Epilogue The Birth of the Ukrainian State

By the winter of 1917, cracks began to appear in the in­tegrity of the Russian Empire, and by March Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate the Romanov throne to the liberal Pro­visional Government led by A.

World War I ended early on the Eastern Front, when fol­lowing Lenin’s instructions the Soviet government announced a truce, bringing the fighting to an end. The front had already collapsed in Ukraine, and on 9 February 1918 the Central Rada signed a separate peace treaty in Brest Litovskwith the Central Powers that allowed Germans and Austro-Hungarian troops to be stationed in Ukraine. The Central Rada was recognized as the legitimate Ukrainian government, and was to be responsible for supplying the Germans and Austrians with food produce. The Rada had announced the breaking up of large estates and land distribution to the peasants, many of whom had already helped themselves. Now the requisitioning of food produce was grinding to a halt as widespread armed opposition from the peasants broke out in Ukraine. The Central Rada was de­posed by the German High Command, which installed the WealthyTsarist General Pavlo Skoropadsky, a hero of the Russo- Japanese war of 1905 and World War I.

The Installment of Skoropadsky as Hetman was not the only resurrection of the Cossackpast. Whole trainloads of food produce began to roll towards Austria and Germany, and as requi­sitioning parties roamed the countryside the peasants began to form Cossack-type cavalry bands and attack the invading troops, including Galician units in Austrian uniforms. Virtually all able-bodied Ukrainian men were veterans of the war, and the country was awash with weapons as armed peasant bands appeared overnight particularly in the southern steppes, such as Hryhorievs Cossacks and Makhno’s Anarchist army, each

with about 20,000 men. As the war on the western front came to an end, on 14 November the Ukrainian People’s Union led by the playwright Vynnychenko and the journalist Simon Petliura called for a general uprising, to be coordinated by an executive body known as the Directory. Hetman Skoropadsky was easily overthrown, and with some 100,000 men under arms in support the Directory announced the return of the Ukrainian People s Republic. The crucial question facing the Directory was land distribution, without which no government could have popular support. Manylocal village authorities had already enacted land distribution, such as in the southeast controlled by the powerful anarchists led by Nestor Makhno, who refused to accept any government or “statist” rule.

The expelling of German and Austrian troops by the Ukrainian mass uprising was a signal for a Russian invasion by both the Soviet Red Army and Denikin s TeactionaryVolunteer (“White”) army, which was seeking to overthrow the Soviet and Ukrainian governments. Both Lenin and Denikin realized that Russia not only needed Ukraine’s agricultural output but also depended on the vast coal deposits of the Donbas. Ukrain­ian Bolsheviks were divided on whether to merge with the Rus­sian Communists or to form a separate Ukrainian Party, and during a congress held in Moscow the ethnic Russian majority voted to form a unified party.

The second Bolshevik government announced itself as the Ukrainian Socialist Rada (“Soviet”) Republic, and a Rus­sified Bulgarian, C. Rakovsky, was appointed by Lenin as Chair­man. The Bolshevik government organized two Ukrainian Red Armies of50,000 men each and all banks, railways, and several large enterprises were nationalized, previously having been made private by Skoropadsky. Rakovsky’s government proved itself to be Ukrainian in name only. It refused to use the Ukrain­ian language in administration and education or to support Ukrainian culture. Food had become scarce in Russia and thou­sands of workers were sent to Ukraine to help in the forced ex­propriation of foodstuffs and other items in what became looting expeditions, as trainloads of goods headed north to Moscow. Rakovsky’s Bolshevik government also failed to dis­tribute land, as large estates were converted into state farms and local village markets were closed so as not to encourage “capi­talism.” Meeting widespread resistance, the Bolsheviks un­leashed the Red terror as the Cheka political police began mass arrests and executions without trial. By the summer of 1919 Rakovsky’s “War Communist” government had lost support, as the militarily self-sufficient peasants rose up in revolt often led by independent Ukrainian Socialist and Communist political parties such as the rural-based Borotbists.

Taking advantage of the anti-Bolshevik sentiments, the Directory’s 15,000-man Ukrainian army, jointly with some 30,000 Galicians of the self-styled “West UkrainianArmy/ ad­vanced on Kyiv from the west, while Denikin’s 100,000 Rus­sians with Don and Kuban Cossacks, having occupied the northern half of Ukraine, moved on the Ukrainian capital from the east. As the White cavalry approached the Dnipro River it found the bridge had been left open and was undefended by the Galician detachments which had entered Kyiv first. Aban­doned by their allies and heavily outnumbered, the Directory’s Ukrainian units had little option but to abandon the Ukrainian capital. The betrayal became evident when the Galicians went over to the Whites and formally became a part of Denikin’s Rus­sian army.

Britain and France were also supporting Denikin and sup­plying him with equipment and weapons in order to defeat “the plague of Bolshevism” which was emerging as a direct threat to the capitalist system. Following the war most of Europe had become radicalized, with many becoming highly critical of the privilege and wealth which capitalism bestowed on the few, and Bolshevism was becoming popular especially amongst the in­dustrial working class. The Entente allies also agreed with the reactionary Whites that Russiawas to remain “one and indivis­ible” and refused to recognize Ukrainian independence. It was the turn of the White Russian army, however, to suffer the wrath of the people as it advanced through eastern Ukraine spreading repression, Jewish pogroms, and looting of the population.

By 1919 the Directory now under the command of Simon Petliura, had shifted more to the right, hoping to gain French and British sponsorship and recognition as head of an inde­pendent Ukrainian government, as well as to acquire much needed military supplies. Betrayed by the Galician government, attacked by the Red and White armies, and opposed by his own people, Petliura had found himself isolated, and turned to Poland, a French ally. The talks had been going on for several months as the Galician dictator Petrushewich broke off all re­lations with the Ukrainian Republic. A treaty was signed in War­saw on 22 April 1920 following Denikins resignation by which the Directory was recognized as the official government of Ukraine. In return, Petliura agreed that Galicia, WesternVolynia, and Polissia were to become a part of the Polish Republic. The line separating Polish Galicia and Ukraine was to run along the Zbruch River, the old border between the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, but Volynia and Polissia were Ukrainian Tsarist territories with a Greek Orthodoxpopulation. Like the rest of the Polish territories the eastern regions had a large Jewish population, which 20 years later would come to a tragic end. Poland s treaty with Petliura was also a military alliance against the Bolsheviks, who, supported by Makhno s Anarchists, had gained the upper hand in Ukraine, and three days after the agreement a 65,000-man Polish army under Pilsudski and 15,000 Ukrainians led by Ataman Petliura invaded Ukraine. The attack was also to be coordinated with the White army, which under Wrangels new command was beginning an offensive against the Bolshevik-Anarchist forces in southeastern Ukraine.

In a surprise attack the Polish-Ukrainian forces brushed aside the Red Army and on 7 May Petliura entered Kyiv. The rapid advance, however, had exposed the allies’ flanks, Petliura was losing men deserting to the RedArmy and a powerful Red cavalry force under Semen Budenny struck the exposed Polish flank. Facing encirclement the Polish Army and what was left of Petliura s men went into a rapid retreat as Kyiv fell on 11 June, and by August the Red Army stood before Warsaw. Seeing that the collapse of the Polish army was imminent, the French had rushed supplies and advisors, and soon an opening was discov­ered in the RedArmys lines. GeneralJoseph Stalin had pulled out to support the Hungarian Communist revolution, and taking advantage of the breach the Polish army counterattacked and it was now the turn of the Red forces to be outflanked. Driven back into western Ukraine both sides agreed to an armistice, allowing the Polish army to OccupywesternVolynia and Polissia. On 18 March 1921 the protagonists signed a treaty in Riga (Latvia), which recognized a sovereign Ukrainian So­cialist Rada Republic as a successor to the Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic.

With the anti-Bolshevik uprising in Ukraine and the total failure of the repressive second Soviet government under Ra­kovsky and Denikins White army occupying Kyiv it was be­coming clear to Lenin that drastic changes were required if the Bolsheviks were to get the support of the armed Ukrainian rural population, Withoutwhich no government was possible. Prob­ably influenced by talks with Makhno who had gone to Moscow during the Bolshevik-Anarchist alliance, Lenin opened the 8th Congress of the Communist Party by a denunciation of what he identified correctly as the “primitive Russian chauvinism” which had spread throughout the Russian Communist Party. A new policy for Ukraine was announced by the new third Ukrainian Soviet (Rada) government formed on 21 December 1919 in Kharkivwhich brought the Red Terror, War Commu­nism, and the food expropriations to an end. The Russian-style land collectivization and the state forms were to be abolished, and a commitment made to land distribution for family farms. In accordance with the popular Borotbists and other Ukrainian Communist and Socialist Parties, Ukraine was to become a sov­ereign state with powers to manage its internal affairs, and with Ukrainian Divisions to be formed within the Red Army. The change in policies was met with widespread support for the new Bolshevik government, and by November 1920 the Red Army commanded by Frunze and Makhno s Revolutionary In­surrectionary Army had driven Baron Wrangels white forces into the Crimean Peninsula, from which they were evacuated by the French and British navies.

Russia and Ukraine with the Caucasus region had emerged as the only countries where socialist and communist ideas had received wide support. On 29 December 1920 the Russian So­viet Socialist Federated Republic and the Ukrainian Rada So­cialist Republic signed a treaty agreeing to a military and eco­nomic union which annulled all Tsarist claims on Ukrainian territory, with Ukraine recognized as a sovereign republic sub­ject to international law. Ukraine was legally recognized by Poland, Czechoslavakia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and re­ceived factual recognition from Rumania, Bulgaria, and the League of nations, and between 1920 and 1923 the Ukrainian Republic concluded 48 international treaties.

Following the civil war in Ukraine Makhno s Anarchists refused to accept the Ukrainian Communist government s au­thority or to merge their forces with the Red Army. With the defeat of Baron Wrangels Whites, in January 1920 Trotsky or­dered the Red Army to move into southeastern Ukraine and attack the Anarchist forces, which following stubborn guerrilla fighting by August 1921 were finally defeated. Also in the winter of 1920 several thousand of Petliuras men led by Otaman Tyu- tyunik entered Ukraine from Polish-occupied Volynia, but failing to obtain popular support, were also defeated by the Red Army with Petliura and Makhno joining other refugees in Paris.

In the meantime, the Russian Communist leadership in Moscow was doing what Russians do best—centralizing au­thority and power. In 1922 Communist delegates met in Mos­cow to decide on the nature of the state that would replace the Russian Empire. In February 1922 three sovereign socialist re­publics under Communist rule—Ukraine, Belarus, and Tran­scaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia)—delegated their au­thority in foreign relations to the Russian Soviet Federation, and on 9 May Russia removed their rights in foreign trade. Then, on 30 December 1922 the four republics entered into a treaty with unified policies, giving birth to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). The arrangement was formalized on 31 January 1924 when a Congress of the Communist Party ratified Lenin’s constitution, by which all four republics were to be equal, with the Communist Party assuming supreme au­thority by Article 6 of the Constitution.

Although Russia provided most of the territory of the newly formed Soviet Union and had the largest population, it was Ukraine that in the 1950s became the key member both politically and economically, with its agricultural and industrial production. It was Ukraine that to a large extent paid for Stalin s 5-year plan when the man-made famine of 1932-33 claimed 3.5-4 million rural lives, while during Hitler s Fascist invasion the Countryprovided the resistance and manpower for the Red Army, without which the Soviet Union would have been doomed to genocidal destruction. Bythe Treaty of Yalta in 1945 the dis­tinct Galician and Carpathian regions were incorporated into the Ukrainian Republic, which was accepted as a member of the United Nations. Its diversity increased when Khrushchev, supported by the ruling Presidium of the Communist Party, at­tached the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine, making it the largest country in Europe after Russia.

Independence and political freedom had to wait several decades for the coming to power in March 1985 of Mikhail Gor­bachev as the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, and the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear plant on 26 April of the following year. Although the plant was owned and con­trolled by Moscow, it was the Ukrainian authorities that were Stuckwith the bill to pay for the massive cleanup and resettle­ment programs. The leadership of the Ukrainian Communist Party was further alienated from Gorbachev when in spite of his mostly Ukrainian origins, he had halted the flow of Ukraini­ans to influential positions in Moscow. Khrushchev had been the longtime Party boss of Ukraine; Brezhnevwas born and raised in Ukraine and although of Russian ethnic origin he offi­cially identified himself as “Ukrainian.” Many other Ukrainians were also distancing themselves from Russia due to its faltering economy. Ukraine was more prosperous and food products were still available at cheaper prices, encouraging Russians to flock to Ukraine on shopping sprees. The problem was getting out of hand, forcing Ukrainian authorities to forbid Russians from disembarking at Ukrainian railway stations.

With the economy worsening day by day, the Communist leadership was beginning to realize that fundamental economic changes and liberal democratic policies were required if the sit­uation was to be turned around. Gorbachev and American Pres­ident Reagan were starting to bring the Cold War to an end as the Soviet Army pulled out OfAfghanistan and the Warsaw Pact countries, with the dramatic and symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall. The new directions were being reinforced by Gorbachev s policy of “Glasnost” (Transparency), which ended Communist censorship as explained in his book Perestroika (Rebuilding), and at long last the threat of nuclear destruction hanging over mankind was coming to an end. The new policies were pri­marily intended to inject new life into the Soviet system, and they succeeded only too well but not in the manner in which they were intended. In a typical Russian fashion the reforms were initiated from the top with little public input, and Gor­bachev was probably the wrong man for the job, as he oscillated between reform and repression. The system was also beyond salvation and events began to overtake the leadership of the Communist Party, which until then had provided the cement for the Soviet Union, but was now losing its grip on power. To make matters worse, the loss of political authority was accom­panied by a catastrophic downward spiral of the economy from which the Soviet Union would not recover.

The first cracks appeared in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuaniawhen in the fall of 1988 Estonia declared sovereignty, and by the summer of 1990 all Soviet republics in­cluding Russia had declared sovereignty as well. This meant that the laws of each republic would take precedence over those of the Supreme Soviet, greatly weakening the central authorities. Then on 3 March 1990 the Supreme Soviet repealed Article 6 of the constitution that had made the Communist Party the Onlylegal political organ, and eight days later the newly elected Lithuanian parliament declared independence. It would face an oil embargo and military aggression on Gorbachev s orders, but the declaration would not be repealed. The Caucasus re­publics followed suit as fighting broke out between Christian Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan over disputed territory.

The anti-Communist and anti-Soviet campaign had its beginning in Russia when Boris Yeltsin began to criticize what he thought was the slow pace of Gorbachevs reforms, which in November 1987 earned him the dismissal by Gorbachev as head of the Moscow branch of the Communist Party. Both in­dividuals, however, would assume positions of dual power. On 25 April 1989, in the wake of the loss of the Communist Party’s leading position, Gorbachev was elected President of the U.S.S.R. by the Supreme Soviet, while a year later in May the Russian parliament made Yeltsin Speaker of the House, the top position in the republic, which widened even further the breach between the Soviet Union and Russia.

The rapid and fundamental changes taking place were watchedwith dismay by the conservative members of the Com­munist leadership and on 18 August 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raisa were placed under house arrest while on va­cation in the Crimea. The attempted coup quickly collapsed and greatly undermined the authority of the Ukrainian Com­munist Partywhich still had a majority in the Rada parliament. A popular national democratic opposition had sprung up in 1989 known as Rukh or “Movement,” an umbrella organization led by popular dissidents such as the lawyer Levko Lukianenko, Viacheslav Chornovil (the elected head of Lviv s city adminis­tration) and the poet Ivan Drach, the overall head of the move­ment. All three had spent many years in the Gulag labor camps and were held in high esteem by the public.

The composition of the Ukrainian Rada was tilted against Rukh, which held 125 seats out of a total of 450 compared to 239 Communist members. The Communist Party, however, no longer held executive power, and in the summer of 1990 a former secretary of the Communist Party, Leonid Kravchuk, was elected Parliamentary Speaker, the highest position in the country. With the collapse of the coup and Gorbachev s return to Moscow on 22 August, Kravchuk called an emergency ses­sion of the Rada before leaving the next day to meet with Gor­bachev, Yeltsin, and other Soviet leaders. He was back in Kyiv on 24 August where he was greeted by a hostile crowd of tens of thousands of people who had gathered in front of the parlia­ment building, thinking Kravchuk had entered into an agree­ment with Moscow.

During Kravchuks absence, events had moved rapidly as is described by Serhii Plokhy. Moved by the academician Ihor Yukhnovsky, the liberal democratic opposition of the Rada de­cided to raise the question of independence and the writer Volodymyr Yavorivsky rose to read a brief draft of the declara­tion. The principal author was the head of the Ukrainian Re­publican Party, Levko Lukianenko, who had spent more than a quarter of a century in the Soviet Gulag labor camps and was highly respected.² The Communist members of the Rada were still a dark horse but with the Party’s activities sharply curtailed and its position in doubt they called for a recess to consider the resolution. The vote which followed was a resounding victory for the declaration, with 346 of the attending members voting for independence, 2 opposed, and 5 abstentions. The Speaker of the house Leonid Kravchuk was asked to read the declara­tion:

Proceeding from the mortal danger that threatened Ukraine as a result of the coup d’etat in the U.S.S.R. on 19 August 1991:

—continuing the centuries-old tradition of state-building in Ukraine;

—proceeding from the right to self-determination envisioned by the United nations Charter and other international legal documents;

—acting in compliance with the Declaration of State Sover­eignty of Ukraine, the Supreme Rada of the Ukrainian Rada (“Soviet”) Socialist Republic declares the independence of Ukraine, and the formation of a Ukrainian state, Ukraine.

The territory ofUkraine is integral and inviolable. From this moment, only the constitution and laws ofUkraine are applica­ble on its territory.

This act comes in force from the moment of its approval. The Supreme Rada ofUkraine, August 24, 1991.

A referendum was also declared, to be held on 1 Decem­ber, to coincide with the presidential elections, and with an 84 percent turnout Ukrainian independence was approved by an astounding 92 percent of the vote, with no oblast (province) voting against, including the autonomous Crimea (Table 17.1). The vote surpassed by a wide margin the 70 percent support which Gorbachevhad received in Ukraine in the March 1991 referendum to form a renewed Union with Russia and the other republics. As expected, Kravchukwon the presidential election at 61 percent of the vote, trailed by Chornovil at 23 percent who received a majority in the three Galician western oblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivske, and Ternopil. Ukraine was the first republic to declare independence with a parliamentary Com­munist majority, and this was a signal for other republics to fol­low suit, bringing the Soviet Union to its end.³ On 2 December Boris Yeltsin recognized Ukrainian independence, and follow­ing failed attempts to renew a union Mikhail Gorbachev offered his resignation on 25 December, considered by many to be the best Christmas gift possible.

With Russian dominance slipping away, and a growing Ukrainian assertiveness, Mikhail Gorbachevhad revealed him­self to be what he was, more Russian than Soviet. His conflict with Boris Yeltsin was put aside as both launched threats against the Ukrainian Republic. Soviet troops were moved to the Ukrainian border with warnings that if Ukraine declared inde­pendence, then questions would be raised concerning the ter­ritorial integrity of the republic, as Yeltsin declared he no longer considered the Russian-Ukrainian treaty on borders to be valid. Before the December referendum took place, Gorbachev had issued a warning of rising ethnic conflict, suggested by his ad­visor Georgii Shakhnazarov in what amounted to blackmail: “It should be stated plainly and clearly, without constraint that those regions (Crimea, The Donbas, and Southern Ukraine) are historical parts of Russia, and it (Russia) does not intend to renounce them if Ukraine should wish to cease being part of the Union.” Particular attention was to be paid to the Crimea: “The whole population of the republic should know that if Ukraine announces its exit from the Union, the Crimea will cease to be part ofUkraine the very next day and will be an­nexed to Russia.”⁴

This was another expression of the traditional Russian practice of confusing political expediency with historical fact, which continues to this very day together with the blatant dis­regard for international law, and treaties which are discarded when no longer convenient.

Table 17.3. Percentage of Votes Cast in Favor OfIndependence in the Referendum of 1 December 1991 in 24 Administrative Districts (^aOblastsⁿ) and the Crimea, with an 84 Percent Participation Rate