People's republic

The collapse of the European empires during and following World War I resulted in the creation of a number of short-lived non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics during the revolutions of 1917–1923. In many cases, these governments were unrecognised and often had Marxist–Leninist rivals.

The Russian Empire produced several non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics after the October Revolution. The Crimean People's Republic was opposed to the Bolsheviks and the latter went on to capture its territory and establish the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic.^[2] The anti-Bolshevik Kuban People's Republic was established in Russia's Kuban region and survived until the Red Army captured the area.^[3] The socialist-leaning Ukrainian People's Republic declared its independence from the Russian Republic, but it had a rival in the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets (later the Ukrainian Soviet Republic) whom it fought during the Ukrainian War of Independence.^[4] The Belarusian People's Republic tried to create an independent Belarusian state in land controlled by the German Imperial Army, but the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia replaced it once the German army had left. All of these territories finally became constituent parts of the Soviet Union.^[5]

In the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, the West Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in eastern Galicia under the political guidance of Greek Catholic, liberal and socialist ideologies. The territory was subsequently absorbed into the Second Polish Republic.^[6] Meanwhile, the Hungarian People's Republic was established, briefly replaced by the Hungarian Soviet Republic and eventually succeeded by the Kingdom of Hungary.^[7]

In Germany, the People's State of Bavaria (German: Volksstaat Bayern)^[a] was a short-lived socialist state and people's republic formed in Bavaria during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 as an attempt to establish a socialist state to replace the Kingdom of Bavaria. Its supporters clashed with the Bavarian Soviet Republic, founded five months later, before revolutionary activity was put down by elements of the German Army and the paramilitary Freikorps. The Free State of Bavaria, a state within the Weimar Republic, was then established on 15 September 1919.^[8]

During the 1960s and 1970s, a number of former colonies that had gained independence through revolutionary liberation struggles adopted the name people's republic. Examples include Algeria,^[9] Bangladesh^[10] and Zanzibar.^[11] Libya adopted the term^[b] after its Al Fateh Revolution against King Idris.^[12]

In the 2010s, Ukraine's pro-Russian separatist movements during the Russo-Ukrainian War declared the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk to be people's republics, but they did not receive diplomatic recognition from the international community.^[13] In 2022 amid an ongoing invasion of Ukraine they were annexed by Russia.^[14]

The first people's republics that came into existence were those formed following the Russian Revolution. Ukraine was briefly declared a people's republic in 1917.^[15] The Khanate of Khiva^[16] and the Emirate of Bukhara,^[17] both territories of the former Russian Empire, were transformed into people's republics in 1920. In 1921, the Russian protectorate of Tuva became a people's republic,^[18] followed in 1924 by neighbouring Mongolia.^[19] Following World War II, developments in Marxist–Leninist theory led to the appearance of people's democracy, a concept which potentially allowed for a route to socialism and dictatorship of the proletariat via multi-class, multi-party democracy. Countries which had reached this intermediate stage were called people's republics.^[20] The European states that became people's republics at this time were Albania,^[21] Bulgaria,^[22] Czechoslovakia,^[23] Hungary,^[24] Poland,^[25] Romania^[26] and Yugoslavia.^[27] In Asia, China became a people's republic following the Chinese Communist Revolution,^[28] and North Korea also became a people's republic.^[29]

Many of these countries also called themselves socialist states in their constitutions. During the 1960s, Romania and Yugoslavia ceased to use the term people's in their official names, replacing it with the term socialist as a mark of their ongoing political development. Czechoslovakia also added the term socialist into its name during this period. It had become a people's republic in 1948, but the country had not used that term in its official name.^[30] Albania used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991.^[31] In the West, these countries are often referred to as communist states. However, none of them described themselves in that way, as they regarded communism as a level of political development that they had not yet reached.^{[32][33][34][35]} Terms used by communist states include national-democratic, people's democratic, socialist-oriented and workers and peasants' states.^[36] The communist parties in these countries often governed in coalition with other progressive parties.^[37]

During the postcolonial period, a number of former European colonies that had achieved independence and adopted Marxist–Leninist governments took the name people's republic. Angola,^[38] Benin, Congo-Brazzaville,^[39] Ethiopia,^[40] Cambodia,^[41] Laos,^[42] Mozambique^[43] and South Yemen^[44] followed this route. Following the Revolutions of 1989, the people's republics of Central and Eastern Europe (namely Albania,^[45] Bulgaria,^[46] Hungary,^[47] and Poland^[48]), as well as Mongolia,^[49] dropped the term people's from their names due to the term's association with their former communist governments, and became known simply as republics, adopting liberal democracy as their system of government.^[50] At around the same time, most of the former European colonies that had taken the people's republic name began to replace it as part of their move away from Marxism–Leninism and towards democratic socialism or social democracy.^[51][52]

Presently five countries use the phrase People's Republic in their official names:

• The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
• The People's Republic of Bangladesh
• The People's Republic of China
• The Lao People's Democratic Republic
• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea

As a term, people's republic is sometimes used by critics and satirists to describe areas perceived to be dominated by left-wing politics, such as the People's Republic of South Yorkshire.^{[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]}

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• Decolonization
• Democratic republic
• Islamic republic
• List of republics
• List of socialist states
• Narodniks
• Populism