The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's various constituent republics each had their own

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

(generally referred as a "state anthem").

History

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the last republic to adopt a state anthem, doing so in 1990. It had had none before this date, and used in its place the Soviet national anthem, which was "

The Internationale "The Internationale" is an international anthem that has been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, democratic socialist, and social democratic movements. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since ...

" from 1917 to 1944 and the " National Anthem of the Soviet Union" from 1944 to 1990. Unlike most national anthems, few of which were composed by renowned composers, the Soviet Union's various state anthems were composed by some of the best Soviet composers, including world-renowned Gustav Ernesaks (Estonia),

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Music of the Soviet Union#Classical music of the Soviet Union, Soviet composers. Khachaturian was born and rai ...

(Armenia), Otar Taktakishvili (Georgia), and

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov (18 September 188523 November 1948) was an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music. He composed the music of the Az� ...

(Azerbaijan). After the fall of the union in 1991, one of the Soviet composers was asked to composed the current national anthem — Veli Mukhatov, who has previously composed the Turkmen SSR anthem, also composed the current

State Anthem of Turkmenistan The State Anthem of Turkmenistan was adopted as the national anthem of Turkmenistan in 1996, replacing the Anthem of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. After the death of Saparmurat Nyýazow in 2006, the lyrics were modified in 2008 by removi ...

. In another case, a prior composition by the SSR Anthem's composer was re-adopted after independence:

Azərbaycan marşı The State Anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan, also referred to as "" is the national anthem of Azerbaijan. The music was composed by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, a musicologist and prominent figure in Azerbaijani classical music. The lyrics, written in ...

, which was composed by Uzeyir Hajibeyov in the 1920s, before he has been chosen to compose the Azerbaijani SSR anthem. The lyrics present great similarities, all having mentions to

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

(and most, in their initial versions, to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

), to the guiding role of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

, and to the brotherhood of the Soviet peoples, including a specific reference to the friendship of the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

people (the Estonian, Georgian and Karelo-Finnish anthems were apparently an exception to this last rule). Some anthems' melody can be sung in the Soviet Union anthem lyrics (Ukrainian and Belarus are the most fitted in this case). Most of these anthems were replaced during or after the

dissolution of the USSR Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dissolution'', a 2002 novel by Richard Lee Byers in the War of the Spider Queen series * Dissolution (Sansom novel), ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), by C. J. Sansom, 2003 * Dissolution (Binge no ...

;

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

(until 2006),

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

(until 1996), and

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

kept the melodies, but with different lyrics. The

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

itself had abandoned the Soviet hymn, replacing it with a tune by Glinka. However, with

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

coming to power, the old Soviet tune was restored, with new lyrics written to it.

Anthems

Others

The " Anthem of the Karelo-Finnish SSR" was used for the

Karelo-Finnish SSR 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 ...

before it was demoted to an ASSR within the Russian SFSR. With the exception of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR and the Tuvan ASSR, autonomous republics of the Soviet Union (ASSRs) did not have their own official anthems, although unofficial versions had been used by some.

Legal status

Like the

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: ) is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing wo ...

and

red star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

, the public performance of the anthems of the Soviet republics and the anthem of the Soviet Union itself are considered by some as occupation symbols as well as symbols of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

and state terror by several countries formerly either members of or occupied by the

. Accordingly, Latvia, Lithuania,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and Estonia have banned those anthems amongst other things deemed to be symbols of fascism, socialism, communism, and the Soviet Union and its republics. In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, dissemination of items which are “media of fascist, communist, or other totalitarian symbolism” was criminalized in 1997. However, in 2011 the Constitutional Tribunal found this sanction to be unconstitutional. In contrast to this treatment of the ''symbolism'', promotion of fascist, communist and other totalitarian ''ideology'' remains illegal. Those laws do not apply to the anthems of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and

which have used the melody with different lyrics.

References

External links

Audio recordings
made by each republic's best national choir and orchestra in the 1970s-1980s; also instrumental versions by the Brass Band of the USSR Ministry of Defence from the 1968 Soviet LP.
State Anthem of the Soviet Union — youtube.com
{{Former anthems of Europe * Soviet Republics