Korenizatsiya and the Return of Russian Nationalism in Stalin's USSR

[erupt]

I was briefly reading about Korenizatsiya, the Soviet policy concerning national minorities and their cultures and how they were to be absorbed into the Soviet Union.

Now what intrigues me is Stalin was against what he called "Great-Russian chauvinism". However, in the late 1930's, Korenizatsiya did not formally end, but many of the national minorities that were in the government were purged, and a return to Russian nationalism began.

This reversal of this policy, although not official, makes no sense to me from anyone's point of view.

I'd like to hear thoughts/answers from all tendencies.

[Raquin]

http://russiasperiphery.blogs.wm.edu/central-asia/general/korenizatsiia/

[Killer Enigma]

Forget all of that. Read The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Affirmative-Action-Empire-Nationalism/dp/0801486777) by Terry Martin, which is the definitive bourgeois academic account of the handling of the national question in the Soviet Union. Even though it's limited by time, it goes into the often-cited 'return' of Russian nationalism, which was mostly an outgrowth of popular attitudes leading up to World War II. The accomplishments of the period are incredible and the book does a great job laying it out.