Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic Explained

Conventional Long Name:Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic
Native Name:




Common Name:Karelo-Finnish SSR
P1:Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicKarelian ASSR
Flag P1:Flag of Karelian ASSR (1938-1940).svg
P2:Finnish Democratic Republic
Flag P2:Flag of Finland.svg
S1:Leningrad Oblast
S2:Murmansk Oblast
S3:Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicKarelian ASSR
Flag S3:Flag of Karelian ASSR (1956-1978).svg
Flag Type:Flag
(1953–1956)
Image Map Caption:Location of the Karelo-Finnish SSR (red) within the Soviet Union (1940 boundaries)
National Motto:Kaikkien maiden proletaarit, liittykää yhteen!
"Proletarians of all countries, unite!"
National Anthem:Karjalais-suomalaisen sosialistisen neuvostotasavallan hymni
"Anthem of the Karelo-Finnish SSR"
(1945–1956)
Capital:Petrozavodsk
Common Languages:Karelian, Finnish, Russian
Government Type:Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist soviet republic
Title Leader:First Secretary
Leader1:Gennady Kupriyanov
Year Leader1:1940–1950
Leader2:Aleksandr Kondakov
Year Leader2:1950
Year Leader3:1950–1955
Leader4:Leonid Lubennikov
Year Leader4:1955–1956
Title Representative:Head of State
Representative1:Otto Wille Kuusinen
Year Representative1:1940–1956
Deputy1:Pavel Prokkonen
Year Deputy1:1940–1947
Year Deputy2:1947–1950
Deputy3:Pavel Prokkonen
Year Deputy3:1950–1956
Legislature:Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish SSR
Event Start:SSR established
Year Start:1940
Date Start:31 March
Event End:Demoted to ASSR
Year End:1956
Date End:16 July
Currency:Soviet ruble (Rbl)
Currency Code:SUR
Today:Russia

The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR), also called Soviet Karelia or simply known as Karelia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 31 March 1940 until it was made part of the Russian SFSR on 16 July 1956 as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The latter became the Republic of Karelia, a federal subject of Russia, on 13 November 1991.

History

The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was established by the Soviet government on 31 March 1940 by merging the KASSR with the Finnish Democratic Republic. The latter was created in territory ceded by Finland in the Winter War by the Moscow Peace Treaty, namely the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala.

Virtually the entire Karelian population of the ceded areas, about 422,000 people, was evacuated to Finland, and the territories were settled by peoples from other parts of the Soviet Union.

Creating a new Republic of the Union for an ethnic group that was not large in absolute terms, nor constituted anything close to a majority in its territory, nor had been a separate independent nation before its incorporation into the USSR, was unprecedented in the history of the USSR. Some later historians believe that the elevation of Soviet Karelia from an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (within the RSFSR) to an SSR was a political move as a "convenient means for facilitating the possible incorporation of additional Finnish territory" (or, possibly, the whole of Finland) into the USSR.[1] [2] [3]

In 1941, Finland retook the territory that it had lost in 1940 and occupied most of the Karelian lands that had been within the USSR before 1940, including the capital Petrozavodsk (Petroskoi).[3] In 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured the area. Soviet sovereignty was recognized by Finland in the Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty. The Finnish Karelians were evacuated to Finland again.

In September 1944, the Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg (Viipuri) was transferred from the Karelo-Finnish SSR to the Leningrad Oblast of the RSFSR, but Ladoga Karelia remained a part of the republic.

On 16 July 1956, the republic was incorporated into the Russian SFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This move can perhaps be explained in the context of the general post-war improvement of Finno-Soviet relations,[1] which also included such steps as the Soviets' return of the Porkkala Naval Base leased territory to full Finnish sovereignty (January 1956), and leasing Maly Vysotsky Island and the Soviet section of the Saimaa Canal (conquered by the USSR in 1940 and 1944) back to Finland (1963).

The abolition of the Karelian SSR in 1956 was the only case in the history of the USSR (1922–1991) of merging a member republic of the USSR into another republic. The state emblem of the Soviet Union had to be changed to reflect this, with one of the 16 ribbons symbolizing constituent republics (that in the Finnish language) removed. Soviet banknotes bearing the emblem were also changed accordingly.

In the last days of the USSR, the Karelian ASSR became the Republic of Karelia, a subdivision of the Russian Federation, on 13 November 1991.

Politics

The chairman of the Karelo-Finnish Supreme Soviet (1940–1956) was a Finnish communist Otto Wille Kuusinen. In the republic, there was also a separate Karelo-Finnish Communist Party led in the 1940s by G.N. Kupriyanov.

Yuri Andropov served for some years as the first secretary of the republic's Komsomol branch, the Leninist Communist Youth League of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic.

Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet

Name Period[4]
7 August 1940  - 1947
15 April 1947  - 1955
1955  - 1956

Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

Name Period
Mark Gorbachev
(As head of the Karelian ASSR)
31 March 1940  - 11 July 1940
11 July 1940  - 16 July 1956

Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars

The Council of People's Commissars was renamed the Council of Ministers in 1946.

Name Period
1940  - February 1947
February 1947  - 24 February, 1950
1950  - 16 July, 1956

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Helin, Ronald Arthur. Economic-geographic Reorientation in Western Finnish Karelia: A Result of the Finno-Soviet Boundary Demarcations of 1940 and 1944. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. 1961. 101.
  2. Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev. Edited by Sergeĭ Khrushchev. Published by Penn State Press, 2007. . Page 871 (biographic note on O. Kuusinen). On Google Books
  3. Book: Taagepera, Rein . The Finno-Ugric Republics and the Russian State . C. Hurst & Co. Publishers . 1999 . 1-85065-293-7 . 109.
  4. http://knowbysight/1_KAREL/03476.asp{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}