Staging the Transnistrian Identity Within the Heritage of Soviet Holidays

Abstract

This article focuses on the performance of three national holidays in Transnistria in the context of the ongoing consolidation of Transnistrian society since 1991. Transnistrian leaders play a key role in the construction of a distinct Transnistrian regional identity; hence this paper pays close attention to the speeches of Transnistrian leaders as reported in the mass media. In addition, I also base my conclusions on interviews with the residents of Rybnita. I was able to observe and describe the official commemorations of the anniversary of the October Revolution, May Day and Victory Day, all key Soviet holidays which are still celebrated in Transnistria, mostly by the older generation and members of the Communist Party. The theoretical framework of the article, therefore, relies on a constructivist approach to the nation-building process through the manipulation of public opinion by elites.

Keywords:

• Transnistrian
• Official Holidays
• The State
• Nation-Building
• Regional Identity

Notes

The term Moldavian was used in the Soviet times to refer to all inhabitants of the territory of historical Principality of Moldova. It is currently used only in Transnistria in the Moldovan Cyrillic script.

Igor Smirnov's speech in December 1996 (when he was re-elected for another five-year term as “President” of the Transnistrian region) referred to Moldova's proposal to grant Transnistria a special legal status within the framework of a unified Moldova. He was forthright about his intention to consolidate the so-called  “TMR state system”.

The results of the 1989 all-Union census relate to the proportions of the major ethnic groups in Transnistria (Itogi Vsesoiuznoi Perepisi Naseleniia 1989 goda 1990). The Transnistrian authorities claim that the 1989 census figures are not accurate because they include populations from a large number of right-bank settlements, which in fact were in left-bank administrative districts at the time, but that remained under the control of the Moldovan central government (Bomesko 2003).

The theoretical issue of the Soviet people as a new community was proposed at the twenty-fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Materials XXIV Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1971, 76).

“Moldovans” mean those who were born in Moldova and those whose parents were born in Moldova; this does not take into account the territorial division on the left and right banks of the Dniester River. This concept of “Moldovans” was formulated as a result of the Soviet national policies that were adopted in post-Soviet times.

Khozyain is a Russian term often used to describe a certain type of political leader; the prototype of the style of Igor Smirnov, Pridnestrovie's own “Khozyain” head of state. A khozyain politician can easily be seen as authoritarian in a Western political context, and, true to form, Igor Smirnov has been called both a “strongman” and, by the more radical Smirnov-haters in Moldova, a “dictator” (Tiraspol Times 11 September, 2006).

The October Revolution is also known as the Soviet Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution. The term refers to an uprising—part of the larger Russian Revolution—that began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd. The event is traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 (according to the Julian calendar), or 7 November 1917 (according to the Gregorian calendar). The October Revolution overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and gave power to the Soviets, which were dominated by Bolsheviks. It was followed by the Russian Civil War (1917–1922) and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

May Day has been linked with the labour movement since the late nineteenth century. On 1 May 1890, 10,000 workers staged a strike in Warsaw. Unauthorized celebrations were held in Tsarist Russia each year. After the October Revolution in 1917, May Day was declared an official state holiday and celebrated openly for the first time. In the late 1980s, the celebrations began to wane, and in 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev was jeered by protesters waving anti-Soviet banners. Now, May Day is a day on which different political groups champion their causes.

On 25 November 2003, under pressure from the United States and the OSCE, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin refused to sign a Russian proposal, the Kozak Memorandum, hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to arrive in Chişinău, Moldova, for the document's official signing. The memorandum provided for an “asymmetrical federation” in Moldova's constitutional structure, which would have given the permanent right of veto in the Moldovan parliament to Transnistria and to the autonomous region of Gagauzia, and the right of veto in Moldova's Federal Constitutional Court until 2015 to Transnistria. The memorandum also stipulated certain Russian “guarantees”, including the continuous deployment of Russian forces on Moldovan territory until 2020.