The Lviv strike committee - The role of workers in the Ukrainian national movement
SINCE October 1989, the Ukrainian
HIS REGION, which was
USSR their control," and to "coordinate
T only incorporated into the
Soviet Union at the end of the second world war and movement has had an instrument of which has a history of extremely political struggle in the city of Lviv.
stubborn resistance to Stalinist pow-
Called the Lviv Strike Commitee, this er, is the most militant center of the awakening of the Ukrainian nation, body and the role that it has played in the a process that led in September to mass struggles shows that the working the founding of the People's Moveclass is tending more and more to take ment of Ukraine for Restructuring, the leadership of the national movement
Big mass demonstrations for politrights shook the city of Lviv in the summer of 1988. Despite very brutal repression by the police of the
Brezhnevite regime that continued in this republic, the movement did not retreat. In the fall of the same year, there were still more massive and politically radical mobilizations. In the spring of 1989, during the election campaign for the Congress of People's Deputies of the such demonstrations became almost daily events. On each occasion, they brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets, raising slogans that more and more openly called for the indepen-
At this point, actions by workers in factories began to play an increasingly important role. In order to force the bureaucracy to allow the writer Ivan
Drach (today the national chair of RUKH)
on the ballot, workers in various factories and students in several schools held coordinated "warning strikes." Later, hundreds of thousands of citizens demonstrated in
Lviv for the legalization of the Ukrainian
Catholic Church. Outlawed in the 1940s by Stalin, this church has survived underground thanks to great popular support.
The Ukrainian Helsinki Union (UHS), which was reconstituted by some of the most battle-hardened dissidents that Gorbachev released from the concentration camps, became the leading political force in the mass this region.
movement in
Devoted in principle to defending human, civil and national rights, the UHS has tended in fact to became a political organization for national independence. In July
1989, the miners in the Lviv coalfield joined the general strike of Soviet miners.
But here in the Chernohrad mines, the demands were more directly political.
They reflected the democratic demands of the national movement in the region, workers' and national democratic in western Ukraine.
ZBIGNIEW KOWALEWSKI which were reinforced by specifically workers' demands.
On October 1, 1989, a democratic mass demonstration was again repressed, but this time with particular violence, by the special forces of the Ministry of the Interior. Those responsible for this attack clearly wanted to warn the population of Lviv that the next time they would not hesitate to repeat what happened in Tbilisi. But the effect was the opposite of what they expected.
Repression leads to increased mobilization
Instead of demobilizing the masses, the repression helped to mobilize them still more. On October 3, they protested with a two-hour general strike. The initiative committee that called this strike included the regional council of RUKH, the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, the Student Frater: nal Association, the Memorial association, the Committee in Defense of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Independent Ukrainian Association of Creative Intellectuals, the Jewish Cultural Society and all other independent organizations active in the city.
The committee called on all inhabitants of Lviv, "regardless of nationality, party loyalty, social status or religion" to "join together in one united front against crimes against the people," under the slogan, "We are for perestroika! There will be no return to neo-Stalinism," to "form strike committees at workplaces, which would keep the situation in the city under them in one single city strike committee." In the afternoon of October 3, about 30,000 people attended the rally called by the initiative committee to demand an authoritative public investigation of the repression and prosecution of those responsible. During this rally, the Lviv Strike Committee was founded by delegates of strike committees in 55 factories, enterprises and institutions and by representatives from all the independent democratic organizations. The local strike committees in the cities of Drohobych and Truskavets also joined it. Viktor Furmanov, a Russian worker well known for his activity in the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, was elected chair.
The immediate objective of this committee was to demand "glasnost" about the October 1 demonstration and punishment of those responsible for it. But in reality, the organization aspired from the beginning to go much further. In its manifesto, it announced that its role would be to "defend the interests and rights of the workers, to fight for social justice and to participate actively in the solution of state, political and economic questions, and if necessary to unleash a strike" in the Lviv region. Furmanov explained that the committee's main weapon would be mass political strikes and that the law adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR regulating labor conflicts could not be invoked against this, because the law is applicable only to economic strikes.
During its first session, the committee decided to support the standing strike committees that exist in the enterprises and to aim to coordinate its activities with the strike committees in other regions of Ukraine; to train workers in the methods of conducting strikes; as well as to organize teams to maintain public order and so on. It also decided to systematically explain the political situation to the population and to draw up a list of political and social demands, a political platform and a program for solving the crisis. The committee also announced that one of its main tasks was to "organize workers' control over the administration, the use of social funds, working conditions and discipline" in the enterprises. On October 18, the Lviv Strike Commit- 21
International Viewpoint #181 • March 26, 1990
USSR tee issued a public statement addressed to the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine in which it demanded that the coming general elections in the republic be conducted in a fully democratic way, that the debate in the republic Supreme Soviet be broadcast live over radio and TV, and that the way be opened for the submission of alternative proposals drawn up by the independent organizations for a vote in this body.
In a parallel appeal, it called on all the strike committees in Ukraine formed during the miners' strike to focus their actions on the decisive political demand of "all power to the people's councils."
When its initial demands were the Lviv Strike Committee resorted to its first mass action, calling a 24-hour general strike in the city for October 27 "as a sign of protest against the unwillingness to punish the organizers and executors of the criminal deed of October 1, against the spreading of lies and slander against social organizations and their activists, against administrative repression in Ukraine and also as a sign of solidarity with the strikers in Vorkuta."
The action was not as large as expected. It was announced almost on the eve, without much preparation. Having little expecommittee relied too much on spontane-
Moderate nationalists try to head off strike
Moreover, at the last moment, the Lviv council of RUKH sowed confusion, calling not for a strike but only for rallies in the enterprises, because in its opinion the action had not been adequately built. In reality, more moderate leaders and advisors of RUKH sought to head off the
In their view, such an action could destabilize the political situation, provoke the institution of a state of war and prevent the holding of democratic general elections in the city.
Besides, they were not happy about the independence of the Lviv Strike Committee. In order to bring it under their control, they demanded that it consult with the RUKH leadership about its actions. The majority of the latter is made up of pro-Gorbachev reformist intellectuals. As a result of all these factors, the workers in only 20 factories and institutions in Lviv participated in the action.
In its activities, the Lviv Strike Committee applies the principles of mass democracy. Its work on a list of demands and a political platform have been presented for public discussion in rallies. On December 2, some 30,000 people took part in such a rally.
On that occasion, it was decided that the demands adopted would have the force of a mandate for the Lviv deputies 22 repres in the independent organizathe legislative bodies of the
USSR, and that these deputies would have to give an accounting to the masses of the way they executed their mandate.
On January 24, in another mass rally, in which 10 thousand people participated, the Lviv Strike Committee took a posttion on the conflict between the Armeni"Motivated by feelings of solidarity with the democratic forces of the peoples of the Caucasus and by genuine internationalism," it condemned the Soviet military intervention in Azerbaijan. It called on the Armenian National Movement and the People's Front of Azerbaijan "to sit down at a negotiating table and do everything possible to put an end to the interethnic conflicts and violence, which serve only the interests of the enemies of the freedom and independence of the Armenian and Azeri peoples and all other peoples of the empire."
Criminal gendarmes of the
Empire
Protesting against the use of Ukrainian soldiers in repressive military operations against other peoples of the USSR, the Committee declared... "We call on all individuals liable for military service to serve outside Ukraine, and above all to refuse to serve as criminal gendarmes of the empire in Azerbaijan." The citizens of Ukraine were also called on to hold rallies, demonstrations and pickets and to sign petitions to prevent the sending of Ukrainian conscripts for operations to repress the national movements of other peoples.
The vice chair of the Lviv Strike Committee, Stepan Khmara, has pointed out that this organization did not arise as the result of a social or economic struggle but as the outcome of a political struggle, in which both the former aspects were combined, and that this is its most original
The Committee does not limit itself to defending the interests of workers in specific industries or trades but defends the civic and democratic rights of all working people and all citizens. For this reason, it is structured along purely territorial lines.
According to Khmara, who is a well-known activist of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union and the Committee to Defend the
Greek-Catholic "There is no way out of the ecological, economic and national-cultural crisis or out of the grave social situation without solving the problem of power. Power must be transferred to the people, to democratically elected councils on all levels. But the slogan of 'all power to the councils' can be given real social content only when the CPSU ceases to hold a monopoly over the running of society.... "The present situation is characterized by the growing pressure of the democratic forces from below and by the resistance to democratic changes from above. In the western and eastern regions of our republic, this conflict is reaching a critical point. In this situation, the stabilizing role should be played by the strike committees unions), whose task would be to take the situation under their control and organize pressure on the reactionary anti-popular apparatus of the CPSU, thereby averting chaos and repression by the government. The time has come to create an allUkraine coordinating center for these Instrument of force to combat
Stalinists
"Only within the framework of such coordination can the strike committees act as independent organs, at the same time maintaining extensive consultative links with other political and social organizations with democratic platforms. In a society in which all the power belongs to a Communist elite, which has no law but force, it is essential to have an instrument of force capable of compelling this elite to respect the people. Such an instrument is the political strike. In certain conditions, this extreme form of protest is the peoeffective means of self-
The base structures of the regional strike committees and for their coordination at the republic level must be in the factories, Khmara explained. strike committees in the enterprises will assist the free activity of the workers and create a climate favorable for propagating democratic ideas among the masses. This will be a mechanism for defense against arbitrary actions by the apparatuses of the administration and the Communist Party. It will create a more decent life for the who should become the real owners of the enterprises. Under an illegal and totalitarian dictatorship, the strike committees are a new hope for a people that aspires to free itself from oppression
Over the past decade, it has been more and more confirmed that the influence of the Polish revolution of 1980-1981 has contributed to the rebirth of the national movements of the oppressed peoples in the western territories of the USSR.2 Today, the most advanced ideas of this revolution are finding an echo in the political strategy being worked out by the Lviv Strike Committee. * 1. The statements of the Lviv Strike Commiteee and its leaders quoted in this article are-cited from the independent publications Lvivski Visti and Nova Doba, from the releases of the Press Service of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union and the Ukrainian Press Agency and articles by S. Khmara in the weekly Ukrainske Stovo 2. See R. Solchanyk, "Poland and the Soviet West," in S. E. Wimbush, editor, Soviet Nationalities in Strategic Perspective, London and Sydney: Croom Helm,
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