This book constitutes a warning example of the destructiveness of imperialist manner of thought. Russia, having been called a prison of nations from the ancient times already, has destroyed subjugated peoples for centuries. Fortunately many of them still exist and some succeeded to become independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But most peoples are still oppressed and fight for their rights.
6 September 1990 a conference took place in Tartu, Estonia where it was decided to establish the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. It is meaningful that Tibetans who have been enslaved by another communist empire — the Republic of China — also took part in the conference among the representatives of the Soviet Union peoples. The establishment and elaboration of that organisation (53 nations of which several are registered in the Red Book are members of the organisation) shows that in addition to the tendency mentioned above another tendency contrary to the first one exists — peoples’ growing selfconsciousness and attempt not only to survive but to reach a higher level of civilisation through self-development.
To ensure this trend Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples was compiled in UNPO Tartu Coordination Office. 17 February 2001 UNPO VI General Assembly, gathered in Tallinn, Estonia, adopted the Declaration.
Linnart Mäll
Chairman of UNPO
PREFACE
The English version of The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire, published m 1993 in the Estonian language, is making its appearance before a wider public. Despite the passage of years, the content and the main message of the book have not lost their significance. The Soviet Union (22.4 million square kilometers) has indeed disappeared and is now part of history. It has been replaced by the Russian Federation (17.1 million square kilometers). With eleven of the former Soviet Republics, Russia has formed an economic and political union, the Commonwealth of Independent States ( Sodruzhestvo Nesavisimyh Gosudarstv). Still Russian units guard the Tajik-Afghanistan border, Russian troops are stationed in Abkhazia and Moldavia and the Russian navy is based in the Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Thus, if only in symbolic form, the Russian Empire continues to exist out of inertia, its spirit having by no means dissolved. At present only the Baltic States can view themselves as totally independent.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the following nations described in the Red Book ceased to be residents of Russian territory: Abkhaz* (Abkhazia), Bats (Georgia), Budukhs (Azerbaijan), Central Asian Jews* (Uzbekistan), Crimean Jews* (Ukraine), Crimean Tatars* (Ukraine), Georgian Jews* (Georgia), Karaims* (Lithuania, Ukraine), Khinalugs (Azerbaijan), Kryz (Azerbaijan), Kurds* (Transcaucasia), Lithuanian Tatars (Lithuania), Livonians (Latvia), Pamir peoples such as Bartangs, Ishkashmis, Khufis, Oroshoris, Roshanis; Shughnis, Wakhs, Yaghnabis, Yazgulamis (Tajikistan), Tats (Transcaucasia) and Talysh (Azerbaijan). Thus, 61 of the 85 peoples mentioned in the Red Book have remained under Russian jurisdiction, whereas only the Lithuanian Tatars, the Livonians and some of the Karaims are outside the domain of the CIS.
In a country of such magnitude, even after the collapse of the communist ideology, reforms and changes of direction are slow to occur, because of the inertia created by the country’s large seale as well as for historical reasons. Economic and mtemal reorganization tends to take much more time than the rapid surface changes — the symbols, the names, etc. A number of the former national autonomous republics and oblasts (i.e. Khakass, Yakut, Kabardian-Balkar, Kalmuk, Komi, Mari, Tuva, Udmurt) were renamed republics during the years 1990 —1992. Of course this was not pure coincidence: the decay of the Soviet Union brought with it a real upsurge of national movements. As a reaction against the former all-flattening russification, national identity and languages gained great importance both in culture and education.
During the zealous times of preliminary democratization from 1991 onwards, much attention was also paid to legal reforms in Russia. As far as national relations are concerned, we should at least point out the following documents: the law of «Rehabilitation of the Repressed Nations» (26.4.1991), “The Act of the Languages of the People of the Russian Soviet Socialist Federal Republics” (25.10.1991), the presidential ukase, “Of Urgent Measures for the Protection of the Territories and Economic Activities of Small Arctic Nations” (22.04.1992) and the new constitution of the Russian Federation (12.12.1993). In 1992 a draft law, “The Basis of Legislation for the Legal Status of the Small Aboriginal Nations of the Russian Federation” was drafted, which has to date, regrettably, failed to become law. In 1994 the leaders of the states of the CIS Signed “The Convention of the Defence of the Rights of National Minorities”.
In 1996 the law of cultural autonomy fostering organized local initiative came into effect. In Russia there are three levels of cultural autonomy, organized pyramid-fashion: local (e.g. the Mordvinians), regional (e.g. the Karelians of Tver) and pan-Russian (e.g. the Russian Germans). To obtain local cultural autonomy, three local organizations need to apply; for regional cultural autonomy, three local autonomous units need to apply; and for pan-Russian cultural autonomy three regional units need to apply. Problems may arise if the organizations claiming sole representation of cultural autonomy abound: the Tatars in Moscow, for example, have fifteen. In the same year (15 June 1996) the Concept of National Policy of the Russian Federation was concluded with the objective of regulating national relations and giving the more than 100 languages and cultures legal and political guarantees essential for their development. Unfortunately this too has not yet become law.
As some laws have remained merely plans or exist only on paper, real life has had to do without them — although in a more complicated environment. Peaceful existence has been interrupted by political instability and even violent warfare, as in the Northern Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. During the 1990s the deterioration of the economic situation has affected ethnic relations. In 1998 the national movements are again taking a low profile because of the economic crises and hardships. Survival in everyday life is consuming everyone’s energy. Although overt russification has slowed down, it now continues in a hidden and indirect form. Many examples can be drawn from the Finno-Ugric nations: townspeople originally from the country are moving back to the countryside — closer to the food supply. Since they have meanwhile been russified in the town, they now become spreaders of Russian mentality and language in the village, formerly the stronghold of national identity. The land and natural resources of the peoples of Western Siberia and the Arctic regions are acquired for pennies by great industrial companies providing the aborigines with fuel, primary goods, tinned food, etc. The international conference «Aboriginal Nations, Oil and the Law» held in Hanty-Mansiisk drew a conclusion that during the 1990s the situation of the aboriginal nations has by no means improved. On the contrary, the devastating effects of the oil industry are becoming more severe, the unpunished licence and violence of oilmen towards the aborigines continues. Local national activists are trying to obtain from the oil drilling companies a little more just recompense for the withdrawal of man and nature from the path of the derricks. Ironically, economic difficulties proved helpful here. Since the price of oil in the world market has fallen and the development of the oil industry in Western Siberia has stopped for the time being, the territories of the Arctic peoples have escaped further economic pressure.
The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire is a completed project and not continuing research; therefore the facts have not been updated. Its basic content, however, seems to be valid and to have withstood the test of time in the 1990s. The present publication of the English version makes the facts accessible to the Western reader. As we know, Russia is and continues to be a unique great power, one in which modem liberalism and western democracy are of little use. In a situation where market economy fails to take root, a shadow economy prospers and a dream of a controlled economy strongly survives, the country is steering towards its traditional autocratic political system. This is the unfortunate reason why the book’s content will probably be relevant for quite a while longer. It is possible that the census of the year 2000 will provide material for some elaboration and addenda, and perhaps also an incentive for an eventual