Russia Today

The Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic is a loose federation of states and more or less autonomous areas with a common customs line* and certain common organs of administration. The control of Soviet Russia proper over the other regions does not correspond exactly with the theoretical independence implied in their titles, but varies considerably according to time and circumstances. The population figures given below are mostly taken from the census of 1920, the results of which have in part been published. A few of them are from earlier estimates. The geographic divisions are, with a few exceptions, based on ethnographic principles.

A census today would probably show some startling changes. The famine has not only caused directly or indirectly great loss of life, but has led to considerable migrations. It has been particularly severe in certain districts with Asiatic populations, such as the Tartars, Bashkirs, Kalmyks and Kirgiz. There have been a number of minor changes in boundaries since the census was taken and even since the publication by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, on March 1, 1922, of the map reproduced on the opposite page. Numerals in the following table correspond with numerals on the map.

Khiva (22), Bokhara (23) and Mongolia (24) though not in the R. S. F. S. R. have permanent agreements with it.

* The Far Eastern Republic, although it has not a Soviet form of government is regarded by Russians as belonging to the Federation. It is not yet included in the common customs frontier, but negotiations are being carried on to that end.

** The classification of Siberia is uncertain.