![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
In Soviet Armenia, nationalist discourse, in particular, demands for recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, became prominent in public debate during the Khrushchev era. The essay uses the case study of Soviet Armenia to explore how nationalist ideas became an accepted part of the official Soviet discourse, in doing so examining the relationship between popular sentiment, the local authorities and the central authorities in Moscow. The case study suggests that the Soviet authorities implemented a much more fluid and flexible nationality policy in the periphery than is usually assumed. It also suggests that the local authorities tried to find a balance between local sentiments and the demands of the central authorities in Moscow. The research demonstrates that they positioned themselves simultaneously as guardians of the national interest and social order to their respective audiences.
Notes
1 A similar argument on nationalism in socialist discourse is made in Derluguian (Citation2005, ch. 4).
2 This was the fate of several Azerbaijani leaders (Imam Mustafaev, Mirza Ibragimov and Sadykh Ragimov—all demoted in 1959) accused of nationalism; see Goff (Citation2014, p. 107). Similarly, the Armenian first secretary, Yakov Zarobian, was demoted for his failure to prevent the outbreak of the demonstrations on 24 April 1965 and removed from office in 1966. See Haikakan Azgain Arkhiv (hereafter, HAA—Armenian National Archive), f. 1, op. 46, d. 36, l. 68. Prigge (Citation2004) has addressed the similar fate of Latvian Party elites accused of nationalism in 1959.
3 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 54, ll. 61–73b, 75–9.
4 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 55, ll. 64–5; emphasis added.
5 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 55, l. 65. For the text of the letter, please refer to Appendix 1.
6 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 55, ll. 64–5.
7 Dashnaktsutiun (Federation) was an Armenian political party founded in 1890 in Tiflis. It dominated Armenian politics until its defeat at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Thereafter it continued to play a dominant role among Armenians living outside the USSR.
8 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 55, ll. 64–5.
9 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 70, ll. 170–74.
10 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, l. 82.
11 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 6, l. 171.
12 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 16, l. 71.
13 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 18, ll. 8–10.
14 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 18, ll. 8–10. See Appendix 2 for the text of this protocol.
15 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 18, ll. 8–9.
16 Pravda, 24 April 1965, p. 4.
17 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, l. 41.
18 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, l. 41.
19 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 20, l. 29.
20 Compare this with the similar actions of the Georgian leadership in 1956, described in Blauvelt (Citation2009).
21 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 20, l. 30.
22 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 18, ll. 8–10. See Appendix 2 for the text of this protocol.
23 Lehmann (Citation2015, p. 9) while Claire Mouradian (Citation1990) mentions a figure of 200,000 demonstrators.
24 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, l. 36.
25 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 20.
26 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 20, ll. 28–35.
27 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, ll. 31–51.
28 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, l. 37.
29 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 2, l. 54.
30 Russian statistical data from World War I suggest that 500,000 refugees fled from the Ottoman Empire into Russian territory (Hovannisian Citation1971, p. 48).
31 See Mamikonian (Citation1941), Manandian (Citation1941, Citation1944), Hiusian (Citation1944), Harutiunian (Citation1945), Ioanisian (Citation1945), Piotrovskii (Citation1946), Kapantsian (Citation1947), Arakelian (Citation1948). There is a large literature on primordialism in the USSR. The most important works are by Terry Martin (Citation2000, Citation2001) and Ronald G. Suny (Citation1993a, Citation1993b, Citation2001). The best summary of the use of nationalist and primordialist arguments in official historical discourses in the Caucasus is provided by Viktor Shnirelman (Citation2001).
32 HAA, f. 1, op. 46, d. 68, l. 26, KGB report to the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the number of Armenian repatriates during the 1946–1948 campaign, from 12 April 1966.
33 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 70, ll. 108–12; emphasis added.
34 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 70, l. 111.
35 See the collected works of V. I. Lenin, vol. 32, 4th edn (1950, pp. 126–28).
36 HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 71, ll. 91–123.
37 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 68, ll. 2–7; emphasis added.
38 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 68, ll. 14–5.
39 This tradition of radical Armenian nationalism that saw the USSR as inimical to the Armenian cause continued in the 1970s, but had only a very small following.
40 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 68, ll. 16–21.
41 The first secretary of the Armenian Communist Party, Yakov Zarobian, was born in Artvin—the part of the Russian Empire ceded to Turkey in 1921—to a family that fled the genocide.
42 See: HAA, f. 1, op. 44, d. 69, ll. 8–9, request to celebrate jubilee of Ioaness Ioanessian in 1964; HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 7, ll. 26–7, 80th birthday of Vahan Terian in April 1964; HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 18, l. 35, renaming of the school in Yerevan after Daniel Varuzhan in March 1965; HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 41, l. 3, request to celebrate jubilee of Vahan Terian in April 1965.
43 HAA, f. 1, op. 46, d. 69, l. 79.
44 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 69.
45 HAA, f. 1, op. 46, d. 69, ll. 40–1.
46 HAA, f. 1, op. 45, d. 69.
47 Indeed, a short article about the demonstrations appeared in the New York Times on 25 April 1966 (Weiss-Wendt Citation2018, p. 123).
48 Kommunist (Yerevan), 30 November 1967.
49 For another interpretation of the religious symbolism of the genocide memorial see Marutyan (Citation2009, ch. 2).
50 HAA, f. 1, op. 55, d. 32, ll. 2–3.
51 HAA, f. 1, op. 127, d. 418, ll. 1–2.
52 HAA, f. 1, op. 127, d. 418, l. 3.
53 HAA, f. 1, op. 87, d. 2, ll. 63–4.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Arsène Saparov
Arsène Saparov, Assistant Professor, International Relations Department, University of Sharjah, W2 Building, Room 107D, P.O. Box No. 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Email: [email protected]; [email protected].