Statute of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities. 1920
Original Source: Spravochnik narodnogo komissariata natsional’nostei (Moscow, 1921), pp. 5 ff.
Para. 1: It is the task of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities (Narkomnats):
(a) to secure the peaceful co-existence and fraternal co-operation of all the nationalities and tribes of the RSFSR, and of the friendly Soviet Republics which are linked with it by treaty;
(b) to promote their material and spiritual development, in conformity with the peculiarities of their conditions of life, state of culture and economic position;
(c) to supervise the application of the national policy of the Soviet regime.
Para. 2: To carry out these tasks, the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities:
(a) draws up the appropriate draft measures in the sphere of the nationalities policy and submits these, according to competence, either to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee or the Council of People’s Commissars;
(b) unifies and directs the work of the national Delegations of the various Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes within the borders of the RSFSR;
(c) takes into account the experience of Soviet construction in the national territories, and outlines the ways of satisfying their needs and desires in conformity with the peculiarities of the economy, culture and conditions of life of each nationality;
(d) protects the rights of the national minorities on the entire territory of the RSFSR;
(e) assists the Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes and the separate national groups in their relations with the central institutions of the RSFSR;
(f) presents its conclusions on all draft measures of the People’s Commissariats of the RSFSR affecting the Autonomous Republics and the Soviet Republics linked by treaty to the RSFSR;
(g) supervises the fulfillment, by the institutions as well as by the Delegations of the RSFSR and the Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes, of the relevant articles of the Constitution, decrees, treaties and resolutions affecting the various nationalities;
(h) establishes its Representatives at the Central Executive Committees and the Councils of People’s Commissars of the Autonomous Republics and the corresponding Executive Committees of the autonomous provinces, as well as at the Delegations of the Soviet Treaty Republics not included in the Federation;
(i) conducts negotiations with the representatives of the nationalities within the RSFSR, and makes suggestions for the formation of new autonomous units to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars;
(j) presents its conclusions on the estimates, both financial and material, submitted by the Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes;
(k) collects and studies material on the life of the nationalities within the RSFSR and beyond its borders, and publishes relevant information reports;
(l) sets up special learned societies and educational institutions to study the life of the nationalities and to train cadres of political workers of non-Russian nationality;
(m) issues a periodical and special publications on the national question, and directs the national publishing house of the Delegations and the departments for nationalities at the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities.
Para. 3: The Structure of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities
The People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, by virtue of its functions, is subdivided into:
(a) Delegations accredited to the center by the Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes;
(b) Representatives of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities accredited to the governments of the Autonomous Republics, the executive committees of the autonomous provinces and communes, and to the governments of the Soviet Republics linked to the RSFSR by treaty;
(c) departments for the separate nationalities;
(d) departments for information, editing and publishing; for educational institutions and learned societies; and the internal administration.
Note: A Soviet of Nationalities is attached to the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities.
Para. 4: The Soviet of Nationalities
(a) The Soviet of Nationalities is a consultative representative organ attached to the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities which establishes, by means of the Delegations and departments for nationalities, a living and indissoluble link among the nationalities, systematizes the practical experience gained in applying the national policy of the Soviet regime, and outlines ways of satisfying the needs and requirements of the working masses of the nationalities to promote their economic, cultural and political development;
(b) the Soviet of Nationalities includes the People’s Commissar (chairman), the members of the Board, the chairmen of the Delegations of the Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes, and the heads of the departments for nationalities.
Para. 5: The National Delegations at the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities
(a) Each autonomous national-territorial state unit on the territory of the RSFSR maintains, at the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, its own Delegation which has departmental status and forms an organic part of the Commissariat;
(b) the Delegations, consisting of a chairman and two members, are appointed by the Council of People’s Commissars or the executive committee of the autonomous units, and confirmed by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee;
(c) the tasks of each Delegation are: to establish a link between the Autonomous Republics and provinces with the center and vice versa, to take part, through the Soviet of Nationalities, in working out the measures affecting the nationalities of the RSFSR, to pilot through the appropriate central institutions the financial as well as material estimates of the Republics and provinces which they represent, and to promote their cultural and economic development;
(d) in accordance with its tasks, each Delegation may maintain a general section, an information section and an economic section.
Para. 6: The Departments for Nationalities
(a) Nationalities residing within the RSFSR as national minorities but having corresponding territorial units which are not part of the RSFSR and are neither allied nor Soviet Republics (Poles, Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Finns and others), as well as Jews, have appropriate departments for nationalities at the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities;
(b) the departments for nationalities are set up by the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities with the direct collaboration of the workers’ organizations of the corresponding national groups on the territory of the RSFSR;
(c) the departments for nationalities may be divided into sub-departments: for general affairs, for editing and publishing, and for information and instruction.
Para. 7:
(a) The Department for National Minorities unifies and directs the work of the provincial and uyezd departments for nationalities serving those national groups (minorities) on the territory of the RSFSR which have no departments for nationalities of their own at the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, and do not form part of corresponding national-territorial units; (b) the Department for National Minorities contains a sub-department for organization and instruction and sub-departments for the corresponding national groups.
Para. 8:
(a) The internal administration is in charge of questions of an administrative, financial and technical nature, and directs the corresponding departments of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities which are an organic part of the administration;
(b) the following are organic parts of the administration:
- the general office,
- the secretariat of the board,
- the financial sub-department,
- the economic sub-department.
Para. 9:
(a) The information department collects, systematizes and works out the data on the economy, politics, culture and conditions of life of all the nationalities and national groups connected, in one form or other, with the RSFSR; it publishes weekly information reports, drawn from these data, for the People s Commissariats of the RSFSR on the state of affairs in the provinces and Autonomous and Treaty Republics, and supplies the Soviet press with corresponding information;
(b) the information department is divided into two sub-departments:
- for statistics, libraries and archives, and
- for general information,
both of which contain corresponding national sections.
Para. 10:
(a) The tasks of the department for educational establishments and learned societies are to centralize the study of the East, to relate oriental studies closely to the practical requirements of life of the respective peoples, and to train cadres of political workers for the Eastern Republics and provinces;
(b) the department is in charge of the Society for Oriental Studies, the Communist University for the Working Peoples of the East, the Instructors’ School of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, and so forth;
(c) all institutions and organizations mentioned in point (b) function on the basis of special decrees and of the explanations added to them.
Para. 11:
The editorial and publishing department unifies the work of editing and issuing the publications of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities and its departments for nationalities; it also renders technical and literary assistance in this field to the autonomous units and national minorities.
Para. 12: On the Departments for Nationalities attached to the Provincial Executive Committees
The provincial and district departments for nationalities unify the work among the national minorities residing on the territory of a given province or district, and take part in the work of the other Soviet institutions in questions affecting the national minorities.
Para. 13:
The tasks of the departments for nationalities are:
(a) to consolidate the principles of Soviet construction, and to apply the measures of the Soviet regime among the national minorities on the territory of a given province or district;
(b) to raise the political, economic and cultural level of the national minorities of a given locality;
(c) to publish periodical and non-periodical literature for the national minorities.
Para. 14:
The Department for Nationalities is divided into national sub-departments corresponding to the national groups of the territory. Apart from the national sub-departments, the Provincial Department for Nationalities has the following sub-departments:
- the sub-department for general affairs,
- the information and instructional sub-department,
- the literary and publishing sub-department.
Para. 15: The Representatives of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities
(a) For the purpose of systematizing the practical experience gained by applying the policy of the Soviet regime in the autonomous provinces and Republics, as well as in the Treaty Republics, and for the purpose of supervising the fulfillment of the decrees issued by the Central Federal Authority of the RSFSR on the basis of article 22 of the Constitution of the RSFSR protecting the rights and interests of the national minorities, the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities sends its Representatives to the governments of the Autonomous and Treaty Republics, and to the executive committees of the Autonomous Regions.
(b) the Representatives of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities function on the basis of special statutes issued in relation to them.
Moscow, Kremlin, May 26, 1921.
Chairman of VTsIK: M. KALININ
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars:
V. UL’IANOV (Lenin) Secretary: A. ENUKIDZE
Statute on the Soviet of Nationalities attached to the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, confirmed by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on April 21, 1921.
In pursuance of the resolution of VTsIK of May 22, 1920 (on the reorganization of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities), and the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities of June 9, 1920, the Soviet of Nationalities decrees:
1 The Soviet of Nationalities is the representative organ, attached to the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, reflecting the peculiarities of the economy, culture and conditions of life of the Autonomous Republics, provinces, communes and national minorities of the RSFSR, and serving as a living and indissoluble link between the nationalities.
2 The tasks of the Soviet of Nationalities are:
(a) to satisfy the needs and desires of the Autonomous Republics, provinces, communes and national minorities of the RSFSR;
(b) to outline the means of satisfying the needs and desires of the above-mentioned units in conformity with the peculiarities of the economy, culture and conditions of life of each nationality;
(c) to consolidate the peaceful co-existence and fraternal cooperation of the working masses of the nationalities and national groups of the RSFSR;
(d) to systematize the practical experience gained by applying the national policy of the Soviet regime in the peripheries.
3 In order to carry out these tasks, the Soviet of Nationalities:
(a) maintains a close link, through the national Delegations and the Departments for Nationalities, with the Autonomous Republics, provinces, communes and national minorities; it keeps the local authorities regularly informed, receives reports from the localities and, on the basis of the material received, draws up the measures and draft laws designed to satisfy the needs and desires of a given nationality;
(b) formulates its opinions and makes suggestions to the All-Russian Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars on all questions of state life, which are subject to the decision of these institutions, and which have a bearing on the national policy of the RSFSR;
(c) discusses, by way of preliminary examination, draft bills and projects of the All-Russian Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars which have an exclusive bearing on some nationality and require changes in, or amendments to, the existing decrees and resolutions or the promulgation of new ones;
(d) discusses, and arrives at conclusions, on all questions and measures of People’s Commissariats which affect in matters of principle the Autonomous Republics, provinces and communes, as well as the separate national minorities;
(e) makes suggestions to People’s Commissariats for changes in amendments to instructions or the promulgation of new instructions by them on questions affecting the work of these People’s Commissariats, so that the latter should be able to fulfill in the best possible way their tasks among the particular nationalities and give complete satisfaction to the needs and requirements of the latter;
(f) coordinates the activity of the various People’s Commissariats and organs in relation to the Autonomous Republics, provinces, communes and national minorities.
4 The following are permanent members of the Soviet of Nationalities: The People’s Commissar, the members of the board of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, the chairmen of the National Delegations of the Bashkir, Buryat, Votsk, Gorsk, Mari, Karelian, Volga German, Zyryan, Kalmyk, Kirghiz, Turkestan, Tatar, Crimean, Chuvash and Yakut Autonomous Republics and provinces, and the heads of the Jewish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Finnish and Estonian Departments for Nationalities.
Note: The chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities is the People’s Commissar for Nationalities.
5 The Soviet of Nationalities nominates the candidates to the board of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities.
People’s Commissar for Nationalities: STALIN Secretary: AINSHTEIN
Source: Rudolf Schlesinger, ed., Changing Attitudes in Soviet Russia; the nationalities problem and Soviet administration (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1956), pp. 33-42.