Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics

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An Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was a kind of region in the Soviet Union created for certain ethnic groups to be the titular nations of those areas. ASSRs were below the larger union republics in the Soviet hierarchy, but above autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs. In the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the leaders of ASSRs were part of the government.

Unlike the union republics, autonomous republics could not leave the USSR on their own. They could only leave if the union republic that contained them left, and they could also choose to stay with the Union separately from that republic.

The level of autonomy varied over time. It was strongest in the 1920s under the policy of Korenizatsiya, again in the 1950s after Stalin’s death, and during the Brezhnev era.

According to the USSR constitution, if a union republic voted to leave the Soviet Union, autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs could hold a referendum to decide whether they would stay in the USSR or leave with the seceding republic, and they could raise questions about their own legal status.

The 1978 RSFSR constitution recognized sixteen autonomous republics within the RSFSR. In 1991, some areas were promoted from autonomous oblasts to ASSRs: Gorno-Altai (now Altai Republic), Adyghe (now Republic of Adygea), Karachay–Cherkess (now Karachay–Cherkess Republic), and Khakassia (now Republic of Khakassia). The Jewish Autonomous Oblast remained an autonomous oblast.

Crimea’s status changed several times: it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954, and in January 1991 it was promoted to ASSR status after a referendum (today known as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory disputed between Ukraine and the Russian Federation).

Some ASSRs existed earlier and were later upgraded to full union republics — for example, the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was created from the Karelia ASSR in 1940 and later demoted back to an ASSR in 1956.

Overall, ASSRs were a flexible form of autonomy in the Soviet Union, evolving with the political times.