Mass national
THE FOUNDING CONGRESS of the People's
Movement of Ukraine for Restructuring the,
Narodnyi Rukh Ukrainy za Vidbudovu, was finally held in Kiev September 8-10. Formal constitution of the movement had been long delayed by a more repressive atmosphere in Ukraine than in other
Soviet republics. There, the Brezhnev era had lived on under the rule of Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, who was appointed first secretary in 1972 in the context of a purge of "nationalist deviationists" and the destruction of the Ukrainian cultural renaissance of
The holding of the congress thus clearly represented a defeat for the local party leadership. In fact, on its second day an open letter to Gorbachev signed by 18 Ukrainian members of the Congress of People's
Deputies was read out calling for Shcherbytsky's removal. At the
N THESE LAST decades of the twentieth century, our society Is special plenum of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in late going into a deep political, eco-
September, the Ukrainian first secretary was removed from the ideological nomic, social, and all-union party Politburo. Shortly thereafter, he was also removed moral crisis. This is the result of the from leadership of the Ukrainian party.
pseudo-socialist totalitarian model forcibly imposed by
Stalinism; the
The general explanation of why Shcherbytsky survived the removal usurpation of soviet power by the of other conservative party bosses was that Ukraine was too bureaucracy; the alienation of the important to the Soviet rulers to risk the sort of experiments that people from the means and results of production; the brutal and absurd dichave been seen above all in the Baltic republics. Now it seems that it tates of the central authorities; the is no longer possible to prevent liberalization there also. Although voiding of the republic's sovereignty national consciousness is much more uneven in Ukraine than it is in and the conversion of local selfthe more compact nations of the USSR, the growth of a national government into a fiction; deceit mass movement in the second largest republic of the Union can under the cover of "internationalist"
phrases; the policy of denationalizing bring a qualitative advance in the struggle for national democratic fusion and mechanically peoples, rights. The following is the program adopted by the People's mixing ethnic groups and ignoring
Movement of Ukraine for Restructuring at its founding conference.
their vital interests.
We have translated it from No. 2489, September 21, of Ukrainske
All aspects of this crisis, which has
Slovo, a Ukrainian weekly published in Paris.
an all-Union character, assume additional special features in each of the
Union republics.
Proclamation of the
Ukrainian People's Republic
The twentieth century brought the
Ukrainian people both a great hope for a revival of their statehood and national-cultural life, as well as terrible national tragedies.
After the breakup of the Russian and Austro-
Hungarian empires, Ukrainian statehood was revived by the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic and subsequently of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. In comhistorical circumstances, process of the formation of Ukrainian statehood led to the creation of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, which in 1922 united with the Soviet Republics of Russia, Byelorussia and the
DOCUMENT Caucasus into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics through the Trea ty of Union.
In the initial phase of the life of the Soviet Ukraine normal conditions were created for the national-cultural development of the Ukrainian people hood. However, with the emergence 23 and genuine assurance of its state-
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USSR movement launched in Ukraine the 1960s.
International Viewpoint #171 • October 16, 1989
USSR
Stalinist-administrativecommand system, the principles of building the soviet federation began to be brutally violated. The sovereignty of the Ukraine was trampled on. It, like other republics, was in fact transformed into a featureless administra-
Those who implemented the Leninist national policy were removed from the leadership of the Ukrainian Communist Party and government. Terror against the peasantry false slogan kulakization." A famine was artificially created in 1933 in which millions of people lost their lives.
Moreover, in the period of Stalinist repression the entire national intelligentsia was liquidated. Every maniTestation of national consciousness was stamped out under the pretext of "fighting Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism." Human and national rights were grossly violated. The history of the nation and its culture were plundered, distorted and reviled. The historic monuments of the Ukrainian and other peoples were plundered. Migration policy was used consistently to reduce the absolute numbers of Ukrainians in the population of Ukraine.
Hostile attitude to cultural development
The Ukrainian language was driven from all areas of social life in the republic. There was a hostile attitude 1o the cultural development of Ukrainians within the boundaries of their own homeland. Nature was irreparably destroyed in a series of regions of Ukraine. There was the Chernobyl
But these are just a part of the crimes of the Stalinist Stalinist-Brezhnevite bosses against
If we add to this the losses of the civil war, the 1921-22 famine, the savagery of the German fascist occupiers and the 1946-1947 famine, we get an idea of the losses of the Ukrainian people in the twentieth century.
It is impossible to avoid a general national catastrophe without uniting all forces with a sense of patriotism and of historic responsibility Ukraine regardless of their place of residence, nationality or religion, party affiliation, social status, educational level, sex or age. The form of this unity can and must be the People's Movement of Ukraine for Restructur-
Similar forms for rallying the forces 24 or are arising in many republics and in favor of restructuring have arisen regions of the USSR. This is only one sign of their vital needs, a manifestation both of the general dynamic of restructuring and specific national features. The People's Movement of Ukraine for Restructuring has arisen on the wave unleashed by the restructuring pro cesses in the USSR that is seeking to overcome the crisis and assure a better future for the peoples of the USSR.
Building a democratic and humane society Principles, alms, orientations and means of action of the People's Movement of Ukraine of Restruc-
1. In its activity, the People's Movement of Ukraine for Restructuring (henceforth designated as "RUKH") is governed by democracy, openness, pluralism, social justice and internationalism reflecting the interests of all citizens of the republic, regardless of their nationality. RUKH unites their patriotic energy and expresses their aspiration for the political, economic and cultural renaissance of Ukraine.
supports the principles of renewal of expressed at the Twenty-Seventh Congress of the CPSU, the nineteenth All-Union Party Conference and the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.
2. The main aim of RUKH's activity is generally to create the conditions for a decent life for people through their creative participation in building a democratic and humane society in Ukraine, in which there will be genuine people's power, well-being for the people, a renaissance and rounded development of the Ukrainian nation, satistaction of the national-cultural needs of all ethnic groups in the republic and the creation of a sovereign Ukrainian state, that builds its relations with the other republics of the USSR on the basis of a renewed Treaty of Union.
3. RUKH assumes the following a) In every way to promote the restoration of human beings as morally responsible individuals b) To promote the construction of a national state aimed at transforming the Ukrainian SSR into a democratic state of laws, devoted to assuring the free development of the individual, the detense of the rights of human beings and of the nation, as well as the unfettered exercise of basic democratic rights.
c) To achieve a radical restructuring of the economy of the Ukrainian SSR on the basis of republican selffinancing and self-management, taking into consideration the regional and structural peculiarities of the economy of Ukraine and the real ecoexercising management, regardless of the property forms.
d) To wage an unflagging struggle against the policy of denationalization; to create the preconditions for the free development and selfpreservation of the Ukrainian people on their historic territory; to promote a spiritual renaissance of the Ukrainian nation on the basis of state support for the Ukrainian language, rounded development of Ukrainian culture, promotion of its historic memory and the national consciousness of citizens and the preservation of a sense of national honor.
e) To promote the rounded development of the languages and cultures of the national minorities and ethnic groups that live on the republic's territory and to defend their vital rights and interests.
The basic principles guiding RUKH's activity are the following:
- To defend human rights and freedoms, the rights of the people and the moral renewal of individuals and the society.
- Democratization of the social and political life in the USSR.
- To give real content to the sovereignty of the Ukrainian SSR through radical changes in the Soviet federa-
- Putting the economy of Ukrainian SSR decisively in order.
— To defend the society's ecology.
- To build up the national culture.
- Ethics and religion.
- Safeguarding health, and sport.
- Active participation in the fight
Outline of the RUKH's activity
5. RUKH will carry out its activity in the following ways:
a) It will collaborate with state institutions, republic and party organs and other social institutions in tackling the problems laid out by the Program and Statutes of RUKH.
b) It will participate in election campaigns, running its own candidates and supporting other candidates and pre-electoral programs that do not conflict with RUKH's aims. It will push demands for the recall of deputies who fail to justify the trust of those who elected them. It will take part in the exercise of social supervision of c) It will draw up and present proposals to state bodies arising from the tasks of RUKH's program. It will sub-
First congress of the
Popular Movement for
October 16, 1989 • #171 International Viewpoint mit requests for resolution of various problems of local concern to the local soviets.
d) Through legislative initiatives, it will submit to the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR proposals for new
For for repealing or amending laws laws and rules.
the Reconstruction of e) It will organize studies of public opinion and publish the results. It will present proposals for referendums and demand that they be held.
f) It will put pressure on the state authorities and administration through every legal channel.
g It will oversee the Ukrainiar
SP's fulfillment of the provisions of
THE AUTHOR of the following article was one of three the Universal Declaration of Human
Westerners of Ukrainian origin who attended the congress of
Rights, the Helsinki Final Act on the People's Movement of Ukraine for Restructuring. His
European Security and Collaboration and other international agreements article was written before the fall of the Brezhnevite first on defense of human rights.
secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party, Volodymyr h) It will participate in the exercise of social inspection.
i) It will draw attention to memorable national dates and holidays.
promote the revival of national traditions and customs.
j) It will carry out its own economic work. It will organize various forms of social projects, and look after monuments of our historical-cultural and natural heritage.
Organizing discussions for an exchange of views k) It will organize an exchange of views, debates, colloquiums and conferences on pressing questions; it will form commissions of experts, organize lectures, carry out discussions.
I) It will publish its own journals, bulletins, sheets;
information through leaflets, posters, through the mass media.
m) It will organize and conduct mass meetings, assemblies, demonstrations, marches, processions, picketing.
6. RUKH operates within the framework of the constitution of the Ukrainian SSR and the laws of the Ukrainian
SSR in accordance with its Program and Statutes. *
Shcherbytsky. JAROSLAV KOSHIW
N September 8, 9 and 10, 1989, in the city of Kiev, capital of the Soviet Republic of Ukraine, the impossible happened. 1,000 political activists opposed to the rule of Moscow held a congress to build the Popular Movement for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. The delegates represented regional (oblast) organizations of the Movement (in Ukrainian The hall of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute was festooned with the hitherto forbidden blue and yellow national flags and tridents. Delegates covered their chests with badges of these symbols of Ukrainian independence. Outside the hall, stood large crowds of supporters with blue and yellow flags listening to the proceedings broadcast through loudspeakers. Kiev militia, with special riot troops at the ready, stood by. For the first time in Kiev, no one was arrested for displaying a Ukrainian flag or badge.
For direct and democratic elections
After three full days of explosive and chaotic debates, which at times threatened to destroy the Congress, the Movement adopted a statute, programme and resolutions, and elected leaders. When the idea of the movement was first mooted in January 1989, the founders proposed that itrecognize the leading role of the Communist Party. However, by the time of the Movement's Congress, this didn't even appear in the proposed programme and was not even debated. The most immediate demand of the Congress was for direct and democratic elections to the presidency and the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine.
Late Sunday evening, after the Congress had ended, delegates and supporters marched with blue and yellow flags about a mile to the statue of the 19th century awakener of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko. There they held an enthusiastic midnight rally addressed by Movement leaders and Adam Michnik and Volodymyr Mokry from Poland's Solidarosc.
Call for the resignation of
Ukraine party boss
The Congress witnessed a number of dramatic moments. The two appearances at the podium of Leonid Kravchuk, the chief of the Ukrainian Communist Party's Department of Ideology, astonished the delegates. His call for the movement to co-operate with the reformist elements of the party added a new and unexpected dimension to the proceedings. He warned the Movement that it was not unequal to the forces opposing it and called on it to scale down its demands.
The appearance of the more acceptable face of the party, Ivan Salyi, one of the Kiev party leaders, cheered the delegates. His call for the resignation of Ukraine's party boss, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, was met with thunderous applause.
The Congress was electrified by the appearance of a Soviet troop commander from Western Ukraine, Colonel Vilei Martirosian. He is also a USSR Supreme Soviet deputy representing the Ukrainian town of Rivno and a member of the Movement. He told the delegates that he and like-minded commanders had decided to take the side of the people if an attempt was made to impose a military solution on the political problems of Ukraine. If that tia, shapochka, sent gretings to the Con- 25 wasn't enough, the head of the Kiev Mili-
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USSR Ukraine
International Viewpoint #171 • October 16, 1989
USSR gress and wished it success.
No less dramatic were the presentations of former political prisoners, most nota Chomovil, Ivan Hel and many others. Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk of the banned Ukrainian Catholic Church called from the rostrum for the full legalization of the Church and the return of all its property. A representative of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church also asked the delegates' help in the legalization of his Church. Since the revolution of 191720, Ukraine had never witnessed such a spectrum of opinions at a political meeting. It became clear to everyone present that the Congress was the beginning of a new political order in Ukraine.
There were three main groupings at the Congress. The most prominent one consisted of delegations from the regions of Western Ukraine: Lviv, Rivno, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk, symbolically represented in the leadership of the Movement by the former political prisoner Mykhailo Horyn. These delegations were the most numerous and vocal at the Congress. Their air of confidence and their determination to achieve an independent Ukraine is backed by massive popular support. Two weeks before the Congress, on the anniversary of the Stalin-Hitler pact when Western Ukraine was "liberated" by the Red Army, they led large demonstrations all over Western Ukraine. The cities of Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk witnessed demonstrations of over 100,000 people. Of the many young delegates from Western Ukraine who took part in the debates, Vasyl Chervony from Rivno stood out because of his gift of expressing himself, his political astuteness and com-
Representatives of the miners' strike committees
From the other end of Ukraine, the Donbass, came delegations which essentially consisted of representatives of the coal miners' strike committees. They were led by the strike leader Petro Poberzhny from Donetsk. He, like the other miners' representatives, has none of the Ukrainian nationalist fervour of Western Ukrainians. They support the demand for Ukrainian to be the state language, but demand the right to carry out their affairs locally in Russian, something which is not palatable to many Western Ukrainian activists. However, they exhibited even more confidence than the Western Ukrainians because of their successful strike during the summer. They are for all practical purpose in political control of Donbass mining towns.
Some of the strike committees have quartered themselves in local party buildings from where they rule their districts. They successfully intervened at the Congress with a warning that if the Ukrainia flag were adopted, the Movement would be rejected by the Russian-speaking Don-
The Kiev delegates, headed by the flower of the Ukrainian literary and academic intelligentsia, and backed by numerous workplaces, had the largest impact at the conference. It was they who organized the conference, prepared the programme, led the disparate elements in a common direcwere finally leaders. It became clear during the proceedings that the organizers, Volodymyr lavorisky, Dmytro Pavlychko, and Ivan Drach, all members of the Communist Party, had conspired with other reformist elements in the party to steer the Congress away from confrontareformed Communist Party of Ukraine.
Chernobyl resolutions not put to the vote
It fell upon Dmytro Pavlychko who chaired much of the proceedings to successfully manoeuvre the delegates to soften or reject confrontational resolutions. Resolutions which from the party point of were extreme were either tracked or voting on them was delayed in order that an alternative resolution could be presented by prepared speakers. For example, the resolutions relating to the Chemobyl accident, including the holding of a public trial of Shcherbytsky and other Party leaders, were not put to the vote. The delegates were easily maneuvered to accept a poetic but empty resolution on ecology which didn't commit the Movement to any specific action.
Only on one issue did Pavlychko's ability to control the fate of resolutions fail him, the vote relating to the new election law for the Ukrainian republican resolutions. The Party's proposed election law is designed to give it the majority of delegates in the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet and with it the presidency. The Congress accepted an alternative election law in which all the delegates and the presidency would be voted in directly. The delegates' fervour reached a peak in the discussion over what to do if the Party enacts its proposed election law. Despite Pavlychko's efforts to delay the vote on this issue, the Congress voted to call a national strike in Ukraine, if the officially proposed election law is adopted.
Outside the three main regional groups, the delegates from the cities which separ ate the Kiev region from the Donbass, specifically the towns of Cherkassy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kremenchuk and Poltava, were a distinct group, though small. They draw their strength from their workplaces. While they have adopted the blue and yellow flag and the trident, they, like the Kiev delegates, are willing to scale down nationalist demands on the language question for the sake of close collaboration with the Donbass miners' strike committees.
Finally there are 35 USSR Supreme Soviet deputies who support the Movement. These deputies represent all major groups at the Congress. They and the yetto-be elected deputies to the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet are destined to play a leading role in the near future in what will certainly be a tumultuous period in the political history of Ukraine.
Reform wing of Communist
Party
The reformist members of the Communist Party, led by Kravchuk and even more so by Salyi, will also play a pivotal role in the future development of the Movement and the political situation. It is certain that at least in the Kiev party apparatus there is open opposition to Shcherbytsky. But in the regions, especially in the cities of and Odessa, the resistance to change among the local party bosses is
The Odessa Party sent a selected delegation to the Congress in opposition to one elected by the members of the Odessa Movement. When the mandates of the Party appointed delegates were rejected by the Movement's mandate committee, Ukrainian television used this to tell its audience that the Congress was undemocratic. For this and other disinformation, Ukrainian television was excluded by the delegates from the Congress. In Kharkiv, while the Congress was taking place, the Party bosses staged a demonstration against the "nationalist" gathering in Kiev. It is yet to be seen what kind of a popular opposition can be organized against the retreating conservative Party leaders.
The Congress elected Ivan Drach as its leader for a two year term. Drach, though certainly a person of integrity, is no match for politically hardened regional leaders. This is also true of his assistant, Serhei Koniev, an articulate and well-liked radical and USSR Supreme Soviet deputy from Dniprodzerzhynsk, in the industrial heartland of Ukraine. The two most forceful political personalities are to be found in the elected Secretariat of ten people who will be employed full-time to administer the Movement. Mykhailo Horyn, who will chair the Secretariat, represents the toughest strain of the movement for an independent Ukrainian Republic, and is as combative a political personality as they come in the Soviet Union. On the same level of resoluteness, but not political astuteness, is Dmytro Poyezd, a young police detective, who organized the dozens of stewards with blue and yellow armbands who forcefully guarded all the doors of the Congress hall from the mobs which besieged them. From the podium, sounding like a future Minister of Internal Affairs, Poyed called for the organizing of self-defence teams throughout Ukraine against repressions.
A survey of the delegates backgrounds
REPUBLICS OF THE SOVIET UNION
Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RESR)
October 16, 1989 • #171 International Viewpoint of
Ukraine
SSR
Belorussia
USSR
Moldavia
SSR of Latvla was carried out at the Congress by the organizers, and the results announced were:
1158 delegates were elected throughout the regions of Ukraine representing 280,000 active members. 1109 delegates attended the Congress. The largest delegations were from the cities of Kiev, Lviv, Rivno, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk; three of the 25 regions of Ukraine, Crimea, Voroshylovhrad and Transcarpathia, didn't hold regional Movement congresses to elect delegates.
Statistics of the Congress
By nationality, 944 were Ukrainians, 77 Russians, nine Jews, six Poles, six Byelorussians, two Armenians, and one Korean, Greek, Hungarian, Czech, and Crimean Tatar. The appearance of a Ukrainian speaking North Korean living in Ukraine was one of the many exotic moments of the Congress.
By profession the delegates were: engineers (329); teachers (130); academics (121); workers (109); cultural workers (104); doctors (48); journalists (42); lawyers (25); farmers (16); Party employees (6); self-employed (6); and less than six were students, priests, architects, shop employees, actors etc. Two of the delegates were unemployed.
There were 228 members of the Comof Kazakisan 12 Uzbekistan 11. 10. ESP SSR SSR Georgla of Azerbaljan 14. SSR of Lithuania munist Party and 24 Komsomol members. The allegiance of the delegates to the various unofficial groupings was not available. There were at least a few dozen members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, which is by far the best politically organized unofficial grouping in Ukraine. All its major leaders, like Lev Lukianenko and Vyacheslav Chornovil, were delegates and gave well received speeches.
Among the guests from outside the Soviet Union, there were representatives from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Rumania. From Poland, Adam Michnik and Volodymyr Mokry, member of the Polish Parliament and a Ukrainian, spoke on behalf of Solidarity. Surprisingly there was only one guest each from the United States, Canada and Great Britain: Professor Taras Hunczak from the United States, Khrystyna Krylyn from Canada, and Jaroslav Koshiw from Great Britain.
"Enemies of the Soviet state"
It is not clear why visas were refused to others from North America who wanted to come. The Shcherbytsky controlled newspaper, Pravda Ukrainy, pub-
La slanderous article during the Congress accusing Hunczak and Krylyn of being enemies of the Soviet state. This manoeuvre backfired as the Congress invited the accused to the podium and of Kirghizla 15. SSR of Estonia of Tadzhikistan Armenla of Turkmenistan •enthusiastically greeted them.
Among the many slogans loudly chanted by the delegates, the one which in the end prevailed, almost to the exclusion of all others, was unity. The delegates sensed that the potential for fragmentation was very high on the language question, the independence symbols, and the relationship to the Communist Party. Freedom of speech becoming the norm
Freedom of speech is becoming the norm in Ukraine, whether it be in the Congress, or on the streets. Yet to come is the freedom of the press, the broadcasting media, and the right to organize political parties. But the first steps in this direction are being taken. The Congress voted to publish its own newspaper, to be called Narodna Hazeta, and elected its first editor Anatoly Shevchenko. The newspaper is to be published by the printing house in Kiev which prints all the major newspapers available in Ukraine, and where the print workers are supporters of the Movement. This, and the possibility of the Movement having its own building in Kiev, was the carrot that caused even some of the toughest nationalists to agree to a softening of the Congress resolutions. Political realism decided the final outmme of thraine ness. en Poular Move 27 ment of Ukraine has been born. *
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