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Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

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The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Українська Радянська Соціалістична Республіка [УРСР] Ukrayins’ka Radyans’ka Sotsialistychna Respublika [URSR]; Украинская Советская Социалистическая Республика [УССР] Ukrainskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika [USSR]), also known as the Ukrainian SSR, the UkSSR and the UkrSSR for short, was a socialist state in Ukraine which became one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union.

History

After the break-up of the Russian Empire, several factions sought to create an independent Ukrainian state, alternately co-operating and struggling against each other. Ukrainian Bolsheviks and Mensheviks first participated in the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), which declared autonomy, and then independence in 1917.

The Bolsheviks favoured federation with Russia, but lacking broad popular support within the UNR, convened a separate congress and declared a Soviet Republic of Ukraine (Respublyka Rad Ukrayiny) on December 25, 1917. Warfare ensued against the UNR, and a series of alliances and conflicts with anarchists and neo-haydamak bands. The Ukrainian Bolsheviks fared poorly at first, being pushed out of Ukraine altogether, and having the government dissolved for two interludes lasting several months (being reformed on November 20, 1918, and December 21, 1919). Eventually, with the support of the Russian Army, the Ukrainian SSR ended up controlling much of Ukrainian territory after the Polish-Soviet Peace of Riga.

On December 30, 1922, along with the Russian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian republics, the Ukrainian SSR was one of the founding members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In September 1939 Ukrainian SSR was expanded to include West Ukraine, formerly under Polish rule. In 1945 Carpathia region was added as well,

In 1932 the government inflicted one of the largest national catastrophes in modern history on Ukrainian nation. A man-made famine or Holodomor caused a direct loss of human life estimated between 2.6 and 3.5 million, while numbers as high as 10 million are sometimes cited in the media.

After World War II some amendments to the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR were accepted, which allowed it to act as a separate subject of international law in some cases and to a certain extent, remaining a part of the USSR at the same time. In particular, these amendments allowed the Ukrainian SSR to become one of founding members of the United Nations (UN) together with the USSR and the Byelorussian SSR. In reality this simply meant giving the Soviet Union extra seats (and votes) in the UN, since the Ukrainian SSR had no independent voice in international affairs. The Ukrainian SSR was renamed Ukraine on August 24, 1991, and split from the USSR on the same day, becoming an independent state.

Leaders of the UkSSR

Leaders of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine, and de facto leaders of the republic:

1. Georgy Pyatakov (1918)
2. Stanislav Kosior (1919-1920)
3. Dmitry Manuilsky (1921-1923)
4. Emmanuil Kviring (1923-1925)
5. Lazar Kaganovich (1925-1928)
Stanislav Kosior (1928-1938)
6. Nikita Khrushchev (1938-1947)
Lazar Kaganovich (1947)
 Nikita Khrushchev (1947-1949)
7. Leonid Melnikov (1949-1953)
8. Alexei Kirichenko (1953-1957)
9. Nikolai Podgorny (1957-1963)
10. Petro Shelest (1963-1972)
11. Volodymyr Shcherbytsky (1972-1989)
12. Vladimir Ivashko (1989-1990)
13. Stanislav Gurenko (1990-1991)

Administrative divisions

The Ukrainian SSR consisted of many oblasts (provinces) some of which exist to this day, while others were liquidated and merged into other oblasts ().

The Ukrainian SSR's capital was at first the city of Kharkiv (Kharkov) (from 1918-1934) and from that point on — the city of Kiev (Kyiv), the current capital of Ukraine. In 1954, Crimea was transferred to the UkSSR from the Russian SFSR.

Oblasts

References

External links



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Last updated on Sunday March 09, 2008 at 10:42:34 PDT (GMT -0700)
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