
Borders in Red
Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union
Stephan Rindlisbacher(Author)
Northern Illinois University Press
Published on 15. April 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
294 pages
978-1-5017-8058-5 (ISBN)
Description
Borders in Red shows how Lenin and his Bolshevik leadership embraced the nationality question as a way of managing diversity and institutionalized it as a means of governance. Stephan Rindlisbacher uses the making of national borders as a lens through which to examine the Bolsheviks' fundamental shift from proletarian internationalism to ethnonational federalism sui generis. Comparing how party and state managed issues of national diversity in the core regions of Soviet federalism-Ukraine, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia-Rindlisbacher provides insights into their policymaking and into the roots of current territorial conflicts.
President Putin has condemned Lenin's nationality policy to be a historical mistake, and with its war against Ukraine, Russia has tried to revise borders that date back to the early days of the Soviet state. However, Borders in Red shows that the Soviet Republics were not arbitrarily divided by leaders like Stalin or Khrushchev. They were the result of long-lasting debates involving politicians, experts, and people from the border regions. The developing Soviet order was a product of trial and error.
President Putin has condemned Lenin's nationality policy to be a historical mistake, and with its war against Ukraine, Russia has tried to revise borders that date back to the early days of the Soviet state. However, Borders in Red shows that the Soviet Republics were not arbitrarily divided by leaders like Stalin or Khrushchev. They were the result of long-lasting debates involving politicians, experts, and people from the border regions. The developing Soviet order was a product of trial and error.
Reviews / Votes
Borders in Red: Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union offers particular analytical resonance... by highlighting the tensions between ideology, institutional practice, and local agency, this book deepens our understanding of how the Soviet Union managed complexity, and how its administrative architecture continues to reverberate today. * CEU Review of Books *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Cornell University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
3 b&w halftones, 22 maps - 3 Halftones, black and white - 22 Maps
Dimensions
Height: 225 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
426 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5017-8058-5 (9781501780585)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2025
Northern Illinois University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Person
Stephan Rindlisbacher is a postdoctoral researcher at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).
Content
Introduction
1. The Leninian Moment: Making the Soviet State
2. Gosplan: How to Achieve SpatialHomogeneity
3. Ukraine and the RSFSR: Howto Find a Common Border
4. Central Asia: How to Discuss aCommon Border
5. Armenia and Azerbaijan: Howto Search for a Common Border
6. How to Contextualize"Khrushchev'sGift"?
Conclusion
1. The Leninian Moment: Making the Soviet State
2. Gosplan: How to Achieve SpatialHomogeneity
3. Ukraine and the RSFSR: Howto Find a Common Border
4. Central Asia: How to Discuss aCommon Border
5. Armenia and Azerbaijan: Howto Search for a Common Border
6. How to Contextualize"Khrushchev'sGift"?
Conclusion