist parties from the central executive committee and became the sole ruling party. War with the Rada began. In January 1918 units of the Red Guard occupied Kiev.
The nationalist movement in Byelorussia was in an embryonic stage in 1917. The Byelorussian peasants did not display any awareness of their ethnic differences from the Russians. Political life in Byelorussia centered around the Russian and Jewish socialist organizations. In March a Byelorussian National Committee consisting of representatives of all ethnic groups and social classes was founded. It called for autonomy and federation with Russia. Gradually a Byelorussian socialist party, the Gromada, became the main force in the committee. In July a Byelorussian rada was created on the Ukrainian model. At the same time Bolshevik influence grew, especially among the soldiers, who were impatiently waiting for peace to come. The Gromada refused to accept the October revolution and in December convened a Byelorussian national congress, which on the night of December 17 declared Byelorussia independent.