# Was Russia a word during the Soviet era? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249 "2014-11-10T17:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/1 "2014-11-10T17:10:11Z")
If so, what did the word Russia mean back then? Were there other competing terms for the new country that would replace the majority of the Soviet territory? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/2 "2014-11-10T17:21:27Z")
> [@IMfez](#): > > If so, what did the word Russia mean back then? It meant the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, one of the 15 constituent republics which made up the Soviet Union. However, in everyday speech, Russia and the Russians were frequently (but incorrectly) used as shorthand for the entire Soviet Union. > [@IMfez](#): > > Were there other competing terms for the new country that would replace the majority of the Soviet territory? None that I ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/3 "2014-11-10T17:22:38Z")
> [@](#): > > The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian: Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, tr. Rossiyskaya Sovetskaya Federativnaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, the Russian Federation, or simply Russia, was a sovereign state in 1917–22, the largest, most populous, and most economically developed republic of the Soviet Union in 1922-91 and a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with own legislation in 1990–91. [Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/4 "2014-11-10T17:24:39Z")
The “R” in “USSR” means “Republics,” of which Russia was one. So, throughout the Soviet era, Russia was roughly like England is still today: the dominant political entity in a group of partly autonomous regions which are together considered a single sovereign state. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/5 "2014-11-10T17:31:11Z")
And, just as with “England/United Kingdom,” many people used Russia and Soviet Union interchangeably, though this was not accurate. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/6 "2014-11-10T18:06:24Z")
Russia has a much longer history that the Soviet Union: > **[Russia | History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#History)** > > The first human settlement on Russia dates back to the Oldowan period in the early Lower Paleolithic. About 2 million years ago, representatives of Homo erectus migrated to the Taman Peninsula in southern Russia. Flint tools, some 1.5 million years old, have been discovered in the North Caucasus. Radiocarbon dated specimens from Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains estimate the oldest Denisovan specimen lived 195–122,700 years ago. Fossils of Denny, an archaic human hybrid that was ha The first t... ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/7 "2014-11-10T19:53:26Z")
Also, “go back to Russia” was the typical conservative rebuttal when debating politics. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/8 "2014-11-10T20:02:12Z")
To expand on what’s been said above, most Americans did not really become aware of the distinction between “Russia” and “The Soviet Union” until other (i.e. not Russia) Soviet Republics such as Lithuania and Georgia began to assert their independence in the events leading up to the official breakup of the Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/9 "2014-11-10T20:49:58Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Also, “go back to Russia” was the typical conservative rebuttal when debating politics. Or when being offered gazpacho. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/10 "2014-11-10T20:59:38Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Or when being offered gazpacho. Either I’m being whooshed, or you meant to say _borscht_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/11 "2014-11-10T21:35:40Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Also, “go back to Russia” was the typical conservative rebuttal when debating politics. Admittedly “go back to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” didn’t have the same zing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/12 "2014-11-10T21:38:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Admittedly “go back to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” didn’t have the same zing. I don’t know… the Beatles made a song out of it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/13 "2014-11-10T21:39:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Admittedly “go back to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” didn’t have the same zing. Adjust the wording and it has a good workable meter… [very singable](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_U.S.S.R.). ETA: Ninja’d. Oh, well, I provided a wiki link. That’s gotta count for something. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/14 "2014-11-10T22:27:31Z")
Functionally, it’s somewhat akin to saying “Britain” as shorthand in place of “the British Empire.” The existence of the various constituent “republics” within the Soviet Union is beside the point. Prior to WWI, the Russian state included most of the same territory (indeed, more) as the Soviet Union, but no one considered it unusual to refer to the whole entity, including Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the 'stans as “Russia.” The only essential difference in the Soviet era was simply that the overall entity officially changed its name from Russia to the USSR. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/15 "2014-11-10T23:53:03Z")
Everybody used Russia instead of USSR in ordinary discussions - except, of course, for a certain class of nitpickers and pedants who still infest the internet. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/16 "2014-11-11T00:27:45Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > It meant the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, one of the 15 constituent republics which made up the Soviet Union. > > However, in everyday speech, Russia and the Russians were frequently (but incorrectly) used as shorthand for the entire Soviet Union. > > None that I ever heard. [Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pars_pro_toto) a list of other examples. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/17 "2014-11-11T00:29:02Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > To expand on what’s been said above, most Americans did not really become aware of the distinction between “Russia” and “The Soviet Union” until other (i.e. not Russia) Soviet Republics such as Lithuania and Georgia began to assert their independence in the events leading up to the official breakup of the Soviet Union. Where did you get that notion? ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/18 "2014-11-11T14:59:16Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Where did you get that notion? In hindsight, “did not really pay attention to” would have been a better fit than “did not really become aware of,” but the UPS guy showed up during the edit window. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/19 "2014-11-11T15:01:35Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Either I’m being whooshed, or you meant to say _borscht_. The whoosh from a flying pig. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249/20 "2014-11-11T15:22:53Z")
It wasn’t completely inaccurate. The USSR was essentially the old Grand Russian Empire under a new name, give or take Finland or so. Russia and Russians dominated the USSR the same way they dominated the Czarist empire. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-russia-a-word-during-the-soviet-era/704249.md?page=2)