1989: A LOOK BACK: Ukraine: endings, beginnings (12/31/89)

1989: A LOOK BACK

Ukraine: endings, beginnings

The year 1989 saw the end of an unpopular party leader in Ukraine, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky. His downfall had been widely predicted since 1985 by Sovietologists and pundits, all of whom had "discovered" reasons why his removal was inevitable: as a Brezhnev holdover; as a political victim of Chornobyl, as a Russifier in a time of greater cultural awareness; as an impediment to the progress of perebudova in Ukraine. But it did not happen that way, and in fact, the Party Plenum on September 28, attended by Mikhail Gorbachev, saw Mr. Shcherbytsky nudged into honorable retirement.

His replacement, Volodymyr Ivashko, 14 years his junior at 57, remains an unknown quantity. Two Ukrainian visitors to the West - Volodymyr Yavorivsky and Yuriy Pokalchuk - have both commented that they are optimistic about Mr. Ivashko. It has to be said, however, that there are few logical reasons for such views. Mr. Ivashko has already offered harsh opinions on groups that he considers anti-Soviet, such as the Ukrainian Helsinki Union and the Ukrainian Democratic Union, and as a former party boss in Mr. Shcherbytsky's "fiefdom" of Dnipropetrovske, he is unlikely to look kindly toward Rukh or Popular Movement of Ukraine for Perebudova.

For the latter, the year marked notable progress. Rukh published a draft program in Literaturna Ukraina on February 16, which was instantly assailed by the party leadership. Rukh, it was claimed, was made up of writers and intellectuals, divorced from the reality of factory life. The Initiative Group, led by Ivan Drach, persisted, however. A recent survey conducted in Kiev has indicated that the Rukh has widespread support among the population, particularly in western and central Ukraine. Mr. Drach was duly elected its president at the founding congress held in Kiev on September 8-10, an event perceived by some Ukrainians as marking a revival of Ukraine as a nation.

It might be more accurate to see the congress as a starting point rather than the fruition of such ambitions. When Mr. Gorbachev visited Rukh activists in Kiev in February, they denied that they were trying to establish an alternative party. But at the same time, they could hardly remain indifferent to the vacuum left by the Ukrainian Communist Party in its participation in major events. Both the success and the problems of Rukh were encapsulated in the July coal miners' strike. The party leadership failed manifestly to support the miners' demands for better provisions, better housing, higher pay and longer vacations, and Rukh to some extent was able to offer material support.

The miners duly dispatched delegations to the founding congress. Shortly afterward, however, the Voroshylovhrad branch withdrew from Rukh, on the grounds that they were alienated by the national symbols on display. They did not comprehend the meaning of the tryzub and the blue-and-yellow flag. More seriously, they did not know Ukrainian. One could hardly find a better example of the differences between eastern and western Ukraine, and it is this sort of gap that must be filled if Rukh is to find success, for Ukrainian power has traditionally lain with the industrialized cities of the east.

Rukh, like the Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society led by 60-year-old poet Dmytro Pavlychko, has sought to make Ukrainian the state language of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Supreme Soviet made this desire a reality with an October 28 decree, stipulating that from January 1, 1990, Ukrainian will be the state language of the republic, while Russian will be used for communication between nationality groups. The decree must be regarded as a significant achievement on the part of the society, which also began the year with a founding congress on February 11-12.

Turning to the environment, the year 1989 provided the first accurate accounts from an official Ukrainian source about the effects of Chornobyl. A January interview with Ukrainian Politburo member Borys Kachura had suggested that few health effects had emerged from the disaster. By March, the government's information section was demonstrating the opposite. Radioactive cesium, it noted, had contaminated areas of northern Ukraine as far west as Rivne Oblast, and south of the city of Kiev. Milk products in some areas were 80 times above the permissible norm. Three films have circulated that pertain particularly to the situation in Narodychi Raion, about 60 miles to the west of the damaged reactor: "Threshold," "Mikrofon!" and "Zapredel."

In northern Zhytomyr Oblast, hundreds of children have become sick with thyroid problems, cataracts of the eyes and general illnesses resulting from a weakening of their immune systems. In districts such as Luhyny, Narodychi and Korosten, residents have been consuming contaminated products for more than three years. Moscow News, interviewing writers Yuriy Shcherbak and Ales Adamovich, published an article titled "The Big Lie." A Soviet reporter, Andrei Illesh, revealed that there have been more than 250 Chornobyl-related deaths, while a Ukrainian poetess, Lyubov Kovalevska has produced an independent and damning account of the health effects of Chornobyl, parts of which were published in Literaturna Ukraina.

Concern about Chornobyl fostered the establishment of Zelenyi Svit (Green World) in December 1988. Chaired by Dr. Shcherbak, it has focused also on the deplorable environmental situation in Ukraine: on factories in Mariupil; on the unsolved hair loss of children of Chernivtsi; on the steelworks of Dnipropetrovske. One in four children in some eastern cities are said to be ill as a result of environmental pollution. An underground film called "Hostages," made in Zaporizhzhia, provided gruesome shots of babies, grossly deformed as a result of chemical releases into the atmosphere.

Zelenyi Svit held its founding congress on October 26-28 in Kiev. There appear to be wide differences over future directions. One group, led by Dr. Shcherbak, supports the continuation of the organization as an informal pressure lobby; another has founded a Green Party, aimed at more radical action. Such divergences have characterized Ukrainian politics this year. The Greens have successfully campaigned against the Crimean and Chyhyryn nuclear plants, both of which were shut down in 1989 (in October and May, respectively), but they have not satisfied a thirst for more fundamental changes.

The year has seen the emergence of a host of new informal groups, many with their own newspapers and brochures, some of high quality. The West has been inundated with visitors from Ukraine; Ukrainian society has in a very real sense, opened up to the outsider. At the same time, the republic is facing major economic and social problems that frequently take on a political form. Thus the summer coal strike led to the formation of the Regional Union of Strike Committees of the Donbas, which has taken actual power in some mining communities. The lack of political freedom led to widespread demands for changes to the electoral law, which provides a guaranteed 25 percent of seats in a future Ukrainian Supreme Soviet to the party and its affiliates (Komsomol, trade unions). Economic shortages have increased and produced a tense situation in some areas. Above all, the current lack of faith in the party and the Komsomol has reached new heights.

To this observer, it remains unclear whether economic sovereignty - currently under debate - can resolve Ukraine's economic dilemmas. A republic that has been systematically shorn of its natural resources for an economy geared to quantitative output cannot suddenly reverse the process. Ukraine's nonrenewable resources are depleted, its steel and chemical industries - and most certainly its nuclear power industry - cannot develop without due consultation with environmental groups and with the public. This is as it should be, but Ukraine based agencies will now encounter the same sort of problems that have long frustrated the more ruthless Moscow-based ministries.

Finally, as one who peruses the Ukrainian press on a daily basis, it should be acknowledged that the official newspapers have become serious discussion sheets. While the party leadership has clung to the increasingly obsolete Pravda Ukrainy, its Ukrainian-language counterpart. Radianska Ukraina has provided some excellent articles. Literaturna Ukraina is a quality newspaper, although limited by small circulation, a factor that applies even more seriously to KuItura i Zhyttia, which is to be merged with the education newspaper, Radianska Osvita. Having the conservative Mykola Shybyk as editor has not prevented Robitnycha Hazeta from highlighting a host of ecological problems in Ukraine; while for sheer discussion and debate, Molod Ukrainy has emerged as the most readable newspaper in the republic - leaving aside newspapers that are not exported, such as Vechirniy Kyiv.

The future remains uncertain. Ukraine is a politically volatile republic, one in which an authentic "public opinion" has developed belatedly. There is much catching up to do, and one perceives a frantic activity among groups. Omitted here is the spiritual development of Ukraine. Suffice it to say that alongside the apparent moral bankruptcy of the party in Ukraine, the simple faith of the Ukrainian Catholics and the defiance of the Ukrainian Orthodox brethren shines like a veritable beacon of hope. For the academic observer, it is as though an entire archive has suddenly been opened up to a frustrated researcher. But like any archive, whereas some roads lead to gold, others lead to unknown destinations, not all of which are worth pursuing. Ukraine, as a nation, appears to have a future, but there is as yet no clear indication of what that future will look like or who will lead the way to it.

- Dr. David Marples