Sovietization

Sovietization is the adoption of a political system based on the model of <a href="/facts/Soviet_(council)/M76TgTzy">soviets</a> (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a>. This often included adopting the <a href="/facts/Cyrillic_script/0btN3oWC">Cyrillic script</a> and sometimes also the <a href="/facts/Russian_language/ETXrTgHV">Russian language</a>.
A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second meaning) occurred during the <a href="/facts/Russian_Civil_War/MLfkI67n">Russian Civil War</a> in the territories captured by the <a href="/facts/Red_Army/n15nLQTu">Red Army</a>. Later, the territories occupied by the <a href="/facts/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic/W9pC4bK6">Russian SFSR</a> and the USSR were Sovietized. <a href="/facts/Mongolia/ogQzUcQb">Mongolia</a> was conquered by the Soviet Union and Sovietized in the 1920s, and after the end of the <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">Second World War</a>, Sovietization took place in the countries of the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Soviet Bloc</a> (<a href="/facts/Eastern_Europe/f5CDGzNA">Eastern</a> and <a href="/facts/Central_Europe/VdxzSbJz">Central Europe</a>: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic states, etc.). In a broad sense, it included the creation of Soviet-style authorities, new elections held by Bolshevik party members with opposition parties being restricted, the nationalization of private land and property, and the repression against representatives of "<a href="/facts/Enemy_of_the_people/LdBl7ySQ">class enemies</a>" (<a href="/facts/Kulak/mK5Hv9Kl">kulaks</a>, or <a href="/facts/Osadnik/N3P5LSzJ">osadniks</a>, for instance). Mass executions and imprisoning in <a href="/facts/Gulag/rGzKRYt3">Gulag</a> <a href="/facts/Labor_camp/u0CKKjSe">labor camps</a> and <a href="/facts/Special_settlements_in_the_Soviet_Union/com2u8My">exile settlements</a> often accompany that process. This was usually promoted and sped up by <a href="/facts/Propaganda_in_the_Soviet_Union/9IE20wqT">propaganda</a> aimed at creating a common way of life in all states within the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Empire/IYX5ypJe">Soviet sphere of influence</a>. In modern history, Sovietization refers to the copying of models of Soviet life (the cult of the leader's personality, collectivist ideology, mandatory participation in propaganda activities, etc.).
In a narrow sense, the term Sovietization is often applied to mental and social changes within the population of the Soviet Union and its <a href="/facts/Satellite_state/09RFx27w">satellites</a>, which led to creation of the <a href="/facts/New_Soviet_man/Xve8akk1">new Soviet man</a> (according to its supporters) or <a href="/facts/Homo_Sovieticus/jAXMzmgQ">Homo Sovieticus</a> (according to its critics).

Sovietization open-in-new

Sovietization