KORENIZATSIYA

Taking its name from the Russian word for “putting down roots,”korenizatsiiais traditionally translated as “indigenization” or “nativization.” Originally a Leninist policy intended to accelerate the spread of Bolshevism to Soviet Russia’sethnic minorities, the program eventually was directed at the indigenous populations of the Soviet Union’s 14 non-Russianunion republics, as well as the titular groups in theRussian Soviet Federative SocialistRepublic’sAutonomous Soviet Socialist Republics(ASSRs).Though it was no longer an official policy after the 1930s, indigenization remained the de facto policy in the non-Russian regions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).Korenizatsiyasolidifiednational identity, promoted the use of locallanguages, and created an indigenousnomenklatura>. While linguistic and culturalRussificationremained a major issue andethnic Russiansgenerally commanded the secondary position in every political, industrial, educational, and scientific hierarchy,korenizatsiyalaid the groundwork for the flowering of nationalism in the 1980s underperestroikaandglasnost. With the introduction ofdemocratization(demokratizatsiia), many of these national elites abandoned Communism and embraced populism and Russophobia in order to secure office or promote their own political-economic agendas.