Yekelchuk S.. Stalin's Empire of Memory: Russian-Ukrainian Relations in the Soviet Historical Imagination. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,2014. — 252 p.. 2014

Looking back at the time when I first developed my interest in Stalinism as a graduate student, I can now fully appreciate the guidance and encouragement of my professors at the University of Alberta. My adviser, John-Paul Himka, counselled me over the years on a wide array of problems, ranging from the intricacies of modern Ukrainian history to the beneficial properties of red wine during times of uncertainty. He donated a 1982 IBM computer, which I used (and abused) to write my thesis, and his clan helped me and my family in meeting the myriad small and big challenges that every immigrant faces. If it were not for John-Paul, I would never have come to North America, let alone have completed my dissertation. Other Albertans who were generous with their advice and support include David Marples, Zenon Kohut, Oleh Ilnytzkyj, Lesley Cormack, Ann MacDougal, Stephen Slemon, and Nicholas Wickenden. The Department of History and Classics and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) provided a hospitable and stimulating environment for thinking and writing. My studies and research at the University of Alberta were made possible by a string of scholarships: the Alberta Ukrainian Centennial Graduate Scholarship, the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Doctoral Fellowship, the Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky Memorial Doctoral Fellowship in Ukrainian History and Political Thought, the Dissertation Fellowship, and a research grant from the John Kolasky Memorial Endowment Fund at the CIUS.

<< | >>

↑

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

The spectacular ease with which the republics of the USSR converted themselves into nation-states in 1991 puzzled many western observers.

Empire and Its Nations

Communities of Memory

Stalin’s Ukrainians

Chapter One Soviet National Patriots

‘The workers have no fatherland,’ declared Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto