Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
Українська Радянська Соціалістична Республіка (Ukrainian)
Украинская Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian)[1]
1919–1991
Flag of Ukrainian SSR
Flag
(1950–1991)
State emblem (1949–1991) of Ukrainian SSR
State emblem
(1949–1991)
Motto: Пролетарі всіх країн, єднайтеся! (Ukrainian)
Proletari vsikh krain, yednaitesia!  (transliteration)
"Workers of the world, unite!"
Anthem: Державний гімн Української Радянської Соціалістичної Республіки (Ukrainian)
Derzhavnyi himn Ukrainskoi Radianskoi Sotsialistychnoi Respubliky (transliteration)
"State Anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic"
Location of the Ukrainian SSR (red) within the Soviet Union (red and light yellow) between 1956 and 1991
Location of the Ukrainian SSR (red) within the Soviet Union (red and light yellow) between 1956 and 1991
StatusSatellite state of the Russian SFSR (1919–1922)
Union Republic of the Soviet Union (1922–1991)
CapitalKharkov (1919–1934)[2]
Kiev (1934–1991)[3]
Largest cityKiev
Official languagesRussian[4][5]
Ukrainian[5][6]
(Ukrainian declared as sole official language in 1990)a[7]
Recognised languagesBelarusian, Crimean Tatar, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish
Religion
State atheism (treated officially until glasnost era)
Russian Orthodox Church (de facto) (through Ukrainian Exarchate)
Greek Catholic Church (illegal)
Sunni Islam
Judaism
Demonym(s)Ukrainian, Soviet
Government1919–1990:
Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party Soviet socialist republic
1990–1991:
Unitary multi-party parliamentary republic
First Secretary 
• 1918–1919 (first)
Emanuel Kviring
• 1990 (last)[8]
Stanislav Hurenko
Head of state 
• 1919–1938 (first)
Grigory Petrovsky
• 1990–1991 (last)
Leonid Kravchuk
Head of government 
• 1918–1919 (first)
Georgy Pyatakov
• 1988–1991 (last)
Vitold Fokin
LegislatureCongress of Soviets (1919–1938)[9]
Supreme Soviet (1938–1991)[10]
History 
• Declaration of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic
10 March 1919
30 December 1922
15 November 1939
2 August 1940
• Admitted to the United Nations
24 October 1945
19 February 1954
16 July 1990
• Declaration of independence, Ukrainian SSR renamed to Ukraine
24 August 1991
1 December 1991
10 December 1991
• Dissolution of the Soviet Union (Ukraine's independence formally recognized)
26 December 1991
28 June 1996
Area
• Total
603,700 km2 (233,100 sq mi)
Population
51,706,746
HDI (1990)0.725
high
CurrencySoviet ruble (руб) (SUR)
Calling code+7 03/04/05/06
Internet TLD.su
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Ukrainian People's Republic
Makhnovshchina
Second Polish Republic
Kingdom of Romania
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
General Government
Polish People's Republic
Kingdom of Hungary
Crimea in the Soviet Union
Kholodny Yar Republic
Ukraine
  1. Law of Ukraine "About languages of the Ukrainian SSR"

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian: Українська Радянська Соціалістична Республіка, romanizedUkrainska Radianska Sotsialistychna Respublika;[note 1] Russian: Украинская Советская Социалистическая Республика[note 2]), abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine,[11][12][13] was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991.[14] Under the Soviet one-party model, the Ukrainian SSR was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union through its republican branch, the Communist Party of Ukraine.

The first iterations of the Ukrainian SSR were established during the Russian Revolution, particularly after the Bolshevik Revolution. The outbreak of the Ukrainian–Soviet War in the former Russian Empire saw the Bolsheviks defeat the independent Ukrainian People's Republic, during the conflict against which they founded the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets, which was governed by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), in December 1917; it was later succeeded by the Ukrainian Soviet Republic in 1918.[15] Simultaneously with the Russian Civil War, the Ukrainian War of Independence was being fought among the different Ukrainian republics founded by Ukrainian nationalists, Ukrainian anarchists, and Ukrainian separatists – primarily against Soviet Russia and the Ukrainian SSR, with either help or opposition from neighbouring states.[16] In 1922, it was one of four Soviet republics (with the Russian SFSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR) that signed the Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union. As a Soviet quasi-state, the Ukrainian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations in 1945[17] alongside the Byelorussian SSR, in spite of the fact that they were also legally represented by the Soviet Union in foreign affairs. Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Ukrainian SSR emerged as the present-day independent state of Ukraine, although the modified Soviet-era constitution remained in use until the adoption of the modern Ukrainian constitution in June 1996.[18]

Throughout its 72-year history, the republic's borders changed many times, with a general trend toward acquiring lands with ethnic Ukrainian population majority, and losing lands with other ethnic majorities. A significant portion of what is now western Ukraine was gained via the Soviet-German Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with the annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia in 1939, significant portions of Romania in 1940, and Carpathian Ruthenia in Czechoslovakia in 1945. From the 1919 establishment of the Ukrainian SSR until 1934, the city of Kharkov served as its capital; however, the republic's seat of government was subsequently relocated in 1934 to the city of Kiev, the historic Ukrainian capital, and remained at Kiev for the remainder of its existence.

Geographically, the Ukrainian SSR was situated in Eastern Europe, to the north of the Black Sea, and was bordered by the Soviet republics of Moldavia (since 1940), Byelorussia, and Russia, and the countries of Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The republic's border with Czechoslovakia formed the Soviet Union's westernmost border point. According to the 1989 Soviet census, the republic of Ukraine had a population of 51,706,746 (second after Russia).[19][20]

  1. ^ Historical names:
    • 1919–1936: Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (Українська Соціалістична Радянська Республіка; Украинская Социалистическая Советская Республика)
  2. ^ "History" (in Ukrainian). Kharkov Oblast Government Administration. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  3. ^ Soviet encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. 1969–1972.
  4. ^ Lenore Grenoble (2003). Language Policy in the Soviet Union. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4020-1298-3. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b Mariya Kapinos. Honest History: Where, why Ukrainians speak Russian language (and how Kremlin uses it to stoke conflict in Ukraine) Archived 9 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Kyiv Post. 6 April 2018
  6. ^ "Constitution of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted in 1978" (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  7. ^ Law of Ukraine "About languages of the Ukrainian SSR"
  8. ^ On 24 October 1990, article 6 on the monopoly of the Communist Party of Ukraine on power was excluded from the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR
  9. ^ All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets in the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia
  10. ^ Magocsi 2010, p. 722.
  11. ^ "Українська радянська енциклопедія : [в 12 т.] / голов. редкол.: М. П. Бажан (голов. ред.) [та ін.]. - Київ : Голов. ред. УРЕ, 1977 - 1985". Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  12. ^ Sawczuk, Konstantyn (21 January 1975). The Ukraine in the United Nations organization: A study in Soviet foreign policy, 1944-1950 (East European monographs). East European Quarterly. ISBN 978-0-914710-02-8. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Review of the United Nations Charter Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on the United Nations Charter, Eighty-Third Congress, Second Session". 21 January 2024. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  14. ^ Lee, Gary (27 October 1986). "Soviets Begin Recovery From Disaster's Damage". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  15. ^ The Emergence of Ukraine: Self-Determination, Occupation, and War in Ukraine, 1917-1922. Translated by Fagan, Gus. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. 2015.
  16. ^ "World War I and the struggle for independence". Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  17. ^ "Activities of the Member States – Ukraine". United Nations. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  18. ^ "Ukraine: vie politique depuis 1991". Larousse. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  19. ^ Hanna H. Starostenko, "Economic and Ecological Factors of Transformations in Demographic Process in Ukraine" Archived 15 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Uktraine Magazine No. 2, 1998.
  20. ^ "What Went Wrong with Foreign Advice in Ukraine?". The World Bank Group. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2008.


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