The formation of the USSR is an outstanding milestone on the path to the realization of the brightest ideals of humanity, opened by Great October. In this historic act, the desire of the Soviet republics to unite more closely in the interests of the socialist reconstruction of society, strengthening the defense power and strengthening the international position of the world's first state of workers and peasants was embodied. The Soviet Union became the highest form of international revolutionary unity, which was persistently sought by the working masses of the whole country, including Moldavia.

The desire of the Moldavian people for unity with the Russian and other peoples of Soviet Russia was based on a long-standing joint struggle against common enemies. Russia has brought Moldovans freedom from the centuries-old Turkish yoke. The incorporation of Bessarabia into Russia in 1812 led to serious positive changes in the development of the region. The "History of the Moldavian SSR" 1 and other works of Soviet historians convincingly reveal the progressive nature of the annexation of Bessarabia to Russia 2 . The Russian proletariat rendered invaluable help and support to the workers of the region in their liberation struggle. In turn, the revolutionary movement in Bessarabia was one of the links in the general struggle of the working masses of Russia led by the Leninist Party against the autocracy and the bourgeois-landlord system, which was particularly clearly manifested in the revolutionary battles of 1905-1907 and 1917.

The historical events of 1917 also stirred up the working people of Moldova. The unique political situation in the region after the February Revolution and the complex processes of the struggle for the establishment of Soviet power here are discussed in the works of a number of Moldovan historians3, who convincingly showed how the forces that joined the multinational army of proletarians were united under the leadership of the Bolsheviks in Moldova.-

1 "History of the Moldavian SSR", Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Chisinau. 1965.

2 I. A. Antsupov. State village in Bessarabia in the XIX century (1812-1870). Kishinev, 1966: V. I. Zhukov. Cities of Bessarabia (1812-1861). Chisinau. 1967; J. S. Grosul, I. G. Budak. Essays on the history of the national economy of Bessarabia (1812-1905). Hh. I-II. Chisinau. 1967-1971; I. Antsupov, A. Babiy, V. Zhukov, Yu. Ivanov. Anul 1812 yn destinele popolurui moldovenesk. Chisinau. 1972; see also I. Bodyul. The annexation of Bessarabia to Russia and the historical fate of the Moldovan people. Voprosy Istorii, 1972, No. 8.

3 S. Ya. Aftenyuk, A. S. Esaulenko, M. B. Itkis, N. D. Roitman, D. E. Shemyakov. The revolutionary movement in 1917 and the establishment of Soviet power in Moldavia. Chisinau. 1964; D. I. Antonyuk, S. Ya. Aftenyuk, A. S. Esaulenko, M. B. Itkis. The treacherous role of "Sfatul tserii". Chisinau. 1969; M. B. Itkis. The peasant movement in Moldavia in 1917 and the implementation of Lenin's decree on land. Chisinau. 1970; S. Ya. Aftenyuk. Lenin's national policy of the CPSU and the formation of the Soviet statehood of the Moldavian people. Chisinau. 1971.

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the Russian revolution. Workers were becoming increasingly active. The number of peasant revolts grew from month to month: in April 1917 there were 31 of them, in July - 97, in October - already 178 .4 In parallel with the struggle for the elimination of landed proprietorship in the Bessarabian countryside, the second social war - the struggle of the peasant poor against the kulaks-was growing. The forces of the national movement were being separated. Its revolutionary-democratic stream joined the general stream of struggle for the overthrow of the bourgeois-landlord regime in the country. There was a revolutionization of the soldiers of the military units of the Russian army stationed in Bessarabia.

The creation of Soviets in Moldavia, the struggle for their Bolshevization, for the transfer of all power into their hands, is an inseparable part of the process directed by the Leninist Party of the bourgeois - democratic revolution's transformation into a socialist one. The working masses of the region could think of no other way but to fight together with the working people of all Russia for the overthrow of the exploitative system. The historical experience of the joint revolutionary struggle taught that only in a single system with all the working people of multinational Russia could Moldovans achieve social progress and national revival. The ideas of the revolutionary brotherhood were clearly expressed in the welcome letter sent by the Bender Soviet to the Petrograd Soviet: "Dear comrades of Petrograd! We are always with you. Through the grave of autocracy, the distant South in our person extends its hand to the fraternal North... Long live the fraternal unity of the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers 'and Peasants' Deputies!"5 . The resolutions of many rallies and meetings held in Bessarabia at that time included the demand for autonomy, which was considered by the workers of the region as autonomy within the framework of revolutionary Russia.

Enthusiastically welcoming the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the working people of Bessarabia rightly assessed it as a radical change in the fate of all the peoples of the country, including their own. The struggle for the transfer of power to the Soviets intensified. International unity of the masses was the most important condition for the victory of the socialist revolution in the region. It is no accident that the local counter-revolution, like the reactionary forces of other national suburbs of Russia, launched a frenzied nationalist propaganda. In order to prevent the establishment of Soviet power in the province, it created the Sfatul Tsarii, an anti - people nationalist body, in Kishinev on November 21, 1917. The recruitment of its personnel was carried out in violation of elementary democratic requirements, so most of the seats in it were given to representatives of the officers, bourgeoisie, landowners and bourgeois intelligentsia. The presence of a small group of peasants and soldiers in its composition did not change the counter-revolutionary nature of this self-appointed body. Among its leaders were secret agents of Royal Rumania, who sought to detach Bessarabia from the Republic of Soviets, to annex it. By creating the Sfatul Cerium, the local counter-revolution and its foreign patrons tried to stupefy the Moldovan people with nationalist slogans, distract them from the struggle for Soviet power, and tear them away from revolutionary Russia.

However, despite the extremely difficult conditions of the struggle, the workers led by the Bolsheviks, in unity with the revolutionary soldiers, with the help of the central organs of the Communist Party and the Soviet State, overcame all obstacles on the way to the victory of the socialist revolution in the region. The establishment of Soviet power in Moldavia at the end of December 1917 and the beginning of January 1918 was, in fact, the same as in the Soviet Union.-

4 M. B. Itkis. Decree, op., p. 296.

5 " For the power of the Soviets. Chronicle of the revolutionary events in Moldavia (March 1917-January 1918)". Kishinev. 1969, p. 33.

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thus, not only the victory of the revolutionary masses over bourgeois-landlord reaction, but also the victory of proletarian internationalism over bourgeois nationalism, of revolutionary unity over counter-revolutionary anti-Soviet separatism. When Moldavia, having become the first victim of the anti-Soviet conspiracy of international imperialism, was attacked by the troops of Royal Romania, the working people of the region defended their right to unity with the socialist Homeland with weapons in their hands.

The ruling circles of royal Romania, and after them the Romanian bourgeois-nationalist historians, referring to the treacherous actions of the leaders of the Sfatul Tsarii, with the help of which the interventionists wanted to retroactively give a "legitimate character" to the violence committed in 1918,6 tried to portray the bloody occupation of Bessarabia almost as an act of "voluntary annexation" of its territory. to Romania 7 . This thesis is still actively propagated by bourgeois historiography for anti-Soviet purposes .8

The liberation movement in Bessarabia, which has developed since the first days of the foreign invasion, is the subject of close attention of Soviet historians .9 The battles at the Ungheni border station, the three-day battle near Chisinau, the armed resistance at the villages of Kaushany, Aneni, Telitsa, Farladani, the defense of Bender and Balti, and the multi-day battles in the south of Bessarabia became the initial milestones of the national struggle against the interventionists. In 722 localities of the region, resolutions against intervention were adopted at meetings, rallies, and peasant gatherings. "Not to separate from Russia, but to go hand in hand with it" 10 - this is how the aspirations of the Moldavian masses were formulated in the resolution of the Second Congress of Peasant Deputies of the Balti Uyezd, which met in the days when the Romanian royal army had already invaded the territory of Soviet Bessarabia. The Third Provincial Peasant Congress, held in

6 "Sfatul tseriy" was used by the interventionists as a cover, with the help of which they sought to deceive the population of the region and world public opinion. On March 27 (April 9), 1918, the ruling circles of bourgeois-landowner Romania, with the assistance of the leaders of the Sfatul Tsarii, staged a "vote" on the question of the so-called "conditional annexation" of Bessarabia to Romania, while preserving (for demagogic purposes) the appearance of a certain "autonomy" of the region. On November 27 (December 10), 1918, the comedy of "voting" on the question of the "unconditional annexation" of Bessarabia to Romania was played out. According to a group of members of the Sfatul Center itself, it was held in an atmosphere of "unprecedented and unacceptable political blackmail, violence and falsification" (Pravda, 4.IV. 1924). After that, "Sfatul tseriy" was disbanded by the invaders as unnecessary.

7 N. Titulescu. Roumania and Bessarabia. "The Nineteenth Century and after". Nr. D LXV1II, June 1924; O. Ghibu. Cum s'a facut unirea Basarabiei. Sibiu. 1925; ejnsd. De la Basarabia ruseasca la Basarabia romineasca. Cluj. 1926; Gh. Tatarescu. Bessarabie et Moscou. Bucuresti. 1926; A. Marghiloman. Note politice. Vol. I - IV. Bucuresti. 1927; St. Сiоbanu. Unirea Basarabiei. Studii si documente din istoria miscarii nationak in Basarabia. Chisinau. 1933.

8 I. B. Duroselle. Histoire diplomatique de 1919 ä nos jours. Paris. 1957; W. Kolars. Die Nationalitätenpolitik der Sowjetunion. Fr. a. Main. 1956; A. Suga. Die völkerrechtliche Lage Bessarabiens in der geschichtlichen Entwicklung des Landes. Bonn. 1958; D. Floyd. Roumania. Russias Dissident Ally. L. 1963. "Aspects des relations russo-roumaines". Retrospectives et orientations. P. 1967.

9 N. V. Bereznyakov, Ya. M. Kopansky, and V. P. Platon. Under the Red Banner of the Revolution (Pages of the struggle of the workers of Bessarabia for reunification with the Soviet Motherland). Chisinau. 1965; I. M. Bobenko, Ya. M. Kopansky. Twenty-two years of heroic struggle. Chisinau. 1966; "Pages of the history of the Komsomol of Moldova". Chisinau. 1966; V. S. Klobutsky. Bolshevik press of Bessarabia 1918-1921 Chisinau. G967; "Essays on the History of the Communist Party of Moldova", 2nd ed., ed. and add-ons. Chisinau. 1968; "History of the Moldavian SSR", Vol. 2. 2nd ed., reprint. and add-ons. Chisinau. 1968; Yu. D. Roshkovan. A bright page of proletarian solidarity. Chisinau. 1970. N. V. Bereznyakov, I. M. Bobeiko, Ya. M. Kopansky, U. G. Murzak, V. P. Platon. The struggle of the workers of Bessarabia for their liberation and reunification with the Soviet Motherland (1918-1940). Kishinev. 1970.

10 "The struggle for Soviet power in Moldova". Collection of documents and materials. Chisinau. 1957, p. 293.

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In occupied Chisinau, despite pressure and repression from the Romanian authorities, he demanded the immediate withdrawal of interventionist troops .11

The Soviet Government took all possible measures to protect the workers of Bessarabia from the arbitrariness of the interventionists and to liberate the occupied territory. When attempts at a peaceful settlement of the conflict failed, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR decided to break off diplomatic relations with Romania, and by order of V. I. Lenin, Soviet troops were moved against the royal army. Stubborn resistance to intervention on the part of the workers of the region and the sensitive blows inflicted on the interventionists by Soviet troops forced them to negotiate. In accordance with the Soviet-Romanian agreement of March 5-9, 1918, the royal government pledged to withdraw its troops from Bessarabia within two months, but the ruling clique of bourgeois - landowner Romania, taking advantage of the invasion of Austro-German troops in the Ukraine, did not fulfill its obligation.

During the civil war, the working people of Moldavia, in fraternal unity with the working - peasant masses of the whole country, actively participated in the struggle against the combined forces of the counter-revolution. The Khotyn (January - February 1919) and Bendery (May 1919) uprisings, workers 'strikes, peasant revolts, and partisan actions weakened the interventionists' rear lines and brought their defeat closer. The liberation struggle in the region was led by communists united in the Bessarabian regional organization of the RCP (b). Tens of thousands of Moldovans fought against class enemies as part of units and formations of the Red Army. The Red commanders A. Krusser, I. Nyagu, A. Popa and many others died by the death of the brave. Among the heroes of the Civil War, S. Lazo and G. Kotovsky occupy an honorable place. The blood shed on the battlefields further consolidated the revolutionary unity of the workers 'and peasants' masses of Moldavia with the workers of the multinational Homeland.

National state-building, which began in Moldova with the establishment of Soviet power, was continued during the civil war .12 Important milestones in the formation of the Soviet statehood of the Moldavian people were the activities of the Revolutionary Committee for the Salvation of the Moldavian Republic and the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Bessarabia (1918), which represented the desire of the working masses of the region to unite within a single Soviet multinational state. This aspiration was most clearly expressed in the activities of the Provisional Workers 'and Peasants' Government of Bessarabia, established in April-May 1919, on the eve of the Red Army's planned offensive on Bessarabia. In accordance with the will of the people, it declared that "Bessarabia forms the Soviet Socialist Republic, which is part of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic" .13

However, by the end of the civil war, only left-bank Moldavia was liberated from the White Guards and interventionists. The occupation of Bessarabia lasted for many years. Here the gains of the socialist revolution were liquidated, and the bourgeois-democratic state was restored.-

11 M. B. Itkis. Decree, op., p. 274.

12 The history of Soviet nation-state building in the region is considered in a number of works by Moldovan historians. In particular, S. Ya. Aftenyuk (S. Ya. Aftenyuk. Edict, op.) re-posed the question of the development of Soviet statehood in Moldavia as a process that began in 1917-1918, revealed the essence and features of each stage of this process. A. M. Lazarev thoroughly analyzes the events of 1940-the liberation of Bessarabia and the formation of the Moldavian SSR (A. M. Lazarev. The reunification of the Moldovan people into a single Soviet state. Chisinau. 1965; see also chapters in the History of the Moldavian SSR, vol. 2).

13 "The struggle of the workers of Moldavia against interventionists and internal counter-revolution". Chisinau. 1967, pp. 293-294.

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meshchichy orders. The workers were subjected to severe political, social and national oppression. The economy of the region, detached from the All-Russian economic organism, has degraded. The masses were impoverished. The occupation regime was based on the infamous "Bessarabian system" of bloody terror. Thus, when the First All-Union Congress of Soviets proclaimed the formation of the USSR on December 30, 1922, most of the Moldavian people remained under a foreign yoke. Although not all the working people of Moldavia were immediately destined to take advantage of the favorable prospects for nation-building opened up by this historic act, its significance for the fate of the Moldavian people is enormous.

The Soviet national-state self-determination of the Moldovan people within the framework of the USSR initially affected only Moldovans living on the left bank of the Dniester. In political terms, the solution of this issue provided for the creation of the Soviet statehood of the Moldovan people in the form of autonomy, in terms of economic and cultural construction-the elimination of the actual inequality of the backward people in the past. On July 29, 1924, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) recognized the need to "separate the Moldovan population into a special Autonomous Republic within the Ukrainian SSR" 14 . The Politburo assigned Frunze to monitor the rapid implementation of this resolution. October 12, 1924 The All-Ukrainian Central Election Commission, in accordance with the recommendations of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Ukraine, decided to form the Moldavian ASSR as part of the Ukrainian SSR. In December of the same year, the new Republic party organization was organized.

The formation of the MASSR corresponded to the interests and aspirations of the broadest masses of the Moldovan people. It was created on the initiative of the workers of the cities and villages of Moldova and in accordance with their wishes. This issue was widely discussed at rallies and meetings. The decision of the general assembly of the village of Dorotskoye, Dubossary district, for example, stated: "We, the peasants of the village of Dorotskoye, having read the report on Soviet national policy at our meeting, find that only the Soviet government pursues a correct national policy that liberates some nations from oppression by other nations. Only the Soviet policy leads the peasants on the path of raising Moldavian culture and strengthening fraternity between peoples... Long live the Moldavian Republic and the national policy of the USSR! " 15 . Representatives of occupied Bessarabia took an active part in the preparation and creation of the socialist statehood of the Moldovan people on the left bank of the Dniester River, in the construction of a new life. The Soviet and party organs of the MASSR included many natives of Bessarabia, active fighters for Soviet power: I. I. Badeev, G. I. Kotovsky, G. I. Stary, S. M. Bubnovsky, G. I. Buchushkanu, K. V. Galitsky and others. They essentially represented the broad masses of working Moldovans from both banks of the Dniester.

Bessarabian refugees in the USSR welcomed and supported the formation of the MASSR, rightly believing that it would serve as a basis for the unification of all Moldovan workers in the future. In a welcoming letter to the Revolutionary Committee of the MASSR, the Leningrad branch of the All-Union Society of Bessarabians stated in connection with the formation of autonomy: "We are deeply confident that, true to the precepts of Ilich, who pointed out the path to national liberation of peoples, you will do with honor the work entrusted to you not only by the population of the newly formed Moldova-

14 "The beginning of a great journey". Chisinau. 1964, p. 33.

15 Ibid., p. 34.

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but also the work entrusted to you by the workers of Bessarabia, whose eyes are fixed on the starting point of their liberation-the Moldavian ASSR. " 16 Fighters of the 3rd Bessarabian Cavalry Division, branches of the Society of Bessarabians in Moscow, Odessa, Kharkiv, Georgia, etc. warmly supported the formation of MASSR. Thus, when creating the autonomous republic, the Communist Party and the Soviet Government took into account the real desire of the Moldovan workers for national self-determination as part of a multinational socialist state.

The formation of the MASSR and the party organization of the republic was a powerful factor in the elimination of the age-old backwardness of the region, the rise of its economy and flourishing culture, and the implementation of profound transformations in all areas of the life of the working people of the republic. With the help of the fraternal republics, industrialization unfolded here, as in the whole country, socialist transformation of agriculture and the cultural revolution were carried out. Socialist relations of production were established in all branches of the national economy of the MASSR. Large industrial enterprises equipped with new equipment were built. In 1939, the volume of MASSR industrial production increased 33-fold compared to 191317 . The republic's canning enterprises, built during the years of Soviet rule, produced almost as much canned food as the entire canning industry of tsarist Russia produced. A solid material and technical base was created in socialist agriculture. In 1939, there were 1,724 tractors, 492 combine harvesters and many other equipment in the republic's MTS, while in all the liberated regions of Moldova in June 1940, there were only 92 low-power tractors .18 Production on collective and state farms grew every year.

The implementation of the cultural revolution radically affected the level of education of the MASSR population. Before the revolution, there was not a single higher education institution in all of Moldova. According to the census of 1897, literacy here barely exceeded 22% 19 . In a short historical period, illiteracy was eliminated in the republic. Moldova is covered with a dense network of schools. 11 specialized secondary and 3 higher educational institutions trained personnel for the national economy and cultural and educational institutions 20 . Many representatives of MASSR studied at universities and technical schools in Moscow, Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa and other cities. Fundamental changes have taken place in the material situation of MASSR workers. Its towns and villages grew and improved. From 1924 to 1939, expenditures on municipal and housing construction in the republic increased by 26 times, and on social and cultural events-by more than 38 times. 21 The working class of the republic grew in number and became stronger. In its ranks there were about 14 thousand people (in the early 20s, less than a thousand workers were employed at the censored enterprises within the territory of the MASSR). The collective-farm peasantry became a new social class. The Soviet intelligentsia appeared. The Moldavian ASSR laid the foundations for the development and prosperity of the future Moldova, reunited within the framework of the USSR.

The formation of the USSR and the successful socialist construction in the country, including in left-bank Moldavia, were an important incentive for the liberation movement in Bessarabia. Her communists-

16 " Lenin has illuminated the way for us." Chisinau. 1970. pp. 216-217.

17 "History of the Moldavian SSR". T 2, p. 196.

18 "Formation and development of the collective farm system in the Moldavian SSR". Chisinau. 1971, pp. 67, 102.

19 " Results of the All-Union Population Census of 1959. Moldavian SSR", Moscow, 1962, p. 27

20 G. I. Byrke. Intellectualitatya Moldovei Sovetiche. Chisinau. 1971, p.! 6.

21 " Soviet Moldavia.", 21. VII. 1964.

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The Soviet organization, which was in the vanguard of the masses, proclaimed the unification of Bessarabia liberated from occupation with the USSR as the main goal of the revolutionary movement in the region. The underground communists, despite the brutal persecution of the occupation authorities, conducted persistent agitation among the masses, widely propagandized the course of socialist transformations, the achievements of economic and cultural construction, and the successful implementation of Lenin's national policy in the USSR. They called on the workers of the region to "fight for power, workers' and peasants 'power, and the union of workers 'and Peasants' Soviet Bessarabia with the U.S.S.R. " 22 This appeal, contained in the May (1924) appeal of the Bessarabian Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Romania and the Bessarabian Regional Committee of the Komsomol, sets out the main goals of the struggle: restoration of Soviet power in the region and its reunification with the USSR. The Communist organization of Bessarabia put forward from its midst a remarkable galaxy of leaders and organizers of this struggle: P. Tkachenko, K. Syrbu, A. Nikolsky, H. Livshits, I. Fortuna, I. Shimkov, A. Onike, I. Bujor, J. Boguslavsky, Y. Korotkov, S. Revenyale, A. Talmazan, S. Burlachenko and others. On the platform of the struggle for the reunification of Bessarabia with the Country of Soviets were the revolutionary trade unions and the Union of Revolutionary Peasants of Bessarabia (SRK), the organizations of the MOPRa, and the committees of the workers 'and Peasants' bloc.

The appeals of the Communists found a warm response in the hearts of the working people. The program of the revolutionary forces corresponded to their aspirations. This was particularly reflected in the revolutionary events of 1924. May Day rallies and demonstrations of workers were held in Chisinau, Bendery, and Balti under the slogans of the struggle for the reunification of Bessarabia with the Soviet Homeland. The demonstrations, especially in Chisinau, were violent. One of the leaflets issued by the Chisinau City Committee of the party at that time stated: "On May 1, we will take an oath: in spite of everything, we will pursue our goal of uniting the Bessarabian proletariat and peasantry with the workers and peasants of the USSR, and become part of this Union." 23 The greeting exchanged by the participants of the rallies in Chisinau is also significant. It contained a wish that the workers and peasants of Bessarabia "celebrate May 1, 1925, as part of the Soviet Socialist republics." 24

In the autumn of 1924, the world witnessed events that demonstrated with particular force the desire of the workers of Bessarabia to reunite with the USSR. In September, an armed uprising broke out in the south of the region, in the area of Tatarbunary, Akmangit, Mikhailovka, Nerushay, Spasskoe, Chishmya, etc. Soviet power was restored over a vast territory and the formation of the Moldavian Soviet Republic was proclaimed .25 The revolutionary committees took power into their own hands. The uprising caused panic in the ruling circles of bourgeois-landowner Romania. The Royal Government sent infantry, cavalry, artillery, and warships against the weakly armed rebels. Rebel detachments led by the head of the Yuzhbespartkom A. Klyushnikov and his associates I. Batishchev, L. Tsurkatyum and N. Lisov courageously resisted the punishers. Thousands of rebels have died fighting the Royal army. Hundreds of fighters for reunification with the Soviet Homeland were thrown into prison. The "500" trial completed the reaction's crackdown on the rebels 26 . "Those uprisings, - said G. I. Kotovsky at the IX All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets , - which are repeated in the Soviet Union.

22 TsGA MSSR, f. 680, op. 1, ed. hr. 332, l. 241.

23 Ibid., l. 300.

24 Ibid., f. 738, op. 1, ed. hr. 3645, part 1, l. 76.

25 " The struggle of the workers of the Ukrainian Danubian lands for social and national liberation. 1918-1940". Odessa. 1967, p. 93.

26 Yu. D. Roshkovan. Decree, op., pp. 39-93.

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From year to year, since the bandit seizure of Bessarabia by the Rumanian landlords and boyars, Bessarabia only marks that the workers and peasants of Bessarabia, oppressed, shot by hundreds and thousands, do not abandon their revolutionary faith. " 27

With the formation of the MASSR, the slogans of the liberation movement in Bessarabia became even more concrete and became more purposeful: through reunification as part of the Moldavian Soviet Republic - to join the Union of the SSR. The proclamation of the Bessarabian Regional Party Committee on the convocation of the First All-Soviet Congress in April 1925 ended with the following words:: "Long live the liberated Bessarabia, united with the MASSR! Long live Chisinau, the capital of the united MASSR!"28 . In the first manifesto of the SRK of Bessarabia, its goals were formulated as follows:"The Union of Revolutionary Peasants sets its main task by organizing the peasantry in alliance with the working class to achieve the liberation of Bessarabia from the Romanian occupation, the creation of a workers 'and peasants' government and unification with the Moldavian Soviet Republic beyond the Dniester"29 . "Long live Soviet Bessarabia, united with the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Union of Socialist Republics! " 30 The SRK committee called in March 1927. With the implementation of these slogans, the workers and peasants of the region associated the solution of the main tasks of their struggle-the expulsion of the invaders, the restoration of Soviet power, the reunification of the Moldavian people in a single Soviet state, and the satisfaction within the framework of the USSR of the social and national aspirations of workers of all nationalities who inhabited Bessarabia.

The success of the USSR as a whole and the MASSR in particular gave the workers of Bessarabia the moral strength to resist the policy of the occupiers, especially their sophisticated efforts to deprive Moldovans of their national identity, to force them to abandon their desire for liberation from social oppression and the creation of the Soviet national statehood of the entire Moldovan people within the USSR. Describing the policy of the occupiers, the SRK of Bessarabia pointed out: "The cursed Romanian boyars are trying to destroy all our customs, peculiarities of the language and culture of the Moldovan people, which have distinguished them from the Romanian people for centuries"31 . The sinister nature of Bessarabia's Romanization policy was particularly pronounced against the background of socialist transformations and success in national-state construction in the USSR. "The successful socialist construction of the Trans-Dniester Moldovans will serve as a beacon and example in our struggle against the Romanian bourgeoisie," wrote the newspaper Krasnoe Znamya, an organ of the underground Bessarabian regional party committee, in an article dedicated to the third anniversary of the MASSR32 .

The slogan of the struggle for the liberation of Bessarabia and its unification with the MASSR as part of the USSR became especially popular during the revolutionary upsurge of 1929-1933. The new wave of the liberation movement was characterized by a close interweaving of the struggle of the working people against the exploiters, for their economic and political rights, with the struggle for ultimate goals. In 1929-1933, more than 200 economic strikes took place in Bessarabia, as well as hundreds of peasant demonstrations against landlord bondage, tax robbery, and the excesses of the occupation authorities-

27 "The beginning of the Long Road", p. 133.

28 " Leaflets of the Communist underground of Bessarabia. 1919-1940 " Chisinau 1960, p. 91.

29 ASNR de re linga ss PMR. Fond 32, Unit, de pastr. N 4547, I. 33.

30 "Leaflets of the Communist Underground of Bessarabia", p. 115.

31 TsGA MSSR, f. 738, op. 1, ed. hr. 4061, l. 15.

32 " The Red Banner "("Styagul Rosh"), November 1927, N 2.

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stay33 . But the main factor in the revolutionary upsurge was the numerous successive political strikes, meetings, and finally violent street demonstrations.

The popular movement for the reunification of the region with the Soviet Homeland merged with the struggle to prevent new anti-Soviet adventures of world imperialist reaction. This was reflected in the anti-war demonstrations on August 1, 1929 in Chisinau and Balti, and in the famous defense of the Workers ' House on November 24, 1929 in Chisinau, when thousands of workers opened the trade union building sealed by the police and barricaded themselves in it, courageously fighting off the occupation troops and police; in the demonstrations on November 7, 1929 and on November 24, 1929 in Chisinau, January 1930 in Chisinau and Balti. On May 1, 1930, revolutionary demonstrations were held in Lipcani, Reni, Briceni and Soroca, where participants demanded reunification with the Soviet Homeland, mass rallies and rallies in Bendery, Rezina, Calarasi, Artsiz, Ganchesti, Telenesti. On May 10, 1930, the proletarians of Chisinau came to the central square of the city, where by that time a huge mass of people had gathered with banners that read:: "Long live the revolutionary Bessarabia reunited with the MASSR!", " We demand bread and work!", " We demand a 7-hour working day!"34 . In January 1931, such a demonstration took place in Bender, in November 1931-in Chisinau, etc.

The revolutionary events in Bessarabia during the global economic crisis clearly revealed the collapse of the occupiers ' policy. "In Bessarabia, "one of the resolutions of the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Romania (December 1931) emphasized,"Romanian imperialism is trying to strengthen its position by intensifying the Romanization of Moldovans, who are declared" Romanians." The broad masses of the Moldavian peasantry and the urban petty bourgeoisie are just as oppressed as the Russian, Ukrainian, and Jewish populations. The Roumanian bourgeoisie itself does not in the least trust these "Roumanians" at its mercy... The response of the Moldovan working population to this occupation policy is the repeated revolutionary actions and the ever-growing front of the Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish population of Bessarabia in the struggle for their national liberation. " 35 The failure of the province's Romanization policy has been repeatedly noted by the foreign bourgeois press. The organ of the French radicals, the newspaper Republique, wrote in October 1932:: "Everyone living in Bessarabia knows that the Moldovan population has retained unquestionable sympathy for Russia. After the war, the Romanians failed to attract the Bessarabians to their side. " 36

From the second half of 1933, a massive anti-fascist movement developed in Bessarabia. The struggle against the threat of fascism and war, for the formation of the People's Front, was also aimed at creating more favorable conditions for the further development of the revolutionary liberation movement in the region. The striking force of the anti-fascist movement was the proletarians, who continued their stubborn struggle against the occupiers and local exploiters. According to incomplete data, about 150 strikes of workers and employees occurred in Bessarabia between 1934 and 1937 .37 The peasants ' speeches did not stop either. As in the previous period, many of them turned into political actions, accompanied by sharp clashes with the police and gendarmes. Bright demonstrations against fascism, for the liberation of Bessarabia were held-

33 N. V. Bereznyakov, I. M. Bobeiko, Ya. M. Kopansky, U. G. Murzak, V. P. Platon. Decree, op., pp. 427, 490, 545-553.

34 TsGA MSSR, f. 679, op. 1 units hr. 5578, ll. 1-2.

35 "Documente din istoria Partidului Comunist din Romania". Vol. III. Bucuresti. 1956, p. 375.

36 Cit. by: Pravda, 13. X. 1932.

37 "Essays on the History of the Communist Party of Moldova", p. 222.

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November 24, 1933, May 1 and 21, August 31, 1934 in Chisinau, meetings and demonstrations in Chisinau, Balti, Ackerman, dedicated to the 17th anniversary of the Great October. Noting the peculiarities of the anti-fascist movement in the province, the newspaper " Sctnteia "(the central organ of the Communist Party of Romania) wrote: "The Bessarabian proletariat is becoming one of the foremost fighters against fascism and war. The significance of this fact is all the greater because the most brutal fascist terror is raging in Bessarabia, and the struggle against fascism and war is closely intertwined with the struggle against national oppression and colonial exploitation to which the working masses of Bessarabia are subjected."38

At the initiative of the Communists, legal anti-fascist committees were established in the region. On November 25, 1934, the Bessarabian Regional Anti-fascist Conference was held in Chisinau. In the same year, during the period of the growing mass anti-fascist movement, a new illegal national revolutionary organization of the region's workers, the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of Bessarabia from the Oppression of the Invaders, was created and launched an active activity. The appeal of the Central Committee of this organization emphasized that its main task "is to drive out the bandits of Romanian imperialism over the Prut and create a Soviet Bessarabia." 39

It was the fact that the mass base of the anti-fascist movement in Bessarabia was made up of workers and peasants who fought for the restoration of Soviet power and reunification with the socialist Homeland that gave this movement a special edge. It is no coincidence that the anti-fascists of Bessarabia were chosen as the first target for the repression that the royal government unleashed on the anti-fascist movement. Mass protests against the trial of anti-fascists in Bessarabia held in Chisinau in March 1936 resulted in a new wave of struggle against fascism. In the course of it, committees of the Bloc for the Protection of Democratic Freedoms and other organizations were formed. The most significant anti-fascist demonstrations were the demonstrations of January 26 and the rally of thousands on July 26, 1936.

The dream of reunification with the Soviet Homeland inspired the anti-fascists of Bessarabia, who participated in such a major international anti-fascist action as the struggle of the international brigades in Spain. "We, the Bessarabians," said one of the letters received from the editorial board of the Red Bessarabia magazine from Spain, "when we fight here, we understand perfectly well that we are fighting not only for the just cause of the Spanish people ... but also for the freedom of Bessarabia." 40

The liberation struggle in Bessarabia did not subside even during the period of the royal dictatorship, which was characterized by an increase in terror and a policy of violent Romanization of the region, militarization and forced preparation for war. In the summer of 1939, a number of large strikes led by communists took place in the region. Under the leadership of women's committees, women's anti-war demonstrations were held in Chisinau, Soroca, Bender, Hotina, Lipcani, Ackerman and other places in 1939 and the first months of 1940. The desertion of Bessarabians from the Royal Army has become widespread. In January 1940, just a few months before the liberation of Bessarabia, a major revolutionary demonstration took place in Chisinau, which was accompanied by clashes with the police and troops .41

The Moldovan people's desire for reunification within the USSR was constantly supported by the CPSU and the Soviet Union.

38 "Scinteia", XI. 1933, N 14.

39 "Leaflets of the Communist Underground of Bessarabia", p. 437.

40 "Red Bessarabia", 1937, N 5, p. 8

41 N. V. Bereznyakov, I. M. Bobeiko, Ya. M. Kopansky, U. G. Murzak, V. P. Platon. Decree, op., pp. 704-707.

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the government, all the peoples of our country. This was clearly shown in the struggle on the international stage for a fair resolution of the question of Bessarabia and its reunification with the Soviet state. After the end of the civil war, the struggle of the Soviet state for a just solution of the Bessarabian question was transferred to the diplomatic arena. 42 V. I. Lenin paid great attention to this issue. At the Genoese Conference, G. V. Chicherin made a statement on behalf of the Soviet delegation, which emphasized that "in the south-east of Europe, the Romanians, forcibly occupying Bessarabia, continue to oppress the population of this province, imposing an alien regime on them." 43 V. I. Lenin recommended that the Soviet delegation draw the attention of the participants of the Genoese Conference to the fact that The unresolved Bessarabian issue is an obstacle to the establishment of a lasting peace.

In the following years, fulfilling the precepts of V. I. Lenin, the Soviet government persistently sought to rescue the workers of Bessarabia from the boyar yoke. It has repeatedly and publicly declared to the whole world that it considers the annexation of Bessarabia an act of international robbery, and demanded that the population of the region be given the right to decide its own fate. Defending this position at the Soviet-Romanian conference in Vienna in March-April 1924, the Soviet Union proposed to hold a plebiscite in Bessarabia. The bourgeois landlords of Romania rejected the Soviet proposal. She insisted that the USSR accept the capture of Bessarabia. "The government of the USSR," the Soviet delegation said in a statement on March 28, 1924, " and before the formation of the USSR, the governments of the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR never gave their consent to the annexation of Bessarabia to Romania and consider the occupation of Bessarabia in 1918 by Romanian troops, which continues to this day, as a violent seizure of this region... The Soviet government has serious reasons to believe that the majority of the population of Bessarabia is burdened by their actual belonging to Romania... If the Romanian government were convinced of the opposite, if it thought that the overwhelming majority of the Bessarabian population sincerely considers themselves Romanians and wants Bessarabia to become part of Romania, the Romanian government would have nothing to fear from the results of the plebiscite and avoid it. " 44

After the Vienna Conference, which was disrupted by the government of Royal Romania, the USSR continued to defend the right of the population of Bessarabia to decide their own fate independently, and supported the desire of the region's workers to reunite with the Soviet Homeland. The Soviet Government remained in the same position at the time of signing, together with Romania and other countries, the Moscow Protocol on the Early Entry into Force of the Briand-Kellogg Pact (1929), during the Soviet-Romanian negotiations on the conclusion of a bilateral non-aggression pact (1932), during the conclusion with Romania and a number of other countries of the Convention on The position of the USSR on the Bessarabian question in connection with the establishment of diplomatic relations can be judged, in particular, by the following entry in the diary of M. M. Litvinov, concerning the final stage of his transition to the Soviet Union.-

42 A.M. Lazarev. Decree, Op.; S. K. Brysyakin, M. K. Sytnik. The triumph of historical justice. Kishinev, 1969; Ya. M. Kopansky, I. E. Levit. Soviet-Romanian relations. 1929-1934 Moscow, 1971; B. M. Kolker, I. E. Levit. Foreign policy of Romania and Romanian-Soviet relations (September 1939-June 1941). Moscow, 1971.

43 "Documents of foreign policy of the USSR", Vol. V. M. 1961, p. 281.

44 "Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR", Vol. VII, Moscow, 1963, pp. 164-165, 168.

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Regovorov with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania N. Titulescu: "With his usual forcefulness, Titulescu once again tried to force me to admit that we would never raise the Bessarabian question, and I had to fight him back in the presence of Benes." 45

All the peoples of the U.S.S.R. were very sympathetic to the Moldovan people's desire for reunification within the Soviet Homeland, and they strongly supported the struggle of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government for the liberation of Bessarabia. The working-class and peasant masses of the region, aware of this support, drew strength from it for an unequal struggle. The recognition of the regional police inspector can serve as evidence of how the Soviet position was perceived in Bessarabia at the Soviet-Romanian negotiations in 1932. On February 20, 1932, he reported to Bucharest: "The refusal of Soviet Russia to recognize the annexation of Bessarabia to Romania was not only met with sympathy on the part of the workers, but also perceived by them as an incentive for an immediate and more active struggle against the bourgeoisie, in the hope that the annexation of Bessarabia to the homeland of the proletariat would take place in the near future." 46

The heroic struggle of the workers of Bessarabia for their liberation, the desire of the Moldavian people for reunification within the USSR, the efforts of the Soviet Government aimed at a just solution of the Bessarabian question, found deep sympathy and fraternal support from the workers of Romania. The best representatives of the Romanian people spoke out in defense of the workers of Bessarabia. Detachments of Romanian internationalists participated in the armed resistance of the working masses of Bessarabia to the invasion of the interventionists in early 1918. Even before the formation of the Communist Party of Romania, the Steering Committee of the Communist Groups of Bucharest wrote to the Chisinau City Committee of the RCP (b): "We have not forgotten and will never forget that Bessarabia was forcibly torn out of the ethnic groups of the Russian Soviet Republic by the barbaric regime of the Romanian monarchy, only to be transformed by the Romanian reaction into a province dictatorial regimes of other countries " 47 .

The Communist Party of Romania, which in 1922, due to the prolonged occupation, temporarily included the Communists of Bessarabia, strongly supported the desire of the workers of the region to reunite with the Soviet Homeland. The Romanian Communist Party's principled internationalist line on the Bessarabian question was clearly formulated in the decisions of its Fourth Congress, held in June 1928. The Congress welcomed the formation of the MASSR, considering this event as an example of the proletarian solution of the national question in the USSR. "Our Party," it proclaimed in its decisions, " is obliged by all means to support the struggle of the workers of Bessarabia aimed at unification with the MASSR (Soviet Moldavia)."48 This line was further developed in the resolutions of the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Romania (December 1931), in other party documents, in the Communist press, and in practical matters. "The liberation struggle of the Moldavian people and other nationalities of Bessarabia, directed against Rumanian imperialism," Scinteia pointed out on April 15, 1933, " must not only be supported by the Rumanian working masses, but its slogans must first of all be written in their fighting language.

45 Ya. M. Kopansky, I. E. Levit. Decree, op., p. 170.

46 TSGAMSSR, f. 173, op. 4, ed. hr. 17, l. 126.

47 " International support for the struggle of the workers of Bessarabia for reunification with the Soviet Motherland (1918-1940)", Chisinau. 1971, p. 52.

48 "Documente din istoria Partidului Comunist din Rominia". Vol. .11. Bucuresti. 1953, p. 594.

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this struggle helps the Rumanian working masses to free themselves from their own exploiters and oppressors."

The long-term stubborn struggle of the workers of Bessarabia for their social and national liberation, thanks to the skillful foreign policy of the Soviet Government, ended on June 28, 1940 with the reunification of the region with the Soviet Homeland. This day was a turning point in the history of the Moldovan people. The aspirations of the working Moldovans, Ukrainians, Russians and other nationalities living on opposite banks of the Dniester River came true-they united in a single family. The territorial community of the Moldovan population was restored, which was a necessary prerequisite for the formation of the union republic. On August 2, 1940, the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., meeting the wishes of the new Moldavians, adopted the law on the formation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and on its incorporation into the U.S.S.R. Speaking at the session, a member of the delegation of Bessarabia and the Moldavian ASSR, Z. A. Cracunescu (a teacher from Orhei), conveyed the request of the Moldavian people for the creation of the Moldavian SSR and expressed her warm gratitude to the Communist Party and the Soviet Government and the entire Soviet people for their release, : "We believed in our liberation, in a bright future... We were encouraged by the red stars shining brightly on the left side of the Dniester River, and the solemn sounds of the "International"reached us. And our hopes were fulfilled... We are forever freed from capitalist slavery, from the yoke of the Romanian boyars and landlords, we have become citizens of the Soviet Union and will firmly protect our native country. " 49 In February 1941, at the First Congress of the CP(b) of Moldova, the transformation of the Moldavian regional Party Organization into the Communist Party of Moldova was formalized.

The formation of the Moldavian SSR was the final stage in the construction of the Soviet Moldavian national statehood. The reunification of the Moldovan people in a single state body created the necessary conditions for further consolidation and completion of the process of forming the Moldovan socialist nation. The unification of the Moldavian people with other fraternal peoples of the USSR in a single powerful socialist state played a decisive role in the implementation of fundamental social transformations in the territory of the liberated regions of the republic, opened up inexhaustible opportunities for the political, economic and cultural flourishing of the republic. In a short historical period, Moldavia has transformed from a backward agricultural region in the past into a developed industrial-agrarian Soviet republic. The Leninist national policy of the Communist Party, the friendship and mutual assistance of the peoples of our country were the foundation on which the Soviet national statehood of the Moldovan people emerged, strengthened and flourished as an integral part of a new historical community of people - the Soviet people.

49 Pravda, 11. VIII. 1940.

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