Sovietization

Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct (but related) meanings:
*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils).
*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union.

The term was one of numerous "-ation" buzzwords in Soviet phraseology, along with electrification, collectivization, korenizatsiya, etc.

A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second meaning) occurred during and after World War II in Eastern Europe. In a broad sense, this included (mostly not voluntary) adoption of Soviet-like institutions, laws, customs, traditions and the Soviet way of life, both on a national level and in smaller communities. This was usually promoted and speeded up by propaganda aimed at creating a common way of life in all states within the Soviet sphere of influence. In many cases, Sovietization was also accompanied by forced resettlement of large categories of "class enemies" (kulaks, or "osadniks", for instance) to the Gulag labor camps and exile settlements. [cite book | author =various authors | coauthors = | title =Demography and National Security | year =2001 | editor =Myron Weiner, Sharon Stanton Russell | pages =308-315 | chapter =Stalinist Forced Relocation Policies | chapterurl =http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN157181339X&id=J9nuv7MGQ5MC&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=Sovietization&sig=QTVI52AN1LIHVn13mJYNqUyNCNw | publisher =Berghahn Books | location = | id =ISBN 1-57181-339-X| url = | format = | accessdate = ]

In a narrow sense, the term "Sovietization" is often applied to mental and social changes within the population of the Soviet Union and its satellites [pl icon cite book | author =Józef Tischner | coauthors = | title =Etyka solidarności oraz Homo sovieticus | year =2005 | editor = | pages =295 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Znak | location =Kraków | id =ISBN 83-240-0588-9 | url = | format = | accessdate = ] which led to creation of the "new Soviet man" (according to its supporters) or "Homo Sovieticus" (according to its critics). [ cite book | author =Aleksandr Zinovyev | coauthors = | title =Homo sovieticus | year =1986 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Grove/Atlantic | location = | id =ISBN 0-87113-080-7 | url = | format = | accessdate = ]

Most recently the term "Sovietization" is applied in a derogatory sense to processes in Russia under Putin, with various authors putting various, often mutually contradictory, meanings in the word referring to various attributes of the former Soviet Union.

References

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See also

* Russification