The Peoples of the Soviet Far East

From the preface: "This book, though self-contained, is the continuation of Russia and Her Colonies. It deals with Russian colonization and Soviet national (colonial) policy in a vast territory which I have described, for lack of a better term, as the 'Soviet Far East'. From the official Soviet point of view, the Soviet Far East comprises all territories of the U.S.S.R. situated to the east of Lake Baikal. It covers the Autonomous Republics of Yakutia and Buryat-Mongolia as well as the whole expansive Pacific coastal areas of the Soviet Union reaching the Bering Straits down to Vladivostok. On the whole I have accepted this official definition of the Soviet Far East but I have added to it the Mongol People's Republic, the former People's Republic of Tuva, and a number of small nationalities which are closely connected with the latter. The isolation of the Soviet Far East from the outside world was completed in the second half of 1948. In these circumstances, for any study of the problems of the Soviet Far East one has to rely almost exclusively on published Soviet material, and even there one faces considerable difficulties. As every student of Soviet affairs knows, the term 'Soviet sources' includes not only positive statements but also omissions. In view of the scarcity of straightforward documentary material I have also drawn on a number of Soviet novels, plays and poems which touch upon the problems of the Far East. The gaps in my sources are nevertheless colossal and there is little hope that they can be filled as long as Soviet Russia and its sphere of influence remain virtually sealed off from the rest of the globe."

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Andrew Barnes Booksellers

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