Hello, can you rearrange the paragraphs about the idea of race and the soviet identity for better clarity?

Russia has an extensive history of imperialism and colonial expansion. The aftermath of the Soviet Union collapse led to the Russian Federation becoming the primary beneficiary, inheriting most of the territory notably Moscow, which, according to Panayi, was the central control point of the USSR (2020). As various states gained their independence in the process, post-colonialism emerged as a prevalent issue. Consequently, with the globalization and dissemination of Western ideas the problem of race-based power dynamics in modern Russia received public attention.

Before delving into discussions on racism, it is imperative to establish a clear definition. For the purposes of this discussion, racism is construed as a form of discrimination against individuals based on their race, typically involving a contrived hierarchy of races. This discrimination encompasses criminalization, everyday social and political pressure, verbal and physical abuse. Logically, it is equally important to establish the definition of race. In the context of this essay, race is construed as a social concept that is used to differentiate people into groups based on a collection of phenotypical traits, such as skin color and facial features. 

The topic of racism in contemporary Russia is a pressing matter. Particularly for migrant workers from Central Asia, who, According to the research of Kuznetsova and Round, grapple with racism as a daily struggle (2018). Researchers claim that the issue extends beyond interactions with citizens, to include encounters with the state institutions and the police. In other words, on top of the constant unpleasant interactions with locals, the victims of racism constantly fear the persecution from the law enforcement agencies based on their appearance and origin. This highlights not only the relevance of the problem, but also deeply ingrained racism in the Russian culture and society to the point that it almost becomes constitutionalized. They argue that this indicates Russia’s “deeply rooted imperial views”, a critical statement that will drive the ensuing discussion.

What distinguishes the Russia’s case is that the racism manifests in Russian views less so as a feeling of superiority and more so as a fear of the “other” (Shnirelman, 2008). The enduring legacy of colonialism in Russia has shaped the development of racism, as the perceived threat to the rights and freedoms of white Russians is rooted in the post-Soviet collapse, where racist notions of "Russianness" emerged as a response and substitute for the lost Soviet identity, exacerbated by general lack of education on the topic and economic dependencies of post-colonial states leading to an influx of migrants. This perpetuation of racism in contemporary Russia is further fueled by political instability and the perceived powerlessness of the population following the collapse of the empire.

Contrary to the prevailing belief that the Soviet Union was a raceless society, the idea of “race” did indeed exist within its ideological framework, albeit was not studied extensively. According to Zakharov’s insights, the issue of race was relegated to the periphery of academic discourse, being deemed “of marginal significance” by the scholars of the time (2015). Consequently, This marginalization reached official institutions, where race was not even officially recognized as a classification category for the diverse population of Russia. Effectively, the understanding of race within the Soviet Union was confined mainly to social scientists which represented only a small fraction of the population. This resulted in collective unawareness of racism. 

Interestingly, this situation contradicts the prevalent anti-fascist propaganda of the time. In spite of the demonization of fascism, “racism was paradoxically not presented as a social problem in public discourse” (Zakharov, 2015). It was not necessarily the case that racism did not exist during the times; rather, it was conspicuously absent from public conversations. This neglect of the topic in scientific research perpetuated an educational gap in USSR. To this day, race-related topics in schools of post-Soviet space is taught on a rudimentary level while racism often remains entirely omitted. Zakharov's quoted interview vividly illustrates this unawareness, recounting incidents where individuals could engage in racially motivated physical violence without recognizing the racism inherent in their behavior (2015). This further illustrates the unawareness of racism of the general public. 

In essence, it wasn't that Soviet society was devoid of racial considerations or that racism didn't exist within its borders; rather, the public lacked the means and educational framework to identify and comprehend the issue, leading to a collective obliviousness. 

The Soviet Union attempted to unite the diverse group of people of different races and nationalities through creation of the new “Soviet Identity”.  Ideally, people would identify themselves first as “Soviet” and second as part of some other group. Despite this aspiration, little attention was given to the concept of race within the USSR. According to Hirsch’s analysis, the notion of race did exist in the Soviet Union, however as opposed to Nazis, USSR did not practice racial politics; rather it was more focused on the politics of nationality (2002). This is where it is needed to draw a clear distinction between nationality politics of the Soviet regime and racial politics of the Nazis. 

Unlike Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union “did not brand particular nationalities as biological inferiors or degenerate races” (Hirsch, 2002). The goal of the nationality politics was not to pose a group of people as the superior nor it was to use nationality as a sole justification for genocide. Instead, the state persecuted people of nationalities that “could not be "re-invented" as Soviet nations” (Hirsch, 2002). Here, Hirsch explains the core idea of the practices of ethnic cleansing performed in USSR: to develop the Soviet identity and to hinder the growth of national consciousness that was seen as the driving force of Nazi Germany. This means that even though on the surface level it may seem that the outcomes of both were similar, the message that these politics conveyed differed drastically. The racial explicitly targets groups because they are lesser and inferior, while the national targets people because they are a threat to the status quo, without any implication of a hierarchy. The distinction is crucial, therefore, to understand how this policies affected the views of the people of Russia. The practices of the Soviet regime translated to the views of “other” nations and their consciousnesses as a threat to the Russian population.