ABSTRACT
In the Baltic the nationality question assumed a fundamental political dimension in its demand for a perestroika of Soviet "federalism" and a "new contract" between the central power and the member states. The nationality problem has become increasingly plain to the Soviet public, which has reacted in different ways to the national emancipation trend among non-Russians. The attitude of national protest in both union republics was also aroused by consciousness of the blank spots in Soviet history. The articulation of national demands and national agitation grew in 1987-1989 to an all-Soviet development. Soviet journalism is increasingly making it clear to the public that behind the extreme ethnic heterogeneity of the Soviet population hides a multiplicity of national individualities, historical experience, values, and cultures unstandardized by sovietization, which will have a decisive effect on reform plans for restructuring.
