ABSTRACT
It has been customary to regard Soviet nationality policy, and, indeed, the entire ethnic problem in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), as a single, homogeneous phenomenon. The basic element is the stress on the development in the USSR of a Communist culture common to all its member nations. Consequently, the functional framework employed here will depart from the usual model. It will be assumed that the fundamental objectives of the ruling Soviet elite are to maintain control of the decision-making process in the present Soviet Union and to expand the power of the USSR as widely as possible. Borrowing a term from Arnold Toynbee, author designates these ethnic groups the "internal proletariat". While internal proletariats appear to be a feature of late stages of modern industrialized societies, "mobilized diasporas" clearly accompany early stages of modernization. One might expect a less socially mobilized group to have a high birth rate.
