Independence Day of Ukraine. A Few Words on How It Happened
Today Ukraine is celebrating its Independence Day. On 24 August 1991, Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. This document made the dream of many generations come true. How did it happen? I will try to tell you about it in a few words.
The Century of the Liberation Movement
In 1891, Ukrainian students Mykola Mykhnovsky, Borys Hrynchenko, and other Ukrainian intellectuals founded the underground organization — Brotherhood of Tarasovs — which set a goal to make Ukraine an independent state. At that time, Ukrainian lands were divided between two empires — Russia and Austro-Hungary. Russian authorities did their best to assimilate Ukrainians: they did not allow to use of the Ukrainian language in schools and universities, print books, and press in Ukrainian. Their minister of interior, Valuev, even claimed that the Ukrainian language had never existed (isn’t it familiar?). In Austro-Hungary, Ukrainians enjoyed more freedom but still did not control their territory. So they also strived for independence.
Russian police soon arrested some members of the Brotherhood of Tarasovs but new Ukrainian organizations reappeared in Russia and Austro-Hungary. In 1914, when World War I started Ukrainians saw it as an opportunity. They waited for their chance and used it. In 1917, Ukrainian organizations in Kyiv created their parliament — Centralna Rada — that proclaimed the Ukrainian People’s Republic. In 1918, Ukrainians of Austro-Hungary did the same by proclaiming the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. Unfortunately, they lost their struggle, and Ukraine was divided between USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania.
The second chance came during World War II. In 1941, Ukrainian nationalists tried to proclaim an independent state in Nazi-occupied territory. They wanted to put Germans in front of a fait accompli but failed. Nazis put Ukrainian leaders in concentration camps so the underground movement started. Ukrainian insurgents waged war on two fronts — with Nazis and Soviets. This struggle was unequal and all Ukrainian lands were occupied by USSR which expelled the Nazis.
Ukrainians did not give up. Ukrainian nationalists organized uprisings in Soviet prison camps that forced the Soviet government to release many people after Stalin’s death. Later, Ukrainian dissidents organized non-violent resistance, protesting against Russification and the violation of human rights in the USSR. Many of them died in prisons and never saw Ukraine independent. But others survived and took their chance.
Failed Coup as a Chance
In the mid-1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched the program of political and economical reforms known as perestroika. People got the right to create organizations and political parties, independent media, start their businesses, etc. In Ukraine, political reforms were hastened by the Chornobyl disaster which showed the Ukrainians their rightlessness. Here is how Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy put it in his book The Gates of Europe:
The Chernobyl accident sharply increased discontent with Moscow and its policies across all party and social lines — radiation affected everyone, from members of the party leadership to ordinary citizens. As the Ukrainian party bosses mobilized the population to deal with the consequences of the disaster and clean up the mess created by the center, many asked themselves why they were risking their own lives and those of their family members. Around their kitchen tables, they grumbled about the center’s failed policies and shared their frustration with the people they trusted. Only the Ukrainian writers would not remain silent. In June 1986, at a meeting of the Ukrainian Writers’ Union, many of those who had welcomed the arrival of nuclear power a decade earlier now condemned it as an instrument of Moscow’s domination of their republic. Among those leading the charge was Ivan Drach, whose son, a student in a Kyiv medical school, had been sent to Chernobyl soon after the accident without proper instructions or protective gear and was now suffering from radiation poisoning.
New organizations sprouted across Ukraine: Society of Ukrainian Language, Ukrainian Culturology Club, various student organizations, and last but not least — the Popular Movement for Perestroika or Rukh. In 1990, Rukh, which membership exceeded 300,000 took part in the first semi-free elections to the Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Previously, this body was just a decoration covering the Soviet occupation of Ukraine. Its deputies were formally elected by citizens but these elections were just a performance: people approved the candidates, appointed by Communist Party. So it’s no surprise that this parliament rubber-stamped all the decisions from Moscow.
In 1990, that changed. Rukh and other pro-democratic deputies formed the group, called the People’s Council which had a huge influence on parliament although the Communists held the majority. In the summer of 1990, the Ukrainian parliament took the first step to independence. It adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty that gave republican laws precedence over those of the union.
Alarmed by this declaration and the independence movement in other Soviet republics, the central government tried to maneuver. Gorbachev announced the negotiations on a new union treaty that was supposed to save USSR, giving its republics more autonomy. But on the morning of October 2, 1990, dozens of Ukrainian students organized a hunger strike in Kyiv, demanding to withdraw from these negotiations. Later, all the universities of Kyiv supported the protesters. When the government decided to dislodge them, close to 50,000 Kyivans went on the streets to protect the students. Authorities decided to retreat: the head of the government who took part in negotiations was dismissed.
The Soviet Union was collapsing. The new union treaty was not supported by all republics. Baltic countries preferred full independence and refused to negotiate, the Ukrainian leader Leonid Kravchuk and his allies offered a confederation with Russia and other republics that Ukraine would join on its own terms. In this situation, hawks in the central government decided to seize the power. On 19 August 1991, they organized a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow.
The plotters declared a state of emergency in the USSR but had little support. In Moscow, Russian president Boris Yeltsin brought his supporters to the streets. They forced the military to retreat. The plotters lost and were arrested.
When it became clear that the coup failed Ukrainian politicians decided to act. The Communist leaders and opposition jointly draft the text of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. It read:
Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine
In view of the mortal danger surrounding Ukraine in connection with the state coup in the USSR on August 19, 1991,
Continuing the thousand-year tradition of state development in Ukraine,
Proceeding from the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other international legal documents, and
Implementing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine,
the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic solemnly declares
the Independence of Ukraine and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state — UKRAINE.
The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.
From this day forward, only the Constitution and laws of Ukraine are valid on the territory of Ukraine.
This act becomes effective at the moment of its approval.
One of the document’s authors was Levko Lukianenko, a Ukrainian political prisoner. Back in 1961, he created the underground organization which planned to fight for an independent Ukraine using non-violent methods. The Soviet court sentenced him to the death penalty which was later replaced by 15 years of imprisonment. Perhaps, he was the happiest at that moment as he saw his goal achieved, especially because it happened on his birthday.
On 24 August 1991, the Ukrainian parliament voted for the country’s independence. Also, it established the National guard and turned jurisdiction over all the armed forces located on Ukrainian territory over to itself. Later that year, on 1 December, Ukrainians approved the Act in the referendum: more than 90% voted in favor of it. On the same day Leonid Kravchuk, former Communist leader and a head of Parliament, was elected as President of Ukraine. A week later he signed the Belavezha Accords that stated the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist. A new chapter in Ukrainian history started.
P.S. If you find any mistakes, feel free to write. I have written this text in a few hours, driven by emotions from our holiday.
