What is the Karelian ASSR?

The Karelian ASSR is a socialist republic-the autonomy of peasants and workers, which existed in the 20th century within the borders of the territory of the USSR. The region has twice acquired this status, which is explained by a series of military events, political and socio-economic transformations.

Socio-economic characteristics and geographical location

The Karelian ASSR - Area of the northwestern part of the European part of the USSR. In the west it borders on Finland, in the east it is washed by the White Sea, in the south by the Ladoga and Onega lakes. The relief is hilly with pronounced traces of the consequences of the action of the glacier. Building materials (marble, granites, dolomites, etc.), iron ore, mica were widely distributed from minerals. By the standards of the USSR, the region was considered quite backward in economic development, as there were no large industrial facilities on its territory. In addition, the titular nations of the republic, Finno-Ugric peoples (Veps, Karelians, Finns) in fact accounted for a smaller part of the population (about 30%).

The Republic in peacetime

In sources and historiography, there may be some confusion: the Karelian SSR or the ASSR? To determine which option is correct, you need to understand a series of transformations. During the Civil War, the Karelian Labor Commune was organized in Russia. For the first time as an administrative-territorial unit of the USSR it was transformed into the Autonomous Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic. The decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, signed on July 25, 1923, served as the basis for this. After the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR, on December 5, 1936, the name was changed to the Karelian ASSR.

June 17, 1937 was introduced the first coat of arms of the republic, it had inscriptions in three languages: Russian, Karelian and Finnish. However, on December 29, 1937, his modified version was adopted without the last slogan. This was due to the repressions that began in the region against the Finnish population.

Governing bodies of the republic

An integral step was the creation of party and state authorities as a territory that was part of the RSFSR. The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was assigned the status of an independent administrative-territorial unit, therefore the head of the executive power was the Council of People's Commissars, and the party apparatus was concentrated in the republican central party organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) (in a certain period - the CC of the CP (b)).

In the postwar period, the apparatus of the Council of People's Commissars was replaced by ministries, including in the field. Transformations affected each republic and the autonomy that was part of the USSR. The central departments of the territory under study were headed by the ministers of the Karelian ASSR.

Military operations on the territory of the republic

The location of the subject has repeatedly become a stumbling block in the achievement of the interests of neighboring states. So, from the autumn of 1939, when the Second World War began, the security of the city of Leningrad and the surrounding territories became much more acute. A distance of about 25 km from the Soviet city was the state border with Finland. With the direct invasion of the territory of this European country by the forces of the army of one of the belligerent powers of Europe, artillery shelling with direct fire became very real. He could have created an obstacle to the Soviet navy in Kronstadt, gunshots placed on the border line could well have struck at the industrial regions of Leningrad. To prevent the development of such a scenario, the Soviet leadership already in October 1939 put forward a number of proposals to Finland, including the exchange of territories. Specifically, from the neighboring state it was required to give half of the Karelian Isthmus and several islands located in the Gulf of Finland. In turn, the Soviet Union guaranteed to yield to Karelia, whose territory was twice as large. Finland has not accepted these conditions, and negotiations between the states have reached an impasse.

Territorial changes

November 30, 1939, fully aware of the hopelessness of the situation, the Soviet Union begins the Soviet-Finnish war, which also became known as the Winter War. On December 1, the first "Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between the USSR and the Finnish Democratic Republic" was signed. It was planned to construct border fortifications at new borders. Therefore, the condition of the agreement was the recognition of half of Karelia by the Finnish territory. The end of the Winter War took place in March 1940, when in Soviet Moscow the warring parties signed a peace treaty. The Soviet Union received at the disposal of the military base on the peninsula of Hanko and a significant peninsula in the southwest, which included Keksholm, Sortavala, Vyborg, Suojarvi, the eastern part of the polar volost along with the villages of Alakurtti and Kuolayarvi.

The twelfth republic

Since April 1940 the Karelian ASSR has been transformed into the Karelian-Finnish SSR. In fulfillment of the conditions of the Moscow Peace Treaty, it included a significant territory of Finland.

Administrative and territorial reforms have raised the state and legal status of the republic and expanded the rights in the state, socio-economic and cultural development. After the transformation of the Karelian autonomy into the Karelo-Finnish SSR on July 8, 1940, a new coat of arms was established.

The Karelo-Finnish SSR became the territory of fierce fighting in the war of the USSR and fascist Germany. In 1941, a significant part of the republic was occupied and released only in the summer of 1944.

Urban points of the Karelian ASSR

The Karelian ASSR was an insignificant territory. Cities and settlements were small in size and had Finnish, Karelian names. The administrative center of the republic was Petrozavodsk. He was already a large city at that time. The status of the administrative center is still in Petrozavodsk. The second city of republican subordination was Sortavala. The Karelian ASSR had about a dozen cities of regional subordination. These are Belomorsk, Kem, Kondopoga, Lahdenpohja, Medvezhyegorsk, Olonets, Pitkyaranta, Pudozh, Segezha, Suoyarvi.

According to the republican legislation, for cities there was a registration rate. The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from the backward region gradually turned into a more developed territory, so care for citizens wishing to improve housing conditions was not in the last place.

Restoring the status

The death of JV Stalin in 1953 and the subsequent events of political, socio-economic, cultural and ideological character directly affected the lives of ordinary citizens and entire territories. The position of the Karelian-Finnish Republic in the USSR was again revised. According to the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR , the status of autonomy was returned to it on June 16, 1956. It again became part of the RSFSR, but the name lost the word "Finnish".

When this subject was reorganized, a joke appeared: "... the republic was abolished, because it was found two Finns - the finspector and Finkelstein."

The symbol of the restored autonomous territory was the state flag of the RSFSR, on which additional inscriptions were written in Russian and Finnish.

In connection with the transformation of the Karelian-Finnish SSR into autonomy on August 20, 1956, with the minor changes, the former coat of arms of the republic was restored. Some researchers are inclined to believe that this event predetermined the fate of the territory for decades to come. The Karelian ASSR existed until 1991. Hypothetically, the region could become an independent separate state, but it is precisely being in the RSFSR is the reason that it is an administrative and territorial unit, a subject of modern Russia, having the status of a republic, called Karelia. Its capital is still the city of Petrozavodsk.