Soviet Ukraine was a heterogeneous state, with one-fourth of its population being recorded as non-Ukrainians. During the 1920s, the state was trying to gradually integrate their minority population by promoting their national languages and cultures. The Soviet government went as far as to propose their own alternative version of minority protection and challenge the League of Nations’ system. While not changing their minority protection rhetoric, the Bolsheviks amended the methods they used to advance their agenda of a linguistically diverse socialist state. This paper will consider the changes of the state treatment of its minorities launched during and after Stalin’s great break in 1929, as well as the reactions of the minority communities to those homogenizing strategies of the state.
