Vlokh tells Philadelphians about challenges facing Ukraine (07/22/90)

Vlokh tells Philadelphians about challenges facing Ukraine

by Tamara Stadnychenko-Cornelison

PHILADELPHIA - Orest Vlokh, professor of math and physics at Lviv University and head of Rukh's chapter in Lviv, arrived in Philadelphia recently at the invitation of the Ukrainian Human Rights Committee.

From the train station, committee head Ulana Mazurkevich took Mr. Vlokh to the Philadelphia Inquirer building for an interview with Donald Kimmelman of the Inquirer editorial board.

After the interview with Mr. Kimmelman, Mr. Vlokh met with Metropolitan Stephen Sulyk. During the meeting, plans for setting up a Ukrainian Catholic seminary in Lviv were discussed. Metropolitan Sulyk said he plans to hold further discussions with Pope John Paul II on this matter.

A community meeting with Mr. Vlokh was held that evening, June 19, at the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Melrose Park. The Rev. James Melnyk graciously agreed to allow the committee to use the church hall gratis.

After brief introductory remarks by Ms. Mazurkevich, the program was turned over to Mr. Vlokh, who opened with remarks on Ukraine's tumultuous history, alluding to centuries of occupation, to the genocidal famine and purges of the 1930 and to the tragedy of Chornobyl which, in his opinion, was the last straw and a major cause of the political changes occurring in Ukraine.

According to Mr. Vlokh, Ukraine is now facing its greatest challenge and Ukrainians cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities that are presenting themselves in the events that have recently begun transforming all of Eastern Europe. Only sovereignty can reverse the process and right the past wrongs, he added, calling the concept of a Soviet-based federation a trap in which "we would lose whatever we have left."

In discussing the activities of Rukh, the Popular Movement of Ukraine for Perebudova, Mr. Vlokh commented on the fact that the movement has survived its first year despite continuous problems and provocations. He cited events like the Rukh-sponsored meetings in Lviv in March and October of 1989, where women, children, old people, and especially those who carried Ukrainian flags, were subjected to beatings or set upon by police dogs.

In the course of the year, many changes have occurred; for example, Lviv's government is now in the hands of the Democratic Bloc. Rukh, the once-renegade organization, has become the controlling factor on the political scene in Lviv.

Mr. Vlokh also commented on Mikhail Gorbachev's programs and how the ideas of glasnost and perebudova have helped Ukraine. On the other hand, he continued, Mr. Gorbachev's policy of acceleration, particularly in the economic field, has proved only negative for Ukraine, creating new problems and difficulties for people already suffering from shortages of basic commodities and ecological rape.

The political upheaval in the Soviet Union, according to Mr. Vlokh, can be viewed in both positive and negative lights. To illustrate this, he discussed the power struggle between Mr. Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin and how this apparent disunity within the Russian hierarchy might lead one to assume that Ukraine and other independence-minded republics might benefit. And yet the assumption would be premature; neither Mr. Gorbachev nor Mr. Yeltsin would allow their power-play to interfere with Russian dominance of a united empire.

Still, Mr. Vlokh continued, the disintegration of the Soviet Union is inevitable as national consciousness continues to emerge and grow in the non-Russian republics. Ukraine, like the Baltic republics, is on the verge of a declaration of sovereignty.

Already, the Ukrainian Parliament has begun discussing a national currency, a national army, he said. An interesting irony pointed out by Mr. Vlokh is that Ukraine is a member of the United Nations while Russia is represented only as a part of the Soviet Union. Mr. Vlokh also stressed the need for Ukraine to develop diplomatic ties with other nations, especially with the West, and emphasized that the establishment of a United States Consulate in Ukraine is an essential priority.

Like other Rukh members who have visited the West, Mr. Vlokh spoke on the theme of unity, especially on the necessity of eschewing problems that Ukrainians have created for themselves in the past by fragmenting their strength on petty internal squabbles. We cannot, he said, allow ourselves to be consumed by the past quarrels.

There is no longer room or time to accommodate the party splits, the religious controversies, the dissonance between east and west. The faithful member of the Autocephalous church and the faithful member of the Catholic church, the adherent of Bandera and the adherent of Melnyk, Mr. Vlokh stressed, must set aside differences and recognize that each of them is a Ukrainian and that Ukraine will not survive if its children cannot cooperate and respect one another's differences both in Ukraine and in the diaspora.

When we allow ourselves to quarrel, he continued, we deny ourselves the means to achieve sovereignty. When we allow ourselves to succumb to outside agitators that provoke the internecine quarrels, we damage our credibility by feeding a propaganda machine that only waits for the opportunity to expose our internal conflicts to the international media. Fortunately, many have come to realize this.

Recently in Lviv, two processions converged in the city stadium, he recalled. Members of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church entered from one direction; members of the Catholic Church entered from another. Spectators were concerned that a conflict would ensue, but the two groups met in the center of the stadium and joined to form one procession, each side recognizing the need to present a unified front against the agitators who would have enjoyed provoking a confrontation.

Mr. Vlokh next addressed the diaspora's role in the Ukrainian rebirth. He was, he said, sorry to see so few young people in the audience and showed some dismay about the lack of interest that Ukrainian American youth have in the current political situation in Ukraine and about the Ukrainian churches he had visited where liturgy was celebrated in English. "Our language," he said, "has been the key to the preservation of our nationality. We have nothing else."

Mr. Vlokh then spoke on material assistance that has been sent to Ukraine from the diaspora. While he applauded the recent shipments of materials sent from the West, especially for the immediacy of their propaganda value, he explained that we need to look beyond clothes and syringes, and to focus on the needs of medical and business technology.

Like other Rukh members, Mr. Vlokh stressed the importance of internship and exchange programs and the importance of communications equipment that would provide Rukh with an efficient system of disseminating ideas and information vital to Ukraine's future.

Mr. Vlokh then asked for questions from the audience. On being asked about eastern Ukraine and why it seems to be slumbering through the national renaissance, Mr. Vlokh replied:

"You have to remember the famine, the intense process of Russification, the mass deportations to Siberia. But changes are occurring. Ukrainian liturgy has reappeared in the newly functioning Ukrainian churches. The Ukrainian parliamentary sessions are being conducted in Ukrainian. There are no Ukrainian language schools in the east, but those deputies who know Ukrainian are speaking in Ukrainian. Those who don't know the language are learning it.

"In Poltava, they recently celebrated the birthday of Symon Petliura. The east is waking up. Arrests still occur, but they'll stop. Strikes which were once solely of a material character have become political. These people are ready to support sovereignty for Ukraine."

Another question dealt with the Parliament's plans for the economy. Mr. Vlokh responded that an economic commission was being formed to deal with the complex issue of introducing the free-market concept into Ukraine. Obviously, he said, this would be a difficult transformation, because the nation is not prepared for the changes. Economic anarchy cannot be permitted; everything must be precisely and carefully planned.

Stalin, he continued developed an isolationist economy that was responsible for many of the current problems. Now Ukraine must learn to deal with an international market community if it is to develop a viable economic structure. A Ukrainian bank based on the international exchange rate must be established. Prices are likely to rise.

One member of the audience requested information on plans for a Ukrainian Olympic unit in which Ukrainian teams and athletes would compete as Ukrainians rather than as members of a Soviet Olympic delegation. Mr. Vlokh replied that activity on this issue was already in motion. The old-guard representatives to UNESCO, which coordinates the make-up of the Olympic delegations, have no interest in promoting Ukrainian teams and athletes, he noted. They are being replaced by parliamentary vote.

Mr. Vlokh then addressed a question about Rukh and communism in Ukraine. "The Communist Party is discredited," he said. "Relations with the party are impossible, but relations with people who were in the party should not be severed. One must ask why they were in the party. What was the motive? Many of them had the idea of achieving some change through the only political organ that existed. Maybe other motives need to be considered too."

"When Rukh started, Communists joined. They were harassed, threatened with job loss; some were even thrown out of the party. Now most have left the party voluntarily. Those who remain may also have motives that are not entirely based on self-interest. The important ministries are still controlled by the Communist Party. Some say they want to keep a finger on things by staying in the party," he said.

Mr. Vlokh added that people were no longer willing to accept the status quo that allowed this poverty to dominate while the military thrived. He pointed out that changes visible in every city where political demonstrations are currently occurring.

Repressive action, he said, has not disappeared, but there is a difference. "Beatings, yes; shootings, no... arrests and detentions, yes, but nobody gets sent to the camps any more for political activism."

Answering a question on assistance from the diaspora, Mr. Vlokh reiterated his earlier points on adopting a broader perspective. "The first plane was useful, good propaganda, especially before the elections. Now powdered milk won't nourish Ukraine. Now we need things of a political character ... communication systems, technology. What you should export is a model hospital, a model farm, a model factory. Show us the technology that we need to begin producing on our own."

The next question was about texts for teaching history in Ukraine. Mr. Vlokh explained that Dzvin (the Lviv-based journal formerly called Zhovten) was printing chapters of Mykhailo Hrushevsky's history. This will be used for teaching before other materials are available.

A final question touched on a point Mr. Vlokh had raised earlier, the Americanization of young Ukrainians and what Ukraine could do to reverse or decelerate the assimilation process. How can the younger generation, already turned off by the all too familiar rhetoric of the older generation, be reclaimed? Mr. Vlokh responded: "Send them to us. Anyone who comes to Ukraine and sees what is happening there will be changed."

The following morning, June 20, Mr. Vlokh met for an early morning power-breakfast with Ken Hladun, head of the Ukrainian Professional Society in Philadelphia, and Ihor Shust, a Philadelphia banker, to discuss plans for joint business ventures between Ukraine and the United States.

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