The name of the RSFSR first appeared in 1918, it was used as the name for the world's first proletarian state, formed after the October Revolution in 1917. It lasted until the end of December 1991, when a decision was made to rename the country to the Russian Federation. So how did the formation of the RSFSR happen, how does this abbreviation stand for and what are the most significant events that took place on its territory? It is important to know all this, if only because it is possible to make a forecast for the future of any country only on the basis of knowledge of its history.
Formation of a new state on the territory of the former Russian Empire
As a result of the October Revolution, which some historians tend to consider a coup, the Republic was proclaimed, and in January 1918 the Third Congress of Soviets approved an important document - the Declaration, in whichthe rights of the “working and exploited people” were proclaimed. In the same document, it was announced that the new state was federal, and after some time, the abbreviation of the RSFSR began to be used to designate it, the decoding of which sounded like the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. However, at that time the country did not yet have any official symbols, nor a strong government capable of controlling its entire vast territory.
History (before joining the USSR)
From February to March 1918, Soviet power was established in a significant part of the provinces of the former Russian Empire, and Moscow was proclaimed the capital instead of Petrograd. In order to strengthen their influence and in order to forever bury the hopes of the monarchists for the revival of autocracy in the country, in July in Yekaterinburg the Bolsheviks shot the family of Nicholas II. Interestingly, almost the next day after that, the first Constitution of the RSFSR came into force. This event meant the end of a period of uncertainty, when the boundaries of the subjects of the federation were literally drawn on maps “by eye”, and two or even three councils, as they were then called, “workers”, “soldiers” or “peasant deputies. Thus, at that time, to the question of what the RSFSR was, there was only one correct answer - the world's first state of the exploited people, where they are going to build communism.
Civil War
Sinceformation of the RSFSR (the decoding of this abbreviation you already know) and until 1923 was in a state of civil war and was subjected to intervention by the Entente. In addition, the new government had to suppress the uprising of the White Czechs and prevent the occupation of the Far East. Through incredible efforts and hundreds of thousands of victims, the State of Workers and Peasants was able to suppress all pockets of resistance, and by mid-summer 1923 peace reigned in the country.
RSFSR in the first years after the formation of the USSR
Although there were several points of view in the Bolshevik Party on the question of the principles on which a single multinational state should be built, as a result of the discussions, the group supporting V. I. Lenin won. Thus, on December 29, 1922, the USSR was formed, all the republics of which were considered equal and could freely withdraw from the union. At the same time, the RSFSR at that time included the Bashkir ASSR (formed in 1919), the Tatar ASSR (1920), the Gorskaya, Crimean and Dagestan ASSRs (1921), the Yakut ASSR (1922), the Turkestan ASSR and others. At the same time, in 1923, the administrative-territorial reform began, which led to a significant decrease in the area of the Russian SFSR.
RSFSR: the territory of the country before the Great Patriotic War
During the years of its existence, Soviet Russia repeatedly changed its borders. In particular, in 1923, the village of Luganskaya in the Don region, which is part of the RSFSR, became the center of the newly formed district of the Lugansk district of the Ukrainian SSR. More serious transformations took place in the autumn of 1924, when the southern regions of the Turkestan ASSR were divided between the Uzbek SSR, which included the Tajik ASSR, and the Turkmen SSR. In total, at the beginning of 1930, there were eleven republics in the RSFSR, with a large degree of autonomy. At the same time, such freedom to resolve issues on the ground was only a declaration on paper and could not be realized in any way.
The following redrawings of the borders of the RSFSR within the USSR were indicated in the new constitution of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1936, according to which the Kazakh, Kirghiz and Karakalpak ASSRs were withdrawn from the federal republic, and in 1940 the Karelian ASSR. By the way, this document is still considered one of the most democratic main laws adopted in the world at the moment.
Territorial transformations after the end of World War II
In 1945, in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the Königsberg Special Military District was transferred to the USSR and the RSFSR. It was one of the most important parts of the historical region of East Prussia, which was later transformed and renamed the Kaliningrad region. Thus, the borders of the country have moved significantly to the west.
However, the most important territorial loss occurred in 1954, when the Crimean region of the RSFSR was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. This happened without specifying the status of Sevastopol, which at that time was a city of republican subordination to Soviet Russia. In addition, in July 1956, a part of another nation alterritorial formation of the Karelian ASSR.
Composition of the RSFSR at the time of the formation of the Russian Federation
By December 25, 1993, the RSFSR consisted of the Ingush, Chechen, Karachay-Cherkess, Chuvash, Udmurt, Kabardino-Balkarian republics, as well as the republics of Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Dagestan, Kalmykia, Karelia, Mari El, Tatarstan, Sakha (Yakutia), Tuva, Adygea, Gorny Altai, Khakassia, Komi, etc. Thus, the answer to the question of what the RSFSR is and what subjects it consisted of at the time of the collapse of the USSR sounds like this: it is a federal state, consisting of a large number of regions, territories and republics with equal rights and status.
At the end of December 1991, a declaration was adopted in Moscow, which proclaimed the end of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Russian Federation (at that time the RSFSR) was recognized as the legal successor of the entire former USSR and took its place in international organizations.
Now you know that the RSFSR is an abbreviation that was used to first designate the world's first “state of victorious socialism”, and later - one of the republics that make up the USSR, the legal successor of which is our country today.
