Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foreign relations
On the international front, the Ukrainian SSR, along with the rest of the 15 republics, virtually had no say in their own foreign affairs.
It is, however, important to note that in 1944 the Ukrainian SSR was permitted to establish bilateral relations with countries and maintain its own standing army.
This clause was used to permit the republic's membership in the United Nations.
Accordingly, representatives from the "Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic" and 50 other nations founded the UN on 24 October 1945.
In effect, this provided the Soviet Union (a permanent Security Council member with veto powers) with another vote in the General Assembly.
The latter aspect of the 1944 clauses, however, was never fulfilled and the republic's defense matters were managed by the Soviet Armed Forces and the Defense Ministry.
Another right that was granted but never used until 1991 was the right of the Soviet republics to secede from the union, which was codified in each of the Soviet constitutions.
Accordingly, Article 69 of the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR stated: "The Ukrainian SSR retains the right to willfully secede from the USSR."
However, a republic's theoretical secession from the union was virtually impossible and unrealistic in many ways until after Gorbachev's perestroika reforms.
The Ukrainian SSR was a member of the UN Economic and Social Council, UNICEF, International Labour Organization, Universal Postal Union, World Health Organization, UNESCO, International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
It was not separately a member of the Warsaw Pact, Comecon, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Federation of Democratic Youth, and since 1949, the International Olympic Committee.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
UKRAINE SSR
Re: UKRAINE SSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Administrative divisions
Legally, the Soviet Union and its fifteen union republics constituted a federal system, but the country was functionally a highly centralised state, with all major decision-making taking place in the Kremlin, the capital and seat of government of the country.
The constituent republic were essentially unitary states, with lower levels of power being directly subordinate to higher ones.
Throughout its 72-year existence, the administrative divisions of the Ukrainian SSR changed numerous times, often incorporating regional reorganisation and annexation on the part of Soviet authorities during World War II.
The most common administrative division was the oblast (province), of which there were 25 upon the republic's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Provinces were further subdivided into raions (districts) which numbered 490.
The rest of the administrative division within the provinces consisted of cities, urban-type settlements, and villages.
Cities in the Ukrainian SSR were a separate exception, which could either be subordinate to either the provincial authorities themselves or the district authorities of which they were the administrative center.
Two cities, the capital Kiev, and Sevastopol in Crimea, treated separately because it housed an underground nuclear submarine base, were designated "cities with special status."
This meant that they were directly subordinate to the central Ukrainian SSR authorities and not the provincial authorities surrounding them.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Administrative divisions
Legally, the Soviet Union and its fifteen union republics constituted a federal system, but the country was functionally a highly centralised state, with all major decision-making taking place in the Kremlin, the capital and seat of government of the country.
The constituent republic were essentially unitary states, with lower levels of power being directly subordinate to higher ones.
Throughout its 72-year existence, the administrative divisions of the Ukrainian SSR changed numerous times, often incorporating regional reorganisation and annexation on the part of Soviet authorities during World War II.
The most common administrative division was the oblast (province), of which there were 25 upon the republic's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Provinces were further subdivided into raions (districts) which numbered 490.
The rest of the administrative division within the provinces consisted of cities, urban-type settlements, and villages.
Cities in the Ukrainian SSR were a separate exception, which could either be subordinate to either the provincial authorities themselves or the district authorities of which they were the administrative center.
Two cities, the capital Kiev, and Sevastopol in Crimea, treated separately because it housed an underground nuclear submarine base, were designated "cities with special status."
This meant that they were directly subordinate to the central Ukrainian SSR authorities and not the provincial authorities surrounding them.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINE SSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historical formation
However, the history of administrative divisions in the republic was not so clear cut.
At the end of World War I in 1918, Ukraine was invaded by Soviet Russia as the Russian puppet government of the Ukrainian SSR and without official declaration it ignited the Ukrainian–Soviet War.
Government of the Ukrainian SSR from very start was managed by the Communist Party of Ukraine that was created in Moscow and was originally formed out of the Bolshevik organisational centers in Ukraine.
Occupying the eastern city of Kharkov, the Soviet forces chose it as the republic's seat of government, colloquially named in the media as "Kharkov – Pervaya Stolitsa (the first capital)" with implication to the era of Soviet regime.
Kharkov was also the city where the first Soviet Ukrainian government was created in 1917 with strong support from Russian SFSR authorities.
However, in 1934, the capital was moved from Kharkov to Kiev, which remains the capital of Ukraine today.
During the 1930s, there were significant numbers of ethnic minorities living within the Ukrainian SSR.
National Districts were formed as separate territorial-administrative units within higher-level provincial authorities.
Districts were established for the republic's three largest minority groups, which were the Jews, Russians, and Poles.
Other ethnic groups, however, were allowed to petition the government for their own national autonomy.
In 1924 on the territory of Ukrainian SSR was formed the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Upon the 1940 conquest of Bessarabia and Bukovina by Soviet troops the Moldavian ASSR was passed to the newly formed Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, while Budzhak and Bukovina were secured by the Ukrainian SSR.
Following the creation of the Ukrainian SSR significant numbers of ethnic Ukrainians found themselves living outside the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1920s the Ukrainian SSR was forced to cede several territories to Russia in Severia, Sloboda Ukraine and Azov littoral including such cities like Belgorod, Taganrog and Starodub.
In the 1920s the administration of the Ukrainian SSR insisted in vain on reviewing the border between the Ukrainian Soviet Republics and the Russian Soviet Republic based on the 1926 First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union that showed that 4.5 millions of Ukrainians were living on Russian territories bordering Ukraine.
A forced end to Ukrainisation in southern Russian Soviet Republic led to a massive decline of reported Ukrainians in these regions in the 1937 Soviet Census.
Upon signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union partitioned Poland and its Eastern Borderlands were secured by the Soviet buffer republics with Ukraine securing the territory of Eastern Galicia.
The Soviet September Polish campaign in Soviet propaganda was portrayed as the Golden September for Ukrainians, given the unification of Ukrainian lands on both banks of Zbruch River, until then the border between the Soviet Union and the Polish communities inhabited by Ukrainian speaking families.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historical formation
However, the history of administrative divisions in the republic was not so clear cut.
At the end of World War I in 1918, Ukraine was invaded by Soviet Russia as the Russian puppet government of the Ukrainian SSR and without official declaration it ignited the Ukrainian–Soviet War.
Government of the Ukrainian SSR from very start was managed by the Communist Party of Ukraine that was created in Moscow and was originally formed out of the Bolshevik organisational centers in Ukraine.
Occupying the eastern city of Kharkov, the Soviet forces chose it as the republic's seat of government, colloquially named in the media as "Kharkov – Pervaya Stolitsa (the first capital)" with implication to the era of Soviet regime.
Kharkov was also the city where the first Soviet Ukrainian government was created in 1917 with strong support from Russian SFSR authorities.
However, in 1934, the capital was moved from Kharkov to Kiev, which remains the capital of Ukraine today.
During the 1930s, there were significant numbers of ethnic minorities living within the Ukrainian SSR.
National Districts were formed as separate territorial-administrative units within higher-level provincial authorities.
Districts were established for the republic's three largest minority groups, which were the Jews, Russians, and Poles.
Other ethnic groups, however, were allowed to petition the government for their own national autonomy.
In 1924 on the territory of Ukrainian SSR was formed the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Upon the 1940 conquest of Bessarabia and Bukovina by Soviet troops the Moldavian ASSR was passed to the newly formed Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, while Budzhak and Bukovina were secured by the Ukrainian SSR.
Following the creation of the Ukrainian SSR significant numbers of ethnic Ukrainians found themselves living outside the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1920s the Ukrainian SSR was forced to cede several territories to Russia in Severia, Sloboda Ukraine and Azov littoral including such cities like Belgorod, Taganrog and Starodub.
In the 1920s the administration of the Ukrainian SSR insisted in vain on reviewing the border between the Ukrainian Soviet Republics and the Russian Soviet Republic based on the 1926 First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union that showed that 4.5 millions of Ukrainians were living on Russian territories bordering Ukraine.
A forced end to Ukrainisation in southern Russian Soviet Republic led to a massive decline of reported Ukrainians in these regions in the 1937 Soviet Census.
Upon signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union partitioned Poland and its Eastern Borderlands were secured by the Soviet buffer republics with Ukraine securing the territory of Eastern Galicia.
The Soviet September Polish campaign in Soviet propaganda was portrayed as the Golden September for Ukrainians, given the unification of Ukrainian lands on both banks of Zbruch River, until then the border between the Soviet Union and the Polish communities inhabited by Ukrainian speaking families.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINE SSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Economy
Agriculture
In 1945, agricultural production stood at only 40 percent of the 1940 level, even though the republic's territorial expansion had "increased the amount of arable land".
In contrast to the remarkable growth in the industrial sector, agriculture continued in Ukraine, as in the rest of the Soviet Union, to function as the economy's Achilles heel.
Despite the human toll of Collectivisation of agriculture in the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine, Soviet planners still believed in the effectiveness of collective farming.
The old system was reestablished; the numbers of collective farms in Ukraine increased from 28 thousand in 1940 to 33 thousand in 1949, comprising 45 million hectares; the numbers of state farms barely increased, standing at 935 in 1950, comprising 12.1 million hectares.
By the end of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (in 1950) and the Fifth Five-Year Plan (in 1955), agricultural output still stood far lower than the 1940 level.
The slow changes in agriculture can be explained by the low productivity in collective farms, and by bad weather-conditions, which the Soviet planning system could not effectively respond to.
Grain for human consumption in the post-war years decreased, this in turn led to frequent and severe food shortages.
The increase of Soviet agricultural production was tremendous, however, the Soviet-Ukrainians still experienced food shortages due to the inefficiencies of a highly centralised economy.
During the peak of Soviet-Ukrainian agriculture output in the 1950s and early-to-mid-1960s, human consumption in Ukraine, and in the rest of the Soviet Union, actually experienced short intervals of decrease.
There are many reasons for this inefficiency, but its origins can be traced back to the single-purchaser and -producer market system set up by Joseph Stalin.
Khrushchev tried to improve the agricultural situation in the Soviet Union by expanding the total crop size – for instance, in the Ukrainian SSR alone "the amount of land planted with corn grew by 600 percent".
At the height of this policy, between 1959 and 1963, one-third of Ukrainian arable land grew this crop.
This policy decreased the total production of wheat and rye; Khrushchev had anticipated this, and the production of wheat and rye moved to Soviet Central Asia as part of the Virgin Lands Campaign.
Khrushchev's agricultural policy failed, and in 1963 the Soviet Union had to import food from abroad.
The total level of agricultural productivity in Ukraine decreased sharply during this period, but recovered in the 1970s and 1980s during Leonid Brezhnev's rule.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Economy
Agriculture
In 1945, agricultural production stood at only 40 percent of the 1940 level, even though the republic's territorial expansion had "increased the amount of arable land".
In contrast to the remarkable growth in the industrial sector, agriculture continued in Ukraine, as in the rest of the Soviet Union, to function as the economy's Achilles heel.
Despite the human toll of Collectivisation of agriculture in the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine, Soviet planners still believed in the effectiveness of collective farming.
The old system was reestablished; the numbers of collective farms in Ukraine increased from 28 thousand in 1940 to 33 thousand in 1949, comprising 45 million hectares; the numbers of state farms barely increased, standing at 935 in 1950, comprising 12.1 million hectares.
By the end of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (in 1950) and the Fifth Five-Year Plan (in 1955), agricultural output still stood far lower than the 1940 level.
The slow changes in agriculture can be explained by the low productivity in collective farms, and by bad weather-conditions, which the Soviet planning system could not effectively respond to.
Grain for human consumption in the post-war years decreased, this in turn led to frequent and severe food shortages.
The increase of Soviet agricultural production was tremendous, however, the Soviet-Ukrainians still experienced food shortages due to the inefficiencies of a highly centralised economy.
During the peak of Soviet-Ukrainian agriculture output in the 1950s and early-to-mid-1960s, human consumption in Ukraine, and in the rest of the Soviet Union, actually experienced short intervals of decrease.
There are many reasons for this inefficiency, but its origins can be traced back to the single-purchaser and -producer market system set up by Joseph Stalin.
Khrushchev tried to improve the agricultural situation in the Soviet Union by expanding the total crop size – for instance, in the Ukrainian SSR alone "the amount of land planted with corn grew by 600 percent".
At the height of this policy, between 1959 and 1963, one-third of Ukrainian arable land grew this crop.
This policy decreased the total production of wheat and rye; Khrushchev had anticipated this, and the production of wheat and rye moved to Soviet Central Asia as part of the Virgin Lands Campaign.
Khrushchev's agricultural policy failed, and in 1963 the Soviet Union had to import food from abroad.
The total level of agricultural productivity in Ukraine decreased sharply during this period, but recovered in the 1970s and 1980s during Leonid Brezhnev's rule.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINE SSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Economy
Industry
During the post-war years, Ukraine's industrial productivity doubled its pre-war level.
In 1945 industrial output totalled only 26 percent of the 1940 level.
The Soviet Union introduced the Fourth Five-Year Plan in 1946.
The Fourth Five-Year Plan would prove to be a remarkable success, and can be likened to the "wonders of West German and Japanese reconstruction", but without foreign capital; the Soviet reconstruction is historically an impressive achievement.
In 1950 industrial gross output had already surpassed 1940-levels.
While the Soviet régime still emphasised heavy industry over light industry, the light-industry sector also grew.
The increase in capital investment and the expansion of the labour force also benefited Ukraine's economic recovery.
In the prewar years, 15.9 percent of the Soviet budget went to Ukraine, in 1950, during the Fourth Five-Year Plan this had increased to 19.3 percent.
The workforce had increased from 1.2 million in 1945 to 2.9 million in 1955; an increase of 33.2 percent over the 1940-level.
The result of this remarkable growth was that by 1955 Ukraine was producing 2.2 times more than in 1940, and the republic had become one of the leading producers of certain commodities in Europe.
Ukraine was the largest per-capita producer in Europe of pig iron and sugar, and the second-largest per-capita producer of steel and of iron ore, and was the third largest per-capita producer of coal in Europe.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Economy
Industry
During the post-war years, Ukraine's industrial productivity doubled its pre-war level.
In 1945 industrial output totalled only 26 percent of the 1940 level.
The Soviet Union introduced the Fourth Five-Year Plan in 1946.
The Fourth Five-Year Plan would prove to be a remarkable success, and can be likened to the "wonders of West German and Japanese reconstruction", but without foreign capital; the Soviet reconstruction is historically an impressive achievement.
In 1950 industrial gross output had already surpassed 1940-levels.
While the Soviet régime still emphasised heavy industry over light industry, the light-industry sector also grew.
The increase in capital investment and the expansion of the labour force also benefited Ukraine's economic recovery.
In the prewar years, 15.9 percent of the Soviet budget went to Ukraine, in 1950, during the Fourth Five-Year Plan this had increased to 19.3 percent.
The workforce had increased from 1.2 million in 1945 to 2.9 million in 1955; an increase of 33.2 percent over the 1940-level.
The result of this remarkable growth was that by 1955 Ukraine was producing 2.2 times more than in 1940, and the republic had become one of the leading producers of certain commodities in Europe.
Ukraine was the largest per-capita producer in Europe of pig iron and sugar, and the second-largest per-capita producer of steel and of iron ore, and was the third largest per-capita producer of coal in Europe.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINE SSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
From 1965 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, industrial growth in Ukraine decreased, and by the 1970s it started to stagnate.
Significant economic decline did not become apparent before the 1970s.
During the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951–1955), industrial development in Ukraine grew by 13.5 percent, while during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981–1985) industry grew by a relatively modest 3.5 percent.
The double-digit growth seen in all branches of the economy in the post-war years had disappeared by the 1980s, entirely replaced by low growth-figures.
An ongoing problem throughout the republic's existence was the planners' emphasis on heavy industry over consumer goods.
The urbanisation of Ukrainian society in the post-war years led to an increase in energy consumption.
Between 1956 and 1972, to meet this increasing demand, the government built five water reservoirs along the Dnieper River.
Aside from improving Soviet-Ukrainian water transport, the reservoirs became the sites for new power stations, and hydroelectric energy flourished in Ukraine in consequence.
The natural-gas industry flourished as well, and Ukraine became the site of the first post-war production of gas in the Soviet Union; by the 1960s Ukraine's biggest gas field was producing 30 percent of the USSR's total gas production.
The government was not able to meet the people's ever-increasing demand for energy consumption, but by the 1970s, the Soviet government had conceived an intensive nuclear power program.
According to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the Soviet government would build 8 nuclear power plants in Ukraine by 1989.
As a result of these efforts, Ukraine became highly diversified in energy consumption.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
From 1965 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, industrial growth in Ukraine decreased, and by the 1970s it started to stagnate.
Significant economic decline did not become apparent before the 1970s.
During the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951–1955), industrial development in Ukraine grew by 13.5 percent, while during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981–1985) industry grew by a relatively modest 3.5 percent.
The double-digit growth seen in all branches of the economy in the post-war years had disappeared by the 1980s, entirely replaced by low growth-figures.
An ongoing problem throughout the republic's existence was the planners' emphasis on heavy industry over consumer goods.
The urbanisation of Ukrainian society in the post-war years led to an increase in energy consumption.
Between 1956 and 1972, to meet this increasing demand, the government built five water reservoirs along the Dnieper River.
Aside from improving Soviet-Ukrainian water transport, the reservoirs became the sites for new power stations, and hydroelectric energy flourished in Ukraine in consequence.
The natural-gas industry flourished as well, and Ukraine became the site of the first post-war production of gas in the Soviet Union; by the 1960s Ukraine's biggest gas field was producing 30 percent of the USSR's total gas production.
The government was not able to meet the people's ever-increasing demand for energy consumption, but by the 1970s, the Soviet government had conceived an intensive nuclear power program.
According to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the Soviet government would build 8 nuclear power plants in Ukraine by 1989.
As a result of these efforts, Ukraine became highly diversified in energy consumption.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINE SSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religion
Many churches and synagogues were destroyed during the existence of the Ukrainian SSR.
Urbanization
Urbanisation in post-Stalin Ukraine grew quickly; in 1959 only 25 cities in Ukraine had populations over one hundred thousand, by 1979 the number had grown to 49.
During the same period, the growth of cities with a population over one million increased from one to five; Kiev alone nearly doubled its population, from 1.1 million in 1959 to 2.1 million in 1979.
This proved a turning point in Ukrainian society: for the first time in Ukraine's history, the majority of ethnic Ukrainians lived in urban areas; 53 percent of the ethnic Ukrainian population did so in 1979.
The majority worked in the non-agricultural sector, in 1970 31 percent of Ukrainians engaged in agriculture, in contrast, 63 percent of Ukrainians were industrial workers and white-collar staff.
In 1959, 37 percent of Ukrainians lived in urban areas, in 1989 the proportion had increased to 60 percent.
Notes
The number of Supreme Soviet deputies varied from 435 in 1955, to 650 in 1977, then finally down to 450 by 1990.
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was in the same such situation, being a signatory to United Nations Charter, although not being independent until 1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian ... t_Republic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religion
Many churches and synagogues were destroyed during the existence of the Ukrainian SSR.
Urbanization
Urbanisation in post-Stalin Ukraine grew quickly; in 1959 only 25 cities in Ukraine had populations over one hundred thousand, by 1979 the number had grown to 49.
During the same period, the growth of cities with a population over one million increased from one to five; Kiev alone nearly doubled its population, from 1.1 million in 1959 to 2.1 million in 1979.
This proved a turning point in Ukrainian society: for the first time in Ukraine's history, the majority of ethnic Ukrainians lived in urban areas; 53 percent of the ethnic Ukrainian population did so in 1979.
The majority worked in the non-agricultural sector, in 1970 31 percent of Ukrainians engaged in agriculture, in contrast, 63 percent of Ukrainians were industrial workers and white-collar staff.
In 1959, 37 percent of Ukrainians lived in urban areas, in 1989 the proportion had increased to 60 percent.
Notes
The number of Supreme Soviet deputies varied from 435 in 1955, to 650 in 1977, then finally down to 450 by 1990.
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was in the same such situation, being a signatory to United Nations Charter, although not being independent until 1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian ... t_Republic