Suchergebnisse

Lenin's crucial role in formulating and laying the foundations of Soviet nationality policy is acknowledged by all. His nationality program—whether one views it as opportunist and pseudo-Marxist or as "the outstanding contribution to the treasure trove of creative Marxism"—is considered to be his most original and perhaps most successful policy. Lenin's lasting impact on the nationalities themselves is attested by the fact that national dissidents in the Soviet Union often call for a return to "Leninist" policy. One dissident writes, "It is difficult to find today anything more useful, noble and imperative than the restoration of Lenin's nationalities policy."According to most biographers, Lenin became involved with the nationality question only on the eve of World War I while living in exile in the multinational Austrian Empire. It was there that he recognized nationalism as a powerful force and began to devise a program that would harness it for the revolution. Opposing both the cultural autonomy scheme of the Austrian Marxists and the total scorn of nationalism by Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, in debates with fellow Marxists, formulated his own program.

Models of language competition usually favor the central language over those of the peripheries. Yet the Russian language has failed to establish its hegemony both in the tsarist and Soviet empires. While the tsarist period is briefly touched upon in the Introduction, the paper concentrates on the "missed second opportunity"—the Soviet and post-Soviet period. It attempts to explain the causes for the second failure against a broad historical background, beginning with Lenin's generous linguistic policy, through the elevation of Russian as the language of the "Soviet People" and of the "Communist Future" in the post-Stalin period, to the current (1992) retreat under local and global challenges. The role of language grievances in promoting national self-assertiveness and causing the present anti-Russian backlash in the republics is highlighted. The paper ends with a discussion of the future prospects of Russian as a second language.