The Legacy of Lenin

Lenin: The Soviet dictator's concept of "pan-ethnic" patriotism can help explain how Pridnestrovie sees itself

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Pridnestrovie, or Transnistria as it is sometimes called, is international; with no single ethnic group holding the majority. The Moldovans of Pridnestrovie are among some of the strongest defenders of independence, and fiercely opposed to any talk of unification with Moldova. Look to Lenin to find out why.

When outsiders attempt to understand Pridnestrovie and the ideology which gave birth to the new country, they come up against an ineluctable paradox: It is both Russian and anti-Russian.

That is the legacy left by Vladimir Lenin, the father of the Soviet Union, who bequathed the 550,000 inhabitants of Pridnestrovie an "international patriotism" which crosses nationalities and pursue the shared goal of a independence where ethnic affiliation takes a backseat to joint statehood.

In the service of empire and an expanionist international outlook, the Soviet Union suppressed strong ethnic self-identification and favored a common goal of nation building. This was true even in the case of the Russians. They were the state-bearers of the Soviet Union: its managers and its tyrants. But they were also rendered anonymous by it, torn from their historical, albeit conflicted, identity, conferred an empire but denied a country of their own.

Strong ethnic-based nationalism in the twentieth century was not always a positive forces (the rise of Hitler being just one case in point). In multi-ethnic countries, suppressing nationalism was often better; especially for minorities. And in a country made up only of minorities, such as Pridnestrovie today, Lenin's legacy has had a distinctly positive impact: It has helped the population of Pridnestrovie build their new and emerging country together, disregarding ethnic lines. The solidarity across ethnic lines caused the people of Pridnestrovie to focus on nation building efforts which benefit everyone regardless of ethnic group or nationality; leaving no one out and no one behind.

Multi-national state with universal aims

In Russia itself, holding back Russian ethnic awareness was a policy that originated with Lenin, who feared an awakened bear in the midst of the Soviet Union.

Lenin wanted the Soviet Union to be a multi-national state with universal aims. In it, dominant ethnic groups were expected to sacrifice their immediate national interests to the state and its mission. National identity was stretched and broadened to contain within itself a great purpose or project, within which it enfolded other peoples.

In the first decade or so of the Soviet Union, Lenin actually pursued an anti-Russian policy, deliberately discriminating against Russians in order to build a multinational community without leading or subordinate peoples. He proclaimed "I declare war to the death on Great Russian chauvinism" and instituted an affirmative action program known as korenizatsiia.

In Pridnestrovie, as part of the Soviet Union, this was even more true: Made up of a mix of nationalities, and without a dominant national group, there was never any defined sense of ethnicity in Pridnestrovie. Never part of an independent Moldova at any time in history, its alleged "Moldavianness" was an artifically manufactured experiment created to serve as beachhead for Soviet expansion. At its heart, Pridnestrovie identified itself not by ethnicity but by reference to the Soviet ideals of an international brotherhood where solidarity and a common set of goals spanned across borders.

A great melting pot

The Soviet Union was a huge multi-ethnic state in most parts of which Russians had made their homes. On a smaller scale, but even more pronounced, the same was true for Pridnestrovie; in the past itself a part of the Soviet Union.

For most of the population of Pridnestrovie, the end of the Soviet Union was not emancipation (since there is no single dominant nationality) but deprivation. In the face of strong Moldovan nationalism next door, and a rising nationalist Ukraine on the other side, the small but multinational strip of land in the middle saw that its internationalist ideals were about to be trampled and forgotten.

Ethnically, Moldova is distinct from Pridnestrovie. Ethnic Russians make up less than 6% of Moldova's population, Ukrainians only 8%. Moldovans themselves represent 78%, or four out of every five people in Moldova.

In Ukraine, the story is the same: Despite a small presence of ethnic Russians (and an even smaller representation of Moldovans), the Ukrainians themselves are by far the largest nationality, with a full 77.8% of the population.

In both neighboring countries the titular nationalities dominate the others, four to one. But not so in Pridnestrovie, which can most accurately be called a "great melting pot" mixing equal numbers of ethnic groups. In Pridnestrovie, a total of 35 nationalities are represented; most of them Slavic (with two-thirds of Pridnestrovians identifying themselves as Slav). In Pridnestrovie, everyone is a minority, although three nationalities dominate: Moldovans 31.9%, Russians 30.4%, and Ukrainians: 28.8%. The remaining 8.9% are shared between 32 other ethnic minorities.

Picking and choosing the good 10% from Lenin

A learned observer needs to understand the complex character of Pridnestrovie, a small strip of land where the passing of the Soviet Union is in some aspects mourned, but its resurrection not desired.

One-sided views of the collapse of the Soviet Union as either absolutely positive or as catastrophically negative are inapplicable here.

The legacy of Lenin is not about Gulags, jack-booted thugs or sham elections. All of that is gone today in PMR, but what left its mark was Lenin's pan-ethnic emphasis.

A full ninety percent of what the Soviet Union stood for has rightly been heaped into the waste-bin of history, never to be revived again. The abuses of the dictatorship are still fresh in the minds of many in Pridnestrovie. But also fresh are the good parts, those final ten percent which many in Pridnestrovie want to keep alive and well ... not for the sake of history, but because the ideas work and make their daily lives better. Lenin's concept of an "international patriotism" is part of this good 10%, and in fact the only way forward for a multi-ethnic society like Pridnestrovie where everyone wants to prevent ethnic hatred among friends, co-workers and neighbors.

Although the fall of the Soviet Union brought freedom and independence to more than a dozen countries, it also brought ethnic strife and genocide in its wake. Pridnestrovie largely avoided ethnic conflict by turning to the best of what Lenin left behind: The suppression of national ethnicity in favor of the common, greater goal of shared statehood and unity.

Pridnestrovskaia "Rossiiskaia" Respublica?

According to its constitution, the full name of Pridnestrovie is Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica which, when translated to English, becomes the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. But the "Moldavian" bit is a hat tip to its single largest ethnic minority, ethnic Moldovans, who represent 31.9% of the total population. A more correct term, apt for all ethnic groups within Pridnestrovie and for how they see themselves in the historical context, would be "rossiiskii".

There is a fundamental distinction between russkii — an ethnic, native Russian — and rossiiskii — a subject of the imperial state. Each is rendered as "Russian" in English, but the two have alternately clashed and merged throughout modern history. In Pridnestrovie today, even ethnic Russians prefer to be called Pridnestrovians first and foremost, and, following that, then prefer the rossiiskii-designation over the more precise russkii.

The same is true also for ethnic Ukrainians and, perhaps surprisingly, also for the vast majority of ethnic Moldovans who live in Pridnestrovie. They, too, are Pridnestrovians first, and then rossiiskii in the broader sense of the word. Some of the strongest defenders of independence for Pridnestrovie can be found among the country's ethnic Moldovans. By and large, they don't want their country - small, unrecognized Pridnestrovie - to join Russia or Ukraine, but most of all they certainly don't want it to become part of Moldova.

Not another Bosnia ... thanks to Lenin

In Europe today, no other country comes closer to Pridnestrovie in its ethnic diversity than Bosnia, another small country with 3 main nationalities and no single dominant majority. But in Bosnia, with the presence of 3 nationalities and lack of majority, ethnic ambitions led to inter-ethnic war. In Pridnestrovie, this never happened. Here, in marked contrast to Bosnia, all 3 main nationalities are united behind a common goal of "international patriotism": Their desire for a shared but independent, sovereign republic.

Whereas the similarities between Bosnia and Pridnestrovie are evident, the fortunate difference in outcome can be traced directly back to the influence of Lenin. For all the bad he did, he must also be credited with at least one good deed: He pioneered the concept of a patriotism not tied to ethnicity. As a later Soviet satellite, Bosnia was never under Lenin's sway. But Pridnestrovie was, as a part of the Soviet Union from the very beginning. Generations later, this crucial difference prevented a three-sided ethnic war in Pridnestrovie. It also markedly improved the viability of independent Pridnestrovie as a state, in comparison to Bosnia where the jury is still out.

Pridnestrovie, founded in the breakup of the Soviet Union with a declaration of independence 2 September 1990, today seeks international recognition of its statehood.

To forcefully submit the already de facto independent Pridnestrovie to Moldovan rule would be akin to forcing Bosnia into Serbia; something already rejected by Dayton, Rambouillet, the international community and - most importantly - by its inhabitants alike. Such an outcome would be a travesty to the ethnic and ideological makeup of the people of Pridnestrovie, and would reflect a grave misunderstanding of history. And it would ignore the one good thing that we can today thank Lenin for...

See also:
» After freedom and reform, Pridnestrovie says it is no longer Communist