The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic – A Replica of Soviet Karelia made at Kremlin

Abstract

Among the diverse strategies and techniques used to expand the socialist revolution, the Bolshevists resorted to the creation, at the borders of the neighbouring states, of offensive bases for the Red Army. In this context, one of the Bolshevists’ main targets was the Scandinavian Peninsula, Finland being exactly in front of the “revolutionary torrent”. In 1921, at the border with Finland, on Soviet territory, the Bolshevists created the Karelian Commune, later turned into a Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, having the task to sovietise Scandinavia and to prepare, among the Karelian population, fighters for the international revolution. As in the case of Karelia, in 1924, on the left bank of the Dniester, the Soviets established the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, with clearly political aims, including those related to the occupation and sovietisation of the Romanian territory and the expansion of the proletarian revolution to the Balkans. In 1940, following the military occupation of Bessarabia, the Moldavian ASSR extended its borders to the Pruth river. The spread of communism to the Balkans was only a few years away.