THE ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF THE NATIONAL-TERRITORIAL AUTONOMY OF THE CHUVASH PEOPLE AND THE PROBLEMS OF ITS FORMATION

The article examines the process of changing the ethnic, quantitative composition of the population of Chuvashia during implementation of the national policy of the Soviet state and the problems of allocating the Chuvash Region into an administrative subject of the RSFSR in the 20–30s of the XX century. The study shows that the ethnic principle of the organizing the Chuvash Autonomous Region, then the Soviet Autonomous Republic, was not fully implemented. It is proved that from the very beginning of the Republic of Soviets, state authorities paid great attention to the problems of country’s economic zoning, supporting administrative-territorial units, including territories with industrial potential, natural and human resources, often violating the national principle. It is established that the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Region, formed within the borders of three small uyezds, is a product of the previously formed territory of the Tatar ASSR. Numerous external and internal administrative-territorial changes noted are the result of the authorities’ desire to harmoniously balance the federation organized according to the ethno-territorial principle. The positive aspect of this period for the Chuvash is the growth in the quantitative composition of the population, with the exception of the famine of 1921–1922. Of particular scientific importance for the study of the history of the region and the country as a whole is the analysis of contradictory border decisions of the central government when forming the state policy in relation to “small” peoples. Relying on historiography and sources, the author tries to generalize the historical experience of solving the problems of forming the national-territorial autonomy of the Chuvash people.