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The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR), [a] also called Soviet Karelia or simply known as Karelia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 31 March 1940 until it was made part of the Russian SFSR on 16 July 1956 as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The latter became the Republic of Karelia, a federal subject of Russia, on 13 November 1991.
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was established by the Soviet government on 31 March 1940 by merging the KASSR with the Finnish Democratic Republic. The latter was created in territory ceded by Finland in the Winter War by the Moscow Peace Treaty, namely the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala.
Virtually the entire Karelian population of the ceded areas, about 422,000 people, was evacuated to Finland, and the territories were settled by peoples from other parts of the Soviet Union.
Creating a new Republic of the Union for an ethnic group that was not large in absolute terms, nor constituted anything close to a majority in its territory, nor had been a separate independent nation before its incorporation into the USSR, was unprecedented in the history of the USSR. Some later historians believe that the elevation of Soviet Karelia from an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (within the RSFSR) to an SSR was a political move as a "convenient means for facilitating the possible incorporation of additional Finnish territory" (or, possibly, the whole of Finland) into the USSR. [1] [2] [3]
In 1941, Finland retook the territory that it had lost in 1940 and occupied most of the Karelian lands that had been within the USSR before 1940, including the capital Petrozavodsk (Petroskoi). [3] In 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured the area. Soviet sovereignty was recognized by Finland in the Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty. The Finnish Karelians were evacuated to Finland again.
In September 1944, the Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg (Viipuri) was transferred from the Karelo-Finnish SSR to the Leningrad Oblast of the RSFSR, but Ladoga Karelia remained a part of the republic.
On 16 July 1956, the republic was incorporated into the Russian SFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This move can perhaps be explained in the context of the general post-war improvement of Finno-Soviet relations, [1] which also included such steps as the Soviets' return of the Porkkala Naval Base leased territory to full Finnish sovereignty (January 1956), and leasing Maly Vysotsky Island and the Soviet section of the Saimaa Canal (conquered by the USSR in 1940 and 1944) back to Finland (1963).
The abolition of the Karelian SSR in 1956 was the only case in the history of the USSR (1922–1991) of merging a member republic of the USSR into another republic. The state emblem of the Soviet Union had to be changed to reflect this, with one of the 16 ribbons symbolizing constituent republics (that in the Finnish language) removed. Soviet banknotes bearing the emblem were also changed accordingly.
In the last days of the USSR, the Karelian ASSR became the Republic of Karelia, a subdivision of the Russian Federation, on 13 November 1991.
The chairman of the Karelo-Finnish Supreme Soviet (1940–1956) was a Finnish communist Otto Wille Kuusinen. In the republic, there was also a separate Karelo-Finnish Communist Party led in the 1940s by G.N. Kupriyanov.
Yuri Andropov served for some years as the first secretary of the republic's Komsomol branch, the Leninist Communist Youth League of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic.
| Name | Period [5] |
|---|---|
| Nikolai Sorokin | 7 August 1940 – 1947 |
| Adolf Taimi | 15 April 1947 – 1955 |
| Johannes Sogijainen | 1955 – 1956 |
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Mark Gorbachev (As head of the Karelian ASSR) | 31 March 1940 – 11 July 1940 |
| Otto Wille Kuusinen | 11 July 1940 – 16 July 1956 |
The Council of People's Commissars was renamed the Council of Ministers in 1946.
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Pavel Prokkonen | 1940 – February 1947 |
| Voldemar Virolainen | February 1947 – 24 February, 1950 |
| Pavel Prokkonen | 1950 – 16 July, 1956 |
The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The Soviet Union was formed in 1922 by a treaty between the Soviet republics of Byelorussia, Russian SFSR (RSFSR), Transcaucasian Federation, and Ukraine, by which they became its constituent republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Karelian Isthmus is the approximately 45–110-kilometre-wide (30–70 mi) stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the westernmost point of Lake Ladoga, Pekonlahti. If the Karelian Isthmus is defined as the entire territory of present-day Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast to the north of the Neva and also a tiny part of the Republic of Karelia, the area of the isthmus is about 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi).
Karelia usually refers to the Republic of Karelia, a subject within the Russian Federation, but it can also refer to:
The Finnish Democratic Republic, also known as the Terijoki Government, was a short-lived communist puppet state of the Soviet Union in occupied Finnish territory from December 1939 to March 1940.
Karelia is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia, Finland, and Sweden. It is currently divided between northwestern Russia and Finland.
The flags of the Soviet Socialist Republics were all defaced versions of the flag of the Soviet Union, which featured a golden hammer and sickle and a gold-bordered red star on a red field.
The flag of the Republic of Karelia is the official state symbol of the Republic of Karelia. Adopted by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Karelia on February 16, 1993. The flag was designed by Alexander Ivanovich Kinnear.
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Karelian ASSR for short, sometimes referred to as Soviet Karelia or simply Karelia, was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, with the capital in Petrozavodsk.
The State Anthem of the Karelo-Finnish SSR was the national anthem of Karelia when it was a republic of the Soviet Union and known as the Karelo-Finnish SSR.
The flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR was adopted by the Karelo-Finnish SSR on 3 March 1953. The flag's design was based on the flag of the former Soviet Union, with the additional horizontal blue, and green bands added at the bottom. At the top of the flag near the flagpole were a golden hammer and sickle and the red star with a gold border. The green color symbolized the forest resources, and blue represented the abundance of rivers and lakes.
The emblem of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on February 10, 1941 by the government of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic and used until it was absorbed into the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1956.
Priozersky District is an administrative and municipal district (raion), one of the seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and borders with Lakhdenpokhsky District of the Republic of Karelia in the north, Vsevolozhsky District in the south, and Vyborgsky District in the west. In the east, the district is bounded by Lake Ladoga. The area of the district is 3,597.5 square kilometers (1,389.0 sq mi). Its administrative center is the town of Priozersk. Population : 43,260 (2010 Census); 42,859 ; 40,231 (1989 Soviet census).
The Karelian people's presence can be dated back to the 7th millennium BC–6th millennium BC. The region itself is rich with fish, lakes, and minerals, and because of that its holder has changed throughout history, and to this day it is divided between the Republic of Finland and the Russian Federation.
Vyborgsky District is an administrative and municipal district (raion), one of the seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast on the Karelian Isthmus and borders with Priozersky District in the northeast, Vsevolozhsky District in the east, Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg in the south, Kymenlaakso and South Karelia regions of Finland in the northwest, and Lakhdenpokhsky District of the Republic of Karelia in the north. From the southwest, the district is limited by the Gulf of Finland. The area of the district is 7,475.472 square kilometers (2,886.296 sq mi). Its administrative center is the town of Vyborg. Population : 120,446 (2010 Census); 113,748 ; 108,571 (1989 Soviet census).
Viipuri Province was a historical province of Finland from 1812 to 1945.
Pavel Stepanovich Prokkonen, born Prokofiev, was a Karelian Soviet politician. He was appointed as the Chairman of the Council of the People's Commissars of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1947) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1950–1956). Prokkonen was also the Minister of Karelian Affairs for the Finnish Democratic Republic during the Winter War in 1940
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, previously known as the Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia, was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous constituent republic of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991, the last two years of the existence of the USSR. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group. The capital of the Russian SFSR and the USSR as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Gorky and Kuybyshev. It was the first socialist state in history.
The Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics officially created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union. It de jure legalised a political union of several Soviet republics that had existed since 1919 and created a new federal government whose key functions were centralised in Moscow. Its legislative branch consisted of the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union (TsIK), while the Council of People's Commissars composed the executive.
The First Secretary of the Karelian regional branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the position of highest authority in the Karelian ASSR in the Russian SFSR, and in the Karelo-Finnish SSR (1940–1956) of the Soviet Union. The position was created in 1921, and abolished in August 1991. The First Secretary was a de facto appointed position usually by the Politburo or the General Secretary himself.
The national emblem of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted in 1937 by the government of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem is identical to the emblem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
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