The Mordvinians : A doomed Soviet nationality ? (original) (raw)

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)

In absolute numbers, 259, 86Л 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 soviétique, XXVI (i), Janv.-Mars 1985, pp. 43-62.