Vadim V. Korolkov

This article analyses the work of Professor David Lvovich Zlatopolsky, one of the major and authoritative Soviet researchers of federalism. The author’s main works on federalism and nation-state building are reviewed and briefly analysed, on the basis of which three stages are proposed in his work, each of which reflects the author’s understanding of the stages of state-building in the USSR. The special attention is given to late works of D.L. Zlatopolsky in which he analyzed the reasons of collapse of the Soviet federal system and problem aspects of new Russian federalism fixed in the Constitution of 1993. The article is timed to coincide with the centenary of the founding of the USSR and the twentieth anniversary of David Lvovich’s death. Its relevance is predetermined by the fact that fundamental geopolitical changes are taking place in the post-Soviet space, interethnic conflicts are arising and «freezing», the statehood of some nations is strengthening while the statehood of others is weakening. A critical comprehension of the Soviet experience, described in numerous works by David Levovich, with a multifaceted perception of the federal development of the USSR and RSFSR, will allow us to take into account and not repeat the Soviet mistakes in modern Russian federalist construction in the future.