the mordvinians. a doomed soviet nationality?

EHESS

The Mordvinians. A Doomed Soviet Nationality?Author(s): Isabelle T. KreindlerSource: Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1985), pp. 43-62Published by: EHESSStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20170053 .

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ISABELLE T. KREINDLER

THE MORDVINIANS A DOOMED SOVIET NATIONALITY?

The 1979 census recorded only 1,191,765 Mordvinians in the Soviet Union, a further decrease of 70,905 since the 1970

census.* This ancient Finnic people, indigenous to the Volga

area, is still the largest of Soviet Finno-Ugrian nationalities.

However, if their numbers continue to drop as they have

been during the past forty years, not only are they certain

to lose this primacy before the end of the century (see

table), but their very survival is in question.

Major Finno-Ugrian nationalities in the USSR (in thousands)

1926 1939 1959 1970 1979

Mordvinians 1,340.4 1,456.3 1,285.1 1,262.7 1,191.8

Estonians - - 988.6 1,007.4 1,019.0

Udmurts 504.2 606.3 624.8 704.3 713.7

Maris 428.2 481.6 504.2 598.6 622.0

Komi 375.9 422.3 430.9 475.3 477.5

Karelians 248.1 252.7 167.3 146.1 138.4

Finns 19.5 - 92.7 84.8 77.1

Source: V.l. Kozlov, Natsional'nosti SSSR (Moscow, 1982): 285-287.

In absolute numbers, 259,864 Mordvinians have vanished

since 1939. The actual loss, if expected natural increase

is taken into account, is of course much greater. Yet, during this period there were no special Mordvinian disasters not

shared by other Soviet peoples. Furthermore, unlike their

* Parts of this paper were presented at seminars of the Center

for Russian and East European Studies, Stanford University and of the Russian and East European Research Centre of The

Hebrew University, Jerusalem. I wish to thank the participants for their stimulating comments.

Cahiers du Monde russe et sovi?tique, XXVI (i), Janv.-Mars 1985, pp. 43-62.



44 ISABELLE T. KREINDLER

Baltic relatives, the Estonians, the Mordvinians have one

of the lowest urbanization rates and, predictably, enjoy a

fairly high fertility rate.(l) Nor have they been affected by emigration or transfer of population due to border adjustments as have their other Baltic relatives, the Karelians and the

Finns. The shrinking Mordvinian population is thus clearly a case of assimilation, or as Barbara Anderson terms it, "national reidentification.

" ( 2 )

The Mordvinians are generally dismissed as a non-viable

nationality. Writing even before their first dramatic drop in numbers was revealed by the 1959 census, Walter Kolarz

saw them "in a far more hopeless position than even some

of the smallest nationalities in the Soviet Union. "(3) Glyn Lewis, in a 1972 work on Soviet multilingualism, judged their future as "dubious," while Bernard Comrie, in a recent work

on Soviet languages, constantly points to the Mordvinians

as an example of the so-called "natural process of assimi

lation... in its last phase." Alexandre Bennigsen sees their

assimilation, as well as that of other "non-historic nations"

as inevitable. (4) Soviet scholars also constantly picture the

Mordvinians as assimilating, a development which they consider

to be both "natural and progressive."(5) But predictions of the impending Mordvinian disappearance

have been sounded many times in the past and yet in the

very last decades of the twentieth century over a million

people have still declared themselves Mordvinians. It is the

purpose of this paper to analyze the historical development of the Mordvinian nationality focusing on the factors that

have contributed to both its apparently imminent disappear ance as well as to its survival, however tenuous. Such an

inquiry, it is hoped, will be of intrinsic interest in itself

since the Mordvinians have been virtually ignored in Western

studies, and at the same time may also cast some light on

the viability of other nationalities, whose prospects for a

national future are often deemed not much brighter.

Mordvinian early history

The ancestors of the Mordvinians originated more than

3,000 years ago in the area between the Volga, Oka and

Sura rivers. They first appear under the name Mordens in

the writings of the sixth-century Gothic historian Jordanes.

Later, they are intimately linked with both the Khazar and

the Volga Bulgar states. (6) Of the surviving Volga nationalities, the Mordvinians

were one of the first to come into contact with the Russians

and, as differing Soviet interpretations have it, were also

the first to "tie their historical fates in friendship" or, were the first to be "raped," "robbed," "conquered. "(7) The

Russian Chronicles, which record the first Russian-Mordvinian

encounter in 1103 (though toponymie evidence suggests that

Russians began to acquire Mordvinian lands much earlier),

present a uniformly dreary picture of ambushes, burnings

and killings on both sides. (8)



THE MORDVINIANS 45

In the encounter with the Russians, the Mordvinians had

several disadvantages. Perhaps most serious was their di

vision into two distinct groups, the Erzia Mordvinians and

the Moksha Mordvinians. For some time in the sixth century, and possibly even earlier, a mysterious event, probably an

intrusion of a since vanished people, had split the Mordvinians

into two separate branches, the Erzia in the northeast and

the Moksha in the southwest. (9) Gradually major differences

developed in customs, language and even physical appear ance (until their conversion to Christianity the Erzia and

Moksha did not intermarry and even today intermarriage is

rare.) (10) The two subdivisions of Mordvinians share no

folk heroes in common - their old folksongs sing only of

local heroes. Neither language has a common term to designate either themselves or their language. When a speaker wishes

to refer to Mordvinians as a whole, he must use the term

"Erzia and Moksha."(11)

Another serious problem was their geographic location

in close proximity to powerful neighbors while lacking any natural barriers. After the demise of the Khazar kaganate in the early eleventh century, the Mordvinians were caught in the struggle between the Russian princes and the Volga

Bulgars. This struggle was largely fought on Mordvinian

soil with the Mordvinians often forced into the unhappy role

of supporting the opposing sides. Though organized under

their own petty princes, the Mordvinians had failed to form

anything resembling a state by the time of the onslaught of the Mongols in the thirteenth century. Later, as the

Russians began to free themselves from the Mongols and slowly advance eastward, the Mordvinians found themselves parti tioned between the Russians on the west, and the Golden

Horde and its successor state the Kazan' khanate, on the

east. Any chance for independent existence was thus finally foreclosed. With the conquest of Kazan' in 1552, all Mordvin

ians were united under Moscow. (12)

Even before the final conquest, under the pressure of

the Russian advance the Mordvinians began to flee their

ethnic territory. After the fall of Kazan', with the Mordvinian

lands located directly in the path of the Russian colonization

movement, outmigration increased and was to be further

augmented during the periodic conversion campaigns, espe

cially those of the eighteenth century. Whole Mordvinian

villages would be abandoned leaving behind empty houses

and fields "without their plowmen" as the folksongs lament. (13)

They fled in order to preserve their faith and their way of life, but having broken with their roots they became more

vulnerable to conversion and russification in their new

places of settlement, where it was only a matter of time

before they were engulfed by the Russians once more. By the seventeenth century the Mordvinian homeland had become

central Russian territory and the Mordvinians there a mi

nority. Many Mordvinians had also joined the Russians and

Ukrainians in colonizing the new lands in search of economic

opportunities. To this day they have remained one of the most

mobile nationalities in the Soviet Union.




The Mordvinians in the tsarist Empire

The history of the Mordvinians in the Empire of the tsars is one of land expropriations, harsh exploitation and a continuous assault on native beliefs and customs to which

the response was at first rebellion and flight but ultimately conversion and often full assimilation.

The Russians deprived the Mordvinians not only of their

best lands but also of their "best" people. Native leaders were either killed off in the futile uprisings or enticed to the Russian side by offers of privilege, leaving the Mordvin

ians a nation of peasants. Like the other Volga nationalities, most Mordvinians were turned into State or Crown serfs

burdened by taxes, service obligations and most traumatic

of all to judge by the folksongs, military recruitment. Aside

from restrictions on trading in the city and a ban on black

smithing (on security grounds), their burdens were in theory the same as those of Russian peasants. In practice, however,

unscrupulous officials took advantage of their ignorance of

Russian and Russian ways to make their lot much harder.

Even in the nineteenth century, as Herzen reports, officials

willingly paid a double bribe to be assigned to a native district.(14)

In the Volga area, unlike in the areas of later tsarist

conquests, the Russian Orthodox Church received enthusiastic

backing of the state in its mission to convert the natives. (15) This backing included both the "carrot" of rewards and

privileges as well as the "stick" of extra burdens and of

military regiments which escorted the people into the river

for baptism. The Church also made some attempts at more

enlightened methods by opening schools. However, as Prince

Shcherbatov complained at the end of the eighteenth century, "not only did they [the schools] fail to promote the faith,

but made it despised [ ] most children died while the rest

were filled with grievance and remained ignorant of Christ ' s

teachings. "(16) The ruthless conversion methods and the

subsequent exactions and constant interference with the con

verts' way of life earned the Church widespread hatred.

During the peasant revolts, the Volga natives often wreaked

vengeance on the clergy. In the 1773-1775 Pugachev uprising, for example, 132 members of the clergy were killed in the

Kazan1 province alone. (17)

And yet with time, Russian Orthodoxy did take robt among the Mordvinians. The old Mordvinian animist faith had de

veloped no institutional forms - there was no regular clergy

and writing system to help preserve the old beliefs and

rituals. By the nineteenth century, memories of the old religion had grown so dim that when a Mordvinian prophet, Kuz'ma

Alekseev (dubbed Kuz'ka the Mordvinian God, by the Rus

sians), tried to restore the "old Mordvinian faith," he had

considerable difficulties in determining its content. Included

among his Mordvinian gods were the Virgin Mary, the arch

angel Gabriel and St. Nicholas. Alekseev's movement, which

had attracted thousands to prayers in the meadow, was cruelly

put down by the state. (18)



THE MORDVINIANS 47

In the nineteenth century, Orthodoxy had become almost

universal among the Mordvinians. The few who had still

managed to avoid conversion had fallen under heavy Russian

influence so that even the prayers to their animist gods were replete with Russian words. (19) A visiting Finnish scholar

in the 1850's observed that the Mordvinians were strongly attached to Orthodoxy and acted like "devout Christians," a

point echoed by all Russian observers as well. (20)

Of all the Volga nationalities, the Mordvinians were not

only the most profoundly christianized but also the most

strongly affected by Russian culture and language. Already in the eighteenth century, writers single out the Mordvinians

from the other natives as least differing from the Russians. (21)

Physically, the Mordvinians, especially the Erzia, resembled

the Russians and were noted for their handsome appearance, "even more handsome than the Russians," as a tsarist eth

nographer put it. (22) Since the Russians usually settled in close proximity,

their language made rapid progress in the Mordvinian com

munities. A seventeenth-century bishop optimistically reported to Tsar Alexis that "even their wives and children speak Russian."(23) (He was later murdered by the Mordvinians.)

The earliest written record of the Mordvinian language, the

Dutch-Mordvinian lexicon published in 1692, contained many words of Russian origin. (24) Later samples of Mordvinian

speech, usually odes and panegyrics, reflect a growing Russian influence. By the nineteenth century one finds nu

merous descriptions of Mordvinian communities speaking their

native language with an admixture of Russian words or even

beginning to forget their language altogether. (25) The knowledge of Russian among the Mordvinians was

considered to be so widespread that when in 1868 the Kazan'

Translating Commission of the Russian Orthodox Missionary

Society received its charter to publish in various Volga lan

guages, Mordvinian was specifically excluded on the grounds that they "are completely russified. "(26) It was considered

only a matter of short time before the Mordvinians would

totally merge with the Russians. In his work on Samara

Mordvinians written in 1886, M. Grebnev saw the assimilation

process reaching its end - "another hundred years and only the memory of their names will remain.. ."(27)

Yet the 1897 census, which was based on the mother

tongue, recorded 1,023,841 Mordvinians. While the Russian

language, especially among the men who left the villages for outside work, was nearly universal, the Mordvinian lan

guages (Moksha and Erzia) survived, however inundated

with Russian words. Besides, the Russian words had become

"nativized" sometimes beyond recognition. The Russian word

for happiness, for example, schast'e, had become in Erzia

utsiaska. (28) In some of the remote villages, especially among the more conservative Moksha, the Mordvinian national char

acter continued to be expressed also visually in the women's

clothing. (29) Finally, but this is impossible to measure with

any precision, a feeling of national uniqueness was still




preserved. The sources do not report wide intermarriage with

the Russians, though a Mordvinian spouse was not considered

undesirable. An amateur ethnographer, who in the late 1890's had spent his summer near a Mordvinian village and had

become good friends with a piously Orthodox and seemingly thoroughly russified young Mordvinian, reported the following outburst to his casual question as to "why don't you Mordvin

ians marry Russian girls?"(30)

"Why slight our own? We'll start marrying Russians, and ours will remain old maids!

[ ...

] No, you can't

exterminate the Mordvinians! There are many Mordvin

ians!"

Even some of the Mordvinians who hid their national origins and had made successful careers, may have preserved, at

least for a time, a certain feeling toward their people. The

wealthy Simbirsk industrialist Shatrov, unlike the rest of

Simbirsk society, took an active interest and generously sup

ported the Simbirsk Native Chuvash School. Shatrov's motive, it was later revealed, was a desire to help fellow natives, for he himself was a Mordvinian passing as a Russian. (3D

In the last part of the nineteenth century, a movement

for Mordvinian national awakening arose from unexpected

quarters. It was spearheaded by N.I. Il'minskii, a lay mis

sionary of the Russian Orthodox Church and the head of

its Translating Commission. Il'minskii, a former linguistics

professor, was fired with the mission to turn non-Russian

nominal converts to Orthodoxy into true believers. That, he was convinced, could be achieved only through the mother

tongue which alone "could penetrate into the inner recesses

of the heart."(32) Believing that there were still enough Mordvinians for whom the mother tongue was closer than

the Russian they knew, Il'minskii broke the ban against Mordvinian translations and organized

a Mordvinian section at

the Kazan' Translating Commission.

Since the Mordvinian languages, as indeed most of the

other Volga languages, were at the pre-literate stage, a

great deal of language study and language development had

to be carried out before actual translating work could begin. For this work Il'minskii usually attracted literate natives

wherever he could find them and trained others in his special native schools. M.E. Evsev'ev, with whom modern Mordvinian

culture begins, was one of his discoveries and nearly every

pre-revolutionary and early Soviet Mordvinian leader was

in some way connected with Il'minskii's activities. The

educated Mordvinians associated with Il'minskii, unlike the

few Mordvinians who had managed to get an education earlier,

did not hide their origins and were not lost to their people. In 1882, Il'minskii's commission, as part of its linguistic

preparatory work, published Samples of Mordvinian folklore

in Erzia, which is valued by ethnographers to this day.

(In 1896 a Moksha edition was also brought out.) Moksha and Erzia primers, as well as Russian primers for Moksha



THE MORDVINIANS 49

and Erzia, soon followed. Eventually, the Gospels were issued

in several dialects of both languages. (33) Il'minskii also

encouraged the opening of Mordvinian schools, in which

the language of instruction, however, remained largely Russian. (34)

In a 1910 work devoted to national movements, L. Shtern

berg surveyed the scene among the so-called inorodtsy (non

Russian natives) and found the Volga nationalities in general and the Mordvinians in particular "in large part assimilated

with the Russians in culture and religion." However, he

left open the possibility that "under favorable conditions,

they could still enter the path of a national rebirth."(35)

Mordvinian national blossoming after 1917

Of all the Volga nationalities, the Mordvinians entered on their "path of national rebirth" under the worst possible circumstances. Dispersed all over the country, they lacked

any organized form, possessed meager national resources

and were basically devoid of an elite. The overwhelmingly illiterate peasant masses viewed themselves primarily as Erzia

or Moksha. There was only a vague awareness of a common

Mordvinian identity.

Initially, there was so little confidence in the Mordvin

ians that, unlike other Volga nationalities, they failed to

secure their own autonomous unit. Only in 1930, at a time

when national autonomies were being largely drained of any real power they may have had earlier, were the Mordvinians

finally granted their own autonomous oblast' (province), which in 1934 was raised to the Autonomous Republic level.

The most obvious obstacle to Mordvinian autonomy was

their dispersion. Spread over 11 provinces of European Rus

sia as well as in Siberia and Kazakhstan, they did not com

mand a majority in any province or even uezd (district).

However, more than a third of the Mordvinians were still

living in their historical area. With skilful carving from

various provinces, it was possible to form a unit with a

slight Mordvinian majority. But such gerrymandering was re

jected on the grounds that this would ignore economic factors.

Perhaps more important than economics was the presence of

many Russians who showed little enthusiasm for being included

within a Mordvinian unit. (36) Nor did the Mordvinians have

a powerful patron in the center to overrule the local Russian

opposition as was the case with Crimean Tatars, who, though

only 25% of the population, were able to secure their republic thanks to Lenin's backing. In the Mordvinian case, Lenin

seems to have remained disinterested, while Stalin was per

sonally opposed to Mordvinian autonomy.( 37 )

Compounding the problem of physical dispersion of the

Mordvinian communities was the lack of a common idiom that

could at least bind them spiritually. Not only were the two

Mordvinian languages, Moksha and Erzia, so different as to

be at times mutually unintelligible, but each contained an

enormous range of dialects. (38) In spite of Il'minskii's




work, neither language had yet developed into a literary standard, making Mordvinian language education and pub

lishing extremely difficult.

But the greatest obstacles to Mordvinian awakening were

above all psychological. On the one hand, were the Russian

so-called "great power chauvinists" who saw little value in

reviving what they considered to be a backward and primitive

language and culture:

"The faster the Mordvinians shake loose the remaining elements of their national way of life, the better

[...] Mordvinians must dissolve themselves among the Rus

sians [...] they must shift as soon as possible to the

more advanced Russian culture."(39)

On the other hand, there were many Mordvinians who refused

to take themselves seriously. Mordvinian literature of the

1920's is full of ringing appeals to

"all conscious Mordvinians to leave your indifference

behind and join in the education of our people [ ..

.J conscious children of the Mordva, the Great October

Revolution calls on you to work for the benefit of

your free people [... ] it is a falsehood to hide your nationality, we are now equal! We don't have to blush

anymore for being Mordvinians!"(40)

After centuries of Russian domination, many Mordvinians

felt that only Russians could be leaders and only Russian

could be the language of culture and power. As a Mordvinian

educator put it, in explaining why Mordvinian textbooks

when finally available often gathered dust on the shelves, "the people have not yet freed themselves from the fascination

with Russian [ ...

] they still cannot imagine a school without

the Russian language."(41) In the face of seemingly unsurmountable obstacles, the

Mordvinians registered tremendous achievements in their

national cultural development. This is to be largely credited

to two factors: 1) Lenin's nationality policy, which empha sized full linguistic equality for all nationalities and promoted a program of rapid modernization using the mother tongue, and 2) the presence of a small, but dedicated group of a

recently-formed Mordvinian intelligentsia, which energetically seized the opportunities offered in the first two decades of

the Soviet regime.

Regardless of whether one views Leninist nationality

policy as sincere or opportunistic, it unquestionably provided a congenial atmosphere for cultural construction work, espe

cially among nationalities taking their first serious step from an oral folk culture and mass illiteracy to a modern

culture anchored in a written language. The Mordvinian

national weakness and lack of autonomy until 1930 slowed

down, but did not prevent, their cultural development. Mord

vinian newspapers, schools, special pedagogical courses and



THE MORDVINIANS 51

even university sections were organized wherever the combi

nation of a compact Mordvinian population and educated

leaders were present. Early centers of Mordvinian cultural

activities were, in addition to Moscow, such cities as Simbirsk,

Samara, Saratov and even Novosibirsk, rather than Saransk

or other cities in the future Mordvinian Republic. Saransk, which was to become the capital of the Republic and prime center of Mordvinian cultural life, gained prominence only after the Mordvinians received their autonomy.

Spearheaded by local branches of the Ministry of Educa

tion (narkompros) and by the local Mordvinian branches

of the Ministry of Nationalities (narkomnats), crash teacher

training courses and, simultaneously, Mordvinian primary

schools, were opened in various provinces. By 1923, about

950 Mordvinian schools were working in Penza, Saratov,

Samara, Simbirsk and Tambov provinces, though Mordvinian

served as the medium of instruction only partially. (42)

Mordvinian language textbook publishing was launched in

1922 with the publication of the Erzia primer, Tundon chi

(Spring day) in Moscow. The Moksha primer followed in 1924 and by the 1925-1926 school year, it was reported that 50% of the subjects in the first grades were supplied with Mord

vinian texts. Though lagging behind other Volga nationalities -

by the late 1920's the Tatars and Germans, for example, offered instruction in the mother tongue in secondary and

even higher schools -, the Mordvinians succeeded to "root"

their primary school by 1931. By 1936, Mordvinian had become the language of instruction also in the fifth through the tenth grades, though universal secondary education was still

in the future. (43) The greatest handicap in the cultural construction work

all through the 1920's remained the lack of a standard

language. In the early Mordvinian newspapers, a journalist

simply wrote in his own local dialect making his writing almost incomprehensible to readers outside his area. The lack

of a standard also made early textbooks close to useless.

Gradually, however, two literary Mordvinian languages began to emerge, thanks to the combined efforts of Mordvinian

linguists and authors who not only enriched the languages

through their literary works but also directly participated in writing primers and readers. By the late 1920's-early 1930's both Erzia and Moksha were becoming fairly stand

ardized, modernized languages, though some unresolved prob lems remain to this day. (44)

Mordvinian literature began to emerge in the 1920's. At

first it was tied to the newspapers, but by the late 1920's

several literary magazines began to appear, and the Moscow

central publishing house brought out several individual Mord

vinian authors. By the summer of 1931, a total of only six

books had been published, but by the end of 1932 the number had climbed to 35 and by the end of 1933, had reached 65. The Mordvinians formed their own writers' union in 1932,

which soon joined the newly formed Central Writers' Union. (45)

Among the most important benefits derived from receiving




their own autonomy, was the acquisition of numerous cultural

institutions. In 1931, the Mordvinians received their first

institution of higher learning - the Pedagogical Institute,

which eventually was to become the Mordvinian State Univer

sity. A year later, the Scientific Research Institute for

Mordvinian Culture and the Mordvinian State Publishing House

(Mordgosizdat) were established. By 1934 the Mordvinians had their own Autonomous Republic with their own publishing house, press, research institute, state theater and various

other cultural institutions. But most important of all, they had a school system in which the two Mordvinian languages served as medium of instruction from the first through the

tenth grades. An expanding and an increasingly self-confident

Mordvinian intelligentsia staffed these institutions as well

as other state and party institutions in the Republic.

However, the Mordvinians still remained scattered and

their outmigration and growing dispersion all over the ter

ritory of the Soviet Union continued. The 1939 census recorded

almost 70% of the Mordvinians living in the diaspora. The census also revealed that in spite of a relatively high fer

tility rate, Mordvinian population growth lagged considerably behind that of other Volga nationalities, thus pointing at

continuing assimilation. (46) What would happen once the policy of national encouragement was withdrawn?

The vanishing Mordvinians

Elements of a reversal in the Leninist nationality policy

began to emerge in the late 1920's when many national

leaders in such Republics as Belorussia, Crimea, Chuvashiia, were purged. Though the campaign for "korenizatsiia" (nativ

ization) continued and most spectacular gains in "nativizing" Soviet institutions were to take place in the 1930's, the

atmosphere was no longer congenial for genuine spontaneous national development. The period of forced industrialization

and collectivization brought increasing regimentation and

centralization in all fields. One of the immediate effects was

greatly to curtail, and in many cases eliminate, national

institutions among the nationalities outside their national

areas. Cultural activities were now to be concentrated chiefly within the national units. This of course had an especially adverse effect on the Mordvinians. The closing of the Siberian

newspaper Od eriamo (New Life), as a Mordvinian communist

bitterly complained in 1931, had left more than 200,000 Mord vinians without a newspaper. (47) Most Mordvinian language schools outside the Republic were also closed -

only a few

in the Volga area seemed to have survived until Khrushchev's

school reforms.

Though the Mordvinians were spared the purges in the

late 1920's (perhaps because they still lacked autonomy),

they did not escape those of the 1930' s. "Sukhorukovism,"

named after the vice-president of the Mordvinian province, became the special Mordvinian heresy. Sukhorukov had alleg

edly "united all the local national-chauvinists, rotten-liberal



THE MORDVINIANS 53

elements, and all the 'injured' "

and was accusing the Party of "wronging the Mordvinians" and even complaining that

"the province was sold out to the Varangians." In addition

there were other exclusively Mordvinian heresies, such as

"Kulikovshchina" and "Barakaevschina" named after other

prominent Mordvinian officials. (48)

But not only officials fell victim to the various sins of

"local bourgeois nationalism." The new Mordvinian intelligentsia which had been called into life with so much effort and had

just begun to gain self-confidence was now attacked for

promoting the concept of "class harmony in the Mordvinian

nation," for "idealizing the old customs and traditions," "for defending Mordvinian kulakdom."(49) As the most tal

ented and nationally self-conscious Mordvinian writers,

linguists, actors were silenced or liquidated, a pall descended

over Mordvinian culture. Writers wishing to survive now

turned to "singing the praises of the cult of personality."(50) A Mordvinian counterpart to the Kazakh Dzhambul, Fekla

Bezzubova, was suddently thrust into the role of national

poetess. She and another home-spun "singer," A.P. Krivosheeva,

produced such timely laments as "The cry for Kirov" or "The

cry for Gor'kii" and such joyful odes as "To the 18th Party Congress," "To the New Era," and of course, "To Stalin!"

After Stalin's death, though Bezzubova continued to create

such pertinent works as "To the virgin lands" or "The dove

of peace," her popularity waned and some literary critics

even suggested that she and Krivosheeva were "an artificial

phenomenon" in Mordvinian literature. (51) Finnic linguists and ethnographers had traditionally

shown a special interest in their fellow Finnic Mordvinians, who in turn derived a certain pride and national strength from this Finnic connection. But the Finns were now consid

ered a "bourgeois foreign enemy." With the triumph of Marr's

"new teaching" on language even the study of common Finnic

linguistics became dangerous, which as a Soviet linguist admitted later, set Mordvinian linguistics greatly back. (52)

The relatively free atmosphere of the 1920's when a

linguist such as B. Korsaevskii could advocate shifting to

the Latin alphabet so as to "cut loose from Russian culture," or Evseev and Markelev could freely advocate a single uni

fied literary language for Erzia and Moksha, and when

language expansion was based chiefly on common Finnic or

native resources, quickly receded into the past. Though a

great deal of language construction still took place in the

1930's, the boundaries of the permissible shrank. In coining new terms whether for office administration or such school

subjects as grammar and geography, the emphasis shifted

from native Mordvinian languages (related Finnic languages had been excluded earlier), to direct borrowing from Russian.

By the end of the 1930's not only were the loans from Rus

sian simply incorporated into Mordvinian without any mod

ifications, but successful native neologisms began to be

removed. The Russian-Moksha dictionary published in 1941,

for example, excluded such a successful coin as valks - die




tionary (formed from the Mordvinian valk - word), listing

only the Russian word - slovar'.(53) "Such measures," as a

Soviet linguist noted later, "were directed at slowing down

the development of the literary language."(54) The period from the late 1930's saw a general de-emphasis

on things Mordvinian. Symbolizing this change was the re

naming of the Research Institute for Mordvinian Culture after

a thorough purge of its staff. It now became the Mordvinian

Scientific Research Institute of History, Language and Lit

erature and, as its publications were to reveal, Mordvinian

culture ceased being its exclusive concern. Mordvinian

literature now turned away from Mordvinian themes to deal

with general Soviet topics. Under Stalin the use of the mother tongue in school was

specifically guaranteed by the Constitution and remained

entrenched in Soviet pedagogy. Even the March 1938 decree which made Russian a compulsory subject in all schools,

noted that the mother tongue remained the basis of educa

tion. (55) However, as the attention of the state and Party turned more and more to promoting the Russian language, the support system for non-Russian languages began to be

dismantled.

In concrete terms, though statistics become very scarce,

there seems to have been a definite curtailment in both

Mordvinian language education and publishing. The last

report showing Mordvinian as a language of instruction

through the tenth grade dates back to the academic year

1937-1938. The next available breakdown by language of instruction comes from a 1958 source and shows the Mordvinian

language as medium of instruction only through the seventh

grade.(56) In publishing, Mordvinian language newspapers, which

had slowly climbed to a peak of 18 in 1936, had dropped to 10 by 1938 and to only two by 1954. Only two Mordvinian

magazines (one each for Moksha and Erzia) remained by 1954.(57) The number of Mordvinian language titles also

declined from 179 in 1936 to 98 in 1954.(58) With the virtual demise of the "national in form [which

has basically meant language], socialist in content" formula

of Soviet nationality policy under Khrushchev, the narrowing in function of the Mordvinian languages had greatly accel

erated. In the early I960's Mordvinian schools began to

shift to Russian as the language of instruction in the fifth

grade, and by 1970 the shift took place in the fourth. At the same time, some Mordvinian schools, including those still

working outside the Republic, shifted to Russian as medium

of instruction in the very first grade. (59) Though very little discussion about this has appeared, it seems the shift

to Russian was not without problems. An article, which

appeared in 1966, criticized the Mordvinian Minister of Ed

ucation, Kirdiashkin, for "accepting the abnormal situation"

under which teaching in the fifth through eighth grades was still conducted in Mordvinian and pupils were responding in Mordvinian, in spite of the official shift to Russian as



THE MORDVINIANS 55

the medium of instruction. However, there was no suggestion of reversing the shift to Russian

- only an insistence for

better training and improved conditions for teaching Rus

sian. (60)

According to available statistics, in 1973-1974 there were

391 Mordvinian schools with Mordvinian as language of in

struction in the first three grades attended by 41,000 Moksha and 36,000 Erzia pupils. At the same time, 34.2% of all Mordvinian pupils in the first three grades were receiving their instruction in Russian. (61)

The decline in Mordvinian language publishing has been

equally precipitous, especially in the last two decades. By

1962 the Mordvinian Publishing House, which originally had

published chiefly in the Mordvinian languages, was turning out 50.3% of all its titles in Russian and 49.7% in Mordvin

ian; in 1963 - 54% and 46% respectively, in 1964 - 66.6% and

33.4% and in 1965 - 75.2% in Russian and only 24.8% in Mordvinian. (62) In 1978, only 25 titles in Moksha and 16 in

Erzia, or a total of 41 Mordvinian language titles were

published in the Soviet Union. (63)

Against a background of population loss, continuing

shrinkage of cultural supports and an accelerating campaign on behalf of the Russian language and culture, what does

the future hold for the Mordvinian nation? How much of

"Mordvinian" remains among the 1,191,765, and perhaps al

ready fewer, Mordvinians? What are the current indicators

pointing to, either national maintenance, or disappearance? Most threatening is the continuing and increasing dis

persion. According to the 1979 census, 71.6% of all Mord

vinians live outside their Republic and are thus deprived of national cultural institutions. Not surprisingly, while

language retention among Mordvinians as a whole is 72.7%,

among those in the diaspora only 64% claimed Mordvinian as

their native language. Linguistic assimilation, and apparently national assimilation as well, often increases both with

distance from the ethnic territory and with urbanization.

Since the Mordvinian ASSR is located in the non-black soil

region undergoing reform and the Mordvinian urbanization

rate is still well below average, both outmigration and ur

banization are likely to continue, leading to almost inevitable

further assimilation.

However, whether the Mordvinians outside their Republic have reached the point of irreversible assimilation is still

too early to predict. Perhaps the fact that 852,867 people who derive no practical advantage from their national self

identification and most of whom could pass as Russians

(307,621 of them even claimed Russian as their mother tongue), have still chosen to declare themselves as Mordvinians is

not without significance. (64) One positive factor in the Mord

vinian outmigration is that outside their ancestral settlements,

the Moksha and the Erzia tend to mix more freely and are

slowly developing a common Mordvinian language. However,

as the ethnographers report, this consolidation is taking




place at a slower rate than the simultaneous assimilation

with the Russians. But if Soviet nationality policy should

change and minorities outside their national territories be

again offered special cultural facilities as was hinted at

the 26th Party Congress, the assimilation process could be

slowed down. That many Mordvinians would welcome such

facilities is indicated by the rapid annual growth in mail orders for Mordvinian language literature, which seems to

have become available in the late I960's. (65) At the moment, however, all available Mordvinian support

systems are in the Mordvinian Autonomous Republic and are

thus available to the 28.4% of the Mordvinians who live

there as a minority (34%) while Russians are solidly in the

majority (60%). It is perhaps easy to dismiss the "Mordvinian content" of the Mordvinian Republic as

largely decorative

and even that as rather limited: the 1970 celebrations of

the 40th anniversary of the founding of Mordvinian autonomy, aside from a few opening stanzas of a long poem recited

by young pioneers and of two lines in a speech by a Mord

vinian student, took place in Russian; the names of col

lective and state farms listed in 1972 are mainly Russian; the Mordvinian State University bears the name of the Russian

Ogarev and offers all courses in Russian. Yet while one can

question the Mordvinian content, the psychological importance of the form is beyond doubt. Moreover, there are important institutions in the Republic which directly contribute to support the Mordvinian national identity.

Though limited, and now officially confined to only the first three grades, Erzia and Moksha continue to be used

as languages of instruction and also as subjects through the university on a voluntary basis. Mordvinian literature

is also taught. Mordvinian language radio and television

broadcasts, though quite meager (a total of about five hours

a day), are available and quite popular. (66) Mordvinian

language press and especially literature, which in the post Stalin period has enthusiastically returned to Mordvinian

themes, continues to be read. The Finnic connection has been

revived and Saransk has become something of a center for

Finno-Ugrian studies. ( 67 )

Beginning with the late 1950' s, the former practice of what a Soviet linguist has termed "a special fixation on

borrowing from Russian" has been modified. A stream of

banished native neologisms have been received back into the

languages, though by no means all. A broad program of

study of Mordvinian languages and their numerous dialects

was also launched resulting in a steady stream of publi cations. (68) During the relatively freer period of Khrushchev, the old question of unifying Moksha and Erzia was raised

again, but apparently received no official support. Perhaps this is why the 10-volume Mordvinian dictionary (presumably

both Erzia and Moksha) announced in 1961 as under prepara tion has still not appeared.

Within the Republic assimilation has been held largely in check. Mordvinian language loyalty here is almost 95%,



THE MORDVINIANS 57

which is higher than that among their Volga neighbors such as the Mari, Chuvash or Udmurt, and only slightly lower than among the Tatars. (69) Recent studies of Mordvinians in the Republic have shown not only a high degree of native

language use at home and even at work, especially in the

rural areas, but also a favorable attitude toward the national

language and culture, which is especially high among Mord

vinians with higher education. (70) A new Mordvinian intelligentsia with a sense of national

self-consciousness apparently exists. Even the poets who

sing praises for the Russian brother and his language some

how also manage to put in a word for Mordvinian. At least

one Mordvinian author who began his writing career in

Russian has now turned to writing his works in Mordvinian.

Though the Research Institute publishes its volumes in Rus

sian, some of the Mordvinian authors, especially the literary critics, manage to include long citations in Mordvinian

without providing Russian translations. (71) In scholarly ar

ticles one often meets indirect pleas for preserving the unique

quality of each people by skilful use of quotations from

Party documents or respected Soviet or Russian cultural

authorities. In an article on Russian-Mordvinian folklore,

A.M. Sharanov, for example, sets the tone for his analysis

by citing V.G. Belinskii's claim that "a foreign content taken

from the outside can never replace the loss of one's own

national content in either literature or life."(72)

How many Mordvinians will be sounding their "own na

tional content" in the future is uncertain. But by most logical indications they should have disappeared centuries ago.

Perhaps the constant eulogies by both Western and Soviet

analysts may themselves act as a stimulating irritant to prove the eulogists wrong once again.

Haifa University, 1985.

1. Robert A. Lewis et als, Nationality and population

change in Russia and the USSR (New York: Praeger, 1976): 290.

2. Barbara A. Anderson, "Some factors related to ethnic

reidentification in the Russian Republic," in Jeremy R. Azrael,

ed., Soviet nationality policies and practices (New York:

Praeger, 1978). In this interesting comparative study of

younger age cohorts, Anderson has shown an especially drastic

drop in the number of young Mordvinians between the 1959 and 1970 census. (Only the Karelians registered a slightly greater loss.)

3. Walter Kolarz, Russia and her colonies (New York:

Praeger, 1955): 48. 4. Glyn Lewis, Multilingualism in the Soviet Union (The

Hague: Mouton, 1972): 38; Bernard Comrie, The languages of the Soviet Union (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1981): 3, 9, 15, 19; Alexandre Bennigsen, "Langages et assi




milation en URSS", International Journal of the Sociology of

Language, 33 (1982): 58-59. 5. See for example T.V. Popkov, Osushchestvlenie leninskoi

natsional'noi politiki v Mordovii (Saransk: Mordknigizdat,

1963): 128. 6. B.A. Rybakov et als, eds, Etnogenez Mordovskogo

na

roda (Saransk: Mordknigizdat, 1965); Andreas Kappeler, "L'ethnog?n?se des peuples de la Moyenne-Volga dans les

recherches sovi?tiques", CMRS, XVII, 2-3 (1976): 311-333. 7. I.E. Avtaikin et als, Kraevedenie Mordovii (Saransk:

Mordknigizdat, 1973): 5-6; V.l. lamushkin, "Mordoviia na

putiakh k okonchatel ' nomu izzhitiiu kul'turnoi otstalosti,"

Prosveshchenie natsional 'nostei, 1 (1935): 51. For an inter

esting discussion of the "friendship theory" as it pertains to the Mordvinians, see Lowell Tille?, The great friendship

(Chapel Hill: University of N. Carolina Press, 1969): 27, 343. 8. A.A. Geraklitov, ed., Materialy po istorii Mordvy (Mos

cow, 1931): 7-13. 9. B.A. Rybakov, op. cit.: 21, 144-148, 243.

10. Dokumenty i materialy po istorii MASSR (henceforth

DM1M) (Saransk, 1940), II: 139,157; V.l. Kozlov, "Rasselenie

Mordvy-Erzi i Mokshi," Sovetskaia etnografiia, 2 (1958): 55; V.F. Razzhivin, "Mezhnatsional'nye braki, kak faktor etno

demograficheskogo protsessa," Trudy Mordovskogo nauchno

issledovatel'skogo institu?a (henceforth MN1I), (Saransk) 62

(1978): 140-146. 11. V.l. Kozlov, "K voprosu ob izuchenii etnicheskikh

protsessov u narodov SSSR," Sovetskaia etnografiia, 4 (1961):

59. Yet to the outsiders, the Erzia and Moksha have always

appeared as simply Mordvinians and their languages as Mord

vinian, a term which is certainly better known than Erzia

or Moksha. This is perhaps one of the main reasons why the

Mordvinians are indeed one people rather than two. Of course,

of basic importance is their common origin, a largely common

history and despite some differences, a shared culture.

12. A. Tsirkin, Russko-mordovskie otnosheniia v X-X1V

vekakh (Saransk, 1968). For an excellent account of the

history of the Middle Volga peoples, including, of course,

the Mordvinians through the mid-nineteenth century, see

Andreas Kappeler, Russlands erste Nationalit?ten (K?ln-Wien,

1982). 13. M.E. Evsev'ev, Izbrannye trudy (Saransk, 1961) , I:

173. For a description of the economic ruin caused by the

Mordvinian flight, see DM IM, II: 297-298. 14. M. G. Sofronov, "A.I. Gertsen i ugnetennye narody

Povolzh'ia v 30-40ye gody XlXgo veka," in A.I. Gertsen,

N.P. Ogarev i obshchestvennoe dvizhenie v Povolzh'e i na

Urale (Kazan', 1964): 18. 15. The religious factor was a major component of the

imperial ideology justifying the conquest and rule of Kazan'.

Jaroslaw Pelenski, Russia and Kazan (The Hague, 1974). 16. M.M. Shcherbatov, Sochmeniia (Spb, 1896), 1: 558

559. 17. Sergei Zen'kovskii, "Rossiia i Tiurki," Novyi zhurnal,

XL1V (1956): 176.



THE MORDVINIANS 59

18. V. Snezhnevskii, "Kus'ma, prorok Mordvy-teriukhan," Istoricheskii vestnik (Oct.-Dec. 1892): 124-245.

19. P. Mel'nikov, "Ocherki Mordvy," Russkii vestnik (Oct.

1867): 404. 20. Toivo Vuorela, The Finno-Ugric peoples ( Bloomington,

I964): 232. Official statistics right up to the revolution report Mordvinians as almost 100% Russian Orthodox and unlike

other Volga converts who are usually listed under two head

ings, "converted" and "reverted to former religion," the

Mordvinians appear only under the first heading (Materialy

po istorii Tatarii (Kazan', 1948), I: 257). 21. DMIM, II: 133, 147... 22. I.N. Smirnov, Les populations finnoises dans les bas

sins de la Volga et de la Kama (Paris, 1898): 321. (The Russian original was unavailable.)

23. I.N. Smirnov, "Obrusenie inorodtsev i zadachi obru

sitel'noi politiki," Istoricheskii vestnik, XLVII (1892): 755. 24. A.P. Feoktistov, Ocherki po istorii formirovaniia

mordovskikh pis'menno-literaturnykh iazykov (Moscow, 1976):

15. There were also numerous Turkisms in the list.

25. P. Mel'nikov, art. cit.: 429; S. Monastyrskii, II

liustrirovannyi sputnik po Volge (Kazan', 1884): 207; S.A. Ko

rolev, Povolzh'e (Moscow, 1912): 65-66. 26. Sbornik dokumentov 1 statei po voprosu ob obrazovanii

inorodtsev (Spb, 1869): 213. 27. V.l. Kozlov, "K voprosu...", art. cit.: 63. The ethno

grapher Smirnov who traveled widely among various Mordvinian

communities in the late 1880's found them well advanced in

the process of assimilation and added that even those that

were still clinging to their language and culture were also

"nearing full russification," for the ground "was already well prepared" (I.N. Smirnov, art. cit.: 757.)

28. A.P. Feoktistov, op. cit.: 59.

29. By the eighteenth century the costume of the Mord

vinian men was indistinguishable from that of the Russians,

but the women clung to theirs, in some cases to the present (V. Belitser, "Mordva," in Narody evropeiskoi chasti SSSR

(Moscow, 1964), II: 576-577). 30. N.N. Ogloblin, "V Mordovskom krae, iz zametok tu

rista," Istoricheskii vestnik (Sept. 1899): 887.

31. Istoriia 1 kul'tura Chuvashskoi ASSR (Cheboksary,

1972), II: 393. Pupils of the Simbirsk school were usually teased: "Chuvashi-Mordva

- ne nasha rodnia!" (ibid.: 378).

32. Isabelle Kreindler, "Nikolai Il'minskii and language

planning in nineteenth-century Russia," International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 22 (1979): 5.

33. M.P. Soldatkin, "N.I. Il'minskii i nasazhdenie pra voslaviia sredi Mordvy vo vtoroi polovine XIX veka," Trudy

MNII, 47 (1974): 61-62; A.I. Maskaev, Mordovskaia narodnaia

epicheskaia pesnia (Saransk, 1964): 20-21.

34. Even Lenin's father, who as a Ministry of Education

official championed the mother tongue in Volga schools, stopped short of endorsing Mordvinian as a language of instruction.

Nevertheless, he is revered as a great benefactor of Mordvinian




education (P.P. Kuznetsov, V.l. Lashko, Ul'ianov i prosvesh chenie Mordovskogo naroda, Saransk, 1970).

35. L. Shternberg, "Inorodtsy, obshchii obzor," in A.I.

Kastelianskii, ed., Formy natsional'nogo dvizheniia v sovre

mennom gosudarstve (Spb, 1910): 533. 36. Some redrawing of borders did take place all through

the 1920's, and several all-Mordvinian Soviets were organized. In 1928 an autonomous region was set up, which, however,

gave little recognition to Mordvinians. The autonomous unit

formed in 1930 was largely carved from the Penza province with some territory added from Simbirsk and Tambov (M.S. Bu

kin, Obrazovanie Mordovskoi ASSR, Saransk, 1964).

37. T.V. Popkov, op. cit.: 29-30. Can it be that Lenin

agreed with the Penza Commission, which in turning down

a project for Mordvinian autonomy declared that "the Mordva

lacks the conditions for a national development and therefore

the path of assimilation is natural for it"? (M.V. Dorozhkin,

ed., Po zavetam Lenma (Saransk, 1970): 74). For the Crimean

Tatars, see Alan W. Fisher, Crimean Tatars (Stanford, 1978).

38. F.F. Sovetkin, "0 3ei Mordovskoi lazykovoi Konfe

rentsii," Prosveshchenie natsional 'nostei, 2 (1935): 23.

39- Quoted from the archives in T.V. Popkov, op. cit.:

47-48.

40. Zhizn' natsional'nostei (27 Apr., 1920): 2; 1 (1923): 251; P.I. Anisimova, S. la. Arapov, "K istorii organizatsii Mordovskoi ASSR," Istoricheskii arkhiv, 3 (May-June 1962): 94.

41. S. Varlamov, "0 natsional'nom uchebnike," Prosvesh

chenie natsional'nostei, 10 (1931): 39-40. 42. G. Ul'ianov, "Oktiabr'skaia Revoliutsiia i Mordva,"

Zhizn' natsional'nostei, 1 (1923): 250. The author had no

information about schools in Siberia.

43. M.S. Bukin, op. cit.: 67; Istoriia Mordovskoi sovetskoi

literatury (henceforth IMSL) (Saransk, 1974), III: 6-7; 1. la. lashkin, Formirovanie Mordovskoi sotsialisticheskoi natsii

(Saransk, I960): 31-33; S. Varlamov, art. cit.: 40; T.V. Va

sil'ev, Mordovna (Moscow, 1931): 184. 44. Ibid.; T.M. Sheianova, Razvitie leksiki Erzia-Mordov

skogo literaturnogo iazyka v sovetskuiu epokhu (Saransk,

1968): 130-132. 45. G. Umorin, "Rastet sotsialisticheskaia Mordoviia,"

Revoliutsiia i natsional'nosti, 1 (1934): 62; IMSL, I (1968). 46. V.l. Kozlov, Natsional'nosti SSSR (Moscow, 1982): 285. 47. T.V. Vasil'ev, op. cit.: 184.

48. G. Umorin, art. cit.: 61-65; Revoliutsiia i natsio

nal'nosti, 2 (1935): 94. 49. IMSL, I: 50; Ocherki zhanrov Mordovskoi literatury

(Saransk, 1978): 146-172. 50. IMSL, I: 333. 51. A.I. Maskaev, op. cit.: 39.

52. B.A. Serebrennikov, Istoricheskaia morfologiia Mordov

skikh ?azykov (Moscow, 1967): 4. 53. N.A. Baskakov, ed., Osnovnye protsessy vnutristruktur

nogo razvitiia tiurkskikh, fmno-ugorskikh i mongol

' skikh

?azykov (Moscow, 1969): 260-261.



THE MORDVINIANS 61

54. Ibid.: 261. 55. A.M. Danev, ed., Narodnoe obrazovanie -

osnovnye

postanovleniia, prikazy i instruktsii (Moscow, 1948): 86. See

also Isabelle Kreindler, "The changing status of Russian in

the Soviet Union," International Journal of the Sociology of

Language, 33 (1982): 10-11. 56. Kul'turnoe stroitel

' stvo SSSR: statisticheskn sbornik

(Moscow-Leningrad, 1940): 75-76; F.F. Sovetkin, N.V. Taldin,

eds, Natsional'nye shkoly RSFSR za sorok let (Moscow, 1958): 23.

57. Kul'turnoe stroitel'stvo..., op. cit.: 215, 221; I. la.

Iashkm, op. cit.: 99; IMSL, I: 157-158. 58. 1. la. Iashkin, op. cit.: 99; Narodnoe obrazovanie,

nauka i kul'tura; statisticheskii sbornik (Moscow, 1977): 406; Pechaf SSSR 1954 (Moscow, 1966): 35.

59. B.N. Belitser, V.A. Balashov, "Nekotorye osobennosti

sovremennogo etnicheskogo razvitiia Mordovskogo naroda,"

Sovetskaia etnografiia, 1 (1968): 123; Voprosy razvitiia lite

raturnykh lazykov narodov SSSR v sovetskuiu epokhu (Alma

Ata, 1964): 302. 60. "V Mordovskoi ASSR," Narodnoe obrazovanie, 12 (1966):

116. 61. N.S. Shaliaev, "K voprosu o iazykovykh protsessakh

v sel'skoi mestnosti Mordovii," MNII, 54 (1977): 63. A recent

study of fifth through ninth graders in an Erzia-Mordvinian

school has revealed that considerably less than half of the

pupils properly understood common Russian phrases in their

Russian textbooks (N.M. Zhivaeva, "0 stepeni vladeniia

frazeologiei uchashchimisia Erzi-Mordovskoi shkoly," MNII, 49

(1975): 42-49. 62. B.N. Belitser, V.A. Balashov, art. cit.: 123.

63. Pechaf SSSR v 1978 godu (Moscow, 1979): 21. In 1979 the total rose to 55 (Pechaf SSSR v 1979 godu (Moscow, 1980): 22-23).

64. "Vsesoiuznaia perepis* naseleniia," Vestnik statistiki,

7 (1980): 41, 47. 65. Roman Solchanyk, "New turn in Soviet nationalities

policy," Soviet Analyst (15 Apr., 1981): 4-5; N.S. Shaliaev,

art. cit.: 70.

66. Bol'shaia sovetskaia entsiklopedia (1974), 16: 569. A

more recent Soviet source reports only a total of 4 weekly hours of TV broadcasting (MNII, 62 (1978): 7).

67. IMSL, II (1971): 201, 242, 262. In 1968, for example, the Mordvinian State University invited Professor Ariste of

Tartu University to lecture on "The linguistic ties between

the Mordvinians and the Baltic Finns" (ibid.: 201). 68. T.M. Sheianova, op. cit.: 149, 160.

69. M.N. Rutkevich, "Dvuiazychie -

vazhnyi faktor razvi

tiia novoi istoricheskoi obshchnosti," Istoriia SSSR, 4 (1981):

31.

70. T. P. Fedianovich, "Mordovskie narodnye obriady,

sviazannye s rozhdeniem rebenka," Sovetskaia etnografiia, 2 (1979): 87-88; N.S. Shaliaev, art. cit.: 58-60, 62, 66.

71. See, for example, A. Martynov in Spasibo tebe russkii




narod (Alma-Ata, 1981): 177, or Nikul Erkai as quoted in Said Shermukhamedov, Russkii iazyk

- velikoe i moguchee sredstvo obshcheniia sovetskogo naroda (Moscow, 1980): 98;

IMSL, II: 277; see, for example, I. Piniaev's article on

Mordvinian poetry in MNII, 33 (1968): 54-68, or V. Sokolova's article on the Mordvinian prose of 1972-1973 in MNII, 65: 5-36.

72. A.M. Sharonov, "K voprosu ob izuchenii Russko-Mordov

skikh fol'klornykh otnoshenii," MNII, 50 (1974): 151.



the mordvinians. a doomed soviet nationality?

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