{{Short description|1939 Census in the Soviet Union}} [[File:USSR 1939-01-23 registered cover Leningrad reverse.jpg|thumb|USSR reverse of a January 23rd, 1939 registered cover sent in Leningrad. The text translates as: '17 January 1939, start of the All-Union Census. Citizen! Do not forget to go through the census.']]{{Expand Russian|Перепись населения СССР (1939)|date=March 2023|topic=hist}} The '''1939 Soviet census''' ({{langx|ru|Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939|lit=1939 All-Union Census|translit=Vsesoyuznaya perepis naseleniya 1939}}), conducted from January 17 to January 26, succeeded the [[1937 Soviet census]] that was declared invalid. It happened only two years after the previous census, due to the failure of the preceding one. Results of 1939 census are considered unreliable, due to accidental counting issues and also intentional falsification to achieve political goals of the [[Joseph Stalin]]'s regime.
== Preparation == The 1939 Soviet [[census]] took place after the postponement of the [[1930 Soviet census|1930 census]] to first 1935 and then 1937, followed by the failure of that census.<ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Schwartz |first=Lee |title=A History of Russian and Soviet Censuses |date=1986 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1g69xfv.8 |work=Research Guide to the Russian and Soviet Censuses |pages=48–69 |editor-last=CLEM |editor-first=RALPH S. |publisher=Cornell University Press |jstor=10.7591/j.ctt1g69xfv.8 |isbn=978-1-5017-0715-5 |access-date=2022-05-22}}</ref> In preparation for the 1939 census, a number of decisions were made to avoid ending with the same fate as the census of 1937. Due to the previous census showing believers in religion to form a majority among the population, the question on religion was dropped from the census entirely, and the occupation of [[priest]] was changed to "servitor of a cult" in the census forms.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2015-06-18 |title=The Lost Census |url=https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1939-2/the-lost-census/ |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=Seventeen Moments in Soviet History |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |date=1939-01-30 |title=RUSSIA: Roll Call |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,760685,00.html |access-date=2022-05-24 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> Additionally, as many of the people in charge of organizing the previous census had been removed from their positions, {{interlanguage link|Vladimir Starovsky|ru|Старовский, Владимир Никонович}} and [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] were put in charge of managing it.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />
== Census == The census-taking started on January 17, ending on January 23 in urban areas and January 26 in rural areas.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Gulomov |first=Ilhomjon |date=22 April 2021 |title=The 1939 Census (on the example of the Uzbek USSR) |url=https://usajournalshub.com/conferences/index.php/iscrc/article/view/229/225}}</ref> Its form contained 16 questions and was printed in 22 languages, as well as providing, for the first and only time, a way to count both convicted criminals and political detainees. While follow-up checks and several other new tabulation methods were instituted, forms were not issued to keep track of [[Double counting (proof technique)|double counting]].<ref name=":2" /> A total of 400,000 census takers were sent to facilitate the process over the country.<ref name=":3" /> There were some reports of various religious communities resisting the census, which were dealt with by use of legal means.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-08-31 |title=On Resistance Among Believers |url=https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1939-2/the-lost-census/the-lost-census-texts/on-resistance-among-believers/ |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=Seventeen Moments in Soviet History |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Aftermath == Within four months of it being taken, the preliminary census results were released. For unknown reasons, the full results were never made public.<ref name=":2" /> While initially the census was viewed inside the [[USSR]] as a "model census",<ref name=":5" /> it later became clear by the 1980s to the West that large-scale manipulation of the census results had taken place.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Conquest |first1=Robert |last2=Cohen |first2=Stephen |last3=Wheatcroft |first3=Stephen G. |date=1986 |title=[New Demographic Evidence on Excess Collectivization Deaths: Further Comments on Wheatcroft, Rosefielde, Anderson and Silver] |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2499183 |journal=Slavic Review |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=295–299 |doi=10.2307/2499183 |jstor=2499183 |issn=0037-6779}}</ref> Accidental over-counting and under-counting were issues, along with falsification with the goal of obscuring population loss and meeting [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s stated goal of the population reaching 170 million.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=The Soviet Censuses of 1937 and 1939: Some Problems of Data Evaluation |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233965646 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220910145444/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233965646_The_Soviet_Censuses_of_1937_and_1939_Some_Problems_of_Data_Evaluation |archive-date=2022-09-10 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref> That claim of 170 million is estimated to have been inflated by around 3 million, or 1.8%.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Tolts |first=Mark |date=January 1995 |title=The Soviet Censuses of 1937 and 1939: Some Problems of Data Evaluation |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233965646 |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=ResearchGate |language=en |doi=10.13140/2.1.2765.6641}}</ref> Analysis of the results from the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]] showed that distortions of the ethnic [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] population took place in an attempt to conceal population losses from the Kazakh famines of the [[Kazakh famine of 1919–1922|1920s]] and [[Kazakh famine of 1930–1933|30s]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tolts |first=Mark |date=2006-03-01 |title=Ethnic composition of Kazakhstan on the eve of the Second World War: re-evaluation of the 1939 Soviet census results |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02634930600903171 |journal=Central Asian Survey |volume=25 |issue=1–2 |pages=143–148 |doi=10.1080/02634930600903171 |s2cid=143934454 |issn=0263-4937|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Historians{{who|date=May 2023}} have claimed that all the issues with fudged numbers and mistakes discredit the census as a reliable source.<ref name=":0" /> The Soviet leadership eventually learned from the mistakes made, and Vladimir Starovsky, head of the [[Central Statistical Directorate]], corrected the points that led to accidental miscounts in the 1939 and 1937 censuses for the [[Soviet Census (1959)|census of 1959]], leading to a reliable count being taken.<ref name=":1" />
== Results == According to the official results, the total population of the USSR was found to be at 170,467,186. Compared with 1926 figures, the urban population more than doubled, from 26.3 million to 55.9 million, while the [[literacy rate]] rose from 51.1% to 81.2% in the same time frame.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Turin |first=S. P. |date=1941 |title=Some Observations on the Population of Soviet Russia at the Census of January 17th, 1939 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2980034 |journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=172–174 |doi=10.2307/2980034 |jstor=2980034 |issn=0952-8385|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Such a rapid rate of [[urbanization]] was historically unprecedented at the time.<ref name=":2" />
The five largest nationalities in the USSR were found to be [[Russians]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Belarusians]], [[Uzbeks]], and [[Tatars]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР |trans-title=All-Union census of the population of 1939. National composition of the population by republics of the USSR |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_39.php?reg=5 |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=www.demoscope.ru}}</ref>
== References == <references />
== Further reading == *[http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_39.php?reg=5 All-Union census of the population of 1939: National composition of the population by republics of the USSR] (in Russian)
{{Russian censuse}} {{USSRCensus}}
[[Category:1939 in the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Censuses in the Soviet Union]] [[Category:1939 censuses]] [[Category:January 1939|Soviet census]] [[Category:January 1939 in Europe]]