Propiska

Propiska (Russian: ?????????; the full term is ???????? ?? ????? ??????????, "The record of place of residence") was a regulation in the Soviet Union designed to control internal population movement by binding a person to his or her permanent place of residence.

Related Topics:
Russian - Soviet Union

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The noun derives from the Russian verb "propisat" ("to write into") — originally meaning to write a passport into a registration book of the given local office. The initial 1930s decree on propiska demanded to register documents, not the people. Later, "propiska" became an official term. Formally, none of the three Soviet Constitutions prohibited citizens from moving across the country. However, the internal militsiya decrees on propiska were practically regarded as the highest legislation. The propiska was to be recorded both in the internal passport of the citizens of the Soviet Union and at the local governmental office. In cities it was a "District office of internal affairs" (???????? ????? ?????????? ???, abbreviated ????), subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). In rural areas it was selsovet, or "rural soviet", a governing body of a rural territory. The propiska played the roles of both residency permit and residential registration of a person.

Related Topics:
1930s - Soviet Constitution - Militsiya - Internal passport - Citizen - Soviet Union - MVD - Selsovet - Residency permit

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The propiska system was similar to the Tsarist internal passport system, which had been viewed as a tyrannical means of controlling population movements in the Russian Empire. The Bolsheviks abolished the internal passport system in 1917, but Joseph Stalin reinstated it in December 1932.

Related Topics:
Tsar - Tyrannical - Russian Empire - Bolshevik - 1917 - Joseph Stalin - December - 1932

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Under the Soviet regime, a valid propiska was required to apply for jobs, to get married, to receive medical treatment, and in many other situations. At the same time, it was almost impossible to get a local propiska in a major city without having a job, constituting a sort of catch 22.

Related Topics:
Jobs - Married - Catch 22

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Upon renewal, the MVD would do a check on the person's activities in the five years since the last renewal. Those engaged in activities deemed by the authorities as "anti-Soviet" were under constant risk of losing their propiska.

Related Topics:
MVD - Anti-Soviet

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At a certain period of Soviet history residents of rural areas had their passports stored at selsoviets (officially "for safekeeping") which prevented them from unauthorized migration.

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Residency permits were extremely difficult for migrants to obtain in large cities, especially Moscow, and were a matter of prestige.

Related Topics:
Moscow - Prestige

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Certain "risk groups", such as dissidents, Roma and former Gulag inmates, were often barred from getting permits in Moscow and some other major cities.

Related Topics:
Dissident - Roma - Gulag

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However, many people used subterfuge to get Moscow residency permits, including fake marriages and bribery. Another way of obtaining Moscow residency was to become a limitchik, i.e., to enter Moscow to take certain understaffed job positions, e.g., at strategic plants or at construction works, according to a certain workforce quota ("limit").

Related Topics:
Subterfuge - Bribery - Limitchik

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