Five years ago, on April 9, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a package of four laws on decommunization, thereby making the fight against the Soviet past official state policy. On May 15, these documents were signed by Petro Poroshenko, and on the 21st they entered into force.
The most important experts call the normative act “On the condemnation of the communist and national-socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbolism”. The document equates Soviet symbols with Nazi ones, prohibiting its public demonstration, and also puts a ban on the open expression of communist ideas.
After its adoption, a large-scale campaign was launched in the country to change the Soviet names of streets and settlements.
So, Dnepropetrovsk, named in honor of one of the leaders of the Ukrainian SSR Grigory Petrovsky, was renamed the Dnieper, Dzerzhinsk turned into Toretsk, and Dneprodzerzhinsk into Kamenskoye. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities tried to avoid returning pre-Soviet names if they were connected with Russia. The same Dnepropetrovsk until 1926 bore the name Yekaterinoslav in honor of Empress Catherine II, but the historical name was not returned to the city.
Since 2015, the authorities have renamed 52,000 streets, squares, mountains and rivers, nearly 1000 settlements and 26 districts. In addition, almost 2.5 thousand monuments were dismantled, of which more than 1.5 thousand were monuments in honor of Lenin. At the same time, members of right-wing radical groups began demolishing the monuments to the founder of the USSR even before the adoption of the law with the connivance of local law enforcement agencies.
- Unknowns destroy a monument to Vladimir Lenin in Kharkov
- RIA News
- © Igor Chekachkov
The “decommunization package” adopted by the Rada included three more laws. The normative act “On perpetuating the victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939-1945” introduced a new holiday in the country - the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, and the term “Great Patriotic War” was abolished, instead of it the designation “World War II” began to be used.
The Law “On the Legal Status of Fighters for the Independence of Ukraine” endowed former Nazi collaborators with special status and benefits.
In addition, a law was passed on access to the archives of the repressive organs of the communist totalitarian regime of 1917-1991.
“We lived for a long time in a country whose names on the map were given by strangers. We lived as a guest. And only now we’ve returned home, ”said one of the most active supporters of decommunization, Vladimir Vyatrovich, who headed the Institute of National Memory of Ukraine at that time, on Facebook.
Decommunization as one of the main results of his presidency was also stated by Petro Poroshenko. Speaking in May 2019 at a memorial ceremony for victims of political repressions in the Bykovnyansky Graves memorial reserve in Kiev, the politician said that the fight against the Soviet past was actually over.
To jail for the slogan
The Decommunization Act also criminalized the use of communist symbols. According to it, the manufacture, distribution, as well as the public use of such symbols, including in the form of souvenir products, or the public performance of anthems of the USSR, USSR, and other Soviet republics is punishable by deprivation or restriction of liberty for up to five years. An aggravating circumstance is the commission of these “crimes” as part of groups of persons or using the media. In this case, the prison term can be up to ten years.
In addition to these measures, in 2017, administrative liability was established for the wearing of the St. George ribbon, which provides for a fine of 850–2550 UAH (2300–7000 rubles). Repeated violation of this law is punishable by a fine from 2550 to 5100 UAH (7000-14000 rubles) or by arrest for up to 15 days.
- The procession of Ukrainian nationalists in Kiev
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
The first victim of the new laws was a 3rd year student at Lviv University. In 2017, he was sentenced to two years and six months of restraint of liberty for "propaganda of communist ideology." It is noted that the convict posted on social networks materials about Lenin, as well as slogans such as “Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live!” and “Plan is law, fulfillment is duty, overfulfillment is honor!”
At the same time, the court ordered the young man to destroy the Komsomol and party tickets, the St. George’s ribbon, as well as the “Capital” of Karl Marx.
Although formally the law on decommunization is directed not only against communist, but also against Nazi symbols and ideology, in practice, right-wing and extremist supporters continue to feel quite comfortable in Ukraine and are an influential political force, experts say.
So, in 2016, the commander of the nationalist battalion "Azov" Andrei Biletsky founded the party "National Corps". Confessing Nazi ideas openly, Biletsky was a non-factional deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from 2014 to 2019. At the end of 2019, he and his accomplices actively discouraged attempts by President Vladimir Zelensky to carry out the withdrawal of troops in a number of settlements on the demarcation line in the Donbass, and even threatened the head of state.
“Ukrainian politicians, claiming that they equate communism with Nazism, are disingenuous because they are fighting only against communism. Any positive references to the USSR, the use of communist symbols, or even the St. George ribbon are a crime in modern Ukraine, ”said Vladimir Shapovalov, Ph.D. (Hist.), Deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University.
“At the same time, Nazi symbols, the praise of collaborators who have stained themselves with service in the ranks of the SS, are perceived calmly,” the source said.
New authorities - old orders
After Vladimir Zelensky came to power, the decommunization campaign stopped, experts say, but there was no review of its results. So, in June 2019, by a decision of the Kiev District Court, the renaming of Moscow Avenue and Vatutin Avenue in honor of Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, respectively, was canceled, but then the Sixth Court of Appeal of Kiev reversed this decision.
More successful were the actions of local authorities in Kharkov. There, in 2016, Marshal Zhukov Avenue, by order of the head of the regional state administration, was renamed in honor of the Ukrainian dissident Petro Grigorenko. In February, the Kharkiv City Council voted to return Marshal Georgy Zhukov Avenue, however, the Institute of National Memory of Ukraine appealed to the SBU, as it considered this decision illegal.
As a result, to resolve the issue, a vote was taken on the site of the mayor's office, on which 67% of residents supported the prospectus to be named after the Soviet military commander. In February 2020, 52 deputies of the city council approved the return of the old name (eight opposed).
- Fallen bust of Marshal Georgy Zhukov in Kharkov
- RIA News
Analysts believe that, despite the story in Kharkov, no reverse wave of renaming under Zelensky should be expected: the new authorities at the moment simply decided to freeze this issue, making priority the solution to other problems.
“In Ukraine, the power has changed, but there’s no reason to reject the deadlocked, absurd option of abandoning its past, since in fact it continues Poroshenko’s course on this issue,” political analyst, political strategist at the Kiev Center for Political Studies and Conflictology Mikhail Pogrebinsky.
A similar opinion is shared by the RT source in the Voice party.
“After the election of Zelensky as the new president of Ukraine, the degree of hysteria decreased slightly, but Petro Poroshenko’s policy continues. One can only hope for common sense among the Presidential Office staff who can reconsider the decommunization strategy, ”the source said.
Experts also recalled that after the election of Zelensky as president, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine analyzed the law "On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist totalitarian regimes" and recognized it in accordance with the basic law of the country. And Anton Drobovich, who headed the Institute of National Remembrance in December 2019, at his first press conference, said that he continued to prioritize the eradication of Soviet toponyms, the recognition of the Holodomor as the genocide of Ukrainians and “countering Russian hybrid aggression”.
In January 2020, the Institute of National Remembrance demanded to demolish the "Legendary cart" monument in Kakhovka (Kherson region), since it symbolizes the "communist totalitarian regime." However, after the scandal caused by the refusal of the city authorities to destroy the monument, it was decided to open the “Museum of monumental propaganda” next to it.
Drobovich also tries to achieve the dismantling of the coat of arms of the USSR at the monument "Motherland" in Kiev. True, here the “decommunizers” had to face serious obstacles, since such work could lead to deformation of the sculpture.
At the same time, the office of the President of Ukraine and the ruling party "Servant of the People" are not trying in any way to stop the activity of the radicals. Zelensky himself, while still a presidential candidate, said he considered decommunization a normal occurrence.
“In general, I have a normal attitude towards decommunization. Society has chosen - and it’s normal. There are undeniable heroes. Stepan Bandera is a hero for a certain percentage of Ukrainians, and this is normal and cool. This is one of those people who defended the freedom of Ukraine, ”he said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
"The struggle for the minds"
Experts believe that the ongoing policy aimed at breaking away from the Soviet past can be dangerous for the integrity of the state, since its territory was formed during the stay of Ukraine as part of the USSR.
“A revision of the Soviet period of history can lead to the delegation of borders in the eyes of neighboring states. The territories of the Ukrainian state are a consequence of the national policy of the USSR, therefore, in conditions of economic, social, political and value crisis, they may be lost, ”said Vladimir Shapovalov.
- A procession-requiem in memory of the heroes of World War II "Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten" in Kiev
- RIA News
According to the expert, under the sign of decommunization, a policy of de-Russification, destruction of the memory of the past common with Russia is being pursued. “This is a terrible trend, because it leads to the formation of people who do not remember their past, subject to any propaganda,” said Shapovalov.
However, according to analysts, the anti-Soviet campaign was not able to fulfill its main tasks, and most Ukrainians remain indifferent to measures taken by the state in this area.
“Ukrainians can be proud of their great past shared with Russia, but their present gives no reason for pride. This campaign to erase historical memory from the consciousness of modern Ukrainians has not yet fully achieved the results set by its initiators, ”the political scientist notes.
A similar point of view is shared by Mikhail Pogrebinsky.
“The final break with the Soviet past did not happen. The struggle for the minds continues. I’m sure some time will pass, and this part of the story will return to Ukrainian textbooks, schools, and Ukraine, ”the expert summed up.