Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (Romanian: Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, or simply Moldavia or Moldova, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 from parts of Bessarabia, a region annexed from Romania on 28 June of that year, and parts of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, an autonomous Soviet republic within the Ukrainian SSR.
This article is about the Soviet republic. For the historical region, see Moldavia.
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească (Romanian)
Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ (Moldovan Cyrillic)
Молдавская Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian)
Moldavskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika
Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească (Romanian)
Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ (Moldovan Cyrillic)
Молдавская Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian)
Moldavskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika
28 June–3 July 1940
2 August 1940
23 June 1990
27 August 1991
26 December 1991
0.680
medium
Soviet rouble (Rbl) (SUR)
+7 042
Moldova
(including Transnistria)
After the Declaration of Sovereignty on 23 June 1990, and until 23 May 1991, it was officially known as the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. From 23 May 1991 until the declaration of independence on 27 August 1991, it was renamed the Republic of Moldova while remaining a constituent republic of the USSR. Its independence was recognized on 26 December of that year when the USSR was dissolved.
Geographically, the Moldavian SSR was bordered by the Socialist Republic of Romania to the west and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to the north, east, and south.
History[edit]
Background[edit]
After the failure of the Tatarbunary Uprising, the Soviets promoted the newly created Moldavian Autonomous Oblast existing within the Ukrainian SSR on part of the territory between the Dniester and Bug rivers, to a Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR), on 12 October 1924, as a way to primarily prop up the Soviet propaganda effort in Bessarabia, but also to exert pressure on Bucharest in the negotiations on Bessarabia, and even to help a possible Communist revolution in Romania.[2]
On 24 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression treaty, called the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact. The pact contained a secret protocol, revealed only after Germany's defeat in 1945, according to which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet spheres of influence. The secret protocol placed the province of Bessarabia, at the time controlled by Romania, in the Soviet "sphere of influence."[3] Thereafter, both the Soviet Union and Germany invaded their respective portions of Poland,[4] while the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in June 1940, and waged war upon Finland.[5]
Leadership[edit]
The Communist Party of Moldavia was a component of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party was the sole legal political organization until perestroika. It had supreme power in the land, as all state and public organizations were its subordinates.
Until the 1978 Constitution of the Moldavian SSR (15 April 1978), the republic had four cities directly subordinated to the republican government: Chișinău, Bălți, Bender, and Tiraspol. By the new constitution, the following cities were added to this category: Orhei, Rîbnița, Soroca, and Ungheni.[28] The former four cities, and 40 raions were the first-tier administrative units of the land.
Economy[edit]
Although it was the most densely populated republic of the USSR, the Moldavian SSR was meant to be a rural country specialized in agriculture. Kyrgyzstan was the only Soviet Republic to hold a larger percentage of rural population.[29]
While holding just 0.2% of the Soviet territory, it accounted for 10% of the canned food production, 4.2% of its vegetables, 12.3% of its fruits and 8.2% of its wine production.[29]
At the same time, most of the Moldavian industry was built in Transnistria. While accounting for roughly 15% of the population of Moldavian SSR, Transnistria was responsible for 40% of its GDP and for 90% of electricity production.[30]
Major factories included the Rîbnița steel mill, Dubăsari and Moldavskaia power station and the factories near Tiraspol, producing refrigerators, clothing and alcohol.[29]
Legacy[edit]
The widespread nostalgia for the Soviet Union influences electoral choice in the Republic of Moldova.[35] According to a 2017 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, nostalgia for the USSR is common with 70% of Moldovans stating that the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a bad thing for their country.[36] In the region of Gagauzia, the main street of Etulia is named after Vladimir Lenin and a statue of Karl Marx is still preserved in front of the village hall.[37]