Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic

The **Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic** is a country located in Northern Europe, and one of the 21 national republics of the Soviet Union. It borders the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the southeast, the Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic to the west, and the White Sea to the northeast. Home to almost 2.3 million people as of December 2018, it is the third-least populous national republic in the union. The Karelian SSR is governed by the Communist Party of Karelia, a national branch of the All-Union Communist Party.

The Karelian SSR has a robust economy based on the many natural resources in the republic, including timber, minerals, and oil. The official languages of the Karelian SSR are Karelian (a dialect of Finnish) and Russian. Its capital and largest city is Petroskoi (Petrozavodsk in Russian), home to approximately 350,000 people. Other urban areas include Kondopoga, Kemi, Belomorsk and Murmansk

The Karelian SSR consists of 74 districts under the direct unitary authority of the Council of Ministers, as well as one autonomous republic: the Murmansk-Sapmi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which makes up the northern third of the republic and accounts for approximately a third of its total population.

## History

The Karelian SSR was first established as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic in March 1940 by merging the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with the World War II-era Finnish Democratic Republic. The latter was created in territory ceded by Finland in the Winter War by the Moscow Peace Treaty, namely the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala.

On July 16, 1956, the republic was demoted to an autonomous republic and reincorporated into the Russian SFSR, thus renamed the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This move can perhaps be explained in the context of the general post-war improvement of Finno-Soviet relations, which also included such steps as the Soviets' return of the Porkkala Naval Base leased territory to full Finnish sovereignty in 1956, and leasing Maly Vysotsky Island and the Soviet section of the Saimaa Canal (conquered by the USSR in 1940 and 1944) back to Finland in 1963.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the ethnic Karelian population, which had not constituted a majority in the republic since WWII, became increasingly urbanised, and experienced an exponential growth in both population and standard of living. By 1980, the population of the Karelian ASSR had reached 1.2 million, with a 4:1 ratio of Karelians to Russians and other ethnic groups like Finns. In 1981, the Communist Party of Karelia was once again given preeminent status in the government of the autonomous republic; following petitions from the local population and the Karelian party branch of the AUCP, in 1984, following a month of deliberations in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet passed an ukase raising the status of the Karelian ASSR to union republic status, thus reestablishing the Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic.

## Politics

The Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic is governed by the Communist Party of Karelia, the Karelian national branch of the All-Union Communist Party (AUCP), the founding and ruling political party of the Soviet Union based in Moscow, Russian SFSR. The Central Committee of the Karelian party branch is officially subordinate to the AUCP's Central Committee, but in practice mostly autonomous concerning domestic affairs. The government of the Karelian SSR is officially subordinate to the Communist Party of Karelia, as the Constitution of Karelia officially names the party the "leading party of the society and the state". The Communist Party of Karelia's Central Committee elects a Politburo which is led by an elected First Secretary, the republican-level equivalent of the position of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the AUCP.

The highest institution of state power according to the constitution is the Supreme Soviet of Karelia, which is a bicameral legislative assembly consisting of two nominally equal chambers: the Soviet of the Republic consists of 74 seats, each representing a district without regard to population; and the Soviet of Deputies, consisting of 115 seats each representing an electoral district of roughly equal population. The Supreme Soviet elects the Council of Ministers at a joint session, which functions as the highest executive body of government; the Supreme Soviet also elects the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, who according to the constitution is declared Premier (head of government) of the Karelian SSR. The Supreme Soviet is also responsible for electing the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which serves as collective head of state of the Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic.

In addition to the Communist Party of Karelia, the parties of the National Progressive Front each have Karelian republican branches which hold seats in the Supreme Soviet alongside the communist majority. The Supreme Court of Karelia is the highest judicial institution in the Karelian SSR. It is led by the Supreme Justice of Karelia, who is elected at a joint plenary session of the Supreme Soviet.

### Murmansk-Sapmi ASSR

The Murmansk-Sapmi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic has its own Council of Ministers, which is subordinate to the Council of Ministers of Karelian SSR but autonomous concerning internal affairs. The Murmansk-Sapmi ASSR also has its own bicameral Supreme Soviet, which is responsible for electing the Council of Ministers as well as the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet which serves as the autonomous republic's head of state. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Murmansk-Sapmi ASSR is an *ex officio* member of the Council of Ministers of Karelia.

## Economy

Industrial activity in the Karelia SSR has long been dominated by the forest and wood processing sector. Timber logging is carried out by a large number of small enterprises whereas pulp and paper production is concentrated in five large enterprises, which produce about a quarter of Russia's total output of paper. Three largest companies in the pulp and paper sector in 2001 were: OAO Kondopoga (sales of $209.4 mln in 2001), Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill ($95.7 mln) and OAO Pitkjaranta Pulp Factory ($23.7 mln).

Mining is also an important part of the Karelian economy. In 2007, extractive industries (including extraction of metal ores) amounted to 30% of the republic's industrial output. There are about 53 mining companies in Karelia (mostly cooperatives), employing more than 10,000 people. One of the most important companies in the sector is AO Karelian Pellet, which is the 5th largest of Russia's 25 mining and ore dressing enterprises involved in ore extraction and iron ore concentrate production. Other large companies in the sector were OAO Karelnerud, Mosavtorod State Unitary Enterprise, and Pitkjaranta Mining Directorate State Unitary Enterprise.

Processing industries contributed 37.3% of the overall production in 2007. The latter figure includes oil (19.1%), pulp-and-paper (23.6%), metals and metal-working (7.9%), woodworking (7.1%), foodstuffs (5.8%) and machine-building (3.9%). Production and distribution of electricity, natural gas and water made up 13.6% of the region's output.