Mordvins

The largest Finno-Ugrian nationality in Russia (over a million), the Mordvins are divided into the Erzia and the Moksha sub-ethnic communities. They are a highly dispersed nationality, with over 70 percent of Mordvins residing outside their republic.

The Mordvins are an ancient people indigenous to the area between the Volga, Oka, and Sura rivers. They are first mentioned as Mordens in the writings of the sixth-century Gothic historian Jordanes. Of the surviving Volga nationalities they were the first to encounter the Russians even before 1103, in the first recorded skirmish in the Russian Chronicles. With the conquest of Kazan in 1552, all Mordvins came under Russian rule.

Their history under the tsars is one of expropriations of lands, harsh exploitation, assault on native animist beliefs, and periodic conversion campaigns that led to rebellion and flight. Native leaders were killed in futile uprisings or enticed to the Russian side, leaving the Mordvins a dispersed nation of illiterate peasants. By the seventeenth century, the Mordvin homeland had become central Russian territory and the Mordvins there a minority; those fleeing eastward were soon overtaken by the Russian advance. By the end of the nineteenth century, all Mordvins were listed as Russian Orthodox and were considered "sufficiently russified" not to require special schools or translations in their language. Yet the language-based 1897 census recorded 1,023,841 Mordvins.

Under the Soviets, despite their dispersion, lack of a common language, and a weak national self-consciousness, the Mordvins achieved significant cultural progress. While attempts to forge a common language failed, both Erzia and Moksha became literary languages widely used in education and publishing. In 1934, the Mordvins acquired their own Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (26,200 square kilometers) with its capital in Saransk, albeit the majority were Russians and most Mordvins were left outside. However, by the late 1930s, national revival was halted as the elite was decimated in the purges and Soviet nationality policy shifted to emphasizing the Russian language and culture. The Mordvin population, which had slowly risen to 1,456,300 in 1939, continued to erode, dropping to 1,153,500 in the last Soviet census of 1989.

Since perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mordvins have been trying to stage a national revival. However, despite new freedoms, conditions are unfavorable. Less than 30 percent of the Mordvins live in their republic, where they are a minority and among the poorest. The new national organizations are narrowly based and suffer from separatist demands from militant Erzias. However, hope is still to be found in their relatively large number, the support of fellow Finno-Ugrians abroad, and the world community's concern for endangered cultures and languages.

Bibliography

Iurchenkov, Valerii. (2001). "The Mordvins: Dilemmas of Mobilization in a Biethnic Community." Nationalities Papers 29 (1):85 - 95.

Kreindler, Isabelle. (1985). "The Mordvinian Languages: A Survival Saga." In Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages, ed. Isabelle Kreindler. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Lallukka, Seppo. (1990). The East Finnic Minorities in the Soviet Union. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemia.

—ISABELLE KREINDLER