What was the Bolshevik approach to nationalities and self-determination in 1917-1922?

• A. Official policy promoted self-determination and federal structure within the new state to accommodate various nationalities.
• B. It crushed all national identities and established centralized rule.
• C. It promoted immediate secession of all republics.
• D. It left nationalities to their own devices with no policy.

Answer: (A)

The main idea tested is that the Bolsheviks officially backed national self-determination while organizing the state as a federal union to accommodate many different nationalities.

In 1917–1922, Lenin and the Bolsheviks framed nationality policy around equality for all nations, the right to use their own language, develop their cultures, and participate in governance. They stated that nations could exercise self-determination, up to secession if they chose, as a way to win broad support and prevent counterrevolution in diverse regions. Rather than simply stamping out national identities, they created a system of autonomous and union republics—the Ukrainian S.S.R., Belorussian S.S.R., Transcaucasian S.S.R., and others—within a federated structure. This approach culminated in the formation of the USSR in 1922, a federal state designed to balance local autonomy with central authority.

Thus, the policy mixed formal self-determination rights with a practical federal framework, making it the best fit. The other statements don’t fit because they either imply complete suppression of national identities, demand immediate universal secession, or claim there was no policy at all.