PREFACE

It is a truism that, with only a few notable exceptions, Western scholars only belatedly turned their attention to the phenomenon of minority nationalism in the USSR. In the last two decades, however, the topic has increasingly occupied the attention of specialists on the Soviet Union, not only because its depths and implications have not yet been adequately plumbed, but also because it is clearly a potentially explosive problem for the Soviet system itself.

The problem that minority nationalism poses is perceived rather differently at the "top" of Soviet society than at the "bottom." The elite views - or at least rationalizes - the problem through the lens of Marxism-Leninism, which explains nationalist sentiment as a part of the "super­structure," a temporary phenomenon that will disappear in the course of building communism. That it has not done so is a primary source of concern for the Soviet leadership, who do not seem to understand it and do not wish to accept its reality. This is based on a fallacious conceptuali­zation of ethnic nationalism as determined wholly by external, or objective, factors and therefore subject to corrective measures. In terms of origins, it is believed to be the result of past oppression and discrimination; it is thus seen as a negative attitudinal set the essence of which lies in tangible, rather than psychological, factors.

Below the level of the leadership, however, ethnic nationalism reflects entrenched identifications and meanings which lend continuity and authenticity to human existence. The nationality problem is experienced as discrimination against national languages and cultures, and the domination of cultural and political life by Russians Minority nation­alism thus has both a psychological and a substantive base, and regime policies (and their unintended side-effects) reinforce it rather than hasten its demise.

The Ukraine - because of its size and certain historical realities - is a barometer of minority nationalist discon­tent in the Soviet Union. The Soviet regime appears to be particularly interested in specifically Ukrainian loyalty to the Soviet idea. For this reason, the study of minority nationalism and nationalities policy in the Soviet Union must always begin with the study of Ukrainian nationalism.

This study has a two-fold purpose: to provide a history of Ukrainian nationalism in the period 1957-1972 - from Khrushchev's consolidation of power to the demise of Petro Shelest - and simultaneously, to develop and employ a con­ceptual framework useful for the study of a subject such as nationalism which is fraught with subjectivities, and in the context of a notoriously data-scarce society. This frame­work is symbolic politics, and the study of the manipulation of the myths and symbols which inform ideological discourse.

In the transliteration of Russian and Ukrainian words and proper names, I have employed a modified Library of Con­gress system, omitting diacritical marks. For the names of individuals, I have employed Russian spellings for the names of Russians, and Ukrainian spellings for Ukrainians. I have departed from this convention for those names which through usage have acquired a standard English spelling: Dzyuba, Podgorny, Hrushevsky, etc. With the exception of the city and oblast of Kiev and the oblast of Crimea, I have made it a point to employ the Ukrainian spellings of Ukrainian place-names, which seems only proper. Where the Ukrainian spelling differs markedly from the Russian, the Russian version appears in parentheses upon the first appearance of the place-name in the text.

Any scholarly effort is in the final analysis a collec­tive endeavor. While reserving responsibility entirely to myself for its shortcomings, I am endebted to numerous individuals and institutions for aid and advice in the course of this study. Professor John A.

The University of Wisconsin Graduate School provided travel funds. I am also indebted to the Center for Slavic and East European Studies at the Ohio State University for taking time to help me locate materials. Finally, the Research Department of Radio Liberty in Munich, West Germany, was patient and generous during my stay there, and provided access to materials without which this study could not have been done.

I wish gratefully to acknowledge the contribution in terms of their time and knowledge of the following indi­viduals: John Basarab, Ilia Belau, Mariia Belau, Albert Boiter, Keith Bush, Peter Dornan, Christian Duevel, Natalia Gorbanevskaia, Mykola Hoffman, Olga Kannabykh, Suzanne Kilner-Frank, Israel Kleyner, Ivan Koshelivets, Anatoly Levitin-Krasnov, Borys Lewytzkyj, Viktor Nekrasov, Leonid Plyushch, Rewenna Rebet, Fatima Salkazanova, and Tatiana Zhytnykova-Plyushch.

Major portions of Chapter 4 of this book were published as "Language and Linguistic Nationalism in the Ukraine," in Nationalitres Papers, Vol. VI, No. 2(Fall, 1978). Portions of Chapter 5 were published in two installments as "Ukrain­ian Dissent: Symbolic Politics and Sociodemographic Aspects, in The Ukrainian Quarterly, Vol. XXXIV, Nos. 1 and 2(Spring and Summer, 1978). I am grateful to the editors of these

journals for permission to use these materials here.

My wife, Jill, assisted me in many ways in all phases of the research and writing of this study; a stern critic she has also been - and remains - an unfailing source of encouragement and support.

Milwaukee> May 1980