Sovietization ( ) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of
soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after 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 ...
.
A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second meaning) occurred during the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
in the territories captured by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. Later, the territories occupied by the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
and the USSR were Sovietized.
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
was conquered by the Soviet Union and Sovietized in the 1920s, and after the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Sovietization took place in the countries of the
Soviet Bloc (
Eastern and
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic states, etc.). In a broad sense, it included the creation of Soviet-style authorities, new elections held by Bolshevik party members with opposition parties being restricted, the nationalization of private land and property, and the repression against representatives of "
class enemies" (
kulak
Kulak ( ; rus, кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈɫak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over ...
s, or ''
osadniks'', for instance). Mass executions and imprisoning in
Gulag
The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
labor camp
A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...
s and
exile settlements often accompany that process. This was usually promoted and sped up by
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
aimed at creating a common way of life in all states within the
Soviet sphere of influence. In modern history, Sovietization refers to the copying of models of Soviet life (the cult of the leader's personality, collectivist ideology, mandatory participation in propaganda activities, etc.).
In a narrow sense, the term ''Sovietization'' is often applied to mental and social changes within the population of the Soviet Union and its
satellites
A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scientif ...
, which led to creation of the ''
new Soviet man'' (according to its supporters) or ''
Homo Sovieticus'' (according to its critics).
[Барташук Олес�]
Наслідки запровадження радянської обрядовості (60–80-і рр. ХХ ст.): аналіз історико-етнографічних матеріалів календарного циклу Хмельницького Поділля
/
Мандрівець Науковий журнал
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See also
* Establishment of Soviet power in Russia (1917–1918)
* Sovietization of the Baltic states
* Soviet patriotism
* Soviet empire
* Russification
* Korenizatsiia
Korenizatsiia (, ; ) was an early policy of the Soviet Union for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the governments of their specific republics of the Soviet Union, Soviet republics. In the 1920s, the policy promoted representativ ...
* National delimitation in the Soviet Union
* Neo-Sovietism
References
Further reading
*
* Weeks, Theodore R. (2010)
Russification / Sovietization
EGO - European History Online
Mainz
Institute of European History
retrieved: March 25, 2021
pdf
.
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Soviet internal politics
Soviet phraseology
Soviet Union
Imperialism
Politics of the Soviet Union
Neo-Sovietism
Nationalism in the Soviet Union
Social history of Belarus
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
History of East Germany
Hungarian People's Republic
Polish People's Republic
Poland–Soviet Union relations
Social history of Ukraine
Cultural assimilation
Russian Revolution