Anthems of the Soviet Republics
The Soviet Union's various constituent republics each had their own anthem.
History
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the last republic to adopt a state anthem, doing so in 1990. It had had none before this date, and used in its place the Soviet national anthem, which was "The Internationale" from 1917 to 1944 and the "National Anthem of the Soviet Union" from 1944 to 1990.Unlike most national anthems, few of which were composed by renowned composers, the Soviet Union's various state anthems were composed by some of the best Soviet composers, including world-renowned Gustav Ernesaks, Aram Khachaturian, Otar Taktakishvili, and Uzeyir Hajibeyov. After the fall of the union in 1991, one of the Soviet composers was asked to composed the current national anthem — Veli Mukhatov, who has previously composed the Turkmen SSR anthem, also composed the current State Anthem of Turkmenistan. In another case, a prior composition by the SSR Anthem's composer was re-adopted after independence: Azərbaycan marşı, which was composed by Uzeyir Hajibeyov in the 1920s, before he has been chosen to compose the Azerbaijani SSR anthem.
The lyrics present great similarities, all having mentions to Vladimir Lenin, to the guiding role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and to the brotherhood of the Soviet peoples, including a specific reference to the friendship of the Russian people.
Some anthems' melody can be sung in the Soviet Union anthem lyrics.
Most of these anthems were replaced during or after the dissolution of the USSR; Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan kept the melodies, but with different lyrics. The Russian Federation itself had abandoned the Soviet hymn, replacing it with a tune by Glinka. However, with Vladimir Putin coming to power, the old Soviet tune was restored, with new lyrics written to it.