XI,
Sect. 2)
... The first Congress of Soviets, in June of this year, proclaimed
the right of the peoples of Russia to self-determination.
The second Congress of Soviets, in November last, confirmed this
inalienable right of the peoples of Russia more decisively and
definitely.
Executing the will of these Congresses, the Council of People's
Commissars has resolved to establish as a basis for its activity in
the question of Nationalities, the following principles:
(1) The equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.
(2) The right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination,
even to the point of separation and the formation of an independent
state.
(3) The abolition of any and all national and national religious
privileges and disabilities.
(4) The free development of national minorities and ethnographic
groups inhabiting the territory of Russia.
Decrees will be prepared immediately upon the formation of a
Commission on Nationalities.
In the name of the Russian Republic,
People's Commissar for Nationalities
YUSSOV DJUGASHVILI-STALIN
President of the Council of People's Commissars
V. ULIANOV (LENIN)
The Central Rada at Kiev immediately declared Ukraine an independent
Republic, as did the Government of Finland, through the Senate at
Helsingfors. Independent "Governments" spring up in Siberia and the
Caucasus. The Polish Chief Military Committee swiftly gathered
together the Polish troops in the Russian army, abolished their
Committees and established an iron discipline.
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