The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is a socialist republic-autonomy of peasants and workers that existed in the 20th century within the borders of the USSR. The region acquired this status twice, which is explained by a series of military events, political and socio-economic transformations.
Socio-economic features and geographic location
Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is a region of the northwestern territory 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 effects of the glacier. Of the minerals, building materials (marble, granites, dolomites, etc.), iron ore, and mica were widely distributed. By the standards of the USSR, the region was considered rather backward in economic development, since there were no large industrial facilities on its territory. In addition, the titular nations of the republic, the Finno-Ugric peoples (Vepsians, Karelians, Finns) actually made up a smaller part of the population (about 30%).
Republic in peacetime
There may be some confusion in the sources and historiography: Karelian SSR or ASSR? To determine which optionis true, a series of transformations should be sorted out. During the Civil War in Russia, the Karelian Labor Commune was organized. For the first time as an administrative-territorial unit of the USSR, it was transformed into the Autonomous Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic. The basis for this was the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, signed on July 25, 1923. After the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR, on December 5, 1936, the name was changed to the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
On June 17, 1937, the first coat of arms of the republic was introduced, it had inscriptions in three languages at once: Russian, Karelian and Finnish. However, already on December 29, 1937, its modified version was adopted without the last slogan. This was due to the repressions against the Finnish population that began in the region.
Governing bodies of the Republic
An integral step was the creation of party and state authorities as a territory that became part of the RSFSR. The Karelian ASSR was given the status of an independent administrative-territorial unit, therefore, the Council of People's Commissars was at the head of the executive power, and the party apparatus was concentrated in the republican central party organ of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (in a certain period - the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks).
In the post-war period, the apparatuses of the Council of People's Commissars were replaced by ministries, including in the field. The transformations affected every republic and autonomy that was part of the USSR. The central departments of the study area 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 achieving the interests of neighboring states. So, since the autumn of 1939, when the Second World War began, the issue of the security of the city of Leningrad and the surrounding territories has become much more acute. At a distance of about 25 km from the Soviet city was the state border with Finland. With a direct invasion of the territory of this European country by the forces of the army of one of the belligerent powers of Europe, direct-fire artillery fire became quite real. He could create a barrier to the Soviet navy, located in Kronstadt, the shots of guns placed on the border line could well strike 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, the neighboring state was required to give up half of the Karelian Isthmus and several islands located in the Gulf of Finland. In turn, the Soviet Union guaranteed to cede Karelia, whose territory was twice as large. Finland did not accept these conditions, and negotiations between the states reached an impasse.
Territorial changes
November 30, 1939, fully realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the USSR begins the Soviet-Finnish war, which also became known as the Winter War. Already 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 build on the new bordersborder fortifications. Therefore, the condition of the agreement was the recognition of half of Karelia as Finnish territory. The end of the Winter War took place in March 1940, when the warring parties signed a peace treaty in Soviet Moscow. The Soviet Union received a military base on the Hanko Peninsula and a significant southwestern territory of the peninsula, which included Kexholm, Sortavala, Vyborg, Suoyarvi, the eastern part of the polar parish, along with the villages of Alakurtti and Kuolajärvi.
Twelfth Republic
Since April 1940, the Karelian ASSR was transformed into the Karelian-Finnish SSR. In pursuance of the terms of the Moscow Peace Treaty, a significant territory of Finland was included in its composition.
Administrative-territorial transformations have raised the state-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 Karelian-Finnish SSR on July 8, 1940, a new coat of arms was established.
Karelian-Finnish SSR became the territory of fierce fighting in the war between the USSR and Nazi Germany. In 1941, a significant part of the republic was occupied and liberated only in the summer of 1944.
Urban points of the Karelian ASSR
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was a small territory. Cities and settlements were small in number and had Finnish, Karelian names. The administrative center of the republic was Petrozavodsk. It was already a big city at that time. Petrozavodsk has the status of an administrative center even now. The second city of republican subordination was Sortavala. The Karelian ASSR had about a dozen cities of regional subordination. These are Belomorsk, Kem, Kondopoga, Lakhdenpokhya, Medvezhyegorsk, Olonets, Pitkyaranta, Pudozh, Segezha, Suoyarvi.
According to republican legislation, there was an accounting rate for cities. The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was gradually turning from a backward region into a more developed territory, so concern for citizens who want to improve their living conditions was not in last place.
Restoring status
The death of IV Stalin in 1953 and the subsequent events of a political, socio-economic, cultural and ideological nature directly affected the fate of both ordinary citizens and entire territories. The position of the Karelian-Finnish Republic within the USSR was again revised. By 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 word “Finnish” was lost in the name.
When this subject was reorganized, a joke appeared: "… the republic was abolished because two Finns were found in it - the financial inspector and Finkelstein."
The state flag of the RSFSR became the symbol of the revived autonomous territory, on which additional inscriptions were made in Russian and Finnish.
Due tothe transformation of the Karelian-Finnish SSR into autonomy on August 20, 1956, with minor changes, the former coat of arms of the republic was restored. Some researchers are inclined to believe that it was this event that 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 part of the RSFSR that is the reason why it is a – administrative-territorial unit, a subject of modern Russia, having the status of a republic called Karelia. Its capital is still Petrozavodsk.
